Hi everyone!
Today's video is gonna be about running a food Instagram -- 7 tips for beginners.
And basically the reason why I'm making this video is because I get so many questions about,
"How do you edit your photos?"
"How do I grow my following?"
"What is the biggest tip you have for people that are just starting out their food Instgram?"
So I thought I'd make this video for you guys, and yeah let's just get right into it.
So my first tip is to only use natural lighting.
And this is probably my biggest photography tip because there's nothing compared to natural
lighting.
Like, lighting is so important to your picture, and if you don't have good lighting when you're
taking your picture, it's just not gonna look good.
So the best lighting is natural lighting.
And if you're going to a restaurant and you know you're gonna wanna take pictures there,
then make sure you get a table by a big window or even outside if they have a patio.
So whenever I go to a restaurant, then I'll wait extra long to get a table by the window
or even at the patio because I'm gonna wanna take a picture there.
Usually if I can't really get a good table, and I'm just stuck in the restaurant, in the
dark part of the restaurant, even restaurant lighting, a lot of the times it makes your
pictures way too warm.
So the best thing to do is to take your food outside.
And yeah, you probably will get some weird looks, but you know you just gotta get used
to it.
I'm really used to it.
I stand on chairs, stand on tables, bring my food outside.
If you just look at the behind-the-scenes part of my Instagram story highlights, you
can see people judging me.
I'm used to it, it's totally fine.
So I'm gonna insert some pictures here that are using natural lighting vs. not natural
lighting.
And you can see that there's a really big difference.
And I'm actually also gonna be working on another video where I share some tips for
food photography and I'll go more in-depth on the natural lighting thing in that.
But yeah, the biggest, most important photography tip is to use natural lighting.
So my second tip is to use your phone.
This video is for beginners.
So if you're a beginner, I'm gonna assume that you don't have a really expensive camera
like a DSLR or something that you can use to take your pictures.
And I know that can be really intimidating, I myself have a DSLR and don't know how to
use it.
I just use my phone camera for all my pictures.
And right now I use an iPhone X, and before that I used to use an iPhone 6s.
And even before I got my X, I was taking perfectly fine pictures with my 6s.
So you don't even need the most updated iPhone, the best iPhone camera, like, 6s will do.
And I know so many successful food bloggers that literally just use their phone.
They don't ever use their camera either.
So it just really depends on you, what you're comfortable with, if you're happy with it.
Another note on editing is that you definitely don't need Photoshop or Lightroom to edit
your pictures, I do all my editing on my phone.
So basically everything is done on my phone.
My editing, taking pictures, all done on my phone.
And my two biggest recommendations for apps are Snapseed and VSCO.
And I edit my pictures on Snapseed first, and then I import it into VSCO and I slap
a preset on there, and it's good to go.
So yeah that's how I edit my pictures.
So I definitely recommend, if you're a beginner, to just start out with your phone camera because
I know how intimidating those really expensive cameras can be.
Okay so tip number 3 is to find your editing style/theme.
So if you look at my Instagram, you can definitely tell there's a white theme, but you know,
that's just the kind of theme that I like.
And I would definitely encourage you to find a theme that you like.
Having a theme is a really great way to differentiate yourself from other food bloggers, and I'll
insert some examples of different kinds of themes.
Some people have dark themes, some people like to do flatlay pictures, some people like
to do close-up shots only, or stuff like that.
You know, just a way to keep your photos consistent looking and it's really awesome when you can
look at someone's picture and be like, "that's this person's picture."
Like, you can just tell automatically because I think themes really show the creative and
artistic side in you and it just makes it really fun to just play around with different
editing styles and figure out which one you like.
And that will really reflect on your picture, and people will be able to identify that that's
your picture just by looking at it.
Oh, another note on that is to, once you find your theme or your style, you can definitely
change it up even after you find what style you like, but a note is to have your theme
in mind when you're taking the actual picture.
So since my theme is white, I gotta keep looking for the white tables, and stuff like that.
So that's how I maintain my theme, I just kinda have to think ahead, a little bit of
planning out my picture, and yeah.
So my fourth tip is to understand how Instagram works.
And what I mean by this is making use of all the different kinds of functions Instagram
has.
First example would be to use hashtags.
And basically on a post you can use up to 30 hashtags, and you want to hashtag things
that are relevant to your photo.
This will basically help you gain exposure to people that are interested in the things
that you're hashtagging.
So if you hashtag food, people are gonna look through the food hashtag and find your post
and be like, "wow this is a really cool picture" and maybe they'll follow you.
Basically that's the whole idea of it, but obviously that doesn't happen all the time.
But that's the whole idea, is to get exposure.
And same with adding a location to your picture, so people, if they're looking through the
location, they'll come across your picture.
Basically it's just to increase your exposure as a food Instagrammer.
And another thing is to sign up for a business account.
So basically when you sign up for a business account on Instagram, you have access to all
your insights.
This means that you can see how many people that your post reached, how many impressions
it had, and it also gives you the number of profile visits you got per day.
So those are some really helpful statistics that you can use to change your Instagram
strategy.
It basically helps you analyze how what you're changing about your Instagram will lead to
more views, more exposure, more reach, and stuff like that.
So my fifth tip is to be consistent.
And what I mean by this, going back to what I was saying earlier about a theme, like your
theme is gonna keep you really consistent with how your photos look, which is awesome.
But also, be consistent with your posts.
So this means you don't wanna be going on month-long hiatuses, like every other post.
And you definitely don't need to be posting 6 days a week like I do, but you know, even
posting 3 times a week, 2 times a week, even once a week.
At least your followers will know that you're still pursuing your food Instagram and that
they can expect more awesome content from you.
So my sixth tip is to engage with other foodies.
And what I mean by this is, if you stumble across another foodie's profile and if they're
in your area, or even if they're not in your area, you just like their pictures, give them
a follow.
You can comment on their pictures, if you're looking at their stories and they're doing
something interesting, then you can DM them, reply to their story, and get a conversation
going because that'll help you get to know different foodies in the foodie community,
which will really help you grow your page too.
So definitely engage with other foodies, try and comment on their pictures.
I'm sure they'll definitely comment back on yours, so yeah.
So my seventh and final tip is to be yourself and show your personality.
What I really like to do is to put more thought into my captions and kinda showcase my personality.
Even though it's just a caption and it's just a few sentences, I feel like it really helps
my followers get to know me and kinda get to see a little bit of what I'm like.
And I also show my personality in my stories, you know, when I do vlogging or if I'm just
talking to my followers on my stories, I feel like it helps them connect with me more, it
helps them get to know me more.
And I think it kinda makes my page unique from other people's pages too.
So that's it for my tips video, thank you guys so much for watching.
And stay tuned for my tips on food photography video that I'm working on.
And if you guys have any video ideas/stuff you want me to film, then definitely let me
know.
And yeah I'll see you guys in the next one.
Byeee!
Hey everyone, so today's video is gonna be -- what is it on?
I'm feed meimei!
Hey, what??
And, yeah I just eueyuh This is hard
I'm so nervous.
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Uh, what am I doing?
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Ok.
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