6 Instagram Photography Trends 2020 For Enthusiasts And Professionals
Photography trends move fast on Instagram. Remember the time when your entire feed was full of heavily-filtered and square-cropped photos? Yes, we all do - it was only a couple of years ago but that style is back in 2020 and how! I say, you might as well go ahead and post a daguerreotype on your Insta handle and be a talking trend.
To help you hold the attention of your followers, I decided to get down to the research and configure the latest Instagram photography trends followed by some of the best photographers in India and abroad that are sure to skyrocket your feed into the new decade.
Film Photography
Rather than having FOMO, 2020 is more about JOMO - the joy of missing out. While in quarantine, we have practically nothing to do than to be present online and stay up-to-date with the latest events - and you might just want to go back to your analog cameras and try film photography again. In short, while you learn to enjoy your ‘boring’ everyday lives and translate your desire through shots and projects, film photography is your cradle to an Instagram trend.
Here’s how you can create magic straight away from your phone - simply apply an old film filter to your photo and bathe in the sweet temptation of posting it online.
Show Unedited Beauty
In the age where filters and retouching apps are a rage, leaving your photos untouched to show unedited beauty is a bold decision. The unedited trend stands for authentic photos, another trend that’s becoming increasingly popular on Instagram now. This a great trend to catch up on for portrait photographers who are all game for raw, natural charm. Just don’t be afraid of embracing your flaws and capture your picture in well-lit conditions - talk BODY POSITIVITY!
A Story With Close-Ups
A person’s story lies in the details; be it a close-up of their hands which are dipped in dirt from working in the gardens, or a picture of their desk laden with books, it’s about including the small details within the frame that add to their story. Noticing how levelled the horizon is, how the image is being framed and how the light is hitting your subject is a big deal. The tiniest of details take a photo from being good to great, the key is to always look for that little something in great detail.
Related to the above point, make sure that you take a variety of different image styles of a single situation. Whether you’re looking forward to telling the story of a vegetable seller or your friend’s birthday, just fixating your efforts on only one kind of photo won’t help you tell a story. You need to shoot a mix of portraits, shots of wide-angle, up high, down low, action shots, zoomed-in detail, all these together will help you narrate a story.
Dark And Moody Backgrounds
Dark backgrounds are often used to give an edgy yet classical feel to fine art photography. Not just this, but dark and moody backgrounds are also a hit in other photography genres, specifically to make a subject look a lot moodier and enhance the appeal of a photo. The simplicity of a dark background brings about a big difference in your work by turning a simple portrait into a rather thoughtful one. And when it comes down to food items, this technique miraculously transforms a normal food photo into the one that looks way more professional.
Some of the best photographers in India play with light & shadow to create mood in their photos and sculpt features to be highlighted on their subjects
Pro tip: You don’t exactly need a professional setup with a backdrop. A piece of curtain, cardboard, or even a large sheet of paper can be used as a great alternative to professional equipment.
Vertical Shots Only
As we’re a mobile-first generation, doing shopping, messaging and reading content on our mobiles, vertical shots have become a major photography element and has seeped into the social media terrain to become a kind of necessity. Quick math tells us that photographers who frequently use Instagram as their official marketing channel play around orientation, angles and colour-scheme. Besides, if experimenting with your Instagram handle was on your bucket list for 2020, then this might be a good starting point for you - get out of the standard horizontal view already!
Short Atmospheric Videos
If video is not part of your Instagram strategy, you might be falling behind. Instagram photography trends in 2020 are shifting towards making short videos with basic sequences that introduce your daily activities and what you do. After all, videos offer a lot more story-telling leeway than photos do - you capture short atmospheric videos of the restaurants you’re visiting, the road trips you’re taking, the street-food you’re trying, where the visuals allow your followers to connect with you on a personal level.
You can also use intertitles which harks back to the silent film days when filmmakers used it to communicate dialogue, description, and other details. You can add intertitles to your Instagram videos, with informative text between scenes to emphasize a message that you’ve meaning to convey.