How did you author (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?
For this week, I used my iPhone 11 rear-facing cameras to author the image. Instead of going through the Instagram platform and trying to take the photo to start off with, I went directly to my camera app as I knew it had featured that Instagram doesn’t afford users. I wanted to utilise the wide 0.5x zoom effect on the photograph and therefore the only option was to use my camera outside of Instagram. Through this decision, I was able to frame my photograph and provide the right amount of foregrounding to the object whilst having the background to show perspective and act as a backdrop.
Unlike many of the other photos I have taken through previous weeks, I only took one shot to get what I was after. I didn’t have to retake or reposition myself to authors this weeks photograph and therefore the process was a lot shorter. Also due to the natural light that was beaming in on the afternoon, I shot this, I didn’t have to use any flash or enhance the brightness. I simply just held down the focus to activate the AE/AF LOCK that the iPhone camera features and therefore the lighting was constant.
When deciding what to photograph this week, I was more conscious and selective. Although we are not being directly graded on our images, I do believe a better and cohesive image on Instagram affords its user much more than a bad image. I also believe that the aesthetics you create and uphold on your account help other users connect and understand your page. As Dana says “your formula should help your photos appear as if they are part of a set. Like they belong together” (Dana, 2015). Furthermore, as I have discovered through this process that I am photographing more unique and manmade objects, specifically with a focus on wood, I decided to stick with it for my final photo post to enhance my page aesthetics.
To amplify the theme of my page, I again stuck to the same filter of ‘Gingham’ but this week I only applied the filter at 50% as otherwise, the lighting looked too overexposed and therefore would not have matched.
How did you publish (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?
My publishing processes this week as mentioned above were much quicker due to my ability to get the shot I wanted with no issues. As discussed in my previous week’s work, I am still skeptical as to whether adding a location does much for a post. Nonetheless, I decided to become more specific compared to last week’s post and use the location of Melbourne and analyse its performance in conjunction with the others.
The photo was again accompanied by a quote that I believed enhanced the photograph. The caption on the post was “have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it.” – Salvador Dali. I thought this worked perfectly as the object I was photographing was unique and, in the image, viewers can see it doesn’t sit straight or completely even, therefore it exposes the lack of perfection. Looking back, I could have potentially used a call to action for viewers to then view my video which exposed the unsteadiness of the little man whilst moving. I have loved being able to find new quotes and further explore the topic of design throughout these posts. While Leaver explains that “there is no option to post a caption without a visual element” (Leaver 2020, p. 64) I do believe that captions should provide insight and hint at what the post could be about and that is why I spent a bit of time each week finding a suitable quote – this is further enhanced with the use of hashtags as well.
How did you distribute (the photo or video) you published on Instagram to other social media services?
The photo was once more matched with multiple hashtags, these included ‘#design #creative #unique #little #antiques #gooddesign #art #manmade #photography #building’. As in each post, there are some similar hashtags but also some new and different topics to help differentiate it from the others.
In terms of distributing my work onto other platforms, this week was different from the previous two. As with every other week, I have had no issues distributing to Tumblr, therefore the process was just as simple as the swipe of the button in the publishing process. However, as I had mentioned in my other blog posts, when distributing through Instagram’s platform to Twitter, the actual content was never transferred. Rather it was just the caption and a link to the post. Therefore, for this week, I decided to individually distribute my post onto Twitter. This meant that I had to save my photograph onto my camera roll, upload it to Twitter, copy the caption and hashtags from my Instagram post and then paste them into the description on the twitter post. Yes, this process was much longer than just the press of a button yet because of the constraints that distributing to Twitter through Instagram has, I wanted to again see if it made any difference. As mentioned above, I do believe captions are powerful in themselves, but I also hold the belief that the photograph is what would draw more people in. Hence, I hope that this move and decision garners more views and attention to prove my theory correct.
References:
- Leaver, Tama, et al. Instagram : Visual Social Media Cultures, Polity Press, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/rmit/detail.action?docID=6027966.
- Manovich, L 2016, Instagram and the Contemporary Image, University of San Diego, USA, pp. 1-148