These days, Instagram is all about high-quality photos. While a straight-from-the-iPhone-photo used to satisfy the average ‘grammer, it seems like every other user is seeking out increasingly expensive smart-phones or DSLR cameras to get photos that shoot to the top of the Popular page.
While I’m sure we’d all love to have the latest smartphone, swapping phones every six months is not only ridiculous, but ridiculously expensive. Luckily, there are plenty of tools designed especially for Instagram and the blogging community. One of my personal favourites is Moment lenses. Moment lenses are great for those of us who don’t want to dish out a ton of cash but still want to improve the quality of our Instagram photos. Any experienced photographer will tell you it’s not about the body of your camera (though it never hurts to have a nice one), it’s more about the lenses and what they capture. All of the photos you are about to see were shot on – wait for it – an iPhone.
Moment manufactures different types of lenses depending on what you like to capture most. There’s portrait to get great shots of you and your friends, wide for landscapes, and macro for zoom-ins on your nails, insects or super fine print. What attracts me the most to Moment is their amazing price point. While DSLRs can set you back thousands of dollars, Moment lenses are all under $120, making them a necessity for any budding photographer’s kit.
The only slight inconvenience to Moment lenses is that they only mount on Moment cases, meaning you have to purchase one of their cases in order to use them. Their most basic case will only set you back around $30 and is a mere 3mm thick, minimizing the bulk. They also have a very handy battery photo case, which is a little pricier at $100 but does provide your phone with a wireless 90% charge and allows for smoother photography with an actual DSLR capture button on the case.
The case is worth what the lenses can do considering how beautiful the photos turn out. Photographers all across Instagram use #ShotOnMoment to share their shots that fit in alongside other professional photos.
Another tip for solid Instagram photography is to never underestimate the power of natural light. Sure, you look like a huge freak jumping from the restaurant table to the window to stage your perfect photo, but the difference is definitely worth it. Natural light casts a beautiful soft glow on photos that is rarely captured by artificial light. You can also easily pick up the famed Kardashian-style Lumi case for extra light, or purchase a simple clip-on light like this one.
The editing app also makes a difference. Many influencers and insta-photographers prefer more simple options like Adobe Lightroom for your phone, the classic VSCO Cam, FaceTune, or Afterlight. None of these apps cost more than $5 (some are even free) and allow for your image to be edited exactly how you like.