instagram 101 // my favourite filters, overlays and tips

Monday, July 29, 2013
Wardrobe things (from top left): Pretty pink Oasap bag and the current state of my Spring wardrobe. I'm getting a little excited because we are only a month away from the warmer months! A favourite mint lace blouse as well as some pearl and gold cat ears. StyleLately sent this beautiful statement necklace it went perfectly with my favourite cream sweater. 

My favourite Instagram filters: Rise, Valencia and Lo-Fi. I love the look of vintage photos so these effects are my absolute favourite especially when it comes to taking pictures of clothing or accessories. 

Food: My favourite breakfast lately has been fruit salad topped with organic Greek yoghurt, honey and all-brain or muesli, so filling and delicious (perfect if you want to start your day off well!). Fresh baked white chocolate and macadamia cookies, an almond croissant (so, SO good!) and fancy pancakes with ice cream and strawberries at my favourite cafe. 

My favourite overlays: I love adding special effects to my photos, especially if they need that little extra something. AfterLight has a beautiful selection of light leak textures and dusty overlays. They add a really pretty effect to your photos and fill in any white spaces well. I also like adding light bokeh to my photos using PicFx, the hearts are my favourite! 
Outdoors: The beautiful (this photo just doesn't do it justice, this plantation was absolutely beautiful!) garden at this Montville rental property was the most magical place ever. I stayed there for a night with some family friends (which included an epic mud fight, the most unlady-like thing I have ever done, mind you!), and old Western movies around the fire. This is a picture of the rockpools at Coolum Beach. My Biology class was taken on an excursion to analyse sea creatures and their behaviours and this was the highlight - so pretty! The cabins at our Art Camp in May, very appropriate, right?! 
Went out to get the mail and saw this magnificent angel cloud swooping across my house. Times like these when one really stops to appreciate the small miracles in life. 

Text and frames: Sometimes a simply white background is all you need, which is where Whitagram comes in! Perfect for portrait photos that you don't want to crop. ABeautifulMess app is a major favourite for me right now too because of the gorgeous and artsy frames and little drawings you can (very easily, I might add!) add to your pictures. 

Outfits: Pretty pink blouse and a gorgeous blue floral skirt seen here. Wearing the gorgeous StyleLately necklace and a thrifted sweater in this post. Frolicking around in the sun in a girlie, colourful outfit seen here and being fancy and French-inspired in this post

Tips: Share your pictures with your other readers on various platforms! I always share my pictures on Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter as I've found it to be quite effective to gain a wider follower range - so, connect up your accounts and get sharing! If I'm posting a picture of an outfit featuring a particular brand, tag them in it! If they see it, they like it, they might even repost it (which is like giving you a profresh 'shoutout'). Also, creating a hashtag for your blog name can help new readers find you easily. If you search #avenuemaria on Instagram, I've tagged most of my outfits so new readers can find me :) 

What are your tips and tricks?! Do you have any favourite filters, apps or overlays? Please comment and let me know, we can all share our favourites with everyone! I hope you have a beautiful day, love you all xo

9 comments:

SARAH said...

i've always thought your instagram photos are so pretty and now i know the secrets, haha! thank you for sharing

Sarah
xox

http://absolutelysarahx.blogspot.com

Chloë, Wardrobe Quarry said...

I'm so glad you've shared this 'abeautifulmess app'! It is so awesome.

Wardrobe Quarry

nanawintour said...

Fabulous post! You take such gorgeous Instagram pictures & mentioned all my favourite editing apps too #greatminds. I'll have to check out Whitagram now.


S xo

pigeon said...

photos of food <3

Meera said...

Your Instagram photographs are always SO gorgeous! I am so glad we are following each other and now I know how you edit your lovely photos :) Your blog is amazing, as always.

xo, Meera | www.momentswithmeera.com
twitter + instagram: @meeranavlakha

Anonymous said...

These are all such cute photos! That almond croissant looks AMAZING, and of course, so do your outfit photos! Picfx is one of my favorite editing apps, too!

Xo, Hannah

sweetsweetnoir.net

Marian said...

Your photos are really cute! I've heard a lot of good things about the afterlight app so maybe I should check that out. love your accessory photos!

Anonymous said...

I only got Instagram a few months ago (shipshapebf) so I'm always interested to hear what kind of filters people like to use. I don't really use it for the social side of things, I just love the antique look it gives my photos. My favourite filters are Amaro and Rise :)

Anonymous said...

I heart all your Instagram photos, thanks for sharing your tips! Photo apps I can't live without are Pixlr (my one time stop for photo editing), Photogrid (for photo collaging), and ShapePlus (can't remember if that's spelled right, but it's what I use to make my photos into different shapes). Can't wait to try your suggested apps :)