This week, we explored the networked effect and the process of publishing to Instagram and other social media services. Publishing content online (and specifically to Instagram) involves getting the photo or video ready for publication. What does it mean for a photo or video to be ready? It means making sure the image or video is edited to your preference, a caption and relevant hashtags are thought of. The publication process actually feeds into the distribution process; especially through the way Instagram enables users to instantly share their post through other social media platforms – a built in function to aid the distribution of their content. To remind you of the networked effect, I want you to the think of the snowball effect. Today, photographers now have the ability to view a large varied range of work and discuss it with other practitioners – subsequently this enabled them to quickly progress their own approach towards taking photos.
This week I have been attempting to improve and grown my #greendoorspotter Instagram. I have uploaded two new posts, a story (which was then highlighted on my page) and added a link in my bio – you could say I’m utilising many of Instagram’s functions. The link is to singer Jim Lowe’s 1956 hit, Green Door. It is my hope that by adding this link in my bio I am encouraging people to click and hear an upbeat and popular old song, immerse fellow Instagrammers in the green door culture I am trying to create, and also just have a more active Instagram – with a well thought-out theme.
The picture above is a little insight into what my Instagram page is looking like at the moment. I’m hoping in the weeks to come, it can grow in followers, have more engaging posts and utlise the story function more.
What did we capture this week?
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bxq8GWqp4oq/
1. How did you author (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?
This photo was authored using the rear-facing camera on my iPhone 6. It was taken in the camera app, and I chose to take the picture in the square format for it to be easily uploaded to Instagram with no cropping needed. Spotting this wooded door on a walk, I moved my body significantly closer to the door in order to to capture the greenery around it. Because it was daylight, no flash was needed to capture this image. When editing the image within Instagram, I slightly upped its brightness, and also upped its sharpness. On a personal level, I enjoy images on Instagram that are clear, sharp and vivid. To maintain some of this aesthetic within my Green Door Instagram, using the sharpener tool is a must. It’s ease of being located within Instagram (and this de-necessitating the use of any other app), means I can create these images to an aesthetic that I like, in a very quick and convenient way.
2. How did you publish (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?
This photo was published to Instagram on May 20, 2019. The photo was selected out of a series of 5; each image framed the wooden door slightly differently, and this image appeared to be the most centered out of all the others, hence it was chosen for upload. The location this photo was taken in (Eltham, Victoria) was also added in the publishing stage. By choosing to share the location, not only am I placing this image in a collection of other content taken in the same place, but I am just adding more information and a further sense of authenticity to the photo. Followers scrolling past this image can consume its content quickly, and note where the image was taken. My short caption was an attempt to bring a little bit of gentle-mocking humour to my own Instagram account – given the fact that I published a photo of a door that was definitely not green to an account that is specifically looking for green doors.
3. How did you distribute (the photo or video) you published on Instagram to other social media services?
This photo was distributed via my personal tumblr account, Facebook account and via an Instagram story from my own personal Instagram account, encouraging people to engage with the post. The post was also further distributed the chosen hashtags #nature and #greendoorspotter – again, propelling the post into a cluster of images that are a little bit similar. It is my hope that by using hashtags, people who are exploring Instagram are able to come across this image with ease, and will potentially choose to engage and interact with the account and my attempts for “aesthetic visual communication.”
Manovich, L. 2016, Instagram and the Contemporary Image. University of San Diego, USA, pp. 24-113.