WEEK 9A: SHOPPING CENTRE DOORS (TOILETS)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BolOrbdDXuJ3qNNH9MtFeVxLOKIh-iofekdO9A0/?taken-by=nmedias391061
1. How did you author photo you recorded for upload to Instagram?
To author this photo for Instagram I used an iPhone 7s, which has a 12-megapixel camera on the rear of the device. In terms of the camera’s constraints in the shooting of this image, the small lens restricted me from being able to get a shot of the door in it’s entirety — I needed to manouver around in order to get a substantial amount of the door in the shot. The square image in the Instagram camera was also a constraint for the inability to shoot a full picture of the door, and made me shoot the door on a tilted angle in order to get most of it in. I didn’t use the flash, however I pressed the middle of the screen to ensure the brightness of the image was even and not casting too much exposure or shadows. I decided to use the Instagram filter “Gingham” as I believe it gives images a softer and warmer look. I have decided to use this filter on further images in this series to achieve an aesthetic look to my page. I increased the brightness and the sharpness of the image in Instagram’s added editing tools.
This authoring process was completely different to my normal authoring process of shooting, editing and uploading images to Instagram. Using Instagram alone posed quite restrictive in terms of image size, quality (especially photo crispness) and editing options. The camera on iPhone allows for much bigger and clearer photos, shoot’s a lot faster and offers modes as such Portrait and Panorama. The filters, whilst varied and relatively good, don’t always suit every photo you take and are common presets that everyone has access too. Other editing applications such as VSCO and RNI film allow for a more stylised and individual edit of images. The iPhone camera is a lot more efficient in quickly taking and saving photos, where on Instagram you have to take one photo, then delete it in order to take another one if you didn’t like the first one.
2. How did you publish photo you recorded for upload to Instagram?
I recorded this image 3 times before posting it to Instagram. This was because I wanted to ensure the photo had a good aesthetic look and I could instantly tell I wasn’t happy with the first couple I took and wouldn’t want to publish it on my feed. My curation process initially consisted of scouring an environment I believed could have a theme to it. I had to use my brain to think of an interesting environment where doors are displayed. After deciding to shoot at a shopping centre, and scouring Highpoint Shopping Centre for doors to shoot, I decided to shoot doors that are all around but not commonly seen as pieces of design, just more of a function. This is why I chose to start the series off with a photo and video of the public restroom. I wanted to ensure the photo of the door showed it’s length and sturdiness, and provoke thought in viewer of how these types of doors are not commonly seen. I added the location “Highpoint Shopping Centre” after posting, which was easily able to be done with a few simple clicks. I posted the picture with a caption “BATHROOM 001” as it is a two part series, with a video to follow. After posting, I went into “edit” and added a relevant hashtag #doorsofinstagram , which has 363,000 hits on the social media site.
3. How did you distribute photo you published on Instagram to other social media services?
I distributed the photo on Twitter and Tumblr, which was easily able to done as Instagram offers links to both of these apps to be posted (as well as Facebook) immediately and simultaneously when posting. I had to enable the linkage to both apps, which was easily directed by Instagram simply asking for my usernames and passwords for the external apps, which were then automatically linked. This being said, Tumblr was a lot more visually pleasing when viewing the sharing of the images on both Twitter and Tumblr. On Tumblr, the shared image pops up just as it appears on Instagram, but with a link to view on Instagram itself. On Twitter however, the image is shared only as the image’s caption, in this case, ‘BATHROOM 001’ and the link to view on Instagram, which defeats the purpose of sharing anything visual on Twitter. The limited character limit on Twitter also prevents excessive sharing of hashtags to create exposure for your post, unlike tumblr where you can reach target groups and audiences and receive large exposure due to hash-tagging.
