http://www.instagram.com/p/CAJERMHhttN/
How did you author (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?
Before
After
To capture this image I used the iPhone 8 Plus, the shot was captured in a portrait framing, the flash placed in auto and I didn’t consider the Instagram 1×1 format as a part of my authoring process. This was taken in the local surround of my residence and was a spontaneous capture, I liked the way the flowers looked. I thought this impromptu shoot, with simplistic images would fit nicely in response to why certain image do ‘better’ than others on Instagram. I think this quote renders true in relation to Instagram’s current visual climate. In an entry about secrets to going viral Shutterstock (2017, para. 3) claimed “Simple images do well on Instagram. That’s why there are so many popular accounts devoted entirely to minimalist photographs.”
Also as a part of my authoring I used a third part App called Lightroom to manipulate the pink and green tones and add a preset that applied a faded grain to the image. This quality inspired me to have a visual connection with the feeling of nostalgia which, so many networked media theorists tie Instagram’s success to.
How did you publish (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?
I shot approximately ten photos and chose this one because it was the only one which caught the sky in the background, the blue added another tonal quality that I enjoyed looking at. An additional choice I made in the publishing process was to mend the constraint of posting in either the 1×1 format or having a portrait image cut off on my Instagram grid. I used another external App called Spilt the Pic which allows you to compartmentalised your image into smaller squares, when posted as individual images they appear as a larger puzzled joined together on your Instagram grid. This meant I was able to share more of the image and investigate a different design option.
On Instagram I geo-tagged Melbourne, Victoria in all the images and then captioned ambiguous numbers 1-6 in each caption. The captions are my rank system, 1. being the isolated image that will be ‘liked’ the most and 6. being ‘liked’ the least. Since the page does advertise itself as an experiment the obscurity of the captions might raise an eyebrow for some and encourage engagement.
Another thing I wanted to touch on is typography. While I didn’t used a different font to publish this image, I did use it in the design of the page. The bold text draws the eye because it is different from what we are accustom to seeing on Instagram. To apply this I used a font generating website and copied, then pasted it into my bio.
How did you distribute (the photo or video) you published on Instagram to other social media services?
I posted these images on Tumblr and Twitter in addition to Instagram. Normally, I’d create platform specific content for each platform. Each social service has different affordances and images cultures that effect them. For instance each posted individually on twitter doesn’t populate onto a grid and therefore looks like a bunch of random, texts posts with no image or context. On Tumblr the Images appear individually and so again, the authoring and publishing choices I have made to distribute this image don’t really translate onto the Tumblr platform.
Twitter Post
Tumblr Post
Additionally, I chose not to hashtag my images in their captions and used a hashtag generator called Tage to generate a list of hashtags that I posted in all of the images comments. This meant the Hashtags didn’t flow over the the other platforms I distributed the work onto. However, I don’t have any reservations about making this choice. I think there is a stigma that surrounds hashtags- almost an Instagram elitist attitude which says they are a call for desperate attention, if overused. Many influencers try to hide them in their captions by lengthening out their text to ensure it wont be seen when people are scrolling. “A photograph is tied to its time—what is good today maybe a cliché tomorrow.” (Brodovitch 1961, p.133-134). What this quote highlights can also be applied to user distribution practices, hashtags were once trendy, now should be used with caution.
References
Alexey Brodovitch, “Brodovitch on Photography” (1961), in Charles Traub, Steven Heller, and Adam Bell, eds., The Education of a Photographer (New York: Allworth Press, 2006), 133–134.
Shutterstock Blog, “14 Secrets to Going Viral on Instagram,” May 11, 2014,
https://www.shutterstock.com/blog/14-secrets-going-viral-instagram.