Being a fashion blogger and managing an Instagram account takes a lot of behind the scenes work. Being a blogger is more than just being a model. A model poses for a camera, whereas a blogger is a part of the creative work. They contribute to, if not outright direct their fashion photos. Many bloggers use a timer on a camera and create the whole image themselves. Most fashion photo shoots require a stylist, hair and makeup artist, model, and photographer, and someone to scout the location. Most fashion bloggers do everything themselves, or are responsible for all of the components and then work with a photographer. Personally, I do both as sometimes I take my own photos and at other times I ask family, friends or professional photographers to work with me. There are a handful of mobile apps that are super handy in helping you create and edit your photos and manage your social media accounts.
1. Camera+
One of my favorite apps to use when taking photos on my iPhone is Camera+. It makes every image so much more crisp and clear, it feels like you're using an entirely different device. It saves your photos into a collection called a Lightbox on the bottom left-hand corner. If you go into it you can choose which photos you want to save to your Camera Roll and which to delete.
2. Photo Editor
After the image is created, there is still a lot of work to do in editing the photo to get it just right. A photo editing app is also a standard requirement. You can make your own custom filters by adjusting the brightness and color balance. There are quite a few popular ones such as VSCO or Adobe Photoshop Express. Most bloggers use what are called presets to set the filter for the photo. I create my own custom ones using Photo Editor-.
3. Plan Your Feed
A post planning app is super helpful for creating your Instagram feed. It lets you visualize your feed and plan it out before you make a permanent post. you can order your posts by how well they flow together, not just in their current position but how they will change as new posts are added. I use Planoly, it lets you plan out a lot of photos to visualize your gallery. It also now lets you schedule your posts if you have a business account on Instagram.
4. Instagram Highlight Cover
Phonto helps you create cover photos for your Instagram Story collections. Now that you can highlight your Instagram Stories so they will last longer than 24 hours, you can save them in a collection called a highlight that shows up above your posts on your account. Find a background image such as a photo of marble and find a graphic that describes what the collection is about, such as a fork for food or a plane for travel. Phonto lets you layer the images on top of each other just like in Photoshop.
5. Manage Who You Follow
A followers tracking app is a must. So many accounts play the follow-unfollow game in the blogger world and you need to be able to check who is following you. Double check that the app is working accurately first before you unfollow accounts that have unfollowed you or are not following back. You can check it by typing in the username in the search option on the list of who is following you. Once you find a reliable one you're good to go, and Followers + is a good one.
These apps will help you become a professional Instagrammer in no time. So many bloggers try and hide their tools and tricks of the trade. I wish that someone had made all of this information available when I was getting started! In the end, there will never be one blogger, and I am always looking for new accounts to follow. I hope this information helps you get started and improve your Instagram game.
