How to take authentic photos that engage your audience on Instagram

How do you take authentic photos for Instagram that will engage and enrapture your audience? For my recent trip to the South Island, I was lucky enough to have a suitcase full of Coop and Curate pieces by Trelise Cooper, each more stunning than the next. And I had a wild ride making strongly creative photos while sticking to my top value: authenticity.

Thank you to Trelise Cooper and all her associated brands for enabling me to tell stories through this gorgeous apparel.

I’ll start by saying I’m 5’1 and not a model.

I’m still a bit shy in front of the camera. And I cringe at terms like “Instagram model” or “influencer”.

I never started my Instagram account to boost my ego. My business isn’t about me. It’s about stories of mother earth and bringing PR to brands doing good work in her service. I want to restore people’s sense of wonder and enchantment through provoking art as an instrument to the cause of poetry.

I chose to approach Curate by Trelise Cooper after an epic shoot in New Zealand’s Giant Sand Dunes. The below photo exploded on my Instagram (by my standards anyway). And it even got the attention of Globelle Travels, who I write for now.

I was enchanted by the piece because I felt endless stories could be told through it.

The dress made me gasp in real life, and the image made my audience gasp virtually. Let’s unpack all the elements which led me to a powerful photo and many others that continue to generate awesome engagement.

7 Tips to take authentic photos that will engage your audience on Instagram: with visual aids

Who is Trelise Cooper?

Trelise Cooper is one of New Zealand’s best known designers. She has perfected ethereal prints and fluid silhouettes, granting a sense of empowered elegance to many across the world. Each garment is stitched with expert detail and quality to last years and years.

Her pieces are a work of art. Artisan designs that drape delicately over skin, I oscillate between feeling like a gypsy in the woods and an heiress frolicking her kingdom. They are adventurous with their creativity, delivering that wow factor for the streets and the online world.

I also flocked to the brand because of their values for fair labor and environmental responsibility with not one, but several pages on their website to speak on the topic.

Culminate these elements and I knew I could create magic through these pieces and expose the brand to a wider audience.

Which segues smoothly into my first tip.

1. Pretty isn’t enough

It takes time to find the right brand to collaborate with on a project. Do they align with your values? Does the style fit your aesthetic? Does the brand messaging fit yours?

Particularly when it comes to apparel, “pretty” just doesn’t cut it. The online world is inundated with consumer goods. Simply showing the product isn’t enough to provoke engagement and importantly, conversion for the brand.

I always ask, does this brand make product that stands out from the rest?

Trelise Cooper’s garments are unique, a kaleidoscope of color that makes for striking imagery. The fabric molds perfectly to the female form, bold and delicate all at once. It’s beyond pretty. It’s interesting to the eye.

My audience consists mostly of young women like me. So if a dress snags my attention, it’s safe to assume it’ll snag theirs too.

Take note when something strikes you. If it makes you gasp… follow that.

2. What story are you telling?

Depending on your niche, it’s important to always consider the “story”. 

Pause for a minute and ask… what story exists here? If a moment were captured, how would it perform as a film still?

And here’s a top tip, particularly for women: you don’t have to smile. This may sound harsh but I have a hard time connecting to a creator who smiles in every photo. It feels insincere. Life isn’t always so great. A vast range of emotions are available to us and should be utilized in our art.

Creation of a photo should be treated as a painting, with the aim to capture an observer, to warrant thought and ponderation.

If a photo makes you feel something, ask yourself why. And use these concepts to create.

Related: Crying at the Mountains in Wanaka, New Zealand

3. Balance between values and pushing yourself

I’m always careful with the advice to push my limits. While I strive to be innovative, I have an immovable set of values. These include service, integrity, and rejecting the mindset of “anything for the ‘Gram”.

Establishing a strong set of values is an anchor to authenticity.

Just as important is understanding who you are and who you aren’t. For example, I have strong feelings about the kind of content I don’t want to post online (this includes anything in a swimsuit). It’s just not me.

But I’ll push myself in other ways. Promoting apparel requires a different lens so I couldn’t hide as a small object among nature. This challenged me to use props, be creative, and finetune my facial expressions.

It didn’t feel like a sacrifice to authenticity. It felt like growth.

Pushing your limits is crucial to ensure your art continues to evolve. But it’s equally important to stay aligned with self. This is the recipe to produce captivating content that won’t feel cheap or forced to an audience.

4. A trusting relationship between photographer and subject

This is a concept I don’t often see discussed, mostly because the world of photography remains foreign to the general public.

Content creation is a difficult job. It’s intense, deeply vulnerable, and often thankless.

Not to mention it requires a lot of upskilling. I think of evenings spent with Shaun in photography classes. I think of investing in courses to understand our camera inside and out, develop a content marketing strategy, hours of practice, perfecting our creative flow.

Shaun is an essential part of my business. He enables my creativity, supports my ventures and talks me through every shoot where the impostor syndrome is too great.

A trusting relationship between photographer and subject is key to taking authentic, deeply creative photos. Choose someone who makes you feel excited and confident. Someone worthy of witnessing you fall into a world of daydream.

Someone who will persist until you have the shot.

5. It’s not about me, it’s about the environment

Every shoot, I announce to Shaun and I both: “It’s not about me, it’s about the environment.”

It signals to my brain that I’m not the focal point here. It broadens my awareness to the trees or the sea, binds me to the story.

What role are you, the subject, playing in the context of this environment? 

This requires some creative power so bring all the tools required. Music. A glass of wine. Investigate how you feel standing at the scene, or what a character might do in a movie.

Epic landscapes certainly help in weaving plot and emotion, but not always necessary. Simple environments can also tell stories. Call on nature’s elements. What’s the weather doing? What colors dominate the scene? How should the subject be scaled?

Take a few minutes to absorb your environment, its mood and contents. Connect to it, and your audience will connect through you.

Related: Going Off-Grid in a Riverside Cottage in the Wairarapa

6. Plan your colors, but not too much 

An element that drew me to Trelise Cooper was her use of color. Through exquisite and carefully selected shades, her pieces complement my hair and skin tone as if they were fashioned just for me.

I knew I would take the garments into an autumn wonderland, hence I planned some ideas prior to the trip. Understanding color philosophy is a skill all creatives should endeavor.

But nature manifests itself in endless chaotic ways around us. 

I have a bad habit of abandoning my camera if it’s overcast.

But I’ve come to realize… a storm completely transforms a scene. Colors deepen. Textures pop.

This shoot with the blue knit was unplanned. A gentle rainstorm whispered over Wanaka as we drove through its countryside. Deep into farmlands, with mountains rising all around us and not a soul in sight, we pulled over and proceeded to create some of my favorite photos from the trip.

There’s a reason photographers say “always carry your camera”.

The darkness illuminated the clothes. A somber mood pressed all around us and birthed a different kind of story.

Nature is endlessly changing. Harvest her tumultuous mood. Your camera will capture emotions that would not have otherwise been available.

7. Be authentic!

My last and final advice is most important.

To create authentic photos that engage your audience on Instagram, let go of self-limiting stories.

Just be you. Vulnerable, uncomfortable, but revolutionary.

And not every element should be perfect.

To engage my audience, I need to be someone they can relate to. I need them to see themselves in the photo, wandering through fields or plucking flowers. To feel the wind and the sun, to taste the ocean spray and hear the tides.

Authentic engagement with your environment will yield authentic engagement from the audience. If you’re having a bad day, show it. Know you’ll tell the story of it later and many will relate.

Some of my most successful posts are when I chose to be honest. When I lifted the curtain and told a difficult story behind a photo or shared a vulnerable thing.

Emotion enraptures an audience. Use human connection and people will remember you. In the words of the great poet Maya Angelou:

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

I hope these tips help you create more authentic photos to engage your audience on Instagram. My tip above all else: practice, practice, practice.