If you’re a keen Tweeter, Instagrammer, fashion blogger, OOTD pinner, lifestyle vlogger, or simply love to share your photographs on social media, today’s post is for you. You’ll no doubt have spotted the latest photography trends on the platforms you use and, if you want to replicate those cool photos for yourself, here’s how to create those images – and how to get the look for less…
360 BOOMERANGS
Instagram is one of my favourite platforms and I’ve been doing my research into Instagram trends for 2020, including curating your stories and using Boomerangs. Sure, Boomerang has been around for a loooong time now, and we’re all pretty good at taking those ‘Cheers!’ photos with clinking champagne flutes. One creator whose Boomerangs I adore is artist Hannah Farthing. Her Boomerangs are so subtle that you think it’s just a beautiful photograph but then a leaf flickers or a shadow moves, and it’s so peaceful to watch.
But one of the newest and coolest trends is creating 360-degree Boomerang photos. These are especially effective for showing off your outfits if you’re a fashion influencer. But how do they achieve that look? I’ve seen it in action on YouTube in a behind-the-scenes video and here’s the secret – it’s a 360 photo booth!
You stand on a circular platform – either alone (wearing your best OOTD) or with your friends – and then a camera whizzes around the circle to take a moving photograph. This can be filmed Boomerang-style or as a straight-forward movement video. It can be real-time or slow motion, meaning you can sprinkle confetti for a magical party vibe as it slowly drifts to the ground.
How to do it for less? Well, you could get your friend to run around you while filming a Boomerang, but it’s not going to be the smoothest result. In fact, it’ll probably be a bit rubbish! Instead, why not gather together a gang of local bloggers, vloggers, ‘grammers etc and hire a 360 booth as a group for a few hours? You can get all your content for the next month in one hit – especially if you take lots of changes of clothing with you. Alternatively, you could recommend that your next friend to get married books a 360 photo booth and you can make the most of it at their wedding!
INCREDIBLE BACKDROPS
When you see an influencer posing in front of an amazing rainbow wall or with stacks of Doughnuts behind them, you can bet that they’re probably not in their own home (although I’m sure some of them DO have rainbow walls in their home – how much do you want to paint one in your hallway right now?!) From reading my friend Sophie’s blog post at SoInspo.com, I discovered that most of those incredible backdrops you spot online are part of The Selfie Factory. You can read her blog post about her first visit to Bluewater here and her Christmas visit here (yes, she’s been twice!)
But that’s not the only place to take amazing photos – I went to FriendsFest and they provided plenty of backdrops from the TV show for photo opportunities. I’ve seen many ‘grammers posing with umbrellas on THE orange sofa since my visit but (as a non-fashion blogger) I didn’t take many photos of myself at the event – I photographed Monica’s apartment for an interiors styling blog post instead! Even the CheeseFest we visited in December was a Wallace and Gromit backdrop bonanza!
So, how can you recreate those influencer backdrop photos without booking (sometimes pricey) tickets to similar events and taking multiple outfits with you to get those photographs? Well, I’ve noticed that more and more cafes and shops are styling their doorways, interiors and windows with Instagrammable backdrops of flowers, balloons and seasonal displays. One such example is in Ipswich – where The Bloom Lounge has a huge flower wall that’s just perfect for beautiful OOTD photos, like this one by Suffolk fashion and lifestyle blogger @adoseofapril.
So lovely, isn’t it? There are places like this popping up all over the country because the business owners know the value they’re adding to their target market by providing an Instagrammable location. All you need to do is keep an eye out on local instagram hashtags to discover new photography-ready places near to you.
The alternative is to create your own backdrop at home. I was only half-joking when I said you could to paint a rainbow wall in your hallway! Technically, you could go for colourful walls or patterned wallpaper if you’re decorating your home anyway but, if that’s a bit too extreme for you, you can buy pretty backdrops online (like the sparkly one I used below – I think I got it from eBay, but it was so long ago that I can’t really remember). Then you can hang it up like a curtain and take as many photos as you need, whenever you like.
What do you think of these influencer photography trends? Will you be trying them out for yourself? Or would you prefer to go for the DIY option? Let me know in the comments below, and I’d love to hear your tips and hacks for getting gorgeous social media photographs 🙂
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