My Instagram workflow (reactions?)
kbevphoto
Registered Users Posts: 110 Major grins
Hey all -
It took me a while, but I finally settled into a clean workflow for Instagram and wanted to get some reactions and ideas on how to improve it. I think a long time ago, i posted my overall workflow, which got me some good ideas.
Pre-work - My current workflow gets me to a place where each folder in Lightroom contains a subset of FLAGGED photos that are colored GREEN - which means they are ready to be posted to my website. I also have a duplicate set for some shoots that are BLUE, meaning they have my logo manually added where I want it and ready to post.
Step 1 - With the green filter set, I go through and select the photos that are Instagram-worthy. I have a KEYWORD SET that includes "InstagramPic" that scrapes into a SMART FOLDER names InstagramPrep.
Step 2 - In the smart folder, I look confirm each photo and open the whole batch into Photoshop. If I have too many, I'll do them in batches
Step 3 - Within Photoshop, I use the keystroke to crop each photo to a square ratio that pulls added black borders to the pic in a square ratio (top/bottom or sides) This is pretty quick. The downside is that it creates massive TIF files (too lazy to set each one ot JPG). I don't like the new IG photo sizes, and still prefer square pix where I set the crop myself.
Step 4 - Once the square edits are done, I tag all photos InstagramPosted. This allows me to avoid reposting pix I've already posted from my archive. I also color them PURPLE.
Step 4b - For the newly created square pix (huge tifs), I also tag them InstagramPrepDelete. This is a flag that allows me to delete these if I decide they are taking up too much room.
Step 4c - For my each of my 4 dedicated channels), I also tag them "IG-<channel>"
Step 5 - Using an IG preset that created in Lightroom, I export the square photos to a folder (by channel). The preset adds my watermark and sets the dimensions to the Lightroom optimal size
Step 6 - I do some things to catalog the square instagram pix into lightroom, I'll skip those.
Step 7 - I copy all of the new square pix for each channel into my dropbox account. This effectively creates a ton of photos for each channel into an easily accessible place.
Step 8 - When it's time to post, I go to Dropbox on my phone, pick a few, download them to my phone, delete them from dropbox (to avoid double-posting) and post them.
Step 8b - When posting, i use my iPhone text-replacement functionality to pre-set the hashtags and stuff for the different events that I'm posting. often the batches are from specific events and this speeds up the posting a ton
Anyway, that's the flow. It has been workign pretty well. I struggled to figure out what to do do manage the files for my different channels. This seems to be workign well thus far... thoughts?
KBev
Main feed: @KBevPhoto
Dedicated feeds (in case you prefer a single focus):
@BBoyPix_kbevphoto
@PoleDancePix_kbevphoto
@BodyMod_kbevphoto
@Graffiti_kbevphoto
It took me a while, but I finally settled into a clean workflow for Instagram and wanted to get some reactions and ideas on how to improve it. I think a long time ago, i posted my overall workflow, which got me some good ideas.
Pre-work - My current workflow gets me to a place where each folder in Lightroom contains a subset of FLAGGED photos that are colored GREEN - which means they are ready to be posted to my website. I also have a duplicate set for some shoots that are BLUE, meaning they have my logo manually added where I want it and ready to post.
Step 1 - With the green filter set, I go through and select the photos that are Instagram-worthy. I have a KEYWORD SET that includes "InstagramPic" that scrapes into a SMART FOLDER names InstagramPrep.
Step 2 - In the smart folder, I look confirm each photo and open the whole batch into Photoshop. If I have too many, I'll do them in batches
Step 3 - Within Photoshop, I use the keystroke to crop each photo to a square ratio that pulls added black borders to the pic in a square ratio (top/bottom or sides) This is pretty quick. The downside is that it creates massive TIF files (too lazy to set each one ot JPG). I don't like the new IG photo sizes, and still prefer square pix where I set the crop myself.
Step 4 - Once the square edits are done, I tag all photos InstagramPosted. This allows me to avoid reposting pix I've already posted from my archive. I also color them PURPLE.
Step 4b - For the newly created square pix (huge tifs), I also tag them InstagramPrepDelete. This is a flag that allows me to delete these if I decide they are taking up too much room.
Step 4c - For my each of my 4 dedicated channels), I also tag them "IG-<channel>"
Step 5 - Using an IG preset that created in Lightroom, I export the square photos to a folder (by channel). The preset adds my watermark and sets the dimensions to the Lightroom optimal size
Step 6 - I do some things to catalog the square instagram pix into lightroom, I'll skip those.
Step 7 - I copy all of the new square pix for each channel into my dropbox account. This effectively creates a ton of photos for each channel into an easily accessible place.
Step 8 - When it's time to post, I go to Dropbox on my phone, pick a few, download them to my phone, delete them from dropbox (to avoid double-posting) and post them.
Step 8b - When posting, i use my iPhone text-replacement functionality to pre-set the hashtags and stuff for the different events that I'm posting. often the batches are from specific events and this speeds up the posting a ton
Anyway, that's the flow. It has been workign pretty well. I struggled to figure out what to do do manage the files for my different channels. This seems to be workign well thus far... thoughts?
KBev
Main feed: @KBevPhoto
Dedicated feeds (in case you prefer a single focus):
@BBoyPix_kbevphoto
@PoleDancePix_kbevphoto
@BodyMod_kbevphoto
@Graffiti_kbevphoto
0
Comments
RadiantPics
Ha! This images are fine. (as in: Never as good as I want. Never as bad as I think...) The path to the image is where I could use some insight form the community.
Then again, here's what the finished products look like:
https://instagram.com/p/BCbVRK-ApkO/
https://instagram.com/p/BAHnaj2ApsX/
https://instagram.com/p/BBH8UgaApkw
Also if you really don't like how something looks square just use white letterboxing and it looks fine on there since the app uses a nearly white background.
Your's is a lot more thorough than mine. Here's my process I simply tag them in a color specific for Instagram shots and then edit them fully this way I don't have to do that twice. Though my editing can include removing backgrounds which in some cases can be time consuming especially for aerials. I do this with my NES controller which I use to short images, I can't remember off hand but that color is binned to either start or select....I've found that gamepads are the best way to cull images but that's another thread.
I only export them one by one or at most in small batches then give anyone that has been exported 5 stars to make sure it's in my final gallery.
I put in my watermark manually each time so I can change color/opacity/placement to be the least intrusive possible.
I use smugmug that lets me share directly to instagram.
And for the text I just FB message myself, it's simple and it works. Plus since this is all I use it for I have all the previous ones in case I need to reuse them or copy hashtags.