How To Find Your Perfect Colour Scheme on Instagram

Feeling positive and motivated with your Instagram feed can be difficult, and trust me - even when other people may think a feed looks great, the owner behind it is probably cringing at one post that just didn’t sit right as they wanted it to.

Brainstorming and perusing other Instagram accounts that you admire or enjoy looking at are good ways to find out what style and colour schemes you like best.

Make a folder on Instagram and press the save button (the bookmark button) each time you see a photo that you yourself would post. Once you have around 9-12 or more, you can use this as a sort of “mood-board” and inspiration for your own Instagram feed. This is a technique I also like to use when I’m styling photos as you can get a lot of inspiration and ideas from other creatives that could spark something amazing in yourself.

After creating your mood-board, you will see a pattern in the types of images, graphics and style you are interested in and aspire to be life. Remember that in the future, you can continue to save and build on this mood-board and continue to take inspiration from it.

Do you notice a trend in the style and colours of the images you are selecting? This is important to note, and I would even write down what colours and textures you see. Is there a lot of browns, woods and natural fibres? Is it light, bright and airy? Are there certain colours that stand out, like oranges or blues? Asking yourself what you see and putting pen to paper will help consolidate all your ideas. If you ever in the future feel like you are not on track with what your style is, you can go back and look at this note and mood-board as a reminder.

Now you’re ready to perfect your editing. Most of the time, these images you are enjoying have a specific editing style that the photographer or editor will use and save. When starting out or if you want to know you want a style to be completely the same as someone you admire, I would recommend seeing if the Instagram photographer has presets so that you can download directly and get exactly what you want.

You can check out my presets in my SHOP tab, and there are examples of the before and after, as well as the image example completely edited using my presets.

When editing, make sure you find an editing software that works best for you. If you are just starting out, you can use Apple’s or your phone brand’s built in editing software or an app that has editing tools made for you. If you feel comfortable with difference editing tools, I would highly recommend Lightroom (mobile or desktop) to use. Often, the presets on sale (like mine) will install directly into your Lightroom editing software. You can then additionally tweak or edit the photos further, enhancing certain colours, textures, or removing little spots or crumbs that you may not visibly want in your images.

When planning my feed, I like to use a planning platform - this could be something like Planoly, Later, Unum or even Preview (a free app that lets you organise your posts so you can see them before they go out). Planoly, Later, Unum and the like are usually free to a certain extent, but with payment you can get additional features such as having more drafts, scheduling, and more.

Personally, I use Planoly for my @gemtakesfoodpics account. I have tried and tested multiple platforms but the way that the platform works fit best for the way my brain works. I’d recommend trying a few out for free and seeing which work best for how your mind likes to organise. Everyone is different and so Planoly may be for some, or Later for others.

Once you are set-up, you can add in any of the edited images and captions alongside that you’re looking to post. I’d look at which images look best next to each other and on top of one another. Add in at least 9-12 images so you can get a good idea of what someone would see if they came to look at your profile. After you’ve done this, take step back from looking at your own photos and go back a couple hours later, a day later or however long and see if you have any further adjustments in the feed organisation to make.

The most important thing with your colour scheme on Instagram is that you feel happy and enjoy sharing your images in this style. Feeling comfortable with what you are sharing is essential to creating an Instagram feed.

Do you have any additional tips to share? Did this help you? If yes, please drop me a comment and let me know below and I’ll look forward to sharing more soon.