Do you socialize with IG friends outside of IG?

Many of us have found our Instagram friendships transcending just connecting on Instagram alone. Many cities have InstaMeet-ups, PhotoWalks, or other in-person events (see earlier article by Joy & Jake below). Others have IG Pen Pals. I love finally connecting with people in person after getting to know them online, but that's not always possible because of distance. However, I have found a few other Social Media apps that expand my IG friends into other aspects of my life. Some friends have found me on FaceBook and Twitter, but since I'm hardly ever on either of those it may not really count as a connection.  Others actively challenge me in Words with Friends.  Path is an interesting app that, for me, is entirely made up of my Instagram pals and gives me different view into their lives. For one-on-one conversations, Kik is a popular instant messenger tool I've used to plan challenges or just chat. There's also Pinterest and others that I've used to expand my interactions with IG friends.

  

Recently I have grown to appreciate Google+, not for the same-old status updates, but because of the Google Hangout capability. We've been experimenting with HangOuts at work as a possible Internet-based communications and outreach tool and it is really cool. Best of all, it work on mobile devices really well. Up to 10 people can "hang out" together with camera and audio (think FaceTime but with 10 people at once and no WiFi requirement.)  In the near future I hope to organize an IGstyleguide HangOut for anyone interested in a virtual meetup where we can all appreciate (or laugh at) each other's funny accents.

Google+ Hangout with @rickcaffeinated

Do you stay connected with IG friends via Social Media or other ways outside of IG? What is working for you?

"Stuff Instagramers Say" - This is Hilarious!

Tips on how to plan a successful Instagram photo walk

Although there are NO guarantees when planning a local photo walk Jake and I have had six successful walks here in our local D/FW area. Getting to participate with other Instagrammers is an enriching experience that pays off on all the "behind the scene" work we put in before each walk.

When starting to plan a local photo walk in your area, working with someone who wants to plan and participate right along with you is vital. A partnership with another Instagrammer will better help organize, promote and run a local photo walk. 

These are local cities in our area.

Once you have a partner, try searching Instagram for local Instagrammers. Search hashtags in your area-  cities, places, events, etc. this will help get a jump start  on who MAY be interested in attending.  We just started our local Instagram account, having one in the beginning would have been more helpful. This should be a focal point to announce and promote the walks and also post photos from your photo walks. 

Our local IG account

At least a month prior to your photo walk, decide on a destination. Plan each location carefully. When planning the walk we consider that not everyone is going to have the same "taste" so we strive to pick locations that offer a variety of options to photograph. Make sure you walk or drive around the spot. Recently we tentatively planned a walk in an area that we were unsure about, before making the final decision I drove around the area. I discussed with Jake that it might not be a good spot due to the lack of variety and the amount of walking that would have to be done.  

Once you have finalized your location, it is best to have photos/images from that area. You can ask a local Instagrammer to use their shot or have your own photos prepared. You will need to design a "promo image" to post on Instagram. This image should be of something recognizable to the area you are promoting. You will need to put only the most pertinent information on the photo: What, When, Where. Leave all the details for the comment section. In the comment section you should be more specific, give the exact name and address of the meeting location, who to contact with questions and where to see any previous photo walk photos.

Now you can start promoting your walk, we typically post on both our feeds and then also the account for the photo walk. You may also encourage any others that are interested to promote the walk on their feed as well. During this time you can still find local Instagrammers, ENGAGE with them, being FRIENDLY is key. We all want to feel important, chatting and getting to know them will make them feel more comfortable with coming to "meet strangers". 

Promote the walk weekly…people are busy, they need reminders and this will help your event stays fresh in their minds.

At our local photo walks we always make dinner our stopping point. A few days prior to the walk you should iron out a restaurant. When picking where to eat you need to consider your group size, wait time and location. We tend to make our meeting location where we will eat or close nearby. We usually have an average of 15 or more, so this is a huge consideration for us. Usually at the end of a photo walk attendees are hungry and thirsty so a long waiting time tends to be frustrating.

The day of the photo walk plan to meet early. We meet at least an hour early to drive/walk the route, planning which direction we will start, how far we will go and any special considerations. Also scout out any unique spots for group photos- this has become one of our favorite activities. We strive to affiliate the group photo with the location of that specific photo walk. Bring name tags- most will not know each other and it helps discerning the person/name with their username from Instagram. Seek out any new attendees, make them feel welcome. We all know how it feels being the new kid in town. 

Once everyone has arrived they are depending on you to guide them. Split up from your partner to have someone in the front and back so you don't lose anyone. Round everyone up for group shots, try to make each group shot fun and different. Also try and photograph each Instagrammer "photoging," people like to see themselves and its fun to look back at everyone in their element.

 

 

When the end of the walk is nearing call ahead to the restaurant if you don't already have reservations, see how long the wait is, you may need to have a backup plan if its too busy. At the restaurant try to find an area that is large enough for the whole group. At times this has been challenging but we have always worked it out. This is also a good time to take pics of everyone because everyone is usually on Instagram looking at what has been posted.

Good luck, we hope all these tips will provide your area with a successful photo walk!

 Our first Fort Worth photo walk.

Does Hipstamatic intimidate you?

One of the first mobile photography apps I downloaded was Hipstamatic. I opened it and immediately felt intimidated and confused. I didn't touch the app again for months. My friends @punkrawkpurl, @tomiejane, and @lucky_chucky started something called the Hipstaroll and that prompted me to give Hipsta another shot.

Being a lover of the editing process, the first thing I had to get over was the perceived loss of creative control. With Hipstamatic, your creative choices are made pre-shot. You select a film, a lens, and a flash (if needed). Each of these items have distinct characteristics and they can be combined for a wide variety of styles/looks.

The second issue I had was adjusting to shooting based on a tiny viewfinder window. It seemed like I could never line up the shot the way I wanted. Once I found out that you could adjust the viewfinder to fill the screen, I jumped in and started finding combinations that I liked.

Below are a few tips that got me going with Hipstamatic.

To change the lens, swipe left or right over the lens image. Touch the icons on this screen to change the film, the flash, the camera body (this has no effect on the final image), to shop for new items, and finally to shoot.

You'll see this after touching the film icon. To change the film, swipe up and down over the film image. One important note is to click the "Edit" button from this page, which will allow you to turn on/off the shake for random feature. I hate this feature and keep it turned off. If you keep this on, the slightest bump will change all the combinations you previously selected.

You'll see this after touching the arrow icon. This is the tiny viewfinder window I mentioned earlier. Push the yellow button to snap the image. You can also turn your flash on/off from here. I prefer to shoot from the full screen viewfinder. Pull from opposing corners of the small viewfinder to expand (see the next image).

This is the full screen viewfinder. Simply touch the screen to snap the shot.

Hope you find these tips helpful. I look forward to seeing your shots in the weekly Hipstaroll! By the way, my favorite Hipsta combo is John S with AO DLX. What's yours? Do you have any other tips for using Hipstamatic? I'd love to hear them!

Deconstruction Art

One of the sub-cultures evolving on IG is a group of artists interested in taking their photos and creating completely different works of art using the myriad of photo editing apps available. 


I recently was in San Francisco and was inspired by some of the Christmas window displays. Here's how I approached the challenge of creating new art from something I photographed around me.

1. First I cropped my image and adjusted the contrast, saturation and sharpness I wanted. I used PhotoToaster for this step.

2. Next I loaded the cropped image into Diptic and used a vertical triptych layout. After loading the image into all three boxes, while still in the select mode, I used the layout slider in the top right corner of the app to create the different sized boxes. 

3. I loaded the image into Decim8 and used a combination of Bunker and 2600++ effects to achieve the desired look. 

4. I used Iris to apply about 30% polarization and 25% vignette. 

5. The next step was to add the grunge text effect using Filter Mania's grunge filter. 

6. Finally, I pulled the image back into PhotoToaster to tweak the sharpness and color to my liking. 

That's it in a nutshell. The key for me is patience and a willingness to play with things until I get something I like.  Not sure what something does? Try it! 

Happy mashing. 

IG Sub-Cultures: Good or Bad for the IG Community?

First of all, this post is intended as a discussion more than as a sermon, so please leave your comments and/or thoughts in the comments below. I'll apologize in advance if this comes across as jaded or negative, but I think it's more authentic if I say what I'm really feeling about this topic. So here goes...

I have noticed that more and more elite, members-only groups are emerging on Instagram. I am not a member of any such group, because (a) I have never been asked to join one and (b) decided many months ago that I would decline to join if asked to join any group that excluded others. However, I follow/support and am followed/supported by many members of such groups. At the risk of offending them I am asking some tough questions about their groups and any others like them.

1. Why are these groups even needed? If its just to get people to the Popular Page, then what fun is that? I know getting Pops is a good way to get exposure and grow, and it doesn't hurt anyone else to do so. However, if people are primarily Liking your pics just because your name is one a membership role or you use certain hashtags, then what did you actually accomplish?

2. Do the leaders and members of these groups realize how elitist they may appear at times and how excluded it makes non-members feel when they promote themselves and their exclusive members so aggressively? That seems very unIG-like behavior to me, and although I believe it's unintended, it seems to be becoming the consensus among many non-members. I'm not personally opposed to these groups, but I am opposed to "mean Instagramming". If you promote your group publicly and then deny membership to an interested IGer, then how are you helping the IG community?

3. The tough question may be: "Who made YOU mayor or Instagram anyway?" I mean seriously, who are any of us to establish ourselves as some kind of expert to decide who is good enough or can be in a group? Nobody is perfect here, and we all started out somewhere. In a thriving community we all look out for one another and encourage each other and grow together. But some of the members-only groups seem to have agendas of controlling people's feeds or promoting themselves more than anything else. If I'm missing their contribution(s) please let me know. I want to believe there is something worthwhile about to emerge from these groups, but they only seem to be getting more exclusive.

4. Finally, I have to be introspective on this too. After all, I'm writing a blog post about IG and I'm no expert or authority. Although I started this a with others as a way to share tips and insight for Instagrammers, is it just more of the same crap I'm complaining about? Is this just more elitism? Does it belittle anyone or make them feel excluded in some way? I certainly hope not.

5. Are you in one of these groups? Is it a good experience? If so, how is it good? And is it just good for you or are you making IG a better community overall in some way? Explain.

6. Sorry again for my skepticism or negativity about these kinds of groups, some of which may be truly altruistic behind their secret doors. If so, convince and convert me. I want to believe it is so. But, if these groups are counter-productive to the IG community experience of encouragement and sharing, then what do we do about it? Is it something we just ignore, or something to stand against?

UPDATE (12/20/2011): Since my original posting of this article, We Are JUXT have unveiled their previously secretive plans and seems to be making a positive contribution to the IG Community, so Kudos are due. The AMPt and JUXT relationship is still confusing to me, but there seems to be some overlap. Likewise, Gang Family has been offering daily scheduled posting events to help people get to the Popular Page. Since this is an important goal for many folks, so I guess that makes it positive too. Also, there seems to be an #antiJJmovement afoot, against Josh Johnson, which shocks and astounds me, because I think his individual contributions to IG are incredibly generous. Needless to say, people take the Instagram community seriously and strong opinions are forming pro and con about how the community should exist. I think the important rule of thumb is to NOT let it get mean. The allure of Instagram to me (and many of you) is the positive, creative, encouraging environment in which to share pics, editing work, and comments/stories. Lets keep it that way, through encouraging and supporting one another.

Commence discussion by leaving your comments below.

Printing IG Photos

Over the last six months I've had the privilege of having some of my digital artwork printed and installed as large format art displays; some of them, over 8 feet wide and six feet tall. The question has been asked, can I print my IG photos and how big can I print them?

The first answer is yes you can print them. Whether or not you can print them in large format depends on several factors. The basic rule of thumb I've found is that you get what you start with. In other words, if you have a bad photo to begin with, enlarging it will still give you a bad photo. 

How big can I go? If you just take your basic IG photo and upload it to a printer like www.mpix.com, you'll find that you can only print up to a 5x5 photograph. However if you take that same image and upres it in Photoshop from 72 ppi to 300 ppi, you can print up to a 20x20 photo without noticeable problems (assuming you have a good photo).  If you take the same image and change the image size in addition to the resolution you can get even larger prints. 

Keep in mind that upresing doesn't make your photos better. In fact, the software has to interpolate (make up) data as it increases the image size. So ideally you want to begin with the largest image possible, something that is challenging for Instagram photos. However, I've had very good results with printing my IG shots up to 10x10. Based on what my printer tells me, I believe you can go as high as 20x20 with IG pics.

Whether you're wanting to print your IG photos or a DSLR photo as a large print, you need software to interpolate (increase) your image size. In addition to Adobe Photoshop, there is free editing software like Gimp or online photo editing options like www.picnik.com and http://pixlr.com/.

Tips:

• If you're doing any editing to your IG photos prior to printing, make sure all your apps are set to save the original file size. 
• Focus is key when enlarging. The best success I've had with enlarging comes when I have a photo with crisp details. If the photo is blurry, increasing the size will only magnify your lack of focus. The more I use my iPhone as a primary camera, the clearer this becomes to me. If you want to do serious work with your iPhone, consider investing in a camera app with a timer and exposure control and a tripod. It's amazing how much camera shake is introduced simply by using my hands to take photos.
• Contrast also helps when enlarging. If you have a borderline photo, try boosting the contrast prior to enlarging. 
• Keep in mind the viewing distance of your finished product. If people are going to be viewing your prints from a distance, you can get away with a larger image than you would if they will be viewing the prints at close range.
• Keep in mind the paper. If you're printing on canvas (my preferred method) the texture of the canvas is more forgiving and hides some of the problems of you would see if printed on high gloss photo paper.  

That's a brief overview of printing your IG photos. I'm sure I haven't covered everything but it should get you headed in the right direction.