Train Your Partner to be a Good Instagram “Husband”

Are you quarantined with a beloved partner and running out of ideas to keep yourselves entertained? This is a great time to hone your photography skills so you will be the BEST Instagram husband/partner/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend when we emerge from this crisis.

What is an Instagram “husband” you ask?  It’s basically a back-pocket photographer.  You’re out on a walk and you look amazing, but you have no professional photographer along with you?  (Nope, duh! That would be weird… but also awesome.)  So you look to your partner and say, “Can you take a photo of me?”

You know there are some people who are great at this, and others who are less great. Well at Spry, we believe in #alwayslearning, so if you want to learn to be an Instagram “husband,” or want your partner to learn to be one, here’s your education!

• Get silly!  Don’t take yourself so seriously.  If you are willing to be laughed at in public for finding the best shot at the best angle, you’re going to be a great Instagram “husband.”
• Get creative!  Develop a discerning eye for interesting photo locations.  Cool texture?  Interesting lighting?  Amazing piece of architecture?  All of this could be the backdrop for a great Instagram photo.
• Give them inspiration!  It’s hard to take an idea from your mind straight into real life.  We often must move our ideas from inside our minds, to a 2-dimensional surface before they can become real.  In this case, we recommend creating a Pinterest board to move your idea from 1-dimensional to 2-dimensional.  Add some of your favorite Instagram photos to this board to give your Instagram “husband” an idea of what you’re trying to accomplish with your photos.  
• Know your angles! From which direction do you like to be photographed?  Does your hair part a certain way? Do you prefer your body to be photographed from the front?  From above?  Tell your partner which angles you like to be photographed at and remind them when it’s time to shoot. If you look best with a ¾ shot with your chin facing down, find an example of the pose that you look best in, save it to your phone camera, and share it with them. Say, “Look at this. Make me look like this.”
• Learn composition! A basic understanding of composition is imperative for a good Instagram “husband.”  Learn what positive/negative space is.  Learn about the foreground, and “mise en scene.”  Learn basic portrait poses.  Decide if the photo is going to be a headshot, full-body shot, sitting or standing.  The last thing you want is a full-body photo with your feet cut off… that’s just not acceptable from a good Instagram “husband.”
• Switch places!  The best way to get good at something is to teach it as well as do it yourself.  By modeling/teaching, you will train people better as well.  They say the best directors are also actors.  That’s because they understand what the actors are going through when directing them.  Switch places and take photos for each other.  Then this becomes more of a partnership and gives you a better end-product.

So now what?  Grab whoever you’re quarantined with and start practicing.  We’d love to see how your photos turn out.  Jump into SprySpace and share them!