A Fashion Blog By Gemma Talbot

Monday, 12 June 2017

The iPhone Only Post

I have a confession to make; the photos from today's post were taken entirely on my iPhone camera. This is a first for me as generally I always shoot on my Olympus PEN E-PL7 camera, unless I'm working with a photographer in which case I'll use their latest gadget which is often as fancy as a Canon 6D. I've always favoured high quality, more professional images because they look just that. Professional. So why the sudden change you may ask? I explain all below.

Since Instagram has introduced an algorithm I have noticed a general decrease in the overall engagement on my photos. Some are barely scraping the same amount of likes when I had a 1/4 of the amount of followers. Surely this can't be right? Not only that, accounts with significantly fewer followers are getting a much better engagement rate per photo than mine. It just makes no sense. In the words of Instagram they "display posts based on the likelihood you'll be interested in the content, your relationship with the person posting and the timeliness of the post". A lot to think about it would seem. It appears Instagram has become more of a marketing tool and less of an instant social media sharing platform. Wouldn't you agree?

You might wonder why I'm so bothered? It's just a number after all. Well considering the line of work I do and it being my job as well as my passion to promote my outfit choices and style, that little red heart can mean a lot more than you might think. It means a lot to me because it indicates that my followers are engaging with my content and therefore liking what I am wearing thus signifying that I am indeed doing something right or continuing to do so anyways. It also means a lot to a brand as it shows I may potentially have some value to them and therefore influence whether they want to work with me or not.

From a bloggers point of view, I look for a beautiful shot because I often realise the creativity and thought process behind actually getting that Instagram worthy photo you see posted on Instagram. It isn't a quick point and shoot I can tell you now. However, on the other arguably more important end is the people who are following my account. Do they actually care about the image or more about what I'm wearing? The latter obviously should be the most important but surely a better quality image is going to make the clothes look better in the first place? Recently, I've been mixing things up a little on my Instagram page and posting a number of higher quality images alongside photos taken on my iPhone. What I can conclude so far is that the iPhone photos are performing much better on average. Often three fold might I add and this has generally been quite consistent even when posting at random times in the day might I add.

In today's post I can genuinely notice a real difference in the quality and overall effect of the photos I have taken. They have more a street style feel with less clarity and sharpness of those taken on my professional camera but does and should that matter? I took these after a coffee date with my friend Naomi and took less than five minutes to take probably around 100 sitting on my iPhone camera roll.
This fuelled the thought process behind today's post and something I would love to know from you, those who read my blog. To be fair, I would make my life much easier if I were to take all my photos on my iPhone because it took me less than 30 minutes to edit and airdrop these to my MacBook. However, I'm left with a reluctance to even publish this post as I can see a real difference in the overall quality. As humans we are all creatures of habit and I've always used a good camera to take my photos so perhaps it's just about breaking the habit and adapting to change?!

Perhaps I am overthinking the whole thing but should quality really be so important? I would love to know your stance and whether you can actually see a real difference in the photos from today's post. 

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  1. Love your ability to style colours and prints babe <3 xxx


  2. To be honest I never would've guessed that these were taken on an iPhone and would've thought that they had just been edited to look softer, but honestly I think they look just as great! As for all the instagram stuff, I am so far out of the loop where that is concerned, ha ha! I do feel like it has become more of a marketing tool though and I am useless when it comes to all that stuff, which is probably why I wouldn't class myself as a "successful' blogger. Loving this outfit though, the floral trousers are so pretty and I love that bag :) xx

  3. Very interesting post Gemma! I totally agree - sometimes I can't understand how accounts with pictures I would consider pretty low quality have far more engagement than mine. However, pretty much all my photos on Instagram are just taken with my iPhone and I always wonder whether using a better camera would increase my engagement (similarly with my blog as I don't have the best camera ever and an amateur photographer!) Personally, what I love about Instagram is the inspirational aesthetic so I will always gravitate towards high quality photos. That said, if someone's outfit is just not my style I won't "like" it just for image quality. So I think it's a balance but I would say: post pictures in the way you want to and you're most proud of, because people will relate to that authenticity more than anything else. Anna xx

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Gemma x

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