6 popular photo trends on Instagram you should follow

Gone are the days when you had only Mayfair or Nashville filters to rely on. There is no dearth of aesthetic or funny filters on Instagram. Whether it is to check who your celebrity twin is or add doodles to your face, Instagram has got you covered.

While those Red Moon filters are quite good to look at, 2022 is more about barely-there tweaks, subtle colour tones that are uniform across the grid, and ethereal effects that give out a more surreal vibe. While these filters are quite unique and useful, Kool Kanya’s PowerPass program on still photography will make your photos appear more professional and awe-inspiring, and you can WOW your audience!

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. 6 popular photo editing trends on IG

6 popular photo editing trends on IG

1. Raw and unedited
   You might have noticed that people are gravitating more toward everything that appears authentic and unfiltered. This is why the raw and unedited photo trend is on the rise. There are so many brands and influencers who are hopping on this trend and prepping their feeds to appear with photos that are not edited. But, let’s not forget that this is a social media platform we are talking about. So, even the most natural-looking photos are edited to a certain extent. However, the trick is to keep these changes subtle and make only minor edits to your contrast, brightness, and colour corrections.            This trend to stick to minimal edits trend goes hand-in-hand with the rise of authentic content over recent years, which marks a shift in the way brands and creators previously interacted and engaged with their communities.
2. Desaturated tones
   Finally, people are bidding goodbye to harsh edits and highly saturated phones, and have welcomed desaturated tones quite enthusiastically. When we say desaturated tones, we mean less bright and slightly sharp images with no bright hues. And how do you attain this effect? You shift the brightness and highlights way down.
   If you aren’t so keen on having a dark feed, you can still play around with desaturated tones. So, what you have to do is, you have to bring the saturation down and increase the brightness as most influencers do.
   You can always use a free visual planning tool to incorporate desaturated tones into your feed and try different feed compositions before you hit publish.
3. The imperfect beauty portraits
   Gone are the days when people used to edit their photos heavily, which meant no textured skin, no pores, and everything would be edited to the point where you can easily make out the added cheekbones, perfectly-shaped brows. In 2022, the theme seems to be “no edits” and “more natural.” This trend of imperfect beauty portraits runs parallel to the “no filter” trend.      This trend does an incredible job of celebrating diversity and authenticity and shows real faces and bodies without heavy editing. So, instead of covering up, blemishes and other “flaws”, those details are emphasised.
4. Light flares and reflections
   For eye-catching and ethereal effects, you can always use IG’s light flares and reflections. And it seems like Gen Z and millennials love these effects. In fact, you can see it on the feeds of Gen Z and millennial-focused creators, influencers, and brands alike.                     You don’t need fancy lighting or spend money on booking photo studios for this look as there are several apps that can help you achieve this edit in no time. The results are amazing and you’ll look gorgeous.
5. The vertical shot
   Instagram allowed only square photos back in 2010, when it had launched, and even after IG did away with most restrictions, it took some time for vertical photos to take off.  We believe that vertical photos make your image appear more impactful as they fill up the screen and eliminate distractions.  Moreover, vertical images also give you a chance to work with composition and framing to create amazing images. And if you are a serious photographer who hates cropping your images to fit in a square format, these images are a gift.
   Also, this long format is ideal for nature photography, where you want to give a sense of scale and majesty.
6. The monochrome look
   Monochrome images are those that cater to a single colour palette and look clean and crisp on your IG feed, thereby giving out a very artist-y vibe.
   And do you know why you should try out this look? Because it appears dramatic and interesting and gives your images a stunning editorial feel. Moreover, the dash of bold colour or a bright background stands out in the Instagram feed and draws your audience’s attention just like you wanted it to.
   When choosing a colour for your posts, keep in mind that different colours evoke specific moods and emotions, so choose one that you can totally relate to.

Hop on these best photo editing trends on IG and transform your grid. This ought to bring in more followers to your account, and that’s exactly how you become a popular photographer. AND, if you wish to venture into creating viral videos, you can learn a lot more about existing video formats here.