Instagram workflow?

[RobOK]

Lightroom Version

LR Mobile

Operating System

1. iOS
2. Android

I am going to be more active on Instagram this year (@RobOK). Can people post their instagram workflows, with consideration for the following...

* iphone taken pictures -- do you use LR as the camera app? How do you find it for that?
* after your image is in LR mobile, any Instagram specific edits (Cropping, extra contrast, etc?)
* any specific profiles you use?
* posting -- do you post by sharing from inside the LR app, or do you save to Camera Roll and use another app to post?
* Hashtags -- do you use any of the special apps for hashtags, or just keep a list of certain ones you use?

Any other instagram convo is welcome too!

Cheers,
Rob.

 

[johnbeardy]

What phone are you using, Rob, because that gives you very different possibilities. With phones which have the 12mp camera, LRCC can save raw (DNG) and for me that made me use the LR camera app as my default after I recently got an iPhone8. I really like its HDR option for city streets at night and all the recent B&W night shots here were done by this method and edited on the phone.

For posting however, I have relied on the Flume application on Mac which allows IG-specific cropping. So I am prefer to get the files into LR Classic, export from there, and upload using Flume which convert keywords to hashtags (I also find it is easier to enter hashtags on a real computer).

 

[RobOK]

Thanks John... I recently went from a 6 to an XS, so I could do the DAW.

So you are going LR mobile (i know its called LRCC, but i call it mobile to indicate iOS platform) and then is it syncing back to your LR Classic? Then you edit and add Keywords and Export, then in Flume you crop (or re-crop) (sounds like Flume has IG specific crops programmed in), and then post with Flume.

I can appreciate doing hashtags on a full computuer, but part of my IG push is to more rapidly get images out to the world. So I like your flow, but also looking for a pure mobile flow. Does Flume come as a phone app too?

 

[MarkNicholas]

I use my Iphone 8 for the whole process (@hongkongmarkn). My work flow is as follows :-

1. For phone photos I usually use the Iphone's default camera App but occasionally use Lightroom CC's camera App.
2. For all photos, whether taken on my phone or my DSLR camera, I will import to Lightroom CC.
3. Photos taken on my DSLR will have already been edited (including cropping) in LR Classic so no further work required. Photos taken on my Iphone will be edited and cropped from within Lightroom CC on my Iphone.
4. I post to IG directly from Lightroom CC on my Iphone without any hashtags.
5. I then go into the IG App and apply hashtags from there as it prompts hashtags after you have started typing and you can see the number of IG posts that contain particular hashtags.

 

[RobOK]

Thanks... helpful to hear...

2. For all photos, whether taken on my phone or my DSLR camera, I will import to Lightroom CC.

You transfer from DSLR to your laptop in LR Classic and then sync to cloud, open on your phone in LR, and post from there?

 

[MarkNicholas]

Thanks... helpful to hear...
You transfer from DSLR to your laptop in LR Classic and then sync to cloud, open on your phone in LR, and post from there?

Yes that is correct so I only have Smart Previews in the Cloud. I find this sufficient for IG.

 

[johnbeardy]

My preference for using LrMobile (a much better name!) is partly because import is automated - DNGs taken with the LrMobile camera or snaps or videos with the iOS camera. So that's effortless and certain, though DNGs can take a few hours to be processed if one takes a lot.
Since getting the iPhone8, I like to get straight to the LrMobile camera by swiping left from the phone's home screen - see attachment.
But I still prefer to post to IG from a real computer and feel I have control over the crop. On a real computer I can cut and paste hashtags and descriptions much more easily. It also lets me create "carousel" of multi-photo posts.

 

[RobOK]

Does anyone have a good handle on crop sizes... i know over a certain file size IG will shrink it and maybe not do such a good job, at least that is how FB works.

 

[kimaldis]

I shoot on a Leica, import to LR. I keep a collection where I dump candidate images, images that I think may be suitable for posting. Images that I post get tagged as 'Instagram' and I keep track of that with a pair of smart collections, one for tagged (posted) images and one for unposted (untagged). I worked using this system for a while but I like to automate things if I can so I wrote an export plugin that handles most of the boring stuff. It:

1. tags images being exported with 'Instagram'
2. Creates a custom Meta to which it adds exported (posted) dates - Tags tell me what I've posted, this tells me when and how many times.
3. Adds a small black border - because I like black borders
4. Adds images being exported to Photos (Mac only) which means they'll appear on my phone or iPad for posting
5. Saves exported images to a named folder - it's possible to post to Instagram from a laptop if your browser can switch user agents.

I also wrote a rudimentary tag manager that randomly selects a couple of dozen tags from a list that's proved useful and copies it to the clipboard, which is shared with my iOS devices.

The system proved so convenient I expanded it to be much more general and I use it to keep track of Facebook, Twitter, any competitions I enter and portfolio submissions. The plugin itself does the actual posting to Twitter, I'm looking into trying to get it to do the same to Facebook and Instagram.

I'm at Kim Aldis (@kim_aldis) • Instagram photos and videos if anyone's interested.

 

[kimaldis]

A short article showing how some of this can be done along with a download of the plugin can be found here:-

Hacking Lightroom: The Big Fat Export Plugin – Buggering About in a Small Land

 

[johnbeardy]

Wonderful URL!

 

[CraigCohen]

I use my Iphone 8 for the whole process (@hongkongmarkn). My work flow is as follows :-

1. For phone photos I usually use the Iphone's default camera App but occasionally use Lightroom CC's camera App.
2. For all photos, whether taken on my phone or my DSLR camera, I will import to Lightroom CC.
3. Photos taken on my DSLR will have already been edited (including cropping) in LR Classic so no further work required. Photos taken on my Iphone will be edited and cropped from within Lightroom CC on my Iphone.
4. I post to IG directly from Lightroom CC on my Iphone without any hashtags.
5. I then go into the IG App and apply hashtags from there as it prompts hashtags after you have started typing and you can see the number of IG posts that contain particular hashtags.

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If you change tags after posting, IG lowers your rank for other to view. Wait a week or so till its popularity comes down.