Better Bookstagram: How To Curate An Aesthetic Feed

Hello again honeybees! Welcome to the first installment in my “Better Bee Bookstagram” series!

I did a poll on Instagram and the majority asked for both a general aesthetic guide and a cozy guide so look out for part two with a specific focus on cozy feeds!

**None of these pictures are mine** This is a screenshot of my “bookstagram inspo” board on Pinterest.

1. Choose A Theme You Love AND One That Is Accessible

This point is twofold.

Which pictures do you love to see on Instagram? Are they dark and woodsy? Full of fun props and colors? A white background with a pop of color? Books and clothes? All of the above?

Study those feeds. What props do they have? What lighting do they use? What layouts do these use or do you especially love?

Now study your space. What colors are around you? What kind of lighting do you get? What props do you have already?

Figure out what you can do in your space with what you have.

Remember: you’re not locked in to a theme. Change whenever you want, however you want.

So why have a theme at all?

Themes create cohesion, making your feed look better. Your theme can be the outdoors or maybe you have a bunch of fake flowers you use in every photo. It could also be a filter or a color. I’ve had a cozy theme for the last two years, which is popular among fall lovers.

If you don’t have a theme, that’s fine. If you have an inconsistent theme, that’s fine. Point is, there’s no right or wrong way to do this. But these tips will hopefully help you have a more cohesive and aesthetic feed.

So you’ve found your theme. For sake of accessibility and expertise, I’m going to use my “cozy feed” as a frequent example in this post.

My color palette. Photo edits inspired by Booknerd_reads on Instagram!

2. Pick a color palette

Looking at your favorite aesthetic feeds, you could probably pick out 1-3 colors that are always present on the grid. Look around your shooting space and your preferred aesthetic to gauge which colors you can pull for each shot.

As an example, my pictures always include a large portion of white with varying degrees of brown. During fall, I accent warmer browns and the occasional red.

A color palette will help keep things consistent. You can take a picture in your bedroom, office, outside, the bus stop, pretty much anywhere and it’ll look consistent if you keep to the color palette.

3. Switch angles consistently

Flatlays are really pretty, but a whole grid of flatlays will make your feed look formless. Switching between at least three angles will give your pictures a fresh look, even if you’re just recycling pictures from three separate photo shoots.

I was so glad I took multiple photos that day as I got in a creative slump soon after.

4. Take multiple photos during a shoot

This could also just be taking similar photos. Utilizing a set up to take a batch of pictures for later will help make your feed look uniform and the different angles will also come in handy for adding some diversity to your photos’ look.

So many accounts I know do this and it honestly saves me so much time after going through the set up process to have at least one flatlay and one angled photo ready to post in the future.

Each color is a different prop and you can see how often I use them in photos! Fairy lights especially help me keep things cohesive on my feed.

5. Regularly use the same props/background

Backgrounds look different for everyone. For this theme, a consistent background could just be a similar looking tree or rock in the picture. Having a reoccurring setting for a good portion of your photos will help your followers recognize you as well as have aesthetic advantages.

I’m not lying when I say I can be mindlessly scrolling through Instagram and see a picture of a book in front of someone’s room or shelves and know exactly who that person is. It’s their signature, their thing. Pleasing on the eye and will significantly help with tip 1.

Personally, I edit all my photos with the same filter (M5 on VSCO) and do individual edits as necessary.

6. Filters are your friend

I know this one is a bit of a cop out but a filter can really work wonders, especially if it’s well adjusted for the lighting and photo conditions. At first, I never wanted to adjust my filter once I got it just right, but it’s rare to continue taking photos in the same conditions. Messing with exposure, filter strength, and color saturation can help make all of your photos a lot more cohesive.

Once you take your photos, play around with some filters and use several different test photos. Make sure your editing process accommodates all/most of your photos.

I really hoped this helped some of you! These are really just things that I do on Instagram and tips I’ve gotten along the way.

If you have any other tips I’d love to hear them! Please feel free to drop a comment with a tip or telling me if this helped!

Here’s my bookstagram, I would love to be friends there! (@myhoneyreads)

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this post. Please consider following for more posts like this! You can also find me on Instagram, Twitter, and Goodreads, buy me a cup of coffee on ko-fi. Thanks again for reading! Bye for now honeybees.