Instagram ideas

Instagram post ideas for photographers, beyond the portfolio

Your portfolio proves you can take a good photo; the rest of your feed shows what it’s like to be photographed by you. These 55 post ideas cover both, for wedding, portrait, family and brand photographers, grouped by what each post does: explain a shot, prepare clients, show whole sessions, fill the calendar and build trust.

Updated 6 October 2026 · 55 ideas

Show how the shot was made · 9

  1. Your scouting photos from the week before a shoot, with notes on where the light falls at 6pm.
  2. A lighting diagram drawn over the photo: where the window, the reflector and the flash were.
  3. Settings in the caption with the reason: “1/500 at f/2.8, because the toddler would not stop running.”
  4. One person at 35mm, 50mm and 85mm, framed the same way, so people see how lens choice changes a face.
  5. A 50-metre walk around one park and the five different backdrops it gave you.
  6. Shooting into the sun: where you put the couple for the flare, with a phone shot of the setup.
  7. The prompt you said and the laugh it got: “Whisper your worst joke in her ear.”
  8. Catchlights compared: crops of eyes lit by a window, a softbox and a ring light, and how to tell them apart.
  9. How you light a dark reception: flash bounced off the ceiling, shown in one wide phone clip.

Prepare clients before the shoot · 8

  1. What to wear for family photos: outfits that go together without matching, shown on one family.
  2. Why big logos and tiny stripes cause trouble, shown on the same person in two tops.
  3. A wedding-day timeline with the photo moments marked: getting ready, first look, family groups, golden hour.
  4. The rain plan: three covered spots you use and three favourite photos from wet days.
  5. Toddler sessions: snacks, a favourite toy, and why you start with play rather than posing.
  6. Dog sessions: a long walk beforehand, the squeakiest toy, and treats in your pocket.
  7. The family group list: who stands with whom after the ceremony, agreed before the day.
  8. The same couple at noon and an hour before sunset, to explain why you plan around the light.

Show whole sessions, not one frame · 8

  1. One session as a carousel in the order it happened, so people see what a full gallery feels like.
  2. A wide landscape split across three slides that join as people swipe: 3240 × 1350 px, cut into three 4:5 slides.
  3. A client’s print framed above their sofa, photographed on delivery day.
  4. An album opened page by page: the box, the cover, the first spread.
  5. A family photographed in the same spot every year, the years side by side.
  6. Wedding details in one carousel: rings, shoes, the invitation, the cake knife.
  7. Colour and black-and-white versions of one frame, with “Which tells it better?”
  8. The portrait you delivered next to the outtake from a second later, mid-laugh.

Fill the calendar · 8

  1. A mini-session announcement with the date, place, length, price and number of slots readable on slide one.
  2. “14 June is still free”: one open date, with a photo from a June wedding last year.
  3. How many photos you deliver per hour of coverage, and how many weeks the gallery takes.
  4. What’s included beyond the photos: the planning call, help with the timeline, the second shooter.
  5. A headshot day for local professionals: one backdrop, 15-minute slots, a set price.
  6. Travelling for work: “In Lisbon from 4 to 8 May, two sessions free.”
  7. Last year’s autumn sessions as a carousel, with this year’s dates on the final slide.
  8. Brand shoots for small businesses: the images a shop needs for a year, from team photos to hands at work.

Build trust in how you work · 8

  1. How you back up a wedding: two cards in the camera, a copy that night, another copy off-site.
  2. The emergency kit in your wedding bag: safety pins, a stain pen, spare batteries, tissues.
  3. How a newborn ‘froggy’ pose is made safely: two photos with a parent’s hands supporting the baby, combined in editing.
  4. The week after a wedding, one slide per step: back-up, cull, sneak peek, edit, delivery.
  5. Vendor credits: the florist, venue and planner from one wedding, tagged, with a photo of each one’s work.
  6. How many frames a wedding produces and how many reach the gallery, shown as a fast scroll through your catalogue.
  7. Why you don’t hand over every raw file, explained without sounding defensive.
  8. Your rescheduling and cancellation terms in plain words, before anyone needs them.

Teach something people save · 7

  1. Better photos of the kids at home: overhead light off, move them to the window, get down to their eye level.
  2. When to switch off portrait mode on a phone: flyaway hair, glasses, anything see-through.
  3. Depth of field in two photos: the same coffee cup at f/1.8 and at f/11.
  4. Rule of thirds or centred: the same scene framed both ways, and when each one works.
  5. The case for printing: a yearly album next to a phone holding 20,000 unsorted photos.
  6. Why cloud is kind to faces: the same portrait in hard sun and under cloud.
  7. Holiday photo tips for clients’ own trips: a person in the frame for scale, shoot early, wipe the lens.

Easy posts between edits · 7

  1. A frame that never made a gallery, and why you still like it.
  2. The ridiculous angle behind a good shot: you, flat in wet grass, photographed by your second shooter.
  3. A cropped detail from a portrait with “Guess the full frame”, answered in the next post.
  4. Your desk on delivery day: coffee, the gallery uploading, the progress bar.
  5. The gear you’d buy again and the gear you sold, one line on each.
  6. The first sneak-peek photo of a session, posted the same evening with the client’s OK.
  7. A detail from the edge of a frame nobody noticed until the edit: a dog photobombing, a waving grandparent.

Tips for using these ideas

  1. Post portraits at 1080 × 1440 (3:4) from the app: it fills the most screen and matches the profile grid tile exactly. A scheduler can only send up to 4:5 (1080 × 1350), which the grid trims slightly at the sides.

  2. Choose each post’s grid crop with Adjust preview in the three-dot menu. A wide landscape can lose more than half its width in a 3:4 tile, and moving the crop doesn’t change the post itself.

  3. Post a sneak peek within a day or two of a session, while the client is keen to share it, and the full carousel once the gallery is delivered.

  4. Count enquiries per post, not likes. Ask every enquiry where they found you, and you may find that gear and editing posts bring other photographers while prep guides and full sessions bring clients.

  5. Ask again before posting newborn, maternity or boudoir work, even when the contract allows it, and agree whether to tag the client.

  6. Offering your what-to-wear guide for a comment word? The first DM to a commenter has to be plain text, so it asks them to reply before the link. DMFast can send both and collect the email, which keeps you in touch after Instagram’s 24-hour messaging window closes.

Questions people ask

What should photographers post besides portfolio shots?

Posts that show what being photographed by you is like: how you direct people, what happens when it rains, how long a gallery takes, what the album looks like when it arrives. Couples and families book the experience as well as the pictures, and these posts answer their worries before they ask.

What size should photos be for Instagram?

1,080 pixels wide, ideally as a 3:4 portrait (1080 × 1440) posted from the app. Instagram accepts shapes from a 1.91:1 landscape to a 3:4 portrait and sizes wider files down to 1,080 pixels, so uploading a bigger file doesn’t make the post any sharper.

Should I watermark my photos?

It’s a judgement call. A small mark in a corner tells people whose work it is when a post is shared, but anyone can crop it out, and a large one across the frame spoils the image you’re trying to sell. Tagging the client and the venue also carries your name with the photo.

Can I post client photos without asking?

Many photography contracts include a clause about using images for marketing, so check yours. Even with one, ask before posting anything personal, such as a newborn session or photos taken in someone’s home, and agree whether to tag them.

Should I post the full session or only the best photos?

Both have a place. A single standout frame works as a cover and on the grid, but a carousel of one session in order shows consistency, which is what clients worry about: will every photo in my gallery look this good?

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