How to grow on Instagram as a photographer

Decide what Instagram should help you do. Selling prints, finding portrait clients, filling a workshop and connecting with other street photographers give you different reasons to publish.

In my course, I make this distinction with gear content. A video about a lens is likely to interest other photographers. That can be useful if you teach photography. If you want restaurant owners to hire you, show them how you photograph a restaurant, its food and the people working there.

Write one sentence:

I want to reach ___ so they can ___.

“People in Copenhagen who need portraits for their business” gives you a clearer starting point than “people who like photography.” It helps you choose which work to show and what to say about it.

You can still publish personal work. Understanding the audience gives you a way to decide whether a post did what you hoped.

A post earns attention. Your profile helps someone decide whether to follow you, explore your work or get in touch.

Look at it as if you have never heard of yourself. Can a visitor understand what you photograph, where you work and what they can do next?

What to put in your Instagram bio

When I started, my bio described my street photography and the kind of photographer I wanted to become. My advice is still to begin with a useful description.

Use your genre, your location when it matters, and a clear route to your work or enquiries. These are illustrative starting points:

• Local portrait bookings: Portrait photographer in Copenhagen. People and small businesses. Portfolio and enquiries below.
• Wedding bookings: Wedding photographer based in London. Available across the UK. See full weddings and enquire below.
• An audience for personal work: Street photography in Mexico City. Photographs, photo walks and projects. Explore the work below.

Use details that are true of you. The wording should sound like a person someone could contact.

Pin work that represents you now

I would choose three posts that help a new visitor understand the account: a strong selection of photographs, an introduction to you, and a project or post that shows how you think.

Your most-liked post from years ago may not represent the work you want to make now. Choose for current relevance and quality.

Then look through the first 15 to 20 posts. Do they give a fair impression of your photography? Archive older work if it distracts from that impression. Treat this as portfolio curation, without expecting it to change how Instagram ranks your posts.

At the beginning, spend some time finding people and communities you want to be part of.

Follow photographers whose work interests you, especially people in your genre or location. Leave a comment when you have something specific to say about a photograph, project or decision. Existing collaborators and people you have photographed can also be a starting point.

One thing that helped me early on was sharing photographs in Fujifilm Facebook groups. The work was relevant to the group, and camera or lens information gave people something to discuss.

The lesson was to find a community with an existing interest in what I was making. Follow its rules and contribute something people can enjoy before asking them to visit your account.

A handful of people who care about the work gives you something to build on. Keep the conversations specific and the connection genuine.

Give each format a purpose, then choose a few you can make well.

• Single photograph: Give one frame your full attention, with context when it helps.
• Carousel: Show a coherent selection from a shoot, series or project.
• Reel: Introduce the photography through a story, process or opinion.
• Story: Share a smaller update or conversation with people already following you.

Buffer analysed more than four million posts sent through its platform between January 2022 and October 2024. Reels had higher median reach; carousels generated more engagement. That historical sample covered many kinds of accounts. Use it as a starting point for your own tests. Read the study.

Try a Reel to introduce the work and a carousel to show more of it. Give each post a clear reason to exist.

Make a portfolio carousel from existing photographs

Choose one subject or body of work. Open with a strong photograph, then arrange the rest so the viewer learns something new as they swipe.

For a portrait session, you could move from a strong portrait to a wider view, a detail and another expression. For a street-photography project, look for relationships between the frames: place, light, gesture or a recurring subject.

Remove photographs that repeat what a stronger frame already does. A sequence should feel chosen.

Share the making of the work

My YouTube channel grew through documenting photo walks. I included the attempts and difficulties alongside the photographs that worked.

You can see that approach in the behind-the-scenes video from my Day of the Dead project. The finished photographs and the experience of making them give people different ways into the same work.

On your next shoot, capture a few short clips: a wide view of the place, a closer view of you working, and a detail. Ten to fifteen seconds can be enough. Keep the sound of the place when it adds something.

I have a library of street-photography footage from Mexico that I return to when editing. A folder for each shoot makes this easier. You can also arrange a filming session with a photographer friend and take turns documenting each other.

Give Stories something worth sharing

Show a location scout, a photograph you are editing, preparations for a shoot or progress on a project. Ask a question when you want to hear the answer.

Stories can hold the smaller moments. Share them when you have something useful or interesting to say.

A Reel can use photographs, footage, voiceover and text. Choose a combination that helps you tell the story.

One Reel I discuss in my course had reached around 200,000 views and brought in more than 3,000 followers when I recorded the lesson. It began as a landscape YouTube video that I shortened and reframed for phones.

Those were the results of one Reel at that point in time. What I would repeat is the approach: look through material you already have and find a smaller story worth adapting.

Make the opening clear

Think about the first thing people see and the first thing they hear or read.

Open with a photograph, a subject, a contact sheet or a decision happening in front of the camera. Then give the viewer a specific reason to continue.

“Hi, my name is Frederik” gives a stranger little to work with. “These two frames were made a second apart. Here is why I kept this one” gives them something to look for, if that is what the video actually shows.

Readable text helps communicate the point with the sound off. When sound contributes, use it: footsteps, a shutter, the atmosphere of the place or a voice explaining a decision. For music, I have written about why I use Musicbed instead of Epidemic Sound.

Build a Reel around one thought

For a Reel made from photographs, try this sequence:

1. Choose one question, moment or decision.
2. Open with the photograph or visual detail that makes it interesting.
3. Show the frames or footage needed to explain it.
4. Finish with the result or answer you promised.

Keep each image on screen long enough to understand its role. Remove sections that do not help the story. Preview the crop and text on a phone before publishing.

These are editing choices you can apply to existing work. You can begin with a small selection of photographs and a voiceover.

Reel ideas you can keep making

Pick two or three formats that suit your personality, audience and available time:

• One photograph and its story. Show the frame, explain what happened or what you noticed, and return to it with that context.
• A contact sheet and a decision. Compare the possibilities and explain why you chose one. The viewer gets to see your judgement.
• A photo walk. Show the place, a few attempts and the resulting photographs. Let the viewer understand how you were looking.
• A project in progress. Share what you tried, what changed and what you want to try next. A continuing series gives people a reason to return.
• An opinion illustrated with work. Make a specific argument and show the photographs that help explain it.

I have used that last format to argue against long lenses for the close, chaotic street photography I like to make. It is an opinion about my approach, supported by photographs.

A format that performs once but feels miserable to produce is difficult to sustain. Give yourself time to improve the opening, pacing and selection before abandoning an idea.

Trial Reels can show an experiment to people who do not follow you first. Meta says initial engagement metrics become available after about 24 hours, and you can choose to share the Reel with everyone afterwards. Read Meta’s explanation.

If the feature is available on your account, try the exercise I teach:

1. Make one Reel with a clear story and ending.
2. Create three truthful openings: perhaps the finished photograph first, the decision first, and a spoken question first.
3. Keep the main sequence similar and publish the versions as trials.
4. Compare them at a similar age, using the viewing and engagement metrics available to you.
5. Look for a useful difference, then decide what to revise or share more widely.

Write down what changed so you can learn from it. Separate posts reach different audiences; treat the comparison as a clue rather than a controlled test. Try other changes, such as audio, once you have learned something about the opening.

I would start with one carousel and one Reel a week, using the same shoot where possible. Adjust that to your time and what you can make well.

Here is an illustrative plan from one portrait session:

• Portfolio carousel: A deliberate selection of the finished portraits. Show the work someone could hire you to make.
• Decision Reel: A short process clip and the photographs that explain one choice. Show how you approach a portrait.
• Optional Story: A location detail or a frame you are editing. Share a smaller part of the process.

Choose the photographs and prepare the edit before the day you plan to post. Keep notes for future openings as you work. This takes some pressure off deciding what to make every time you open the app.

If filming is too much this week, begin with the carousel. Build a routine that leaves time for the photography itself.

What about the best time to post

I would work on the idea, opening and preparation before spending hours looking for a universal posting time.

If you want to test timing, compare similar formats at different times over several posts. Keep track of the results at a similar age. A strong or weak post on its own tells you little about the time it was published.

The aim is to find a routine that works for your audience and your life.

I would keep this part simple. Describe the actual subject, genre and location in language someone can understand. “Portraits for a Copenhagen restaurant” tells a potential client more than a vague caption about creating magic.

Choose hashtags that are relevant to the photograph, place or community. Spend most of your effort on the work, the opening and the story you are sharing.

I would also use a clear name field and bio. Someone arriving from a recommendation or searching for a photographer should be able to understand what you do.

These details belong in a well-presented account. They do not give you a reliable shortcut to an audience.

Give the work a final check in the app:

• Is the photograph sharp and legible at phone size?
• Does the crop keep the part of the composition that matters?
• Does the cover or first image introduce the post clearly?
• Is text readable and clear of interface controls?
• Can someone understand the point without sound, or is the audio clear when it is needed?
• Have you enabled the highest-quality upload option where available?

Preview the whole carousel or Reel. A landscape photograph may need a different presentation from the vertical footage around it. Make that choice deliberately so the photographs remain worth looking at.

Return to the goal you chose at the beginning.

If you want people to discover your photography, look at reach from people who do not follow you, profile visits and follows, where those figures are available. If you want bookings, keep track of relevant messages and visits to your portfolio or contact page.

For Reels, look at where viewers stop watching when you have that information. For carousels, look at saves, comments, shares and the conversations the work starts.

Compare similar posts at a similar age. A Reel published yesterday and a carousel published a month ago have had different opportunities to find an audience.

When reach is low

Start by asking where the response stops:

• Viewers leave early: Whether the opening shows something specific and reaches the point quickly.
• People watch but rarely visit the profile: Whether the post gives them a reason to explore the wider work.
• Profile visits bring few follows or enquiries: Whether the profile explains what to expect and how to get in touch.
• Photographers respond but potential clients do not: Whether the subject matter fits the people you want to reach.

These are questions to investigate. The numbers alone cannot tell you the cause. If results fall across several posts, examine the pattern before changing your whole approach.

An enquiry from someone who wants the work you make deserves attention even when the post that led to it has modest numbers.

If you want photography clients from Instagram, show relevant work and make it straightforward to enquire.

For example, a restaurant owner might discover your photographs of a dining room. Your profile should explain where you work. The link should lead to relevant photographs and a clear contact route. The owner should be able to picture the work they could commission.

For print sales, show the print and make size, price and delivery information easy to find. For editorial interest, give an editor access to a coherent project and your contact details.

My photography portfolio gives visitors fuller projects to explore. Your website can do the same for work that deserves more space than a social post.

You can build other routes to discovery alongside Instagram. Read my guides to SEO for photographers and getting your photography published in the press, or watch the free lesson on how photographers get discovered on ChatGPT.

Be selective about paying for exposure, too. My article about photography competitions explains why I question many of those offers. Decide whether an opportunity puts the work in front of people who matter to your goal.