This summer, identify the FOMO-inducing adventure that’s right for you and your group, and get there with the All-New Land Rover Discovery.
You love sharing your adventures with your friends and followers, and let’s face it—if you haven’t snapped, tweeted or Instagrammed about it, then it probably didn’t happen. You’re keen to engage with others both online and in person, and you see social media as a crucial tool for connecting with loved ones and strangers alike. However you cut it, your apps are going to be the most important thing you pack on your next group outing.
Studies suggest that using blue as a dominant color in your Instagram post will increase the chances of engagement more than any other color. So, if your main motivation is garnering ‘likes’ and followers with every post, then you should definitely hit the beach.
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And while we no longer have to squeeze every photo into Instagram’s trademark square format, your beach shots—whether in landscape or portrait mode—should also look appealing as a square, as the discovery tool on Instagram still showcases images in that format. Include shots of your group having a blast—also a key element in securing more likes—and you’ve got yourself a statistically perfect photo that should garner plenty of engagement.
If you want everyone jumping in the photo, here’s a trick: have one of the subjects count to three, and on ‘two’ start furiously tapping photos until all subjects are back on the ground. Remember to keep the HDR function offline as the shutter speed for higher definition shots will slow you down. Then, flip back through and select the best option, deleting the outtakes.
A lot of ‘grammers who have garnered a sizable following cite a mix-and-match of equipment as the secret reason their photos have made waves. Nastasia, who runs the popular @dametraveler account, shoots most of her photos with a proper camera, not a mobile device, before transferring her images to her computer. Next, she plays with color correction in Adobe Lightroom. After she’s satisfied with the outcome, the photo then passes to her iPhone so she can post it to her blogger-style account.
If you’re hoping to get some great shots of wildlife, we recommend following Nastasia’s plan, as the zoom function on a smartphone yields grainy images that possess a noticeably deteriorated quality when compared to an SLR or a point-and-shoot. Using a camera instead of a smartphone will also produce better shots at dusk and dawn, when the average smartphone’s camera aperture can’t grab the waning light as effectively as a standalone camera.
After you’ve created the perfect photo, slap on a few relevant hashtags to peg the image to your current location. A quick Google search will yield some of the popular labels for the area—it’s also worth tracking down the local tourism authority’s official hashtag (if they have one), if only for the chance to be regrammed by their account. Use the geographic hashtags to your advantage, too—after posting #pdx for your trip to Portland, say, go down the rabbit hole and you’ll start to uncover the points of interest that other like-minded travelers are discovering all around you. A top-notch dinner recommendation may just come from some serious hashtag snooping.
Coastal Maine: riddled with over 50 lighthouses
Maui’s beaches in Wailea: with its jealousy-inducing palms and Haleakala mountain looming overhead
Key West: with its signature colorful homes
Newport, Rhode Island: chockablock with opulent mansions along the publicly accessible shoreline
Venice Beach, California: offers great people watching set against a perfect Pacific backdrop
