Getting started on Instagram is a tough little project of its own. When done right, it can add a whole new dimension to your photography. For me, it serves as a platform to allow me to get feedback on the photographs I share. I am just a one man band. I don’t have a team of social media gurus at my disposal, so anything I have done online on any social platform has been done by trial and error. Here I am going to share some of the knowledge I have gained but also share with you what my photography Instagram hashtags are.

Instagram relies heavily on the hashtag # system to have users signposted to your content. Upload an image without a hashtag, and the only exposure you will receive will be to those who follow you. When I started using hashtags, I was using very broad and open tags such as #Photography which at current has millions of images within. The key is to maximise your exposure on a particular hashpage. If you used such a busy and generic tag, your photo will be off the front of that page within seconds. GONE. Just like that. As you can imagine this won’t help much with exposure.

What I use on my instagram page is a mixture of tags, some with a lower number of less than 5,000 images, some with a medium amount of around the 50,000 ballpark and a few from the high regions of above 500,000. This serves 2 purposes. Firstly, it gives you maximum exposure over both popular and less popular tags, on but those less popular tags, you will spend more time exposed on the main page.

One other thing to remember is to not reuse over and over the same set of tags, or tags that don’t really relate to your image. This can lead to your account being ‘shadow banned‘. This means you can still post your image, but your exposure will be much much less.

To get around this, I have a decent number of Instagram hashtags for each of the photography subjects that I cover. This is so I can swap and change the tags that I use but still maintain the same coverage. Below is the list of tags that I use when I post to Instagram.

Tip 1

Don’t reuse the same tag’s over and over so you don’t end up shadow banned.

Tip 2

Use a mixture of tags from different popularity groups.

Tip 3

Have a look and experiment with new tags that you can find on other people’s posts.

My Instagram hashtags.

Black & White Photography Hashtags

#BnW #Monochrome #BnW_Captures #BnW_Mood #BWLovers #BnW_OfTheWorld #Monochromatic #Irox_BW #IgersBnW #Insta_Pick_BW #World_BnW #NoirStreetLife #BW_Life #MonoArt #Noir #InstaBlackAndWhite #BW_Society #Greyscale #BnW_Perfection #BnWPhotos #ig_shotz_bw #bnwshots #bnwphoto #bnw_society #blackandwhite_photography #blackandwhitestyle #bnwgreatshots #blackandwhitearchitecture #bnw_urban #bnw_lightandshadow #bnw_architecture #bnw_shotz #bnwcaptures #bnw_dream #bnw_addiction #bnw_planet_2020 #blackandwhite_perfection #bnw_captures #bnw_captures #bnw_diamond #bnw_globe #bnw_guru #bnw_life #bnw_mood #bnw_of_our_world #bnw_oftheworld #bnw_perfection #bnw_planet #bnw_society #bnw_universe #bnwmood #bnwphotos #bw_crew #bw_life #bw_lovers #bw_photooftheday #bw_society #bwlovers #bwmasters #bwsquare #bwstyleoftheday #excellent_bnw #flair_bw #greyscale #igblacknwhite #igersbnw #insta_bw #insta_pick_bw #instablackandwhite #love_bnw #monoart #monochromatic #noir #noiretblanc #noir_vision #top_bnw #world_bnw

City/Street Photography Hashtags

Street

#StreetShot #IG_Street #StreetShooter #StreetLife #StreetGrammer #UrbanPhotography #StreetVision #UrbanAisle #StreetTogether #StreetLeaks #ASPFeatures #In_Public_Sp #LensOnStreets #CaptureStreets #FromStreetsWithLove #Street_Photo_Club #UrbanShot #StreetView #LensCultureStreets #StoryOfThe Street 

City

#citystreets #citylandscape #citygrammers #cityvibes #citystyle #cityart #citylove #cityviews #cityofdreams #cityofliverpool #cityoflight #cityofculture #loves_cityscapes #cityscapephotography #rooftopviews#building_shotz #cityphotography #cityphoto #cityskyline #cityview #streets #streetphotographer #urbanandstreet #architecturephotography #urbanphoto #urbanlife #urbanstyle

Food Photography Hashtags

#FoodPornShare #FoodCaptures #Foodography #Foodgasmic #FoodFoodFood #FoodFeed #Foodstagramming #FoodieGram #FoorForFoodie #Foodilysm #FoodStyling #FoodStylist #FoodPhotographyAndStyling #FoodVSCO #BeautifulCuisine #FoodPhotoADay #FirstWeEat #FoodieGram #FoodPhotographer #FoodOfInstagram 

Landscape Photography Hashtags

#LandscapeLovers #BeautifulLandscape #Viewpoint #NakedPlanet #LandscapeHunter #Sky_Captures #ScenicView #Cloudscape #SkyScape #Mountains #LandscapeShot #Landscape_Specialist #Splendid_Earth #Outdoors #Earthpix #DiscoverLandscape #AwesomeGlobe #IGRefined #Earthescope #beautifullandscape #cloudscape #discoverearth #discoverglobe #discoverlandscape #exploretheglobe #ig_landscape #landscape_captures #landscape_hunter #landscape_lovers #landscape_photography #landscape_specialist #landscapecaptures #landscapehunter #landscapelover #landscapelovers #landscapephotography #landscapeshot #landscapestyles_gf #ourplanetdaily #places_wow #scenicview #sky_captures #skyscape #splendid_earth #theglobewanderer #trapping_tones #viewpoint

Most Popular/General Hashtags

#JustGoShoot #InstaGood #InstaPhoto #PicOfTheDay #PhotoOfTheDay #Photogram #Capture #PhotographyDaily #PhotographyIsLife #iPhoneography #Camera #Composition #Photoshop #Instadaily #Igers #Cityscape #HDR #HDRspotters #Instafocus #IGworldclub #Visuals #Aesthetics #ThroughTheLens #Snapshot #Exposure #Moment #PhotographyAddict #bokeh_shotz #dof_addicts #killaframez #moodygrams #ourmoodydays #ourcolourdays #visualambassadors ⁠ #shotzdelight #ig_killerz #milliondollarvisuals #viewsaddict #shotz_fired ⁠ #visualgrams #igtones #theIMAGED #urbanromantix⁠  #urbanandstreet #serialshooters ⁠ #toneception #citygrammers #landscape_mf #trappingtones #darkmobs #strangertonez

Nature Photography Hashtags

#NatureLovers #Nature_Photo #IGNature #Nature_Of_Our_World #NaturePerfection #NatureDaily #WorldNature #NaturePic #NatureInstagram #NatureCapture #Nature_Shots #Nature_Seekers #IGNatureCapture #NatureIsArt #Nature_Brilliance #NaturalWorld #BNS_Nature #FiftyShadesOfNature #ColoursOfNature #Nature_Worldwide_Miracles 

Portrait Photography Hashtags

#PortraitPerfection #Portrait_Society #IGPortrait #Portraiture #PortraitOfTheDay #WithHumans #SelfPortrait #PortraitPhotography #Portrait_Mood #InstaPortrait #PostMorePortraits #Portrait_Shots #PursuitOfPortrait #PortraitPage #PortraitSociety #RSA_Portraits #DiscoverPortrait #TangledInFilm #Portraits_Today #PortraitFolk #PortraitsFromTheWorld #MoodyPortraits

Technical Photography Hashtags

#Aperature #LongExposure #ManualFocus #Macro #RuleOfThirds #Vignette #50mm #LightPhotography #VSCO #VSCOcam #Snapseed  #LeadingLines #Symmetry #Viewpoint #Panorama #DepthOfField #GoldenRatio #Monogram #Monochrome #DodgeAndBurn #ThroughTheLens #Bokeh #MoodyGrams #FatalFrames #ReflectionGram #Lightroom

Travel Photography Hashtags

#TravelTheWorld #ShareTravelPics #WorldExplorer #TravelBug #Travelholic #Globetrotter #AroundTheWorld #TravelAddicts #GetLost #TravelScenes #InstaPassport #PostcardsFromTheWorld #PassportReady #TravelStroke #LonelyPlanet #TLPicks #PostcardPlaces #LiveIntrepid #LifeWellTraveled #LetsGoEverywhere #travelwithmeaning #travelmoreworryless #travellingourplanet #travelphotography #travel #travelling #instatravel  #neverstoptravelling #letsgoeverywhere #meettheworld #earth_pix #mytravelgram #totravelistolive #discover_earth #travelescape #exploremore #captureperfection #awesome_earth 

EU

#europecity #europeancity #iloveeurope #beautifuleurope #europedestinations #travelshoteu #bestcitiesofeurope #world_europe_  #europe_travel #europe_perfection 

Urban

#urban_shutter #urbanexplorers #urbanexplor #urbanex #urbandesign #urban_shots #urbanism #urbanandstreets #urbanjungleblog #urbanarchitechture #urbex #urbanexplorer #abandoned #urbexworld #urbexeurope #bladerunner #abandonedplaces #abandonedfactory #lostplace #urbexutopia #republic_of_symmetry #symmetryhunters #urbexeu #abandoned_world #abandoned_places #jj_urbex #urbextreme #explore #ig_urbex #ig_abandoned #urbexdecay #urbexnation #urbex_regards #bladerunnerrealworld #symmetry #symmetryglobal #urbex_utopia 

WildLife

#animal_captures #animal_fanatics #animal_sultans #animalelite #animalelite #animal_sultans #animallove #animalphotography #animalphotos #animals_captures #animals_in_world #birdphotography #natgeowild #natgeowildlife #naturelover #naturelovers #splendid_animals #wildlife #wildlifeaddicts #wildlifelovers #wildlifeonearth #wildlifeperfection #wildlifephoto #wildlifelovers #wildlifephotography #wildlifeplanet