How I turn a café visit into a carousel
Café blogger on Instagram
I want a reader swiping through my post to notice the same things I did when I took the window seat.
My first slide is the window seat
I came for a coffee, but the red table in the morning light is the part I remember. That becomes my cover. Next I use the milk being poured, then the cup on the table. I leave out a second wide shot because it takes the reader back to somewhere they have already been.
Which frame earns the middle slide?
I have two photos of the pour. One shows a perfect white heart, but it looks much like the finished drink at the end. In the other the barista is still tipping the pitcher. I keep that one because something happens between the table and the cup. I crop a little off the counter, leaving enough of the wrist for the movement to make sense.
I read the pictures in order before I write
I export posting copies and check them in RemoveDog before downloading the set. I look at the rim of the cup and the pattern in the foam at phone size, then swipe through my draft in order. Once the photos tell the visit on their own, my caption can stay personal: which seat I would come back for.
The caption carries what the camera missed
I make one last pass through the posting copies in sequence. The cover establishes the seat, the middle slide gives me the sound of the pitcher, and the last leaves me with the drink. I leave the price or opening hours out unless I have checked them. What I can say from that morning is that the light only reached the near side of the red table.