Life

Here's How That Amazing Insta Actually Got Taken

Dec. 16, 2015

Social media, the Internet, and photo editing software have been around for enough years now that most of us understand that things aren't always as they appear, whether it's the flawless skin on a celebrity or seemingly perfect lives of the popular girls from high school. But social media in particular is notorious for making users' lives seem for more glamorous than they actually are — which is what photographer Chompoo Baritone wants you to see in his video "The Truth Behind Online Photos." It exposes exactly what goes into the creation of each perfect Instagram shot... and most of the time, the reality isn't anywhere near as glamorous as the resulting shot.

Baritone isn't the first one to discuss the idea of how much doctoring can go into our own images. Bustle's own Olivia Muenter, for example, examined how what we Instagram differs from what really happens through her own Instagram feed, showing how distant online personas and situations can be from real life ones. Dutch graphic designer Zilla van den Born also explored the topic, this time by creating a fake vacation and seeing how many of her Facebook friends fell for the ruse; artist Amalia Ulman's "Excellences and Perfections" performance piece constructed a seemingly true narrative on Instagram; and comedian Pat Regan made a hilarious yet pointed joke about it all in his song "Facebook Stalking Your More Successful Friends."

Of course, there's nothing inherently bad about throwing a filter on a selfie or cropping your brunch to look more glamorous than it is, but it's always important to remember not to be too hard on yourself or your life just because of what you might be seeing in your social media feeds. Baritone does a great job of proving that point by showing some shots that reveal what was really going on. Take a look at some examples below.