UPDATE: 5 Photo Editing Apps That Bloggers Are Obsessed With
UPDATE: We have a new app suggestion in addition to the 4 originally posted below
Drumrol…
1) A Design Kit
A Design Kit by the creators of A Beautiful Mess and A Color Story (details on those apps below).
What are some of the features other than adding a cute flower to a stock image?
From their site I’ll let them explain:
BRUSHES - Choose from carefully crafted markers, paintbrushes, and pencils to draw like it’s your sketchbook. Place the drawing, then resize and recolor it like it’s a design.
FONTS - Grouped by style and need, choose from over 30 fonts in any color or texture to get your text just the way you like it.
DESIGNS - Start with the basics or maybe try something a little more fun. These designs let you add, color, and texturize shapes, lines, and more.
STICKERS - Gotta have stickers, right? Working with some of our favorite illustrators, A Design Kit makes it possible to spice up your stories with the stickers no one else has.
Click image to see on Instagram
Below originally published August 2017
Click image to see on Instagram
There are so many photo apps available and many of us are weary of spending any money on them, luckily there are paid and free apps well worth the download and effort! I personally held out as long as I could in the photo app buying department. However, I started getting that FOMO feeling, wondering how certain Instagrammers were creating such stunning images post after post. How did they make that photo look so perfect, colorful, cropped just right?! I did some research, a few years back, found the perfect ones, and still use these apps to date. Here are the three I recommend
2) A Color Story
Two must-have apps were created by sister bloggers Elsie Larson and Emma Chapman of A Beautiful Mess. What started as A Beautiful Mess blog is now “a women’s lifestyle company focused on creating happiness every day through a homemade lifestyle.” They wrote A Beautiful Mess book with photo tips and two bestselling photo apps (A Beautiful Mess app and A Color Story app.
A Color Story is great for making photos that have white more vibrant and bright. Given its name it does not disappoint, the colors really pop, especially in the add-on filter pack Candy Minimal in partnership with Matt Crump.
Features the app includes:
20 editing tools
Create and save custom filters
Color fogs
Here’s a before and after example of A Color Story:
Zoom in, crop, further saturation and additional color fog: Final Image
Click image to see on Instagram
3) A Beautiful Mess
With A Beautiful Mess you can create more of a graphic-driven image or layer images on top of each other for a dynamic and unique image or inspiring shot.
Features the app includes:
Filters and photo editing tools
Graphic border with the ability to change the color of the border
Pre-loaded drawn-like doodles which include a balloon, emojis, arrows, hearts and more
Text – ability to add text in various fonts or sizes and colors
Cute preloaded phrases like “hello!” “You da best!” and “ooh la la!” are the fun to play with too
Here are some before and after examples of A Beautiful Mess, the app.
Click image to see on Instagram
4) Snapseed
Do you look at sunset photos or landscape images and wonder why they look so radiant or void of dark shadows? Try Snapseed to get the look and it is FREE, made by the geniuses at Google!
Features the app includes:
White balance
Ability to only saturate or brighten a specific color in the photo with the selective tool
You can quickly see the before and after before to decide if you like the editing path you are taking
Their latest update also includes filters like the HDR, double exposure, frames, and noir
Before and after example of Snapseed.
Click on image to see on Instagram
5) Afterlight
If you want to create artsy images with layers of photos and have fun with prints or light effects, try Afterlight.
Features included in the app
128 Frames
78 Natural textures
74 Filters
I’ve created some awesome before and after photos that you can check out here.
Other photo apps worth mentioning include PicsArt, After Photo, PhotoGrid, Aviary, and of course VSCO.
There is a lot more to a successful Instagram other than photo editing, but it is one of the biggest tools to use that are easily available and affordable. Try as many as you can and find what you prefer or what works for your aesthetic.
If you use an App you think I should try or mention above, let me know. Please comment below or email me.
The original piece was written for HipLatina.com by Vanessa Diaz
