Happy Thursday! Today I wanted to share with you all the apps I use to edit my photos for my blog and Instagram since I’ve switched up my photo editing routine a couple different times. There are so many great apps out there available for editing photos that don’t have to cost you an arm and a leg like a lot of Lightroom presets do. For me personally, especially as a college student, I do not want to spend a large amount of money on a photo editing service and have come to love a variety of different free/low-cost photo editing apps.
Photo Editing App #1: VSCO
I love VSCO and it is a free app! They have a basic set of a couple different photo filters you can apply to your photos, however, if you want to access a lot more filters, you do have to pay to access that. Although I never paid for any extra filters and was totally fine with the free filters they provide. My go-to filters are usually M3 and M5. I think M3 is a great filter to use in the winter time for more cool-toned winter photos, and M5 more for the summer time since it has a warmer tone and is great for summery photos. Along with the filter application, I usually adjust the exposure, sharpness, contrast, and white balance. And that’s it!
This image is using the M3 filter:
And this image I applied the M5 filter:
Photo Editing App #2: Facetune 2
Facetune is a great app to use for making adjustments to your photo, especially candids. I personally do not use this app as much as I use the others, really only if I have a semi up-close photo and I have a pimple on my face or some kind of mark that I don’t want showing, this is the app I use to cover that up, and that’s basically all I use the app for. Some features of the face editing I do not know entirely how to use so usually just stick to the basics.
In this before and after, I covered up some fine lines on my face and creases with the Matte/Concealer effect on the app:
Before:
After:
Photo Editing App #3: Adobe Lightroom (Mobile)
It was a goal of mine over the past couple months to purchase Lightroom presets since all the ones I’ve seen on social media look amazing, but all the ones I was finding were SO expensive and just not worth how much they cost. Fortunately, I found some SUPER affordable presets for sale through Etsy from a blogger I found on Pinterest in December and have been using the presets on every single photo on Instagram since! I’m obsessed! (If you’re interested in these presets, I will link them here – I purchased the “Warm Sugar” preset pack and love the tone! She created a couple different presets depending on what kind of tone you want, and I purchased for under $5! They look so great and can totally compare to all those other presets you see people using on Instagram that are usually $50-$100. Since using the presets on each and every photo on Instagram, I absolutely love the way my feed has looked and how it all flows with one another. I usually don’t make any edits to the preset after applying it to my photo, I love it how it is and how warm it makes my photos look!
Here are a couple different photos of mine using the preset:
All of these apps are free to download and can be found in the App Store on iPhone. I hope this post was helpful! Thanks for reading!
XX
Kelsie
I came across your article and just wanted to thank you for mentioning my presets! Your photos look gorgeous!! I hope you don’t mind if I share your blog post with my audience?
xo
Of course! Thank you! 😊