Quick tip #6: Editing images on your phone

They say the best camera is the one you have with you.  And I find this to be so very true as many times I come across a scene and all I have is my [insert random smartphone here].  I can’t let the image get away, so I take the shot and it usually ends up on Instagram.

There are some great photographers who post on Instragram.  Some give an unique view into their day to day lives via the platform.  If you look past the feet in the sand, plane wings and cat photos (of which I’m guilty of doing as well 😉 ), you can find some great art.  And with every photo comes the question of how to process it.

I’m really not a fan of the built in filters on Instagram.  For a quick selfie, sure.  But for something more interesting?  There are so many apps out there used to process images.  I’ve used quite a few of them but the one I’ve stuck with for well over a year is Snapseed.

Snapseed is made by Nik Software, a company that specialises in processing software and have some great tools available for PCs and Macs.  And I find it gives me the most flexibility out of any app, without relying on built in filters.   It’s not free, it costs about $5, but is well worth it.   I mean really, for the hours I’ve used it and the results it gives me, it’s well worth less than a price of a pinte of beer 😉

– Tune images = brightness, contrast, ambiance, shadows, warmth… either the whole image or selectively adjust parts of it.

Contrast, brightness and other adjustments - The Naked and Famous
Contrast, brightness and other adjustments – The Naked and Famous

– Straighten and crop images as you want

Straighten or crop the image as you want
Straighten or crop the image as you want

– A great black and white conversion

Using the black and white adjustments
Using the black and white adjustments

– Tilt shift and center focus options

Using the tilt shift to add some blur on the side
Using the tilt shift to add some blur on the side

– Plenty more (that I rarely/never use) such as grunge effect, drama, HDRscape, Vintage…

So yep, that’s the quick tip.  Snapseed.  🙂  Note that just because you edit an image doesn’t mean it’s going to be a masterpiece.  Processing is there to help improve on your vision and not to fix a bad photo.  Composition, timing, emotion all still come into play, and as far as I know, there is no app for that 🙂

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