Our Favorite Mobile Photo Editing App
The merriest season of all is upon us and we’re all excited to capture the holiday spirit with our smartphone cameras. Before you share on instagram, or upload to your favorite photo-book maker, have you considered editing your photos? Sure, there are basic editing features on most phones, and instagram has filters galore, but here at Studio Dibella we’ve been using an app that has taken our mobile photo editing skills from a lump of coal to a shining star.
Before: Dull & muddy photo
After: Bright pop & contrast
Take this photo of our Christmas tree, for example. Whenever you are shooting in dim conditions you’re likely to run into the same challenges we did: the picture was too muddy, the green hues of the pine needles didn’t pop and we wanted due to the dark setting, the photo doesn’t appear crisp and sharp.
Luckily, our holiday miracle came in the form of a free mobile app called Snapseed. A well-known application to photography buffs around the world, Snapseed is a photo enhancement application produced by Nik Software, owned by Google, and available for iOS and Android. And while it’s brimming with features and functionality, there’s no need to be intimidated: Snapseed has plenty of preset filters in the ‘Looks’ section for those who want a fast fix for their photos. However, we spend most of our time in the “Tools” section of the app.
Before: What are those weird wall and curtain color hues?
After: Color tones are balanced and more true to life.
Here are three categories of tools to improve your photos:
Explore the Basics
Start with the Tune Image tools. By pressing the photo and sliding your finger up and down you can toggle between 7 adjustable features like Brightness, Highlights, and Warmth. There are even combo adjustments, for example Ambience tunes the Saturation and Contrast simultaneously. Experimentation is a great way to learn the ropes of these basics if you’re not already familiar with them.
Pump up the Drama
For more dramatic effects, test out HDR Scope, Glamour Glow and Drama features. We’ve found these work best for landscapes.
Tuning the Details
For really specific touch ups, we turn to the Healing and Selective tools. The Healing tool will remove that blemish in your selfie. Selective gives you 4 basic adjustment tools for a specific area of your photo. Use this to brighten up a shadow over a face, or to pump up the saturation of a sunset without making faces in the foreground orange.
Before: This happy family is almost Christmas card ready.
After: Portrait mode, Selective focus, Vignette & an improved crop makes a subtle yet powerful difference.
Ultimately, a mobile photo editing tool can add that extra polish to elevate your photos. Depending on how fancy your cell phone camera is, frequent use of editing tools might even make your instagram feed look professionally shot. So fair warning: once your friends and family start to notice, you’ll be the most requested photographer for future holiday cards!
If editing apps aren’t your thing or you want to take your digital content to the next level? Check out how we collaborate with our clients to elevate their photography, graphics, and messaging for social media.