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As we saw in our recent article, photos are everywhere. But do you ever stop to think how many of those photos are edited?
Photo editing is particularly prevalent for selfies. Recent research found that 71% of people will edit their selfies before posting them online.
The most popular features to change are:
But selfies are not the only kind of photo that you can edit. Depending on the effects you want to achieve, you can make a photograph look dramatically different from the original.
Most smartphone cameras on the market today already have an impressive range of inbuilt editing features. These enable you to do things like:
But if you want to do anything over and above this, you will need more specialised software to do so. It is relatively easy to learn how to use photo editing apps, but it helps to have a good idea first of what you want to do rather than just go wading in.
So let’s take a look at some further photo editing features that you may want to try.
Five of the most popular trends in image editing today are:
Think grainy textures, faded colours and mellow presets. All of these features can make a photo look as if it were taken on a much older camera than your smartphone, but still with the added benefit of 21st century quality. The best of both worlds!
A vignette is where the outer edges of an image are gradually darkened, whilst the centre is kept lighter and brighter. This enables you to create a dramatic window effect which then highlights the central subject of your photo.
Text overlays are a way to superimpose one or more text elements over a photo. They can be a fun and attention-grabbing way of reinforcing the message of the photo particularly if you select a striking font to make your text really stand out.
A very effective way of displaying multiple images is to create either a carousel or photo collage. This is a great way of combining several images together. And, if combined with text overlays, can be a really powerful way of capturing and preserving memories.
Weirdly, in a section about image editing, there is a current trend to make edited photos look as if they haven’t been edited. So, as well as all the effects we have just looked at, some of the skill of photo editing is to improve the quality and presentation of the original image but without any obvious signs of having done so!
There are so many photo editing apps available that it is extremely difficult to single out just a few. Just check out the Apple Store or Google Play to see what we mean!
But here are details of five to get you started.
What better place to start! Instagram is the fourth largest social network globally, with over 1.39 billion monthly active users. It is also predominantly a visual platform, majoring in sharing photos and videos for other users to see.
But as well as this, Instagram also has an impressive set of photo editing tools, such as colour palettes, filters, symbols and stickers as well as more advanced features such as highlights, shadows, sharpness, and hue and saturation (colour adjustment).
Whichever photo editing app you use, you may want to share your photos on Instagram anyway. So the fact that it has inbuilt photo editing features is win-win!
Adobe Photoshop was probably the first well known image editing software. In fact “to photoshop” has become a verb in itself! The Express version has a wealth of advanced features including red-eye correction, collages, stickers, borders and vignettes. But one of the standout features is that it uses AI technology and smart filters to automatically make corrections to your images, for example any issues with contrast and exposure.
This app offers both editing tools and an online photographic community. One of its key features is a fabulous set of filters which help to make your photos look as if they have been taken on a high quality analogue film camera. These include retro-style presets, such as Grain and Fade, for a subtle and classy effect. You can also create collages using different effects on different layers.
And once you achieve the image you want, you can either share it with the VSCO community or directly to either Instagram or WhatsApp.
PicsArt is a photo editing app that is fun and easy to use. It has excellent image-editing tools and a good selection of filters. One of its main strengths is that It also has lots of creative features such as being able to combine images into collages, and add stickers and text.
Snapseed is a great choice if you already know how to use photo editing apps. It offers more advanced features. One of these is selective adjustment, which enables you to select and edit a specific portion of an image. Another is precision masking which enables you to edit the depth of field, for example to make the background blurry and bring the foreground more into focus.
Snapseed also has an impressive collection of filters,including Lens Blur, Retrolux and Double Exposure.
We hope that this article is a helpful guide as to how to use photo editing apps and that your photography will go from strength to strength.
Check back here soon for more photography tips from Print Your Memory.
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