Editing for Insta

It’s no secret that I am obsessed with instagram BUT since my social media fast, I have decided to live more in the moment and to post photos that are less staged and taken with my phone instead of my fancy camera. Of course I still want the pics to look like great quality images, so I have built an  arsenal of photo editing apps and I am pumped to share them with you. 
Full disclosure: these are not all free apps, but they are totally worth it in my book. Lets dive in…
App #1: Pic Tap Go – $1.99 in the app store
I learned about this app from my blogger friend, Emily, over coffee when I lived in North Carolina. We both took similar pics of our cute mugs of java but the one she posted looked exponentially better than the one I posted.  #jeaous. After that, I downloaded Pic Tap Go and didn’t look back. 
 What I love about this app is that it gives you larger tiles to see how your pic will look after choosing the filter. I typically use the “crisp” filter at 100% with the “lights on” filter at 50%.  
App #2: VSCO – Free!
I am sure this app is nothing new to you, but I love it because I can come up with a formula to use on all my photos so that they correspond when you are looking at my profile as a whole. I know I am not the only insta freak that cares about their “catalogue” per say of photos…

My formula is: brightness +2, contrast +1, sharpen +4, temperature -1, tint -1, and skintone -1. Once you know your formula, you can edit so quickly and see how it will look on your feed before you post!
App #3 Afterlight – $0.99
This is my go to app if my pic feels a little boring. Cupcakes are great, but fun lighting makes the pic so much more interesting!

Now onto the mother of all apps….
App #4: A Color Story – Free! Omg…
This app actually inspired me to do this entire post because I am so excited about it! First off, it was created by the founders of one of my favorite blogs (if not the favorite), A Beautiful Mess. Second, it does pretty much everything I mentioned above (minus keeping a catalogue of photos edited)! They put huge focus on brightening whites while not dulling colors which I really apprecaite. 
I used the filter called “everyday” on the above pic and got so excited. The app comes with about 8 filters but heres the catch…they offer a million more filters if you’re willing to pay for them. After browsing the options and seeing that they had a $7.99 deal for all the filters and effects, I was sold! Now I can use ONE app for all my needs! It’s got light leeks, bokahs, color fades…everything
I can hear you thinking, “why didn’t you just tell us about this one first?” Because we all have different needs. You may not care to make it look like a window is open near your photo or that you can turn a white wall turquoise so I wanted to show you all my discoveries over the last year so that you can choose what would be the best fit for you 🙂
Do you have a favorite editing app? I’d love to hear about it! Or better yet, take a sweet snow pic and tag me in the comments! I know there will be tons this weekend with Jonas on the way…stay warm!
Tilley
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