Helloooo people! How’ve you been? So after countless DMs, emails, messages on how I edit my photos, I’m all excited to spill the beans. I also remember asking you on my Instagram stories and how you wanted me to cover this one asap! You don’t have to be a professional photographer but must know the basic clicking and the art of editing, because that’s where the magic lies, right? Well, you’d get to know as you read further. Though, it can be quite daunting at the onset but with practice you can get the hang of it and trust me once you learn it, there’s no looking back.

Things to keep in mind while clicking

1. Natural lighting is your best friend

Lighting is everything, in fact it’s the foundation of getting the perfect photo. It can make or break your photo. So before you click a photo of your food, makeup, your subject or yourself, let the natural light fall on the subject and see the magic unfolding! There’s no substitute for sunlight, no wonder golden hour pictures are the best. I don’t use flash, I might have used it twice in last two years!

2. Camera and equipment

This photo was taken with my iPhone. So start with whatever you have, you don’t have to invest in high end cameras if you’re a beginner. In fact, any decent phone with a good camera can click great pictures provided you learn a few basics of photography. Most of my photos are taken with iPhone and occasionally post DSLR pictures. I mean phone is too handy and convenient to carry, Who’s going to lug a big camera all around?

3. Be creative

You don’t have to follow what others are doing. Have your own unique style. Express and bring out your inner self while posing, clicking and editing. Have fun while shooting and don’t give a damn. After a few times you’d find your style and then see how interesting this whole thing becomes. Some failures will happen for sure but, if you love the process, you’ll never see your efforts and time wasted.

4. Plan ahead

I can’t emphasise enough on this one, save the horror by managing and planning in advance be it outfits, theme, location or anything related to it. I mean who would want go bananas on the shoot day, right?

Things to keep in mind while editing

1. Never overdo it

Less is more when it comes to editing. Here I’ve just added a little colour to my skin because it otherwise looks washed out so increasing the warmth and saturation a little did the job. The aim is to enhance the picture by tweaking it a bit here and there and not make it look unnatural. Imagine a sunset shot and increasing the saturation to such an extent that picture starts to look unreal! Even when you apply filters, try keeping them less than 50%. I personally don’t use Instagram filters on my posts as it reduces the quality but if you wish to then remember to keep them as minimum as possible because you wouldn’t want to change the natural lighting and ruin the picture.

2. Focus on minor edits

You’d be surprised how with just iPhone’s basic editing you can do wonders. You just have to play with exposure, brightness, highlights, saturation, shadows etc. Try changing the editing tools from low to high until you get what you’re looking for.

5 Editing apps that I like

1. Snapseed

Snapseed initially might intimidate you but it’s really good and user friendly. If you’re new to editing, I highly recommend trying your hands on Snapseed. You can do so much with this app like Cropping, filters, dramatic effects, etc. I use the ‘expand’ tool when my photos are vertically too long for Instagram and I don’t want to crop my feet or head out of the photo!

2. VSCO

You’d be surprised to see so many high quality filters this app provides! In fact a lot of bloggers swear by VSCO for Instagram pictures. You can easily make your photos look vintage and give them folk kinda effects. Although I haven’t used VSCO in forever but if you’re starting out, you’re going to fall for it.

3. Tezza

This one is the most popular apps with coolest editing tools. Tezza is a popular Instagrammer who created her own app for editing. The only downside is that there’s only a few free filters, the rest are paid. But it’s fun, so give it a try.

4. Insta size

This one is fun, you can easily change the mood of the photo from dull to dramatic in seconds. They’ve some amazing professional-grade filters to choose from and can give you consistent Instagram theme. This photo I edited using warm tones filter T4.

5. iPhone’s photo editing tools

Your iPhone’s editing tools are capable of some great edits! Sometimes just a little increase and decrease in the exposure, saturation, contrast and hues can do wonders. Well, that’s what I’ve done in the picture below and see how crisp and well lit it’s turned out to be.

Let’s sum it up

Give editing a shot if you want to have a cohesive theme for your pictures or if you’re someone who likes experimenting, wants to have fun with the photos. If you’re happy the way your pictures look or you aren’t into photography then don’t bother. Moreover, this whole thing is to bring out the best in your pictures and not stress you. So, have fun with your photos. Happy clicking!

If you want to know how to edit Instagram stories then do check out this article where I’ve shared all my tips and tricks.

 

Do you have any photography and editing tips, let me know in the comments below. I’d love to know what you’ve in your bag of tricks!

Thanks for stopping by!

Navneet,

Glam Adventuress