Now that we’re all parted from our professional photographers, more than ever we need to rely on our trusted mobile phones, or cameras if you have one. So, with that in mind I wanted to run you through my go to apps for editing photos on my phone for social media.

Now I’m an Adobe chick at heart, but if you don’t have access to Lightroom or Photoshop, then do not worry… Because when it comes to editing my images for Instagram, I like to be able to edit on the go, so I use a couple of free to use mobile apps.

Step 1 – Snapseed

I love Snapseed. It is up there with the level of tools Photoshop has in that it has the functions to ‘heal’ or remove anything from the background.

You can fully adjust the tone of the image or use the auto adjust function (like I do) to get the brightness & contrast right. This is an important step to make sure that your image tone is at a certain level before you start to add filters in step 2 so you stand a better chance of keeping a consistent look. 

I then crop and size the image in here, before going onto step 2.

This is a great app for initial stage editing and preparing the image for adding filters.

Step 2 – VSCO

We’re now stepping into stage 2 of photo editing… The colour grading side.

You can crop on this app, but this one is really about getting the colour right.

If you’re one of those people who likes to hone a certain look on their insta feed (like I do), then this is the tool that will help you achieve this on the go.

This is a free app, however there is the option to buy filter packs for a few bucks, one off, and I wholly recommend you do if you spy a filter in the paid version that will be perfect for you. As it’ll save you so much time editing in the future. I’m a big fan of H1 & H2.

You can turn the filter transparency down or up… Which depending on how you shot the image is very handy to maintain the same overlook look for your feed without one looking overly dark or overly light.

You can also adjust the brightness of the image, but I like to make these sort of adjustments in Snapseed first and bring my images into VSCO second. Only once I see it in VSCO and it maybe looks a smidge on the dark side, will I fiddle with brightness and contrast at this stage.

Once I’m happy… That’s it! The image is ready to post.

Step 3 – The final check

There is one final app, which I like to use to double check the image is right on the go… And that’s called Planoly.

I’m a little bit of a perfectionist and although I’ve taken all the steps to ensure my photo will look consistent on my feed, you can’t beat a sneak peek preview of how it would actually look in situ.

There you have it… My 3 step process for getting images insta ready for my feed. You can check out my feed @contentclarity.

Let me know if there’s any apps you like to use.