Editing Photos For Social Media

I thought it would be a nice idea to quickly touch on how I take my photos for Instagram and Facebook! Before we begin, I would just like to say that this isn't me telling you how to do it, it's more of an insight into how I create my images and the tools I use.

Okay, let's begin! It may come as a surprise (or not!) but 95% of my Instagram feed (except for the illustrations of course) are taken on my iPhone! And most of the images on my camera roll are not actually insta-worthy! For every good shot I get, there are probably 30-50 that don't make the cut because the angle is slightly wrong, or the composition is slightly wonky or some other daft excuse that I've made up because, let's be honest, I'm a fussy git.

The biggest secret to the photos you see on my grid is the editing. Every photo that goes to my main feed has been filtered in one way or another. This means that it fits my aesthetic and blends seamlessly into my feed. There are two main apps that I use for this. And at this point, I'd like to point out that this is not a sponsored post. I just thought you'd like to know and see how I do things and the best way to show that is by before and after shots.

If I don't need to make any big edits and it's just a few minor adjustments I'm going for, then I simply use the tools over on the Adobe Lightroom app. 

Adobe Lightroom has a lot of controls when it comes to editing the light and colour aspect of your images and just a simple adjustment it can make a huge difference! If you're not looking for filters stacked on top of filters and just simple small adjustments such as exposure, or a quick temperature fix, then this is your app. Out of all the apps I use, this one wins where lighting and colour adjustments are concerned.

However, if it's filters and a more consistent look you're after then Pic Tap Go is my recommendation and is probably the best £2.69 (?) I've ever spent on an app.

I use this app daily and you can guarantee that the images on my grid (at least 95% of them from the last year) have been through this app, even photos that I take off of my camera. Whilst it allows tools for making minor adjustments to your images like exposure, temperature etc, those tools are nothing on Lightrooms. However, the filters are what makes this app worth every penny. You're not just limited to applying one. You can stack them on top of each other and adjust their intensity as you go along. I have a few favourite filters that I stack on almost every image I use. And, if you create an edit that you really like you have the option to save it to use again in the future or it stays in your most recent edits list. 

So I've talked about my favourite app but the proof is in the pudding right? Here are two examples that have both been filtered by Pic Tap Go this year.

This before and after example from my visit to Portugal earlier this year is probably my most favourite example of the extremes you can go to to save a really dark image and make it grid-worthy. This was taken at Pena Palace in Sintra on my iPhone 5SE. How could I not visit the famous yellow castle? Not only was the sun in the wrong place which meant that all my photos came out really dark and full of shadows but my hair was blowing all over the shop, and I think this is the only one where it managed to stay tucked in my scarf! I knew I wanted to share it on my grid and the only way I could save it was to stack filters. By the end of editing this image, I think I had stacked around 8 to 10 filters and used a combination of the tools from lightroom and pic tap go. Yes, it's a lot of filtering but it made a world of difference and didn't take that long to do. Some of them were even the same filters just stacked in different orders.

This image didn't require quite as many filters as the Sintra one and is at the opposite end of the scale for editing. It was taken on a rainy day when the light wasn't great, so I needed to pull out the shadows and make it look a little more appealing. If I remember correctly, I think I used 3 or 4 filters on this one and again it took me just minutes to do. A few extra minutes adjusting various levels can make a world of difference.

I hope that you've found some of that a little bit useful and realise that editing doesn't have to be a big deal and that it's actually really easy. But I'd also like to end by saying that you don't have to edit your images at all if you don't want to and it's entirely personal preference! I filter mine because I have a certain look that I want to achieve and the easiest way for me to achieve this, is to edit my images. At the end of the day, it's YOUR feed, no one else's. So if you want naturally lit photos go for it, but if you also want to filter to your hearts content go for that. The most important thing is that you do what feels right to you <3