It is finally here! My Instagram Photo Editing Guide . So many of you asked me to write one. This editing guide will help you to create your own style and hopefully it gives you inspiration to get more into editing your photos. So welcome, to Step number 1. Before I will start, I would like to make something clear: My Instagram is not my real life, I just love to be creative as it comes to my pictures. Some people call it fake, I call it content. Since everyone’s content is different, I don’t assume that you like mine. But the fact that you are here… well I hope you like this post! If you have any questions at the end, feel free to ask me. I am here to help.
Style & Location
When I started my Instagram I had no clue where to begin. During these years on Instagram, I learned about my style and what works for me. Finding your style is really important, your Instagram is representing you, so stay close to yourself. This will be must more appreciate, then cooping someone. Most of the time I find my inspiration on Instagram or Pinterest. Save all the photo’s that really inspire you or the photo’s who give you new ideas for your Instagram. Also: go location hunting, take a look around. Maybe there is a lovely small street behind your house, or how does your garden look during spring? Sometimes the best locations are closer then you think. I always want to create a specific ‘vibe’ or feeling in my photo’s. Although, I love to take just happy, spontaneous ones. But this is really important for me. I don’t want to take just a simple outfit post. I always hope that my photo’s inspire you, to do different.
Lighting is key
If you want to take a good, clear photo use natural lighting. Open your window, feel the weather. But, avoid sunlight! This gives some extra shadows and yellow in your photo’s that you absolutely don’t want to have. Try to find a place in the shadow or take photo’s outside when it is a cloudy day. If you want to take a photo outside at night, make sure that you are using the right settings on your camera or phone.
Software/apps to edit your photo’s
There are a lot of editing programs, apps en tools out there. Personally, I prefer to edit my photo’s on my phone. It is way easier and so much fun to use a lot of different apps. Every time I edit a new photo, I try out something new. Just to practice more with this. Warning: stop editing at the right moment, sometimes you can get a little to excited and maybe it will then look to much! Down below is a list of all the apps I use to edit my photos. Of course, I don’t use all the apps on every photo, it depends on what I want to do with the picture!
- VSCO
- Facetune
- Snapseed
- Juxtaposer
- Afterlight
- Adobe Photoshop
- Lightroom CC
Step by Step
Before & After
Step 1.
First I add the photo to VSCO, the app consist of so many beautiful filters! Every season I choose another one. For my winter to spring theme I am using the filter: S2. It makes your photo’s bright and light. This go’s really well with the white and pink winter tone in my photo’s.
Step 2.
I go to Facetune, to give the photo some extra detailing. Such as the background, our little cupcakes and my watch.
Step 3.
I open the app Snapseed (which is my favorite!) and go to the drama tool. Here I choose the filter: Light 2. This makes your photo super bright and light.
Filter Snapseed Drama
Step 4.
At tools -> settings, I change up the brightness, saturation, shadows and highlights until I like the result. And that was basically it for this picture!
How do you add stars into your pictures?
Well, I got this question a lot after I posted my London pictures. To add stars or a different sky to your photo I use the app Juxtaposer. It is perfect for this! You can add anything if you want to a photo! You can add two photo’s and use one as a layer over the other one. By playing with this tool, it now takes me just a few minutes to change up the sky. I always download the sky or star images from google. I hope that this guide was helpful for you! Let me know in the comments what you would like to read or learn from my next guide!
xo Esmée
XO Esmée
