When it comes to the whole Instagram game, aesthetic is quite a buzzword. A big part of creating your own personal aesthetic and brand on social media is having a recurring style when it comes to the way you go about taking and editing the photos and content you publish. In this post, I’m going to share 12 of my favorite editing apps for Instagram!
These apps range all over the board from basic edits (color, lighting contrast, etc.) to adding fun special effects like glitter as seen in the photo above. I’m also sharing how I remove unwanted objects from photos, add in light leaks, and more! Keep on reading if you’re looking for some new editing apps to add to your IG toolbox.
12 of My Favorite Editing Apps for Instagram
Glitty
Glitty is great for adding a little sparkle to your photos! I’ve seen some really fun glitter edits over the years, so when I came across this app in January I was thrilled! I like using it to add little pops of glitter (like on the pineapple pillow above). You can also use it to turn a boring wall into a wall of glitter like in this Instagram post.
Lightroom (Mobile & Desktop)
Lightroom is always my first stop when it comes to editing photos. It’s great for the basics like editing light, contrast, color, and sharpness. I also love that you can create your own presets on Lightroom and save them. By utilizing a preset, you have a starting point for any image by just “pasting” these settings onto your photo. From there, you can go ahead and tweak the edit based on the specific image. It’s so much easier to create a cohesive feed with a preset! If you’re new to Lightroom and aren’t sure how to edit to get the tones &/or effects you want, TONS of people also sell Lightroom presets on sites like Etsy.
Snapseed
I use Snapseed for editing specific sections of a photo. Their selective tool is awesome for adjusting brightness, contrast, saturation, and structure for just specific sections of a photo if you don’t want to apply the effect to the full image. I use this a lot to make whites in a photo pop even more by selecting the area I want to pop and then increasing brightness and decreasing saturation.
TouchRetouch
TouchRetouch is a game-changer! This app is the best for removing debris on the ground, a random human in the back of your photo, power lines, etc. I also use it when I forget to take my hair tie off my wrist before snapping a photo (lol).
A Color Story
I’ve had A Color Story on my iPhone for YEARS and used to use their general filters, but I just started using it again a few months ago. I love their light leak and flare options for when a photo needs just a little more pizazz. For example, I used a light leak on the left side of this photo.
UNUM
UNUM is the MVP when it comes to planning out my feed! I use this app pretty much every day as well. I love being able to move around potential IG posts to preview what my feed will look like before I post. It’s also great for when I’m editing an image and I know something is a little off but I can’t put my finger on it. Seeing that potential post and edit next to content that’s already up usually helps me figure out what’s missing. (For me, it’s usually that the whites aren’t quite bright enough or my skintone is on the redder side.)
Facetune
Facetune is my go-to for getting details to pop on an image. When I’m wearing jewelry in a photo (aka pretty much all the time) I like using the detail tool to add some contrast and make the smaller accessories show up better. I also love the whitening tool on walls/cement that’s on the more yellow side in an image.
Perfect 365
Let’s be real… we all need a little help sometimes. I am NOTORIOUS for not sleeping quite enough, which means I end up with bags/circles under my eyes in photos from time to time. Perfect 365 has an “Eye Concealer” tool that brightens up that area and helps me out when I’m looking a little tired in photos.
VSCO
VSCO is great for a wide variety of easy-to-use filters. I tend to use VSCO more for my personal (private) IG account because I don’t edit those images quite as much as I edit my blog pictures. Since I care less about the cohesiveness of that account and none of that content is for a client or partner project, I’m a little chiller with it. I love how easy VSCO is to use and that you can copy and paste settings from one photo to another (similar to Lightroom). Their vintage style filters are my personal favorites.
Enlight Quickshot
Have you ever snapped a photo on a beautiful day, but because it’s so sunny the sky gets blown out in the image? Quickshot to the rescue! I use Quickshot from time to time to add the sky BACK into my photos. They have a wide variety of “stock” skies and clouds you can throw into your photo so the sky isn’t bright white or look blown out. Hello blue skies and fluffy clouds!
Portrait: Depth Mode Photos
Portrait is what I used to use on photos before Portrait Mode on iPhone became a thing! Sometimes you want that blurred background effect, but aren’t shooting on a DSLR or don’t end up taking a photo in portrait mode. I love that with this app you can paint in the section you want blurred and then adjust just how blurred it is. Very helpful, but it does take a bit of time to paint around a more detailed subject if you want to get a true background blur without a weird semi-blurred halo around your subject. Patience is key!
PicCollage
I used PicCollage about once a year… Yep, you read that right! However, I included it because I’ve found it to be the best tool for adding overlays/clip art onto images. I use this app around Halloween when I post my Disney character costumes! I always add a cartoon image of the character I’m dressed as into the photo and PicCollage is super easy to use. It even lets me search for the .png images that I need while I’m still inside of the app! So easy and way less searching around and hopping from internet browser to app.
I hope that this post was helpful! Let me know if you have any favorite editing apps that I might have missed or haven’t tried yet. Happy ‘gramming!
