Instagram has 1 billion monthly active users and more than 500 million of them use the platform every day. So it’s no surprise that when we upload and share our pictures we want them to look their best. This is why there are so many apps out there that allow you to edit your photos. From tools such as filters, brightness, vignette, and cropping, it can be difficult to know what apps do what and what is best to use. Since the technique is becoming increasingly popular we have narrowed down the best free apps to get Instagram worthy pictures.
VSCO, created by the American company Visual Supply Company, is a photography app that allows users to capture photos in the app and edit them, using preset filters and editing tools. The best thing about this app is the range of filters you can use. It has a mixture of soft and vibrant filters that all look great applied to your photos and make them look professional, and definitely not like they were only taken on your phone. Something great about the app is you can share your images, much like Instagram. However, on VSCO there is no pressure for likes and followers, so you can be simply creative and free. The basic app is free but there are certain filters you have to pay for but the free existing ones are just as good.
Snapseed is a photo-editing application produced by Nik Software, now owned by Google. On the app, you can find a healing brush, vignette, and filters. You can rotate and crop images, fix skewed lines with the perspective filter, and adjust the white balance and exposure of your pictures. Snapseed’s interactive Selective Tool is what makes the app one of the best. It allows you to tap on any object on the photo and change the brightness, contrast or saturation level of that specific subject without altering the entire photo, making the image seem detailed and authentic.
Shutter speed is the length of time the camera’s shutter remains open when taking a photo. The longer the shutter stays open, the slower the shutter speed will be. When you use a slow shutter speed (like you can do on Slow Shutter Fast Cam), any movement in the scene will be captured as motion blur or a trail of light and that makes for a really cool photo! Since an iPhone doesn’t have this feature this is where Slow Shutter Fast Cam comes in and has done a great job of digitally mimicking the look of slow shutter photography you can establish on an actual camera. A slow shutter works best when photographing fast-moving vehicles, water, and sparks.
There are already tons of collage makers in the App Store, that have a load of features but by using Layout made by Instagram your pictures will instantly have the square shape required for your image to fit your Instagram grid. Creating a collage is a fab and creative way of showcasing many pictures at once. You can even mirror or flip your images to create a quirky, cool looking collage.
Priime is similar to VSCO in that it mainly focuses on filters and editing tools, and has in-app purchases for different filter packs. All of the styles you will find in Priime were developed in collaboration with photographers, and each comes with a backstory and info on the photographer who developed the style, which is so interesting and sweet. My favourite feature is that it allows you to do live photo editing and when you apply an edit it stays on the motion portion of the live photo too.
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