Okay, can I confess something to you for a second? I have a little bit of a love affair with Instagram. It's full of beautiful, colorful images and I know I could waste hours just scrolling through my newsfeed if I let myself.
With so many tools and apps out there, it can be hard to know where to start when it comes to creating beautiful photos for Instagram. After experimenting with more photo editing apps than I can even try to count, there are eight that have stood out and helped me to develop a cohesive Instagram feed, and in turn, a steady following.
VSCO
This app is always my first go-to - in fact, it contains my favorite filter that I use for just about all of my Instagram photos. The filters and presets are fantastic features that can help you create your iconic Insta-style that's perfect for you and your preferences.
VSCO also offers extensive photo editing options. Everything from brightness and contrast, saturation, and fade - not to mention many editing tools that many apps don't feature, like as skin tone and colored tint.
Afterlight
Packed full of powerful editing options, Afterlight is a favorite among many Insta-fanatics. When it comes to an image editing app, Afterlight is one of the best. Its quick, straight-forward editing capabilities can help you create the perfect image in only a few seconds.
In addition to its sensitive, in-depth photo editing tools, Afterlight also has 74 filters, a wide range of textures, and 128 different frames to choose from.
Facetune
Dubbed one of the favorites by beauty and lifestyle bloggers, Facetune gives you all the benefits of airbrushing with the ability to edit photos right from your smartphone.
While Facetune allows you to smooth out skin, whiten your smile, and reshape facial expressions, my personal favorite capabilities are being able to lighten any background to make it whiter and emphasize details in my images. You can up your selfie game and create consistently beautiful images that are on-brand every time.
Layout
After years of being forced to use lame, ad-ridden third party apps, Instagram FINALLY introduced a simple, intuitive app that allows users to create collages for their images.
The simplicity of this app makes it one of my personal favorites. Instead of being built into a complicated photo editing system, the only function of this app is create layouts with your images. Choose from a variety of different layouts and adjust until its just right
Over
This app brands itself as "the easy app for creativity and design" - and there couldn't be a more perfect description! Over allows you to truly get creative when it comes to your photos.
When scrolling through some of the artwork users have created with the app, it's basically guaranteed that you'll be inspired to create some gorgeous images of your own! Over allows you to add both text and a variety of artwork to your photos - simple, but beautiful!
Photoshop
Wait, Photoshop for your phone? Yes, babe! It turns out that you don't need to be an amazing graphic designer or a photo editing whiz to take advantage of some of the best features Photoshop has to offer!
Touted as the app that makes "photo editing fun, fast, and easy", you can make brightness, saturation exposure, sharpening adjustments and more. Photoshop also features a gallery of filters and has the option to "auto correct" you're image if you're not comfortable tweaking all of those adjustments yourself.
Faded
I first downloaded the Faded app for iPhone last year when it was featured as one of the "Starbucks Picks of the Week" - and I was totally hooked! Faded has also been featured as one of the "Best New Apps" by Apple and named a "Top 5 Photography App" by ShutterStock. Whoa!
This app offers all of the detailed editing tools to make your photos Insta-ready. There are tons of different features and all of them are highly customizable. Not the mention the beautiful interface! All in all, this app is a pleasure to use and gets the job done every time!
Snapseed
Snapseed is a common and well-known favorite among both professional photographers and amateurs alike! The detailed editing process and simple, easy to use interface makes editing your photos a snap. ;)
The editing features of Snapseed are some of the most extensive highest quality tools of any app out there. The ability to target and adjust specific areas of the image and the photo picker function allows you to easily edit multiple photos in one sitting. If you're looking for a simple, specific, and clean app, this should be your top choice!
