Editing Photos on an iPhone

There’s something special and so satisfying about shooting, editing, and publishing photos all on one device. The following is an example of taking a photo through the editing process.

Snapseed - Healing

To start, I always edit out unwanted distractions using the content aware healing feature on Snapseed. Removing even the small irregularities can make a noticeable difference.

Snapseed — Tune Image

Then, I use the Tune Image tool to brighten the image. Boosting Contrast and lowering the Ambiance smooths out the shadows and dark tones.

Snapseed - Selective Adjust

Using Selective Adjust, I darken and brighten certain areas to draw attention to my subject. It may be subtle, but these subtle effects can add up.

LensLight

After Snapseed, I bring the image into LensLight. Here I add an exaggeration to the existing light source to give the photo a little more flair.

VSCO

Finally, I bring the photo into VSCO for the final color grading and sharpening. I try to use the same filter on every photo for style continuity.

Before/After

There are a million photo editing apps, but these (Snapseed, LensLight, and VSCO) are the three I use on a regular basis.

I started a small side-project, posting my iPhone-only photos on Instagram at instagram.com/rightnowiam. Drop a comment, let me know what you think!