you need these apps.
- Simonette Boekel
- May 9, 2018
- 6 min read
My lovely friend Bella (@isabellachantal on instagram, and click here for a link to her gorgeous blog) messaged me asking how I put paint effects over my instagram photos. And it made me think, why not share my favourite editing apps with all of you?! So welcome to the ultimate list of apps I NEED in my life, most of them are photography or instagram related and what I use to edit all my blog and instagram photos as well as a couple of other apps that I love. I'm pretty sure that most, if not all, of these apps are free, which is amazing! I hope you enjoy this post and maybe even discover some new apps that I know you will love as much as I do.
#1 VSCO
Let's kick things off with VSCO. An app that I'm sure you've all heard of by now, it's probably one of the most commonly used editing apps for instagram. I edit all my photos using it, and it's so so amazing! The main features I love are the 'grain' effect, to add a vintage vibe to photos. I especially love doing this to photos that have been taken on my DSLR, I'm not super into the really high quality photos for outfit shots on that I'm just putting up on instagram. I don't know why, I guess it just feels a little more natural and personal if it's got a bit of grain to it. I also love the 'Y skew' feature, sometimes my photographer (a.k.a my lil sis) will take photos on really awkward angles, and I'll need to fix it, Y skew does this with ease and it also doesn't distort the photo weirdly at all, which is perfect! They also have some amazing filters on this app, I occasionally use these, but will normally stick to just adjusting brightness and saturation! Overall, definitely a must have for anyone who loves photography and/or instagram.
#2 UNUM
My holy grail!!! I lovee having a cohesive instagram feed, it's so much fun for me to try to arrange all my photos so that they are aesthetically pleasing as one page. Flashback to when apps like this didn't exist and I was starting to care about how my instagram feed looked, and I would constantly post, delete, and repost photos to make my feed look nice and cohesive. Nowadays, I will just upload them onto the UNUM app, and it is super easy to change the photos around, or swap between different feed layouts. (above is a sneak peak into my current future instagram feed, you're welcome) You can even edit photos within the app, which is perfect if you just need to adjust the brightness or do any other simple editing. You can also add captions and hashtags to the images you upload, which is super helpful. It also allows you to post straight from the app, which is such a time saver. Another feature this app offers that I use constantly is the 'best times to post' feature. It allows you to see what time of day your posts perform best based on your previous posts! So helpful, and allows me to get maximum engagement on my posts. This app is a life saver, trust me!
#3 VOGUE RUNWAY
Honestly a must have for anyone who's into fashion. I love looking through all the latest runway shows and trend forecasting what's going to be in fashion, and even just seeing the recurring themes in styles and/or colours between designers. Another thing I love to use this app for is to create fashion collages. The photos are amazing to use for runway collages, as they are all professional and taken from a front on angle. Amazing. The collage above was created using vogue runway images in conjunction with the app I'm going to talk about next...
#4 PIC COLLAGE
I love this app for, well, making collages! It's super easy to use if you want to create a photo collage, layer photos on top of one another, add a border, or a coloured background to your photos. My favourite feature is the cut out tool, you simply draw around the image, and the app will crop it, either where you've drawn the line, or where it thinks should be cropped (so, around a main object or person). This is such a good feature and makes creating collages super effortless. I'm have no idea how to use photoshop or anything of that sort, so an app like this is perfect, as it's so quick and easy to use!
#5 COMBYNE
This app is filling the void that was created when SENSSE rudely took over Polyvore. I had used that site for about 8 years and was so disappointed when I no longer had a place to create outfits using pieces I loved, but would never be able to afford. Combyne has been a really good alternative, and it's super easy to use. The only thing I don't like about it is that you can't edit the position or the sizes of the items. But that's okay, it's just a bit different from Polyvore and will take a bit of getting used to. But in saying that, it is still great for creating quick and easy outfits and curating a dream wardrobe, and I do love that you are able to add your own images to the background of the outfits, I think it's a really cool touch!
#6 ADOBE SKETCH
Such a good app! I need to do some more exploring because I'm sure there are many more features than what I use. But I think this app would be amazing for someone with an iPad pro or something of that nature. It provides super realistic drawing and painting effects. I personally use it to edit some blog and instagram photos to add a paint effect over the top of them. You are easily able to change the colour, opacity and size of the brush stroke, and it's such an easy app to navigate! Would definitely recommend checking it out
#7 HUJI
If you want photos that look like they are taken on a disposable camera, but also don't want to spend $20 on said camera, and another $20 developing the film, then this is the perfect app for you. You can customise the light effects and the date on the photos, which is super cool. I got the paid version of the app which allows you to upload photos you've already got on your phone and add the effects onto them, rather than only being able to to take them directly through the app! Definitely worth the couple of dollars in my opinion. This app is so much fun and such an easy way to get cool vintage looking images without spending heaps on expensive equipment.
#8 DEPOP
I'm obsessed with this app! I've mentioned it on my blog before, but it's honestly such an easy way to sell your clothes and accessories. As someone who's style is ever evolving, and as someone who gets tired of their clothes really easily. This is such a good app for both shopping and getting rid of old items. I also really love how it's set up in a similar way to instagram. So easy to navigate and find exactly what your searching for, as well as making it super easy to target a certain audience to sell your own stuff! So good. My depop is @simmboekel, if you would like to find me there!
#9 CAMERABAG
This is one I've only just recently discovered. It allows me to add some really cool frames to images, and I am loving it so far. It's super easy to use, and I also love that it's completely free and they don't add a watermark on top of your photos which is the WORST. I think this is the perfect way to add a vintage touch to any photo, as well as being a super easy way to add some variety to your photography and/or instagram feed!
And I think that's all for now, I hope this post was helpful to at least a couple of people! Let me know if you have any app recommendations for me to try out.
Until next time, Sim x
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