Top Apps For Editing Pictures On Your Phone

Hands down one of my most asked questions is "How do you edit your photos?" I think most people are surprised to know that the majority of my pictures are taken on my iPhone. I personally find it easiest to do all of the editing and photo taking from my phone (who honestly wants to lug around a camera?) but there's a few key things I do and use to take my cell pictures up a notch and make them really pop and I'm here to show you how it's done!

A FEW THINGS BEFORE WE GET INTO IT:

Do yourself a favor before you get into editing: make sure you're taking a good pic. Always face the light and try to use natural light when you can. Being selective about when you're taking the pic is important too. Ex: shooting at noon with the sun overhead will create shadows, so either stand in a shady (but still lit) area, or hold off until closer to sunset. Always change up your faces and poses and have your "photog" take lots of pictures so you have options to work with.

THE APPS I USE FROM START TO FINISH AND WHY I LOVE THEM:

Ok, so here is our raw image:

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Could I post it as is? Sure. But there are definitely things I can tweak to make the image 10x more appealing.

FACETUNE 2

(Yes, I said Facetune 2, it's better than the original and 100% worth the download)

I love using the defocus tool to add blur to the background of iPhone photos make it look like portrait mode. I think it really helps to make the subject pop.
I like using the paint tool to enhance the highlights on my nose & cheeks. I also like to use a white color in the "skin" option of paint for the whites of eyes when they look a little dull. Remember to use everything at a low percentage to keep it natural looking.
One tool everyone can get down with to save a photo is the "Face" tool for facial reshaping when needed. This option is only available on Facetune 2 and is really helpful when maybe your nose is looking a little large at a weird angle, or maybe your face is looking puffy. Again, remember you NEED to use this at an extremely low percent (nothing over 10 in my opinion) or else you're literally changing your appearance instead of just making small tweaks.
Lastly, I like to use the patch tool to remove anything distracting in the background (like randos in the back, light sockets, etc.)

Here's our photo after Facetune 2:

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LIGHTROOM BY ADOBE

First I love to use Lightroom to remove any unwanted tones from the image (For me, this is yellow and green tones typically). PRO TIP: Using the color tool, you can desaturate yellow tones to make them whiter, which is great for blondes. You can use the same tool to lower the luminosity in orange tones to make yourself look tanner.
Almost always I will sharpen and dehaze the image to make it a bit cleaner and crisper.
The selective tool for lighting tweaks in specific areas (like face) is great when you need to brighten up specific areas.
With Lightroom you can create or upload custom presets (which are like filters) to add to your photos. I like to do all of the above tweaks first, then save the image, re-upload it to Lightroom and THEN add presets.
Personally, I like using the Ty French Presets but I do mix it up. (I didn't add the Ty French Preset for the purposes of this post).

Here's our image after Lightroom:

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TEZZA APP

Tezza App is great for easy to use & quick presets. I always use this app to add a certain vibe to my stories but have been using it a lot lately on my feed because it seems to require very little tweaking.
My personal faves are Mood, Vintage, Lellow, and Almond.
Tezza also has a dust tool which I use on story images typically (for posts, I prefer a different app listed below).

Here is our image after using a few options on the Tezza App:

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KUNI CAM

I love using the app Kuni Cam for stories & video. I edit almost all of my story videos on Kuni.
You can add 3D effects to images and video which I like to do because it gives a retro feel to the image or video.
This app is also great to create “vintage” looking photos. This particular app has dozens of "dust" and lightleak options to add to photos. You can also add a retro time/date stamp to images to give it a throwback feel.

Here is our image after Kuni Cam:

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OVER

I use Over to create original content for stories and adding elements (words, graphics, etc.) to photos. When you see me add "scrapbook" elements to my pictures or doodles or words, I am always using the Over app.
With Over, you can create custom story templates to give your stories a unique feel that fits your brand.
I also use Over to create my highlight covers.

Here is our image after Over:

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STORYLUXE

StoryLuxe is a story template app that gives you a million and ten story options to make your stories look cohesive or styled.
This is what I use for the 'polaroid' or film style borders and collages that y'all see throughout my feed.
Unfold is very similar but story luxe has 1000x more options.

Here's our image after StoryLuxe: