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How to edit photos with instagram


How to Edit Instagram Photos Like a Pro

Instagram is a visual platform — so having great photos is key to a successful Instagram strategy. In other words: quality images result in quality engagement.

Thankfully, you don’t need to be a pro photographer to post beautiful content to your Instagram accounts.

All you need is your smartphone camera, a few editing tools and tricks… and a little practice.

Watch this video if you want to learn how to edit your photos for Instagram using Adobe Lightroom:

Or, read on to learn how to edit Instagram photos to grow your audience and establish a compelling brand aesthetic. You’ll also get a breakdown of some of the best photo-editing apps that can take your images (and engagement) to new heights.

Save time editing photos and download your free pack of 10 customizable Instagram presets now.

How to edit Instagram photos the basic way

Instagram has built-in editing tools and filters, so this is a great place to start if you’re just starting to dabble in the world of image manipulation.

1. Begin with a quality photo

Even the best filter can’t disguise a bad picture, so make sure you’re starting with a quality photo.

Natural light is always the best option but use the HDR mode on your smartphone camera when shooting in dim light, close up, or outdoor portraits for best results.

Another pro tip? Snap a bunch of shots to make sure you’ve got options when posting time rolls around.

If you’re strapped for time or inspiration, try customizing stock photography. There’s a whole wide world of free, quality stock photography out there to choose from.

Pro tip: Start with a photo that’s sized for Instagram. If your photo or video is too small, it may appear blurry or grainy, no matter how much you edit it. And you can’t edit your photo after posting. Photos that are at least 1080 pixels wide will look best. Instagram will crop your photo as a square by default, but you can adjust it to its full width or height if you prefer.

2. Upload your photo to Instagram

Open up the Instagram app and select the plus-sign icon in the top right.

This will open up a menu of posting options. Select post and then pick your photo from your image gallery. Tap next.

3. Pick a filter

Here, you’ll find a variety of filters, which will adjust the lighting, colors, contrast, and sharpness of the image in different ways.

“Gingham” for instance, creates a flat and muted look, while “Inkwell” turns your photo black and white. Tap each filter to preview how it will look on your particular photo.

“Claredon” is the most popular filter in the world, according to Lifewire, for a cooler look that pumps up the contrast in a natural way.

Pro tip: You can adjust the intensity of any filter by tapping it a second time and adjusting the sliding scale from 0 (no effect) to 100 (full effect).

But in 2021, most pro Instagram users tend to skip the filter step all together in favor of customizing their own visual balance. Which brings us to the “edit” function in the Instagram app…

4. Customize your photo with the Instagram editing tool

At the bottom of the screen, you’ll see an “Edit” tab on the right. Tap that to access a menu of editing options:

  • Adjust: Use this to straighten your photo or alter the horizontal or vertical perspective.
  • Brightness: A slider to brighten or darken your image.
  • Contrast: A slider to make the distinction between the dark and bright parts of the images more or less intense.
  • Structure: Enhance the detailing in the photos.
  • Warmth: Slide to the right to warm things up with orange tones, or to the left to cool them down with blue tones.
  • Saturation: Adjust the intensity of the colors.
  • Color: Layer on a color to either the shadows or highlights of the photo.

  • Fade: Use this tool to make your photo look washed out — like it’s been faded by the sun.
  • Highlights: Brighten or darken the brightest areas of the image.
  • Shadows: Brighten or darken the darkest areas of the image.
  • Vignette: Use the slider to darken the edges of the photo, making the image at the center look brighter by contrast.


  • Tilt Shift: Choose either a “radial” or “linear” focal point, and blur everything else.
  • Sharpen: Make the details a little crisper. (What’s the difference between this and structure? Unclear.)

Pro tip: At the top of the screen, you’ll see a magic wand icon. Tap that to open the Lux tool, which allows you to tweak the exposure and brightness on a sliding scale.

When you’re done making your edits, tap Next in the top right corner.

5.

Tweak individual photos in a multi-image post

If you’re sharing multiple photos in a single post (also called a carousel), you can edit each one separately. Tap the Venn diagram icon in the bottom-right corner of the photo to bring up individual editing options.

If you don’t do this, Instagram will apply your edits to every photo the same way. If your photos were taken in different conditions, or feature different subjects, editing them individually is worthwhile.

6. Post your photo (or save it for later)

Write your caption and tag any people or locations, then tap share to get your masterpiece out into the world.

You did it! You edited an Instagram photo! And now everyone will see!

… or if you’re feeling shy and want to wait, just tap the back arrow twice and you’ll be prompted to save your image and edits as a draft.

Instagram photo editing tips: beyond the basics

If you want to take your Instagram photos to the next level, though, you’ll need to spend a little time working on your images before you even open them in the app.

Here are a few ways to go beyond the bare minimum to make those pics pop.

Straighten up and focus

You’ve done your best in the shooting stage to create a great composition, but in case your camera wasn’t perfectly level, or if a stray piece of litter has crept into the shot at the edges, the straighten and crop tool is here to help.

This tool is the easiest way to improve your composition when it’s too late to retake the shot. A good rule of thumb? If the horizon in your photo is straight, you’re golden.

Tidy up the details

Use the spot-removing tool in your favorite editing app to clean up your images before you get to the color correction stage.

Whether that’s removing stray crumbs from the table of your food shot or discretely erasing a zit from your model’s face, cleaning up those distracting details will ultimately make your shot look more polished.

Consider the grid

Want to create a grid with a consistent, on-brand vibe? Keep your tones uniform, whether that’s warm and vintage-y, vibrant and neon or pretty in pastel.

Find some grid-spiration here, with our countdown of 7 creative ways to design an Instagram grid layout.

Mix and match editing tools

This is one of our top tips.

There’s no rule saying you need to stick with one editing app. If you love the smoothing effects of one program, and the cool filters in another, use ‘em both and get your photo just right before you upload it to Instagram

How Instagram influencers edit their photos

Wondering how to edit Instagram photos like the pros? We watched Instagram influencers’ how-to videos so you don’t have to!

You’re welcome.

TLDR: Most professional Instagram posters use multiple editing apps to get the look they want — Facetune and Lightroom are particularly popular.

For instance, Instagram influencer Mia Randria smoothes out her skin with Facetune, zooming in to even out the area under her eyebrows or rough skin. She uses the patch tool for bigger bits, and the push tool to adjust details like her lip line.

Once that’s done, she uses presets in Lightform to adjust the lighting, contrast and color. (If you want to experiment with presets, we’ve got 10 free Instagram presets to download right here!)

10 of the best Instagram photo editing apps

While there are tons of great apps out there to help you make your posts for Instagram the best they can be, these are some of our favorite photo-editing tools.

1. Hootsuite Photo Editor

If you want to edit your photos in the same platform you’re scheduling posts and planning your content calendar, look no further than Hootsuite.

With Hootsuite image editor, you can resize your photos according to preset social media network requirements, including Instagram. You can also adjust lighting and saturation, apply filters and focus points, apply text, and more.

Here’s a full list of all the image editing features available in Hootsuite for Professional users and above.

Try it for Free

2. VSCO

The app comes with 10 free preset filters (pay to upgrade your account and you’ll access 200-plus others), and features sophisticated editing tools that help adjust contrast, saturation, grain, and fade. The “recipes” tool allows you to save your favorite combo of edits.

Source: VSCO

3. A Color Story

Filters galore (choose bright whites or moody hues to suit your style), 120-plus effects and high-level editing tools that go into photography-nerd detail (in case you wanted to tweak your “functioning curves and HSL”).

For those of us with more “big picture” brains, A Color Story also features a preview of your grid so you can workshop a cohesive look.

Souce: A Color Story

4. Avatan Photo Editor

While there’s a robust library of effects, stickers, textures, and frames in the Avatan photo editor, the retouching tools might be most useful. Smooth out skin, brighten dark spots, and patch distracting details easily.


Source: Avatan

5. Snapseed

Developed by Google, Snapseed is a robust toolkit for photo editing that lives conveniently on your phone. The brush tool allows you to easily retouch saturation, brightness and warmth; the details tool enhances surface structure to layer in texture.

Source: Snapseed

6. Adobe Lightroom

Wondering how to edit Instagram photos fast? Presets are the answer.

And this cloud-based photo tool not only makes it easy to edit your pics on your phone or your desktop, but it’s also the editing app of choice for people using presets as filters.

The intelligent highlight tool makes it easy to edit just the photo subject or just the backdrop with a single click or tap… but the downside is that to access the most robust tools, it’s a paid subscription.

Source: Adobe

PS: Interested in trying presets? Most influencers will sell you theirs for a small fee, but we’re offering a pack of 10, created by our amazing designer Hillary, for free.

Save time editing photos and download your free pack of 10 customizable Instagram presets now.

7. Afterlight

The filter library is populated by custom filters by photographers, so you know you’ve got a ton of great options to sift through. Advanced tools and interesting overlays (dust texture, anyone?) give photos a real film-like quality.

Source: Afterlight

8. Adobe Photoshop Express

This is the quick and dirty mobile edition of Photoshop, and takes advantage of AI technology to intelligently handle noise reduction, retouching, cutouts and more to clean things up with a few taps.


Source: Adobe

9. TouchRetouch

TouchRetouch is sort of a magic wand to fix any awkward moments in your photo: a few taps and — abracadabra! — that distracting powerline or photobomber in the background disappears. It costs $2.79, but once you’ve got this bad boy in your arsenal, blemishes will have nowhere to hide.

Source: The App Store

10. Facetune

This spooky-realistic face editing tool has been downloaded by over 100 million users. Smooth out rough patches subtly, amp up your best features, and generally ignore the true meaning of #IWokeUpLikeThis.

But don’t go overboard with the editing features. Many Instagram users are savvy enough to recognize when their favorite influencers are tuning their faces too much and may be turned off by your lack of authenticity.


Source: Facetune

These are just a few of the Instagram photo editing tools out there. There are plenty more Instagram apps—for editing or otherwise—to discover.

Now that you know how to edit Instagram photos, the key is to find a few apps that work for you and use them regularly to refine and enhance your posts.

From there, you can build an inspiring and engaging Instagram presence, one stunning photo at a time. Trust us—your followers will notice.

Save time and manage your entire Instagram marketing strategy in one place using Hootsuite. Edit photos and compose captions, schedule posts for the best time, respond to comments and DMs, and analyze your performance with easy-to-understand data. Try it free today.

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How I Take and Edit My Instagram Photos (with just an iPhone!)

A few weeks ago, I promised on my Instagram stories that I will be sharing my photo editing tips and tricks. Don’t worry guys!! I definitely haven’t forgotten about my promise! 🙂 Okay – Enough fluff, let’s go straight into the good stuff. Here is how I edit my Instagram Photos!

PS: Just a quick intro for those who found this post via Google Search, you probably don’t know me so here is a link to my Instagram account @girleatworld, where my photo taking and editing style have earned me ~300k followers.

The Camera I use

This is one of those “if I have a nickel everytime someone asks me…” question. I’ve gotten questions from many of you asking me what camera I use, and I think the answer surprised most people. I take my photos with the one device that’s always in my pocket (and probably yours as well): iPhone’s small, yet powerful camera.

I had an SLR camera which I used to take with me on my travels many years ago. But since I got my first iPhone in 2010, I have slowly transitioned to using just the iPhone camera. I’m a no-fuss casual photographer and I want to edit my photos on the spot without having to deal with transferring files, so phone-editing is perfect.

I also love how a small phone camera allows me to snap away inconspicuously and efficiently. Taking a photo for @GirlEatWorld is not exactly a glamorous activity so I prefer to blend in and take it as quickly as possible.

Me, taking a photo in Old Town Prague and trying not to get hit by traffic. Thanks to my friend Shekhar for taking this pic.

Disclaimer: All the tips and apps I’m going to recommend are for iPhone. Unfortunately, I can’t advise if other phones have the same features since I am not experienced with them. Also, I’m by no means a professional photographer – I’m just sharing all the self-learned methods I’ve discovered over the years so these tips might seem very elementary to some of you.

Tools & Gears I use

Camera Gears

  • iPhone Max -I have pretty much used all iPhone generation since iPhone 4. I prefer the max screens as I like bigger screens for editing photos. I’ve also always opted for the biggest storage because I take a lot of photos and I don’t want to worry about running out of space. With the 512GB storage, I have not had to empty out my photos or delete apps in over 4 years (!!).
  • Ring Grip Holder – It’s a ring-shaped plastic that can be attached to the back of your phone case. This ring might look unglamorous, but it has been massively helpful in providing grip and stability. Having the grip on the back of the phone allows me to easily take photos with one hand.
  • Mobile Tripod – A flexible and lightweight tripod like this is a nice to have, especially if you’re traveling alone or you want to get a group shot with everyone in it. It also helps with stuff like time-lapse videos.

iOS Apps

I’ll elaborate more on how I use these apps throughout the post, but I’m just putting it here for easy access.

  • Camera+ – for advanced control of your native camera
  • VSCO Cam – for post-processing and filters
  • Afterlight 2 – for effects like borders and light leaks
  • Facetune – to clean up some distraction and smoothen out textures

Let’s start with the basics: Phone Photography Tips

I’ll be straight with you guys – there is no shortcut to great photography. The only secret is that you must spend time honing your photography skills and keep practicing it. It wouldn’t matter how much editing you do, nothing beats properly shot photos.

So without further ado, here are a few photography tips that have helped me:

1. Composition is LIFE

No matter what camera you use, you must master framing your photos. This is usually referred to as Photo Composition. It is probably the most time-consuming skill to learn, but it is the most rewarding as it allows you to define your own photography style.

I suggest watching this quick video of composition tips by Steve McCurry, one of my favorite travel photojournalist. There are many different types of composition and style, and over time you will start to develop your own style.

As for me, ever since I picked up my first camera I had been obsessed with the perfect symmetry (Wes Anderson is my favorite movie director, as you may have guessed) and bokeh, the blurred / out of focus effect you tend to get with certain lens if you take close up shots of an object. Combining these two styles resulted in photos you see at @GirlEatWorld.

2. Use Grids to help you compose

If you are an iPhone user, there is a native support to compose your photos. I recommend to turn on your grids by going to Settings > Photos & Camera > Turn on Grid. This will give you a nice 3 x 3 grids each time you fire up your camera app, which you can then use as a guide to make sure your subject is properly positioned and not crooked.

For @GirlEatWorld, I usually position the subject inside the two bottom middle boxes. For me, this creates the perfect subject to background ratio. This way I don’t overwhelm the background by taking a too-close picture of the food.

iPhone camera with Grid View Enabled

3. Pay attention to the lighting condition of your surrounding

If all else fails, this is the one photography tips you should remember. I always tell people that you cannot take your photos with your back against a light source – be it the sun, a lamp, anything that’s bright. There are some exceptions, of course, such as if you’re aiming to take a silhouette photo – like this photo below where I didn’t mind that the subject was covered by shadow because I wanted to bring more attention to the scenery in the background.

Currumbin Alley in Gold Coast

So next time you take a photo, make it a habit to see where the sun is and try to position yourself opposite of it.

Which brings me to my next point…

4.

Time of the day matters… a lot.

Though sometimes it can’t be helped, I don’t like taking photos in the middle of the day when the sun is directly on top of you. This tends to cast harsh shadows and it doesn’t look very flattering on photos.

Instead, I prefer to take pictures in the morning or a few hours before sunset, where the sky tend to be more beautiful, colorful and the natural light are softer and gold/warm-toned. As such, in the photography world, this time frame is often referred to as “Golden Hour“.

Sunset in Singapore

There is also another terminology called “Magic Hour” which is right before sunrise or right after a sunset and tends to produce photos that are whimsical. This was taken during magic hour in Boracay, Philippines

Magic Hour in Boracay

And here is another one from a rooftop in Hong Kong

Sunset in Hong Kong
Go an extra mile: Research ahead

If you’re traveling and planning to visit certain sites, try to research ahead of time where your subject is facing, then arrange your visit accordingly. For example: if your subject is facing east, then you definitely want to go in the morning to catch the morning golden hour. Pay attention to the weather forecast, and be patient if the sun doesn’t come out.

5. Make sure you get the focus and exposure right where you want it

This might be getting a bit technical… but my favorite iPhone camera feature is the tap-to-focus feature and AE/AF lock. AE stands for Automatic Exposure (how much light is in the image) and AF stands for Automatic Focus (where you want things to be sharper). This is really easy to achieve – all you have to do is tap on the subject you want to focus on, and give it a long press until a yellow box appears over your camera viewer. Like this:

iPhone camera with AE/AF Lock Enabled

You can then correct your composition until you get the perfect shot. Keep in mind that you must maintain the same distance from your subject once the lock has been activated. Changing the distance while the focus is locked will make your subject out of focus and you have to re-do the AE/AF lock.

Go an extra mile: Advanced Controls

In most lighting condition, AE/AF lock feature works well. However, for times when the light just refuses to work with me, I use an app called Camera+ for iPhone for further control of my photos. The app allows me to lock the focus and exposure separately. That way, while taking the photo you can arrange your focus and exposure points so that you don’t lose details to overexposure while still getting the focus correctly. For more info on these controls, this article explains it much better than I can!

5. Experiment with different angles and point of view

The other most important tip I have is: Move around and change your angles! Sometimes you just have to experiment with a different viewpoint to get the best shot.

Here, I try to illustrate several photos I took before settling on the one that I ended up posting on Instagram. The process didn’t actually take long at all (I believe it was about 5 minutes). I simply crossed the road, looked up, and thought that this was the better angle.

Go an extra mile: Get inspirations from Instagram and other photographers

One thing I like to do before travel is to look through the geotag of a location I’m going to visit. I’m usually looking for photos that catch my eyes and bookmark them so that I can reference back to it when I actually visit the location. Then I either try to mimic the same angle or spin-off of my favorite photos for editing practice.

The image below is probably one of the most popular angles of People’s Park Complex in Singapore, but getting the shot itself and editing helped me hone my photo editing skills.

Post-processing: Get the editing apps ready

Editing photos after it’s taken is referred to as “post-processing”. Even if the composition of the photo you originally took is off, sometimes a little post-processing can still help save it.

As a rule of thumb, I try not to over-process photos because this causes the photo to appear less genuine. The most important thing about travel photos is that your image should appear crisp and clear, though this all depends on your own editing style.

1. The basic image editing tips

I use VSCO Cam and Instagram native app for all my editing purposes. They are both very simple apps and I believe they have the best filters and editing capabilities. The editing tools I love using is brightness/exposure and sharpness. I usually try to bump the sharpness to 50 – 70% and this really helps to make the image appear crisper. I also tend to prefer to adjust brightness and sharpness using Instagram more than VSCO as I feel Instagram gives a subtler edit.

As for filter, I always go to VSCO. The filters I kept going back to is called A7, A8, C7 and C8. Whenever I apply a filter, I never go full strength as it might alter the photo too much, but a little bit (say, 40-50% strength) goes a long way to make the photo stand out in a subtle way.

Another tool I love and use a lot is from Instagram native app, called Lux effect. When used moderately, it does wonders to your images in bringing out more colors, sharpness, and textures. I used Lux effect on the photo below to help bring out the wooden texture of the building signage, as well as the folds of the jeans worn by the man.

Jewish Quarter in Krakow with Lux effect applied to it

2. Don’t be afraid to correct the alignment of your photos

As I said before, one of the styles I adore is symmetry. As such, I’m a huge fan of the tilt/rotate, straighten, X-skew and Y-skew tool that you can find in most photography apps these days, to achieve that perfect symmetry!

I use tilt/straighten to correct any crooked-ness within my photos – sometimes it doesn’t have to be perfectly straight, just to get it to a point where it feels more balanced. I use the X-skew and Y-skew for a similar reason – to bring more balance to the photos. Basically, the skew tools allow you to correct the perspective of your shot so that it appears more straight and pleasing to the eye. It could be that my image was slightly heavier to the right/left or top/bottom, and the skew tools could really make a difference.

This image I took in a train station in Berlin was originally slightly crooked and not very symmetrical as I took it at a slight angle, but using a combination of tilt, x-skew and y-skew I managed to make it look symmetrical.

A Train Station in Berlin

Similarly, this shot of square tiles was near humanly impossible to be taken as straight as it looks here, because… well, the tiles itself aren’t really straight in real life. I used the skew tools so that it looks like it’s taken from straight above.

Peranakan Tiles in Singapore

Sometimes, I use rotate to get a creative with my photo angles. Take this image below for example – of course, this image was originally taken upright but I find that rotating it 180 degrees makes a much more interesting photo.

Perople’s Park Complex in Singapore

3. Minimize distractions

I use crop deliberately to frame my subject better. Cropping also helps to create a more zoomed-in effect, so the attention of your viewer is directed to where you want them to look.

This photo I took in Seoul was originally landscape, but I find that portrait orientation would help bring out the details more when viewed from a mobile phone. So I rotated the photo and made it portrait orientation instead, and cropped it for better focus.

Imperial Palace in Seoul

Similarly, this photo I took in Prague was also taken as landscape and from afar, but I wanted to highlight the building and the street itself, so I cropped it to look like it was taken from much closer.

Prague Old Town

I use FaceTune‘s whiten tool to help tone down the colors at a certain spot if I feel the image is already too distracting. In the original photo of this image below, the color of the wooden table, paired with its rustic texture, took away too much attention from the main focus of the photo. So I toned down the color of the wooden table so that I can bring the viewer’s attention to the food and accessories on the table itself.

English Brunch in Singapore

4. Don’t shy away from experimenting: Try adding borders and effects!

While I try not to post-process too much for photos on @GirlEatWorld, I REALLY go to town with photos I post to my personal Instagram (@ichabunni) which I treat as a photo editing playground.

If you scroll through my personal Instagram, you’ll see that my editing style changes from time to time. There was a period when I was obsessed with light leaks, a period of time where I used white borders on square photos, and there was another time where I alternate between horizontal and vertical photos with thick white borders.

This might not be for everyone, but lately I’ve been loving thick white border around my Instagram pictures. The app I use for adding a white border is Afterlight 2. I love this app because it preserves the geolocation from the original image, so when you post it on Instagram you can still geotag the location properly!

Sunshine Coast, Australia

I love how the white border makes my feed look like its hung in an art gallery. (Not saying my photos are art… but… you know…)

Hong Kong

At the end of the day, the single most important advice I can give you is to practice editing as many photos as you can. Eventually, you’ll find the style you like and editing will seem like a breeze as it becomes your second nature.

And that’s all I have to say about photo editing on mobile! Phew, that was quite long, wasn’t it? I hope it was worth the wait and that you find this post useful. Please leave me a comment below if you do, and if you want to know anything else – feel free to ask me!

Until next time.

Apply effects to Instagram photos

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Instagram features

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You can edit photos you have taken or downloaded from your phone's library. After taking or uploading a photo, click Next and select Edit at the bottom of the screen. Below is a list of available effects.

Click Align to change the perspective of the photo horizontally or vertically.

Touch Brightness to make the photo brighter or darker.

Touch Contrast to make the bright parts of the photo brighter and the dark parts darker.

Click Details to bring out details and textures in the photo.

Click Warm to shift the photo's color palette to warmer oranges or cooler blues.

Click Saturation to increase or decrease the intensity of the color in the image (for example, make the red color more intense).

Click Color to add colors (yellow, orange, red, pink, purple, blue, cyan, or green) to dark or light tones in your photo. To adjust the saturation of a selected color, double-click on it.

Click Burn In to give the photo an aged look.

Click Brighten to correct the focus on the light areas of the image.

Click Shadows to correct the focus on dark areas of the image.

Click Vignette to darken the edges of the photo. By adding a vignette, you can draw attention from the edges of the photo to its center.

Touch Sharpen to sharpen your photo.

Click Blur to create a depth of field effect, move focus to a subject in the background while blurring the foreground, or vice versa.

Tap the icon at the top to balance the exposure and make the photo brighter.

In preview mode, a gray dot will appear below each of the applied effects. For example, a gray dot under the Brightness effect means you've changed the brightness of the photo.

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How to edit a photo or video before posting on Instagram? (for Android and IOS devices)

In this section of the article, we will understand how the built-in Instagram image editor works. First, how and where to find it? It's simple:

  1. We go to the main page with the news feed and find the plus sign in the square and click on it. This is the function to add a new photo or video.
  2. Next, you need to select the file that you would like to publish, the Instagram section, in what form it should be. That is, it can be a post in the feed, a story, or a new Reels feature.
  3. If you have selected a photo and a publication in the feed, then the image editor will open in front of you.

In the next section of the article there will be a detailed analysis of what the internal editor consists of and how to use it. The image editor has the following features:

  1. "Filter" . Here you can select ready-made filters, overlay them on a photo and adjust the saturation of the selected filter. In total, the user has 24 filters.
  2. There is also a function "Edit" . Selecting it opens a menu with 13 options for more detailed image processing.
    • Align . This function allows you to flip the image a few degrees to the right or left, such as to flatten the horizon or create an interesting tilt effect. You can also "tilt" the image vertically and horizontally.
    • "Brightness" . In this section, you can adjust the brightness of the image: make it lighter or darker.
    • "Contrast" . This setting will make the photo more contrasty or faded.
    • "Parts" . This option automatically makes image details brighter and clearer.
    • Heat . This section adjusts the "temperature" of the photo, making the colors warmer or, conversely, colder.
    • "Saturation" . This setting makes colors more saturated and vibrant or duller.
    • Color . In this section, you can add a "Shadow" or "Lighten" tint to the image. There are 8 colors to choose from.
    • Burnout . This setting creates the effect of a burnt-out photo.
    • Lighten lightens a photo.
    • "Shadows" . This option makes the shadows in the image more pronounced.
    • Vignette . This feature adds a round "border" around the edges of the photo in the form of a smooth fade.
    • "Blur" allows you to blur certain areas of the photo "radially" (in the form of a circle or oval) or "linearly" (in the form of a rectangular area).
    • Sharpness sharpens the image.

How to add and edit Stories?

There are two ways to upload Instagram Story:

  1. We go to the main page with the news feed and find the plus sign in the square and click on it. We are already familiar with this function, only in the case of the History we need to select the "History" section.
  2. The second way is to go to your profile page and click on your "avatar". Then the "Camera" will open. With its help, we can immediately take a picture of something, shoot it on video and immediately post it. In the same menu, we have access to the gallery, through which we can select a ready-made file.

When processing stories, we have access to various filters. There are filters from both Instagram and copyright ones created by other users of the social network. They can be found and downloaded in the "gallery" of various filters and masks. Once downloaded, they are saved and can be used.

There is also another way to process stories with other features. To do this, we need to take or select a photo or video. Next, a menu will open before publishing. At the top of the screen, you will find several icons, namely:

  1. Three Stars . This option allows you to apply ready-made filters that you have saved to a video or image.
  2. Square Smiley . This section allows you to attach various "stickers" with the date, time, countdown, poll, etc. You can also attach a variety of stickers and small pictures, both static and animated (this section is called GIPHY).
  3. "Snake" . This button is responsible for the ability to draw. Here you can adjust the thickness of the brush, color (there are ready-made ones, but you can choose with the help of the “dropper”), as well as the type of brush. There is a pen, an “arrow”, a marker, a “glowing pen” (with a neon effect), an eraser, and something like a chalk or pencil. There is also an "undo last action" button.
  4. "Aa" . This feature allows you to add text. You can choose text alignment (three options in total), color (from ready-made or using an eyedropper) and text style (9 styles in total). In the same section there are two additional buttons.
  5. "A with two stars" allows you to create a separate background for printed text. It can be both dark and light, as well as translucent.
  6. "A with two lines side by side" allows you to create the effect that the text itself is printed and displayed on the image.

How to add and edit Reels on Instagram?

You can add a video through the already familiar “plus sign in a square”, only this time we need to select the “Video Reels” option.

Next, we open the editing menu. We can either shoot a new video or upload an already finished one from the device gallery.

The following functions are available to us:

  1. "Audio track". Here we find and add the musical composition we like.
  2. "Duration" allows us to set the length of the video: 15 or 30 seconds.
  3. "Speed" gives us the opportunity to select the video speed we need: 1x, 3x and 5x, as well as "additives" in the form of additional acceleration in .3x and .5x.
  4. "Effects" . In this section, we can choose different filters either from among the saved ones, or find new ones in other tabs of this section.
  5. Retouch allows us to retouch the video.
  6. Video Collage gives us the ability to create a video collage with different grid options.
  7. "Timer" allows you to set a timer before you start shooting video. The duration of the timer can be adjusted independently, initially it is 3 seconds.

How do I change the order of published photos?

If our goal is to change the order of publications, then it should be borne in mind that this is impossible due to the fact that each post is tied to the publication date. The only way to change the order is to download, delete and republish the photos.

The user can change the order of photos only if it is a question of using the "Carousel" of several photos. You can use this function only until the moment of publication, after it it will be impossible to change anything.

So how do you use this Carousel? The algorithm is very simple:

  1. Find the already familiar plus sign in a square and select the Publish to Feed option from the menu.
  2. When the image selection menu opens, look for a small box that says "Select Multiple".
  3. Restrictions on the number of images in one publication allows you to select from 2 to 10 images and manually set their order.
  4. Next, if you are satisfied with the result, you need to process each photo separately (if necessary) and publish the entry.

Imaging services and applications

Since Instagram is a vast social network, many people have become interested in photography and in styling their photos. Although the internal editor itself is quite detailed, its functions are still very limited. Therefore, various image processing applications began to gain popularity, which provide more features than Instagram itself.

In this section of the article, we will tell you about common photo editing services and applications that can be found for both Android and IOS devices. We present you a whole list of 24 applications and online services.

Picsart

Link to the official website in the header - links to mobile applications are available there.

This application has many different functions. You can crop the image, modify it with "plasticity", change the perspective and adjust the curves. The application also provides many effects and filters that can be adjusted separately. In the application, you can also retouch photos: change the face, smooth out wrinkles, remove bags under the eyes. The user can add text, various stickers and draw on the photo, apply curly brushes, set frames and make collages from several photos. Most of the functions in the application are free, there is paid content.

VSCO

This application includes many photo and video editing options. You can adjust the settings for contrast, saturation, temperature, white balance, image sharpness, and so on. It is possible to overlay text and frames on the photo. The user can use numerous effects and filters. Most of the content is free, but there are features that you have to pay for.

Download links:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vsco.cam&hl=en&gl=US

https://apps.apple.com/en/app/vsco-%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80 -%D1%84%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%BE-%D0%B8-%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE/id588013838

Snapseed

The main advantage of this application is its versatility on a par with professional programs. You can find many ready-made filters and many different settings. It is possible to adjust image parameters such as brightness, saturation, contrast. You can adjust image warmth, light balance, highlights and shadows. You can also use the auto tune feature. The user can adjust the white balance, sharpness and position of the curves responsible for contrast, tint and other fine adjustments. The user can also pinpoint imperfections in the image, crop and rotate it, and change the perspective in any direction.

You can apply effects such as Blur, Vignette, Coarse Grain and various filters such as Noir, Retro, Vintage, Grunge and many more. The application is completely free.

Download links:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.niksoftware.snapseed&hl=ru&gl=US

https://apps.apple.com/ru/app /snapseed/id439438619

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

This application has basic settings such as adjusting the brightness, saturation, warmth, and contrast of an image. You can crop a photo, change its perspective, and make point adjustments. It is possible to apply various effects, apply styles and change the details of the image. The application is mostly free, but there are paid features.

Download links:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adobe.lrmobile&hl=ru&gl=US

https://apps.apple.com/ru/app /adobe-lightroom-%D1%84%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%BE% D1%80/id878783582

Adobe Photoshop Mix

This application is used to combine multiple photos and create compositions from them. As in any editor, there are functions for cropping, adjusting brightness, contrast and saturation. The user can cut out separate parts of one photo, move them, change and superimpose them on another image. Various filters can be used.

Download links:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adobe.photoshopmix&hl=ru&gl=US

https://www.softportal.com/software-40580 -adobe-photoshop-mix.html

AirBrush

This application is used to retouch photos. To do this, there are a number of functions: you can smooth, edit the face, remove acne, whiten teeth, enlarge eyes and lips, and so on. The user can add makeup to the photo. You can also edit the brightness, saturation and other parameters of the image, crop and crop it, add a vignette and remove unwanted objects. There is a large selection of different filters and effects. The application is mostly free, there is paid content.

Download links:

https://play. google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.magicv.airbrush&hl=ru&gl=US

https://apps.apple.com/ru/app /airbrush-%D0%BB%D1%83%D1%87%D1%88%D0%B8%D0%B9-%D1%84%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0 %B5%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80/id998411110

Body editor

In this application, you can change the body of the person in the photo. The user can increase or decrease the height and individual parts of the body, add muscles. It is also possible to add tattoos and other accessories.

Download links:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=breastenlarger.bodyeditor.photoeditor&hl=ru&gl=US

https://apps.apple.com/ru/app /body-editor-booth-skinny-fat/id1000332606

Supa service

Supa service will become an unusual solution for decorating your photos and stories. This is a free video maker that allows you to create videos and images for social networks without any specific skills. You just need to choose one of the ready-made templates, of which there are more than three thousand, and show your creativity :) The video editor is built right into the browser. In it, you can make your own animation, sound the video, resize the video and use other convenient features.

Link to the official website: supa.ru

Color Pop

With this application, you can process photos in such a way that the area you need remains in color, and everything else becomes black and white. It lacks other features.

Download links:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tasnim.colorsplash&hl=ru&gl=US

https://apps.apple.com/ru/app /%D1%84%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80- %D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B6-color-pop/id940508574

FaceApp

This application allows you to add makeup, change hairstyle, hair color and edit facial features. You can also use various filters for fun, such as filters that make you old, a child, or change your gender. You can also add glasses and facial hair. It is possible to adjust the brightness and saturation parameters, apply decorative filters, crop the image, change the background and much more.

Download links:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.faceapp&hl=en&gl=US

https://apps.apple.com/en/app/faceapp -%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80-%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%84 %D0%B8-%D1%81-ai/id1180884341

Facetune2

This application provides settings to correct various deficiencies. Here you can correct the shape of the face, change the figure with the help of "plastic surgery", whiten your teeth, remove wrinkles. You can change some of the proportions of the face, for example, enlarge the eyes or lips. The user can change the hair color, add makeup, change the color and print on clothes and apply various filters. You can also correct minor imperfections with a tool such as a “patch” and crop the image.

Download links:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lightricks.facetune.free&hl=ru&gl=US

https://apps.apple.com/ru /app/facetune2-%D1%84%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%BE% D1%80/id1149994032

FotoRus

With this application, you can edit various image parameters, crop it, apply filters, stickers and text.

Download links:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.photocollage.camera360&hl=ru&gl=US

https://apps.apple.com/ru/app/fotorus-camera-photo -editor/id457517348

InstaFitter

This application allows you to make frames for images so that they are not cut off when publishing. You can also edit image parameters and rotate it.

Download link:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.intsaSquarePic.noCropSquare.free&hl=ru&gl=US

LayOut

With this application, you can make different collages with different grids that fit the image format for Instagram.

Download links:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.instagram.layout&hl=ru&gl=US

https://apps.apple.com/ru/app /fotorus-camera-photo-editor/id457517348

Lumii

This application has many preset filters, options and settings. The user can adjust the brightness, saturation and contrast of the image, rotate, crop and change its perspective. You can apply various effects and change the position of the curves. It is possible to add frames, text and stickers to the image. You can adjust the hue of the image, highlight different colors and make them more vivid. Also, the user can make the background more blurred, change it to a completely different one and clone the objects shown in the photo. Most of the features are free to use, there is paid content.

Download link:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=photo.editor.photoeditor.filtersforpictures&hl=en&gl=US

Phonto

This application is used for editing images for stories. It is needed to add texts to the image. You can adjust the size of the text, its alignment (right, left or center), there are many different styles and fonts. The user can move the typed text around the image, rotate it, tilt it, change its color, saturation and transparency. It is also possible to add a background for the text, it can also be edited. The application is completely free.

Download links:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.youthhr.phonto&hl=ru&gl=US

https://apps.apple.com/ru/app /phonto-text-on-photos/id438429273

Pixaloop

This application allows you to create animations and overlay them on photos.

Download links:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lightricks.pixaloop&hl=ru&gl=US

https://appvisor.ru/app/ios/pixaloop -80073/

Prisma

With this application, you can apply filters that make your photos look bright and like painted paintings. Most of the presented features are available for free, there is paid content.

Download links:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lightricks.pixaloop&hl=en&gl=US

https://apps.apple.com/ua/app /prisma-%D1%84%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%BE%D1% 80/id1122649984?l=en

SnapChat

With this application, you can take photos and videos and add various masks.

Download links:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.snapchat.android&hl=ru&gl=US

https://apps.apple.com/ru/app /snapchat/id447188370

Adobe Photoshop Fix

With this application user can edit and retouch photos. There are options for adjusting light, saturation, warmth, and brightness. There are also functions of smoothing, "plasticity" and restoration. You can crop the image, defocus it and apply a vignette.

Download links:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adobe.adobephotoshopfix&hl=ru&gl=US

https://www.softportal.com/software-43655 -adobe-photoshop-fix.html

TouchRetouch

This application is used to remove defects and unwanted objects from photos. It has tools such as "Lasso" and "Brush" for faster and more convenient selection of the desired area. It is fully paid.

Download links:

https://play.google. com/store/apps/details?id=com.advasoft.touchretouch&hl=ru&gl=US

https://apps.apple.com/ru/app/ touchretouch/id373311252

Adobe Photoshop Express

This application provides a wide range of functions. You can adjust the brightness, saturation and other parameters of the image, crop it, change the perspective and blur. There are many different filters, effects and textures. The user can add text, stickers and frames to the image, as well as remove existing defects.

Download links:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adobe.psmobile&hl=ru&gl=US

https://apps.apple.com/ru/app /photoshop-express-%D1%84%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%BE% D1%80/id331975235

YouCam Make Up

This application is used to add makeup and change hairstyles. There are many parameters with the possibility of detailed editing.

Download links:

https://play.

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