These apps are the only apps I am using at the moment for editing images taken on my iPhone. I currently use VSCOcam, and Afterlight. Those 2 are pretty much the only apps I need at the moment to edit my photos for Instagram use. I’ll show you how I use each one to get a consistent edit for my Instagram feed.

How To VSCOcam:

If you do that matte, film style of editing then VSCOcam is going to fit your needs perfectly. Especially for getting those dreamy black, and white images.

*You’ll notice that when you open up VSCOcam you will get a navigation system on the left-hand side. You can choose to either go ahead, and take an image with the app, or upload one you have recently taken on your phone to edit. To do that, simply tap or swipe on the text Library.

*You will see your images hosted here, and when you swipe down on the gallery it will reveal the upload sign (+). Click this to access your images. When you click on All Photos at the top you can choose where you would like to access your images from. I chose, ‘My Photo Stream’.

*Highlight your image you wish to edit, and you’ll notice you get some options at the bottom. The backwards flag icon simply un-highlights your image. The tools icon is were you will find your editing system. The arrow icon is how you will upload to your social media accounts. And of course the trash icon will delete the photo you no longer want.

*Click on your tools icon, and you will be given a lot of filters to choose one. I try to choose the one that fits my editing style the best, and then I simply adjust it. I chose T1, and now if I tap on it again a scale shows up. So if it’s a bit too much for my editing style I can simply choose to bring it down to my desired taste. Click the check icon, and you are done.

*Now if you want to edit your images a little bit more then click on the white strip with the downward facing arrow. The tool icon again will lead you to more advanced tools to edit with. You can adjust the temperature of the image, the contrast, hue/saturation, etc. The backwards arrow will re-adjust the last edit you made on your image, and the u-shaped image will revert it back to it’s original state.

*Once your image looks consistent click the check icon, and it will take you back to the Library where you are ready to upload your image.

How To Use Afterlight:

Afterlight is actually my favorite program to use. This one does cost in the App Store, but it’s only $.99 ($1.07 with tax), so it doesn’t cost much to have great quality images.

*When you open the app, you are given two options: To go ahead, and take an image with the Polaroid looking icon, or upload images from your phone.

*The next screen you see will be to preview your image. If you like it simply click, ‘Use’. If you don’t like it click, ‘Back’, and you will be at the beginning again.

*Your editing screen will look like this. If you click on the circle arrow you can revert an edit you just did. The ‘adjuster’ icon will let you adjust the sharpness, contrast, temperature, brightness, grain, etc. I tend to use this after I pick a filter for my image, which leads me to the next icon. The ‘color wheel’ icon is where you access your filters. The ‘film strip’ icon is where you can add some cool effects, if you really want to give it that old school film look (examples below). The ‘sqaure’ icon is how you will adjust the crop of the image. The ‘ciricle’ image is where you can add cool borders to your images.

*Once you have finished your edit click, ‘done’ in the top right-hand corner. Simply adjust the image resolution, and upload to one of your social media apps, or save it to your camera roll. I always keep my resolution at it’s highest. I have the iPhone 4s at the moment, so the higher my image resolution the better.

I know that Instagram has updated their filter/editing system quite a bit since it was launched, but I still prefer to edit outside of it. I find that I get better quality, and when I download an image from Dropbox to upload to Instagram the color quality does not change.

For example, look at the two images posted below from my Instagram. Can you spot the ones that have a significant color change?

I try to always keep my editing consistent in everything I do, but I’ve started noticing when I upload my images directly to Instagram that were taken with my DSLR, it changes the color quality of them. I love for my images to have that matte, film quality to them, but in these two examples the two images look almost muted in color.

Even though I may not be editing my DSLR images on my phone, I still have found it much more useful to upload them either through VSCOcam or Afterlight to receive the best quality upload.

Do you have any recommendations for editing images in your phone, or uploading your DSLR images? Leave it in the comments below! We’d love to hear what you have to suggest!

Love,