My favorite Apps for Editing Photos – Lightroom, Retouch, PicsArt, Photo Timer+

1. Lightroom is hands down my most used app (well, besides Instagram). I use it for every photo I post and it’s a game changer. It is super easy to use too! I upload the photo I need to edit to Lightroom, and once in the app, I can edit my photo’s color, lighting, shadow, add effects , crop, and more. I use the free version, but you can get the premium version for $5 a month (which allows you to retouch photos). If you purchase presets from a blogger or Etsy (I recently purchased some new ones from a blogger), then you can upload these presets and easily apply them to your photos. Because I use presets, sometimes a photo edit only takes me a few seconds. If the original lighting is really bad, then once the preset is applied, I will play with the color and/or light options to brighten up my photo (or fix bad self tanner legs). See Example where I used Lightroom below

Before – Original Picture

After – Applied Lightroom Preset, adjusting lighting, and cropped

2. Retouch is also a must have app. Do you ever take a fabulous photo, to only find later that there was a random person or object in the background? That is the absolute worst…but Retouch allows you to remove the unwanted people or objects from photos, and no one will know the difference. I’ve used it to removed shadows, an old shed in my backyard, cars, people, cracks in the road, the number off my house…you name it. Sometimes you have to play around to get the objects removed without making the photo look weird, and sometimes I have accidentally removed a chunk from my leg…..but overall it’s pretty easy to use. See Examples where I used Retouch below.

Before – My husband’s shadow is off to the right
Before – Pumpkins have stickers and there is a packed parking lot in the background
After – Used Retouch to remove shadow
After – Used Retouch to remove blue stickers, cars in background, and telephone poles

3. PicsArt is fun to use for adding stickers or backgrounds to a photo. I don’t often edit my photos in this way, but have recently played around with it some. I’ve seen some people do some really cute edits using this app by adding cute star stickers, rainbows, or glitter. Use your imagination and this can be a really fun app. I also use this app for collages…but I’ll do a separate post for all that. See an Example where I used PicsArt below.

Before – Simple white background

After – Used PicsArt to add a rainbow background

4. Photo Timer+ – So technically this is a app for taking pictures, not editing….but I ‘m throwing it in anyways since this is all about getting the best pictures. Whether you have a friend photographer or husband photographer, there are times where it’s just easier to take the photo yourself (maybe your husband is being impatient with you….never happens, right?). If you have a tripod, you can always just use a Bluetooth clicker thing to take your pics, but I prefer to use this app. Once you are in Photo Timer+, you can set the delay up to 1 minute on how long the app should wait before taking the first pic. You can also set the number of pics it should take (up to 50), how many seconds in between pics, and whether you want sound on while taking pics (like a count down). I usually do a 10 second delay, take 10-15 pics, 3 seconds between pics, and the count sound on. That is what works for me, but it is super easy to tweek and see what works for you. This app has helped me get some great pics, like my recent bathtub photo…..but I wouldn’t fire your photographer just yet! See an example where I used Photo Timer+ below.

Photo taken with Photo Time+ and a ring light tripod

OK…that’s all I’ve got for now! I hope this was helpful!