Instagram. The place where people share their visual life and inspire. This app has started a revolution of content creation and consumption all on a screen only a few inches big. With the rebirth of photography and sharing your scenes, I have become more mobile with both my photography and editing of photos.
Like most people I do own Photoshop and Lightroom for my computer to edit photos and creatives, however I very rarely use them. Despite the popularity of those apps, I simply prefer to edit on the go on my phone. Over the years I have trialed and continue to use many different photos apps, some of which I paid for. Below is a guide on some of the Photo Editing Apps I have used in the past or currently use.
*Disclaimer: I own an iPhone so some of the features or apps, may be different or unavailable for Android users.*
Priime
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Time Used: 6 Months (Currently Using)
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Cost: $2.99
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Available for iPhone
I only started using Priime earlier this year because I was looking for new inspiration and change in my editing. Because I exclusively edit on my iPhone, I was in need of something that gave my photos a little character but didn’t lose the quality of the image (read more below). Priime was a suggestion by my friend and fellow Instagrammer Haley (@thesecondgleam) after I put out a call for help for suggestions. I really loved that they have all of the filters directly included in the app. Most of the filters they have set are from other notable Instagrammers.
I really appreciate that I can have some of my favorite filters saved for quick use if I’m going for a specific look or theme. One of the things I really like about the app is that it makes my editing process quicker and simple. It allows you to save the photos as a copy on your phone or you can overwrite the original to save some space on your phone.
Enlight Photofox
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Time Used: 8 Months (Currently Using)
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Cost: Free; Premium Features Available for In-App Purchase
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Available for iPhone
When this newer Enlight Photofox app came out, I was offered a special pricing for the new features available with this upgraded app being a previous user of the original Enlight. At first, it was a bit more complex than the previous version and I had a learning curve of about a week or so. However, I did get used to it and liked a lot of the creative features available including editing my black and white color splash shots on this app.
As I begin to use it more for my regular full-color photos, I wasn’t happy with the quality of the export of the photo. The app states that you can edit RAW and larger files, but the exported edits weren’t up to my liking. I paid for the premium features, so I occasionally use this app for black and white photos or for graphics and specific types of edits I need. I think it’s a great app for those looking to push their editing boundaries on their phone with more creative features.
VSCO
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Time Used: Less Than One Month
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Cost: Free To Download, In-App Purchase Presets Available
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Available for iPhone
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Available for Android
This is a very popular editing app for mobile photographers. There is a community aspect to it as well that allows you to follow people through the app, but I found it to be almost duplicate to what Instagram was doing at the time. Also, the features for the editing felt very commercialized and similar (because they were) to what others were doing. I didn’t feel it allowed me to be creative and really get the “feeling” I was trying with different looks.
I have not used VSCO in a few years but writing this review it looks like there are some updated features and new expanded creative tools to use that weren’t previously available. From what I have seen it looks like there are a lot of the same editing features in VSCO that the other standard editing apps (including Instagram has). From my own perspective, it seems like a great editing app solution for those focusing on mobile-only photography.
Lightroom Mobile
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Time Used: Less Than One Month
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Cost: Free To Download, In-App Purchase for Additional Features like Presets & Storage
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Available on iPhone
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Available on Android
I’m actually somewhat ashamed I don’t use Lightroom at all at the moment. However, I am going to make an effort over the next few months to get more familiar with it and use it both on my phone and on my computer. I have the Adobe subscription already for my use of Photoshop for work, however, I haven’t utilized it for my photography at this time.
I know it is a very powerful and most renowned photo editing tool available. It can do some amazing things to create amazing quality photos and creative works of art. This is a great editing tool on the go for photographers looking to start a quick edit or transfer it over to their desktop editing. Many users love the ability to purchase presets that other photographers are creating.
Enlight
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Time Used: 1 Year
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Cost: $2.99
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Available on iPhone
This app is somewhat outdated now but is still available to download. I was exclusively using this app for a year until the company created a new app (highlighted below) with better features. This app was very helpful and handy to me when I began a black and white color splash series on my Instagram account. I was able to do some very interesting and creative edits with this app. I discontinued using it because the brand came out with a newer version.
