In our last Dirt we shared some tips on Creating Photography That Pops, with suggestions for tricks to use when taking pictures. This week we wanted to share some of our favorite online tools for editing those pictures to help take them to the next level of interest and intrigue. Check out these tools to easily add filters & text to any photo, and to size them appropriately for social media posts.
Canva: One of our favorite new tools to use this year has been Canva. It provides several options for different types of layout templates for you to choose to start from. Whether you’re creating social posts, blog article graphics or presentations, Canva allows you to choose from a variety of free or very low cost layout templates, that are already sized appropriately for the type of project you’re working on. From there, you upload your photo, and then have fun changing text, backgrounds, borders, shapes and colors. It’s a great way to take an ordinary image and turn it into a call to action in your social posts. Check it out here: https://www.canva.com/
Pixlr: For a more advanced option you can check out Pixlr, for tools very similar to Photoshop. This is a great resource for resizing images, eliminating red eye, correcting blemishes in the photo, adding text and many other items. If you have some experience with Photoshop but no longer have access to Photoshop, you’ll feel very comfortable navigating around this tool. But beware, it’s not quite as sophisticated as Photoshop so adding many layers to the image can start to make the image look a bit distorted. Check it out here: http://pixlr.com/
For mobile photo editing, we’ve bit the bullet and spent that coveted $0.99 on a few great apps, but there are some Free options as well.
Afterlight ($0.99): We used this great tool in a recent campaign as we counted down the days to Opening Day of the Fair. With their easy-to-use overlay options we were able to spark a fun series of posts for social media. Check it out in the iTunes App Store.
Pic Stitch (Free): This app helps you build fun collages of pictures helping to add a little interest to normal snapshots. We like to use this app as we’re visiting our clients to capture the feel of the whole day. Check it out in the iTunes App Store.
A Beautiful Mess ($0.99): For a hand drawn touch, this app allows you to add doodles, borders and fun phrases to your images that are hand-drawn by Elsie and Emma, creators of the award-winning lifestyle blog, “A Beautiful Mess.” We like to use this tool for adding a personal touch to some of our “behind-the-scenes of Saffire” photos. Check it out in the iTunes App Store.
