One of our favorite things is to take beautiful pictures that captures our favorite moments. Luckily, Misti Blu is an accomplished photographer but let’s face it, having the equipment to take all these pictures on the fly is just not an option. That’s where our handy dandy phones come to the rescue, but what do you do when you’ve captured a beautiful shot but it looks flat and uninspired?

Photo Apps to the rescue!

Many of the best photo Apps have a wide variety of options from preset adjustments to full autonomy where you can choose what the picture needs to adjust. I’ve also been known to use multiple apps on the same picture if I’m looking for a certain effect. Here are the ones we are playing with now but tell us your favorites!

1) Autodesk Pixlr 

This is a free app that gives tons of options for presets and is one of my favorites for selfies. Why? Because it has a lovely button to create a smooth glow to the picture. I also love their text options, borders and overlays that can add anything from laser beams to pretty morning light flecks that add a touch of magic.

What I don’t like is their stickers. Though I’m not one to use them on the regular to begin with, I personally find their options cheesy.

*Bonus Feature: If you have a blemish there’s a “heal” button that will eliminate it. Sigh…if only there was one in real life.

2) VSCO

My son turned me on to this free app about a month ago. Though their options for presets are limited in the free version, I do love the many easy to use options to adjust the picture by hand. I find this app particularly helpful when I take a picture that is too dark. Sometimes just changing the lighting and contrast won’t cut it. The color and sharpness may get lost in the process which is where this app really shines. From tint colors, saturation, sharpness….I’ve taken pictures that were unrecognizable to wow in moments.

*What I don’t like? There’s no add ons, like writing text or overlays but as a straight up photo editor, it kicks ass.

3) TextsPhoto

Admittedly I’m just starting to play around with this one. I’ve tried several apps that add texts along with the option of banners and stickers for my advertising. Though you have to pay .99 cents to get all the font options, they still give you enough for free to feel like you can mix it up a bit. I love their banners, seals and scrolling that you can add to the picture however I’m still figuring out how to adequately shrink the text with out tilting it. I’m a bit of a perfectionist so to see a line of text ever so slightly askew and I keep overshooting to make it straight again, I get frustrated and trash the whole project.

Again, this one has been superior than some of the other “just add text” apps but still has its quirks. I still use Pixlr Express because its a little more user friendly but it definitely does not have all the options that this app has.

4) Afterglow

  
Afterglow is Misti’s go to app. You can resize images into squares for Instagram, play with filters, add light leaks or film scratches, record actions and save them for easier and faster use. I love how artsy you can make an image. If I could change one thing about it, it would be that there was a text option.

5) Diptic

Diptic is a collage app that also lets you adjust filters, borders, color, text, etc. I especially love that it does not add it’s logo to your collage when done, like the other collage apps I have tried. It is great for personal as well as professional. I use it a lot for before and after shots and for marketing. Super simple and saves your favorite templates.

Shoutouts:
ABM: Cute and quirky fun photo app with filters and stickers and texts to dress up and photo on the fly.
 

Hipstamatic: Artsy film style camera that let’s you collect and use different lenses, film, flashes, etc. Great for the film nerd who misses their old camera.