The Art of Photography-So What About Those Photo Edit Apps on Your iPhone?

Well February has rolled on in, can you believe it? It’s time for another “The Art of Photography” session as part of Seth Apter’s Creative Team. Today it’s all about learning how the FREE apps work on your iPhone. (We will touch base on the outside apps on a different post.). For those of you who are new here, I have been sharing my layman’s perspective on photographing art, honing in on the least expensive way to go about getting really nice photos and giving tips and tricks for making your photography work for you without investing a lot of time or money. (To start at the beginning of this series, simply go here. It was my original post. I have taken the information from there and gone more in depth here, on my personal blog. ) If you get nothing out of any of the tips I have shared with you in this series over the past few months, I hope you will take these two ideas with you: FOCUS and LIGHTING. They really are the key elements to nice photography. Backgrounds are helpful. Props are always extras. And ALWAYS, your ART (or whatever you are shooting) is the STAR! OK, now I can move on. Since I have an iPhone, I will be sharing the app that is on that smart phone but I know that all phones have great photo edits if you choose to use them. My intention for this entire topic is to show how easy it is to take nice photos so this next area might not be your thing because it is a little extra work. That’s ok. Not everything here will be what you want to learn. I am only here to introduce you to what’s available. I honestly tried not to go too deep today so that the information is manageable. I also want to HIGHLY recommend focusing on taking nice photos without having to use these apps first as it is the best and quickest way to get nice results. Truth is, it takes longer to apply the apps so if your photo is great from the beginning, you can save yourself some time. I use these apps when it is necessary for my job and beneficial for my own artwork. I am careful not to be misleading about the “real” color, light, or depth of my work because I altered them too much. I simply use them as a way to clean up my work and perhaps, if necessary, tell a story.

So many of you probably already know where to locate the “edit” area on your phone but for those of you who might not, when you open your photos up on your iPhone, select one photo. There you will see a button on the top right corner that says “Edit”. Click that. Close to the bottom you will see a circle icon with little dots going around it. You will be working in that mode for these particular apps.

It is here that you can adjust. All the adjustments are located close to the bottom of your screen but above the “Cancel and Done” area. The best suggestion I can give you is to PLAY, EXPERIMENT and do the HOMEWORK. 🙂 It is well worth the time. If you learn it now, you won’t have to work so hard in the future. I actually ended up loving it and almost always have to make myself stop.

Auto Adjust

The first button is auto adjust (the little wand) so if you don’t want to play with all the other buttons I’m discussing here, you can tap this one and it will adjust the pic for you. This is how it looked as the original.

This is how mine looked with it auto adjusted. Not a big difference but sometimes it adds just the right amount of light. Might want to try this one first before trying to play with the others because if you like what auto adjust does, it could save you some time and you could be done right here. And hey, what about the Baked Texture Vintage Beeswax in the corner. Oh my. Also got a bit of Chunky Rust going on.

The next buttons are pretty self explanatory but I added a few details so that you would know the difference between each of them.

Exposure

Simply sliding the bar from left to right adjusts how much exposure is given to an object. I suggest playing with this. (Always know that you can cancel at any time on any of these apps actually and you will be returned to your original photo.) I use this button for some of my more crafty projects as I find that the modern look of bright white is very “in”. I use it less on vintage objects, etc.

Untouched. I think this shot is fine and needs no adjustment.

Exposed. (I exaggerated this so you can see what it does. You might use this tool, just not to this extreme.) Obviously moving the slider the other direction would darken the photo.

Brilliance

For making fine line adjustments. This highlights some items, adds contrasts and makes things look vibrant and richer. Haven’t played with this one enough so I guess that is my homework. It seems to work on several details while some of the apps only work on one.

No edits.

Edited version. I do see a nice change!

Highlights

This is the area of the photo that has the lightest elements in it so adjusting this will make that particular area lighter or darker, depending on how you move the bar. The photo below has been highlighted. The whites look really white. Can I just say that I really want to know what is in that white bag now! Lol.

No highlight…

And yes, that was a mighty fine junkin’ stop. Just sayin’. 🙂

Shadows

The darkest area in a photo are shadows. I rarely play with them but on occasion it has come in handy. I have been able to soften some shadows that I needed lightened. It can add definition to objects but it can only do so much. (Several different outside apps are particularly nice for going deeper, changing the color of the shadows, etc.)

Original.

Less shadows.

Deeper shadows.

Contrast

Adjusting the contrast means making things more vivid or more mute. This means it will adjust the pixels between light and dark. It’s what creates the difference in shadows, colors and clarity.

Less contrast…

More contrast…

Brightness

By now, I started wondering what the difference was between brilliance and brightness. What about you? Ok so here’s what it is. This feature is an ALL or NOTHING. You can get the whole picture lighter or the whole picture darker but it doesn’t allot for details. Duly noted. Brilliance works with more elements.

This was the photo as is…

And this was adjusted for brightness. I thought it all needed brightening and so this was the perfect app to choose for that.

Black Point

Probably one of my fav of all the apps here. This adjusts the darker part of the image only. I use it so that I can highlight the main object in my photo by sinking the darker color into the back.

Added Black Point…

Saturation

When you think of saturation just think color. It’s all about making the color more intense or less vibrant. This is one to be careful with because it can make an object look unnatural or unreal. If that’s the look you want, go for it but I can tell you as a florist, there are a number of disappointed brides who, based on photos they have seen, want a certain color, only to learn the photo was altered (generally in sepia tones) and there are very few colors of flowers, if any, like that out there. Can you tell the difference?

This one is less saturated. Obviously the other way it would be more of a deep orange.

Vibrance

Oh this is a new one for me! This is a cool tool and in fact, they call it a “smart-tool”! It works to correct specific things, like skin tone, making sure it doesn’t oversaturate it but leaves alone things that are already saturated with color. Wow! I say this one is kind of magic or intuitive. It also carefully adjusts the intensity of some colors so they aren’t so muted. Hmmm, this one might be worth a good play! It makes things look more natural and as I played with it, I discovered it’s hard to “over do” anything. It appears to control more details than brightness does and doesn’t allow one to have the upper hand. Ok.

Warmth

This. I use a lot. It shifts the light from either cool to warm, blue to yellow. When I get the warm glow on my art and I need it a brighter white, I adjust it down. When I am typically working on vintage projects, I might slide the warmth up to give it a dated look. Again, it’s always best to know what you are aiming for so that you don’t overly exaggerate the integrity of your work. Tip: Sometimes my photo reflects the blue of the sky when I’m shooting by a window so I adjust it to the warmer side to bring it back to a truer white. Make sense?

“Cool” example…

“Warm” example…

Tint

Pretty much what it says it is. Tinting will cause your photo to be more magenta or more green. I don’t use it often. I like to stay pretty true to what I have created. And note that it changes the entire picture that color.

Normal Photo

Highly tinted photo, leaning to the magenta side.

Sharpness

It defines the detail and edges in your photo. Self explanatory I think.

Definition

I wondered how this differed from sharpness and here is how it works. It improves the clarity by adjusting the contrast.

Before…

Adjusted. To me it looks darker and richer with literally, definition.

Noise Reduction

It reduces the graininess in your photos. I have not used it yet. Be cautious when applying this as it can soften photos too much and make things a tad blurry.

Vignette

When it comes to photos, it darkens or brightens the edges of your photo.

Untouched photo…

Vignette applied. Notice the darkened edges. It can soften the frame and draw the eye to the center of the photo. It works well with this stylized set.

Well that is it for this section of the apps. I hope you will begin playing with them. Really it’s another creative outlet for you to explore. Be mindful of your intention when altering your photos.

A Bit More

There are two other sections to this edit area. One is for filters. This is the icon with the three intersecting circles. (The yellow dot indicates this. See pic below.)

At this writing there are 10 different filters, including the “normal” one, or original photo. They each offer a unique twist of colors and moods for your photos. You can see three of them next to the original photo above. Fun to play with but I caution again about being true to your work unless of course, it fits your story. You can also “edit” these filters if you find you like the coloring but it’s too dark or light, simply by going back up to the edit icons.

And the last button on the right is a square with arrows. This indicates that the photo can be turned. Click that icon and look to the top left side of the screen and use the single arrow icon to turn your photo around. The triangle icon is different. It will actually flip the entire photo over.

Ah and there’s so much more but as I said I really wanted to keep this simple and yet, informative. I say, experiment and figure out what works for you and do that, always remembering that your main goal is to be in focus, have great light and showcasing your art!

Thanks for popping in today! I know it was a really long one. Hope the photos helped. Oh and most of the projects outside of the flowers and junkin’ finds, were created using Seth’s fabulous paints, stamps, stencils, die-cuts and even some of his techniques! They are available over on his website except his techniques. LOL. You will definitely need to take a class with him. Grateful to be here. Happy to get to know you all. And thanks for the kind words and comments you have all left in the past. So appreciated. Stay safe and healthy.

XO,