I edit photos and videos almost daily for my social media platforms. While I’d love to sit down with a chai tea and edit on my computer for hours on end, I usually don’t have that kind of time. You can find me editing almost all of my content on my iPhone because it allows me to do it from virtually anywhere.
Through the years I’ve definitely used my share of mobile editing apps. None have stood the test of time quite like the ones I’m sharing with you today! These apps make editing my content simple and seamless – just the way I like it, especially when I’m on the go.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
All of my photos start with being edited in Lightroom. You can adjust all aspects of a photo from brightness, contrast, specific color saturations, clarity, and more. A lot of bloggers offer their own Lightroom presets, but I have found that editing each photo from scratch actually works better for me. One of my favorite features of Lightroom is being able to select specific areas for editing without mass editing a full photo. This is especially useful if I want to mellow out colors in the background so I can allow an object in the front of the photo to POP.
Adobe Photoshop Fix
Following LR, this app is usually my second step for final edits. I’m a big fan of the healing tool. I use it to edit out any weird items that I don’t want in the shot I (ex: cones on a sidewalk, people in the background, blemishes on my face, etc.). It takes some mastering to really blend an area after removing an object from it (I’m no pro), but Photoshop Fix definitely makes it a somewhat attainable step for any user willing to try.
PicsArt
PicsArt is literally my *for funsies* app. I don’t use it all the time, but when I do it’s because I want to make a poppy image (think borders, magazine style editing, outlines images, etc.). Some of the cover shots on my blog posts are actually born from editing in PicsArt (like this one). Their app offers a wide range of borders, effects, and eclectic stickers that you can add to photos.
Splice
I told you about my favorite photo editing apps, now lets switch gears to what I use for video editing. Splice is by far my FAVORITE app to use when editing video shots. With Instagram’s recent release of Reels, it’s proven once again that video content is more important than ever. I use Splice for IG stories and IGTV because it comes with so many editing options. You can easily chop a clip, add text, layer a VoiceOver, adjust video speed, and MORE.
To be completely honest with you guys, I don’t trust the iPhone’s time-lapse shooting feature anymore. For some reason it doesn’t always save the videos that I shoot in that mode so I’ve deemed it unreliable (sorry, Apple). To avoid that stress, I’ll shoot a video in normal time, throw it into Splice, and adjust the playback speed in the app. It works beautifully!
I read that one of Splice’s updates will soon include popular music. I was stoked to see this because even though Splice’s pre-generated tracks are OK, there’s nothing quite like layering the perfect mainstream hit song with a powerful chorus over your vid.
What are some of your favorite editing apps when it comes to your photos and videos? Are you familiar with any of these?