Insta-Edits


'Tis the Season for putting too many posts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and every other platform in between. While I'm far from an insta-hun, I've been getting a lot of requests to show you all how I edit my pictures here over on my Instagram account, @sadhbhers.


I'd like to consider my insta-edits somewhat straight-forward. I take most of my pictures on my iPhone 7, and I use 3 apps (Afterlight, Facetune 2 and VSCO) to make them look a little bit more vibrant and eye-catching. My process can be divided into 3 clear steps, which I've shared below.

Step 1: Afterlight
The Afterlight app begins my editing process. I like to think of it as a platform that restores a dull picture to how I envisaged it would look when I took it first. I bought this app years ago, so I'm not quite sure if it's still on the App Store, but if not, most of these features are available on other editing apps.

So, here's what I do on Afterlight:

  1. Brightness: Increase
  2. Contrast: Increase (slightly)
  3. Saturation: Increase (this makes the colours more vibrant)
  4. Exposure: Increase/Decrease depending on lighting. If it's dark increase, and if it's too bright decrease
  5. Highlights: Increase, unless the photo is already really bright
  6. Shadows: Decrease
  7. Temperature: This can be adjusted to be warm or cool, I like my pictures to be mainly neutral, so I adjust this accordingly
  8. Sharpening: If I've taken the picture on my phone, I'll sharpen it by about 5.



Step 2: FaceTune 2
FaceTune 2 is the free version of the original, and it's just as good. You can pay extra if you want to use all of the app's tools, but I don't really think that's necessary. Despite its name, I never use this app to alter proportions of my face/body. 

So, here's what I do on FaceTune 2:
  1. Whitening: I usually tend to whiten any grey background, to make the image look a bit cleaner. In the image I've shown you,  I'm going to use the whitening function to brush over the road and side walk.
  2. Vibrance: I use the vibrance feature to make certain colours pop. Here I'll use this on my purple jumper, and on my pants to highlight the yellow stripes. I'll also zoom in and brush it over my shoes.
  3. Smooth: If I'm not wearing any makeup, then I'll probably use the smooth function to even out the colours in my skin (otherwise I'd be primarily blotchy red lol). If you're wearing something that has a small crease on it, it can also be handy to use this to make the crease a little bit less noticeable.
  4. Paint: I rarely use the paint function, but when I do it's mainly to fix up some uneven colours. Mainly because I'm just not skilled enough with this app to use it for anything else! If my hair is looking a little bit thin in a photo, or you can see some of my scalp, I'll paint over my head to make it a little bit less noticeable.

Step 3: VSCO
I only use VSCO for one thing; it's filters. I only have the free version of this app aswell, but for me it does the job! I usually stick to the A6 filter at around +6.5, but sometimes I like to use A4, A5, HB1 or HB2.


While I'm far from your average insta pro, and I'm rarely able to commit to paying €0.99 for an app, I'd like to think that I've learnt a lot from trial and error, and hopefully it might help you up your insta-game too.

Here's a few more edits I've done using these apps:



Until tomorrow,

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