An Easy (and FREE) Guide on How to Edit Photos!
No presets required;)
Yes, you read that right. I’m an Instagram influencer with an audience of 120K+ followers, and I’m going to tell you how to edit photos for FREE without expensive presets!! I assume that most of you know me from Instagram, but if you don’t (first THANK YOU for visiting my blog and second go check me out on Insta!) I’m known for my clean, neutral palette and very natural looking photos. I’ve use this simple editing system to build my Instagram audience, AND I DON’T USE ANY PRESETS!!! I NEVER have!!!
You’re probably thinking, then what DOES she use?! What kind of expensive camera does she take her photos on and then what editing software did she pay 1000000000+ (that’s a gazillion, right?) dollars for?! The answer is, again, none of the above. I use my phone and those Instagram filters. Not joking. But I do have a few tips and tricks I’d love to share with you guys, so let’s go!:)
My 7 Steps to Edit Natural Looking Photos
- Find the best natural light in your home.
- Apply the Ludwig filter and adjust to your liking.
- Adjust the shadows a little using the Instagram shadows filter.
- Hightlight! (again the Insta filter) Everyone needs a good highlight, right?;)
- Get cozy! Turn up the warmth a little bit!
- Adjust the brightness a little to make her stand out
- Last but not least, I adjust the contrast when necessary ๐
And that’s that!:) And like I said, my photos are all taken on my phone. (I have Google Pixel 3AXL. For those of you who do just really like editing your own stuff I have a link for how to create the Ludwig filter on photoshop here:
As I mentioned though, this is all to your own liking. I don’t have any hard and set numbers to tell you to use in the shadow, highlight or warmth tools on Instagram. They change on the lighting in house (because I EXCLUSIVELY use natural light), the time of day, etc. And you may not want your photos to look exactly like mine. That’s awesome!! Use your own style, girlfriend! I hope this just serves as an easy, free guide to help those of you who just need somewhere to start in this whole photo editing process. Thanks for reading!!!:)
4 Comments
Pam
Thank you Jenn. You are so awesome for sharing your tips. I will give it a try. โค๏ธ
downshilohroad
You’re so welcome, Pam! Let me know how it goes!:)
Tracey Martin
I have been using these tips ever since you posted them on IG (which happened to be RIGHT after I had just purchased some presets (Darn), which I confess I DO use on occasion (since I spent the money), but usually I use your tips minus the Ludwig because I’m usually editing in Snapseed so I can use the photo on FB and other places as well! Thank you for these tips!!! ๐
downshilohroad
So glad they helped you, Tracey!!! and there’s no shame in presets!! If you like em, more power to ya! I just wanted to let people know it wasn’t the only option Thank you for letting me know the tips work for you! I appreciate the feedback!!!