So we've covered getting your photos off your phone, and using them in layouts, minis, project Life and photobooks. Today I'll share a bunch of fun stuff to take things a step further with your photos.
Filters
The first thing is using the filters in Instagram. This is one of the things I like most about the application. You can use the built-in filters to give your photos a unique look.
Laura shared this layout, and said that she used her favourite filter on these photos: it's called Brannan. Each filter gives a different effect, and in this case Brannan "richens deep colors while softening neutrals, adding a sepia-like effect to your photos à la 19th century." To see more examples of what each filter does, check out this post on Mashable.
Filters can help make a "meh" photo more interesting.
Before
After
I used one of my absolute favourite filters here: Earlybird. I love the softened tones and the frame. Speaking of frames, here's another tip from Laura. She prefers to print her photos at home so that she can resize them how she likes to suit her pages, and also to make sure that the frame doesn't get cut off when printing.
If you love the look of Instagram filters but don't use the app, you can use free actions in Photoshop to create the same effect. Here is a great article explaining how.
Apps
Camera Phone photography apps abound. There are apps to help you edit photos i.e. the exposure, colour, etc;
And also apps to help you add text to photos and to make collages.
Christine loves using apps like Phonto, Over, Rhonna Designs, and A Beautiful Mess to write on her Instagram photos before printing out. Android users you'll be happy to hear that we have a version of Phonto too!
For making photo collages she uses the Diptic app on her iPhone and iPad. It's also available for Android phones.
For editing photos I have seen lots of great reviews about the following apps:
For my Android phone I love
and PowerCam (free!)
Amy recommends Pixlrxpress for Android phones too.
The great things with these apps, is that you can do your photography and editing, and then share the enhanced photo to Instagram directly.
Freebies
I came across some fun freebies you can use with Instagram photos for your pages.
Here's a PSD layered template from Cathy Zielske for creating 3x4 cards.
You can use this template from Simple Scrapper to make a digital or hybrid mini album.
I like this simple template from Kelly at September Blue that she used in her December daily last year.
And finally, if you don't print at home, here is a free Photoshop Action that will format your Instagram photos for printing on a 4x6 photo sheet.
Follow us!
I mentioned that we have our own Instagram account for write. click. scrapbook., so you can click over to follow us.
And you can follow these team members too
Amy | Christa | Francine | Jennifer H | Jennifer L | Lisa | Stephanie | Sue
I hope you enjoyed this week! Before I sign off, do you have any other tips or phone apps to add? Share them in the comments!
