The Best Apps for Photo and Video Editing
Updated: Jan 6, 2021
I often get asked how I create and edit photos and videos after I've captured what I need. Most assume that I do everything from my laptop, but I honestly haven't edited a photo on a computer since 2003 when I took a graphics design class in high school to learn how to use Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. I currently only edit photos with my phone. Here are the apps I use to create and edit content.
Before I begin, I'd strongly recommend you sign up for Skillshare. Use this LINK to sign up today and receive 2 free months. Skillshare is a fantastic app which pretty much acts like a portable school or college. It is strictly geared towards like-minded individuals who want to polish their photography or videography skills and perfect the editing process. You'd be surprised what you can learn with the vast supply of thousands of classes. I picked up several useful skills on there and the trial membership is risk-free, guilt-free, and however else I can say FREE. Sign up and enjoy two free months. It worked for me. Use the link mentioned above or click here https://skl.sh/neverjordinary.
If you follow me on Instagram @neverjordinary you probably know that I don't create videos. I'd like to, but I'm actually using tips from Skillshare to improve. I'll touch on some useful apps I've come across over the years which help the video editing process, but I'll be focusing on photography throughout this post.
Photography
Adobe Lightroom Photo Editor
$4.99 per month
Lightroom is the best photo editing app I've ever used. It allows you to create your own presets. Whenever you see someone on Instagram selling their lightroom presets, this is exactly what they're referring to. I don't recommend buying someone else's presets. Come up with your own.
Honestly, you can get by with the pre-loaded presets which come with the app. They're fantastic and you're able to tweak them as you please. The ability to use the adobe cloud to save your work is phenomenal and it enables you to access all documents from any device as long as you remember your login details! The auto-save feature is great and it was the first editing app with auto-straightening (now a standard feature on the newer iphones).
At $4.99 per month, it can seem steep. If photography is your profession or a serious hobby of yours, it's worth every penny.
Camera+ Legacy & Camera+ 2
$2.99 & $4.99 one-time purchase respectively
I have more experience with Camera+ Legacy (FKA Camera+) than Camera+ 2. I began using the app in 2013 and it first introduced me to quality photo editing. Be careful: some filters can make your photos very grainy and noisy. It's an absolute must for those who want to take a step up from the free filters on Instagram and don't want to pay XX per month for a higher end editing app. It's worth every penny in the end considering they have dozens of presets.
Prisma
Free + in-app purchases
Prisma is a unique app which turns any photo into a drawing, painting, or cartoon. It's not recommended for professional editing, but nonetheless, it's an app used to edit photos.
SuperimposeX
Free + in-app purchases
I came across SuperimposeX while searching for a way to merge two images together. It is very easy to use and has an efficient masking tool. You can add as many layers as you'd like. It's free for the time being, so take advantage of it.
Watermark StudioX
Free + in-app purchases
If I need to watermark and image, I'll use Watermark StudioX. I don't do it often, but sometimes it's necessary to protect an image.
Pixaloop
Free + in-app purchases
Pixaloop is an app used to make still images come to life. The app gives you the ability to choose which area of the photo you wish to come to life. It's not professional quality, but it's fun and useful for social media apps.
Gbox
Free + in-app purchases
Gbox is an app that I have yet to fully explore. It has numerous features such as 9 grid, video splitter, and color picker. I use it for the "swipe photo" feature. This allows photographers to split any image in two, perfectly down the middle. See my photography Instagram page @photosbysixfive for examples.
Videography
Splice
$9.99 per month
Splice used to be a GoPro product used to edit videos shot with the camera. Now it appears to be on it's own with it's success. It's very easy to use but lacks simple tools such as cropping.
Adobe Premiere Rush
$9.99 per month
Rush is another great Adobe app. It's similar style to Lightroom makes it very easy to use for existing customers. One thing it lacks is a larger variety of transitions and it tends to crash when exporting your work.
Slow Fast
Free
Slow Fast appears to be a very cheap and simple app but it's very powerful and creates impressive video edits. You can slow down and speed up any video as many times and just about as fast or slow as you want to. Quality is not sacrificed and it's easy and free to export.
Boomerang
$1.99 per month
Want to boomerang a video that you didn't take with the Instagram app? Download Boomerang.
Crop & Zoom
Free + in-app purchases
Crop & Zoom is a useful tool and does exactly what it says. You can crop mutliple times & zoom multiple times in any video. It's difficult to explain, so download it and try it for yourself!
CinemagraphPro
$14.99 per month
A cinemagraph is a still image in which a minor and repeated movement occurs. You start by uploading a video and then you'll choose which areas of the video you want to show motion or be still. CinemagraphPro gives you the ability to create them on your own with professional quality. The app is free, but it'll leave the branded watermark on every video, so I'd recommend buying it. Plans start as low as one week of usage and go up to $300 for the app and the Mac software.
