My go to editing tools.

Hello,

Hope you're being safe and staying at home? Like everyone else, I cannot wait until normal life resumes. One would think that my normal life is different from my quarantine life. It's been a rocky start with 2020 but in shaa Allah things are about to turn around for the better. I have to keep my optimism high.

With that said, today I'm going to talk about some editing tools that I use to touch up my photographs. Generally, I do little to no tweaking with my photos. I'm always looking for the fastest way to edit because if I spend too much time on my computer it starts to misbehave. On the other hand, when I use my phone I just want to be done so I can resume playing my games. Priorities guys, priorities! So without further ado, here are the 3 apps I use.

1. VSCO

My baby! The apple of my eye, the L in my lazy, the c in my creative etc. Although I'm not a fan of their premium feature, I still love it. Back then I could easily buy my presets and use whenever. However, now I need a monthly subscription to get the full range of presets. That doesn't stop me from loving the app. Just so we are clear, I do not pay for the premium because call it what you want, if I'm not making regular income from my photos then I'm not paying a dime for an editing app.

Vsco is my go to cause its on my phone and I'm always with my phone. I usually use it to edit all photos including portraits that don't require skin retouching. I have about 24 presets. The app allows me to make adjustments, tweak exposure, contrast etc. I like to add a little grain to my photos. I especially love the grain feature for my self portraits.

The app is user friendly and has a clean look. With Vsco it takes me roughly about 10 minutes to do what I need to do on multiple pictures. Which is why I highly recommend it.

A few pictures I've edited on VSCO.

2. Lightroom

This is the first software I ever paid for. This was way back when it was a 1 time buy and not monthly subscriptions (if you can't already tell, I don't like monthly subscriptions). I still haven't unlocked Lightroom's full potential because I pretty much do the same thing I do on vsco with Lightroom. However, Lightroom gives me more options to work with. For instance, when I want to do a light skin touch up. I can blur out blemishes/spots and create an even skin. I can play around with colors and so on. I use Lightroom for more serious work and editing client's work. I can put my watermark with Lightroom as well.

Lightroom edit

3. Photoshop

The big daddy. My biggest fear once upon a time. Photoshop offers soooo much range from creating art to distorting reality and so on. I use photoshop for skin retouching. It gives the absolute best result. Imagine my excitement the first time I used it and saw my end product. 

Super proud moment.

Skin retouching using photoshop

What I'll say and what you may have heard before, always try and get it as perfect as you can on camera. These apps are only here to help enhance whatever you create.

Well I hope that was interesting or at least helpful.

Until next time, 

Aisha 

Your introvert photographer who creates but finds it hard to share.

xx