Let’s face it – a dedicated, professional wedding photographer is a must at most weddings. But thanks to drastic improvements in iPhone camera technology and a slew of mobile photo editing apps anybody can make the casual photos they shoot with their iPhone look almost professional. If you want the photos you snap at the next wedding you attend to really stand out, check out the apps on this list that can help you transform you candid capture of bridesmaids getting ready into something worthy of framing and displaying forever.
Attention iPhone and iPad lovers – here are seven of the best iOS photo apps:
1. SNAPSEED
This is one of the best photo editing apps out there no matter what you need to edit. It’s exceptionally powerful, loved by professionals photographers and it’s completely free! With Snapseed its an, ahem, snap to adjust brightness, contrast and saturation to help brighten up photos. You can also choose whether to apply these changes to the entire image or just a section of it using the Selective Adjustment tool. Other editing options include the ability to add effects and filters, textures, or use the popular Instagram option to create a tilt-shift effect.
Using this app is super easy — you just glide your finger over the image to increase or decrease the effect. You can find even more options to edits photos by swiping up over the image
Where to to find it: iTunes
2. CAMERA+
One of my personal favorites, Camera+ is another super powerful and easy-to-use photo editing app. It also has a camera built-in (like Instagram does) so you can take pictures directly using the app, which gives you the ability to do things your normal can’t, such as adjust the focus and exposure, as well as white balance, before you actually take the picture.
Once you’re ready to edit an image, select your tools from one the five categories Camera+ has organized them into: Scenes, Crops, The Lab, Filters and Frames. In Scenes, you can easily adjust the exposure by selecting what you need to fix, such as a cloudy image (just select the Cloudy option), too much shade (select Shade), or if the image was backlit (choose Backlit). (Sounds pretty easy, right?)
Even if you have rarely used your phone’s camera, the editing tools with Camera+ are super intuitive and the results will likely impress your friends no matter how great (or not-so-great) of a photographer you are.
Where to find it: iTunes
3. PHOTOSHOP EXPRESS
Photoshop is the go-to software for almost every photographer. While some admittedly take editing photos too far, its necessary to edit exposure and balance in every shot — and for weddings, there are always touch-ups (and let’s not forget removing the drunk best man from what should otherwise be a picture-perfect first dance.)
For those editing apps on their phones, Adobe (the makers of Photoshop) developed Photoshop Express, which is filled with almost every feature you need to create perfect pictures without the hassle of your laptop and a few hundred dollars. (That said, while the app is free, you’ll have to buy certain editing tools within the app — but they are worth it.) It’s a great app for removing red-eye, blemishes, and background noise.
While not as powerful as the previous two apps, Photoshop Express is great for quickly editing images so they look their best with minimal effort.
Where to find it: iTunes
4. VSCO CAM
One of the most popular photo apps in the app store, this VSCO Cam combines Instagram-like filters with powerful editing tools to allow users to quickly create gorgeous photos. While Instagram filters often remove important details from a picture, VSCO’s filters help keep pictures looking real — which is really important as camera phones have improved drastically and there is no longer ever a reason to intentionally print a gritty picture.
With VSCO, you can take pictures directly via the app, which gives you extra control over the camera such as where to focus. The editing tools are some of the best you’ll find on any editing app, and its built in discovery platform, called Grid, is a social network of sorts that helps users find inspiration from other VSCO Cam photographers. It’s one of our favorite editing apps, and will help you capture and create the perfect image on your perfect day.
Where to find it: iTunes
5. PICLAB HD
Looking to create a fun photo of you and your friends during the wedding? Unlike the first four apps on the list, PicLab HD is designed to help you add a bit more personality to your pictures with options such as fonts, artwork, overlays, and phrases, logos and stickers. Of course, the app features the ability to add filters, so you can really have some fun with you photos using PicLab HD.
The app also features traditional editing tools, such as the ability to adjust your image in a variety of ways — but most of the power in PicLab HD is how it allows you to get creative. It’s the perfect app to use to edit those behind-the-scenes photos from before the wedding… or once everyone has a few glasses of champagne and gets a little crazy on the dance floor!
Where to find it: iTunes
6. ENLIGHT
If you love to swipe, Enlight is the photo app of your dreams. With Enlight, you can manipulate photos just as easily as you find potential soul mates on Tinder.
Enlight has cropping features that are powerful and easy to use. Preset aspect ratios make it easy to take the photos you snap with your phone’s camera fit in Instagram’s square ratio, or you can go rogue and get artistic with the canvas of your photos. Enlight’s Target tool lets you easily manipulate individual sections of the photo, changing the contrast, exposure or tint of any one area. This is especially valuable when you are snapping photos on the dance floor, where lighting can be unreliable.
Where to find it: iTunes
7. AFTERLIGHT
Afterlight is a lightweight yet powerful photo editing app that will turn your iPhone photos into professional quality pictures that will impress every guest. Whereas some photo apps can get clunky and complicated, Afterlight is easy enough for anybody to use, and the results are impressive.
Afterlight does allow you to take photos in the app, but one of its best assets is the fact that it makes it extremely easy to access your camera roll from inside the app. Once you select the photo you want to edit, you can quickly make individual adjustments to exposure, brightness and aspects, or use one of the more than 20 filters included in the app.
One of my favorite features specifically for weddings is the Low Light Boost control. Weddings are notorious for low lighting, (after all, who wants to boogie oogie oogie under flourescent lights?) and this feature makes it easy to make your photos clear and bright no matter how dark the dance floor is.
Where to find it: iTunes
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