Hellobee

I have a newfound Instagram addiction, so I’ve asked my friend @skippee, mom to 2 and fellow Instagram enthusiast, to share some of her favorite photo apps. You can view Instagram pictures online (instead of only on your smartphone) by creating an account on Pinstagram. 

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I love documenting the extraordinarily ordinary moments of each day with my kids. Now that I have two kids and a furbaby the memories are that much more important, yet I rarely have time to take photos with a real camera and actually edit them on a computer. Thank goodness for my iPhone and all the awesome apps I’ve found. I wanted to share some of my favorites!

EDITING + SHARING

Instagram [free] – This is my favorite photo editing app. It has great editing filters and is really easy to use. An added bonus is that this app is also great for sharing and connecting with friends/other moms.

Tadaa [free] – This app is similar to Instagram. It has a lot more features and flexibility though. You can do basic editing like cropping and brightening, but also apply cool filters and frames.

Photoshop Express [free] – This app has all the basic editing tools like crop, straighten, rotate and brighten. I use this when I just have a minor issue to fix (like bad lighting or a crooked photo).

Pic Frame [$0.99] and Diptic [$0.99] – These apps allow you to create collages. You can adjust the size, add color/patterns to the borders, and create rounded corners or shadows.

TEXT

Phonto [free] – I use this one all the time for including text in my photos.

Tegaki Cam [free] – Everything is in Japanese, but it’s easy to figure out. I use it because it has two fonts that I like.

Labelbox [free] – This app has cute labels you can use on your photos.

FUN FEATURES

The apps I mentioned above are the ones I use on a daily basis. Sometimes when I have extra time (in line at the post office or trying to stay awake while nursing), I’ll play around with different apps.

PicFx [$1.99] and BeFunky [free] – Has a lot of different editing filters and frames.

Meitu [free] – This one is in Chinese, but it’s really easy to navigate and fun. It has a lot of cool features like bokeh and lighting effects. It also has editing filters and frames.

Rakuga-cute [free] – This app is in Japanese, but it has a lot of cute stamps and clip art. You can even draw things on your photos.

Collage Day [free] – I like this one because it allows you to scrapbook with your photos. It has a lot of different stamps, clip art, borders and speech bubbles.

EXAMPLES

Here’s a photo taken with my phone. Most of my photos look like this – poorly lit and not very well composed. When I’m with the kids, I don’t really have the luxury of setting up great shots. I have to just take whatever photo I can or else miss out on the moment.

Using some of the apps above, I turned an average photo into fun little memory pieces. Each of the photos only took about a minute to edit, but it makes such a big difference!

I’m sure you’ve discovered other photo apps and tips in your journey as a camera phone memory keeper. I’d love it if you would share some of your favorites!