A few weeks ago, VSCO Cam discontinued their original app and launched a brand new one under the same name.  The previous version is no longer available for purchase, but if you have the old one you can transfer the ten original filters after downloading the new version.  VSCO is now free with the option to purchase additional filters.  There are so many cool new features like the in-app camera’s ability to separate focus from exposure, the option to take a picture by clicking almost anywhere on the screen,  flagging and organizing your pictures, ability to adjust the strength of the filter, and so much more.  If you’re interested in learning more about its features, VSCO made a walk-through video on their blog.

Instead of doing a tutorial specifically on how I edit my pictures, today I’ll be using VSCO to go over the most common editing tools you see across many photo editing apps like Exposure, Temperature, Contrast, etc.  So let’s begin!

Open VSCO and either take a photo with the in-app camera or upload one from your Camera Roll by pressing the plus (+) sign.  The new interface isn’t as simple as the old one, so we need to take a few steps to get to where we want.  If you are using a photo from your Camera Roll, select the photo then click the check mark (√) on the bottom.  Once it’s uploaded, make sure it’s highlighted by clicking on its thumbnail and then press the Toolkit icon (wrench/paintbrush) which will bring up all the filters.  We won’t be adding filters until later so press the up arrow at the bottom of the screen to bring up the menu bar and click the wrench icon to open up all the toolkit items.  Whew!  Now, let’s look at the different tools.

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1.  Exposure (sun icon).  This controls how dark or light your image appears.  Increasing it will brighten your entire image and decreasing it will darken it.

To give you an idea of how exposure changes an image, I took the original photo (top left) and increased Exposure +6 (top right) and decreased it -6 (bottom left).  The bottom right image is how I chose to edit the picture by adjusting only the Exposure and applying a filter.  I increased Exposure +2 and applied the F2 filter.  The filter was too strong for my liking so I decreased the strength to +8.  To adjust the strength of a filter, re-click the filter and a slider will pop up.

2.  Temperature (thermometer icon).  Increasing the Temperature warms up the entire picture and decreasing it cools it down.

The top left is my original image.  Increasing the Temperature +6 (top right) warms up the image by adding a yellow tone and decreasing -6 (bottom left) cools down the image by adding a blue tone.  For the final edited image (bottom right), the Temperature is at +3 to add just a little bit of warmth and then I applied the M3 filter.

The Tint (dropper icon) tool works similarly to Temperature but instead of blue to yellow it controls green to magenta.  Decreasing Tint will add a green tone and increasing it will add a magenta tone to your image.  But I rarely ever use this tool.

3. Contrast (circle icon: half black/half white). Contrast is defined as the separation between the darkest and brightest areas of an image.  Increase contrast and you increase the separation between dark and bright, making shadows darker and highlights brighter. Decrease contrast and you bring the shadows up and the highlights down to make them closer to one another. Adding contrast usually adds “pop” and makes an image look more vibrant while decreasing contrast can make an image look duller.

Increasing contrast (top right) darkens the shadows under the leaves and brightens the sky making the image really vibrant.  Decreasing contrast (bottom left) lightens up the shadows (under the leaves) and darkens the highlights (the sky) making the entire image more dull.   To edit the original image (top left), I added contrast +2 and applied the S3 filter.  The final edited image (bottom right) has just enough contrast to make the leaves pop out.  I chose the S3 filter because it made the leaves look more green and crisp.  The S3 filter does not come with the app but was purchased as part of a bundle.  To buy additional filters, exit the toolkit menu and press the icon that has three stacked horizontal lines on the bottom left of the main menu.  A screen will slide open on the left with a new navigation bar.  You can browse and buy filters by clicking on Store (shopping cart icon).

4.  Fade (rectangular icon with white/grey/black lines).  This does exactly what it says – it fades your entire image.  Basically, it decreases contrast in a subtle and soft way.  I think adding fade makes the image have a more classic old-timey feel.

For this example, I increased Fade to its maximum +12 and did not apply any filters.  When using the editing tools, keep in mind that a lot of the filters already add contrast and fade so you don’t want to overdo it.  I usually do my editing first before applying a filter, but for the Fade tool I wait until afterwards.  You can always apply a filter first then edit the picture but I’ve found that it doesn’t quite come out the same.  Editing a filtered photo can sometimes add a bit of grain which I generally don’t like.

5.  Saturation (rectangular icon that fades white to black).  Saturation is similar to contrast, however instead of increasing the separation between shadows and highlights, we increase the separation between colors.  So, if we increase saturation (top right) the image turns super vibrant with the pink flowers turning almost hot pink and the leaves bright green.   Decreasing saturation (bottom left) takes away the color and the flowers and leaves look muted and pale.  Because saturation deals with colors, it won’t work on black and white pictures.  For this image (bottom right), I decided to increase saturation +3 and apply the S1 filter (purchased).

6.  Shadows (circle icon: half black/half white+black stripes)/Highlights (circle icon: half black+white stripes/half white).  Shadows and Highlights are two separate toolkit items but we’ll be using one example for both because they go hand in hand.  When we increase Shadows, we increase the brightness of all the dark areas of an image.  When we increase Highlights, we decrease the brightness of the all the light areas of an image.

It’s a little tricky to see the differences in my example so I put in some arrows as a point of reference.  When we increase Shadows + 12 (top right), the shadow of my daughter becomes less dark (see area around arrow and compare with original image).  When we increase Highlights +12 (bottom left), the sunlight hitting the ground becomes less bright (see arrow and compare with original image).  For the final edit (bottom right), I wanted the dark areas of the image to remain as dark as possible so I did not use the Shadows tool at all and only increased Highlights +2 and then applied the B5 filter.

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Once you’re done editing,  click the arrow at the bottom of the screen then press the check mark (√) which will take you to the main menu.  At the main menu, click Share (arrow icon) and save or send to whatever platform you choose.

VSCO Cam also has a Sharpening, Grain, and Vignette tool but it’s currently only available on the iPhone 5.   iPhone 4S and below are not powerful enough to handle these features.   I have an iPhone 4S so I have yet to use these toolkit items.  Also, there is a Rotate and Crop tool but those are pretty self-explanatory so I left them out.

Even though the new VSCO Cam is harder to navigate, I absolutely love it.  It’s become my current favorite photo editing app.  Have you tried it?  Do you like the new version better?  What are some of your favorite photo apps?