Best Photo Editing Tips for iPhone

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Photo Editing with iPhone (or iPad & Mac)

Let me ask you, who takes the majority of photos in your family?
In ours- it’s me.

So, I am the photo taker on our trips, holidays, birthdays, you name it.
Notice, I am not going to using the word photographer, I said “photo taker”.
That means, I do my best to take good pictures, but it doesn’t always turn out that way.

Do you have pictures with random strangers standing in pictures with your family?
We do, and it is always a laugh, wondering who is that person??
Or, maybe you have a great picture, but it’s crooked and you have to turn your head at a 30º angle to get a good view?

Most likely, you have always wanted to learn how to edit your photos, but you weren’t sure how to do it and thought it would be too hard.

I know the thought of editing pictures can seem very time consuming, and not worth your time, but it doesn’t have to be a monumental job!

Here’s the thing, you don’t have to do it all at once, in fact, what I think might be fun, is for you to just choose 10 pictures to work with as you learn to use these tools.

Photo Editing Make You A Little Nervous?

One of the reasons I was nervous about editing pictures is that I was afraid I would mess it up and destroy my original photo!

Well, what I found out was that the editing app protects my pictures FROM me.

So, the good news is, if you don’t get something perfect the first time, you can always change it again, or even go right back to the original picture.

Trust me, when you learn even a few of the editing tips Photo has to offer, you will be really impressed with what a difference it makes to your pictures.

iOS 13

If you haven’t updated your phone to iOS 13.2 you should.
Photo editing was kicked up!
. You will have 15 edits now available to you, and using them couldn’t be easier.

You can adjust saturation, vibrance, brilliance, and warmth just by using the dial right on the screen. – pick a photo and try them all.

To get started, I am suggesting we do this in real-time together, because I believe the best way to learn something new is to do it yourself, right?

First off, you need to know that all of these features are on the iPhone, & iPad, a Mac, and if your pictures are in the cloud, you can edit the same picture on any of your Apple devices.

One more thing before we start and this is IMPORTANT.
Always click DONE after making an edit to save your work.

Photo Editing Tools

Enhance, Straighten, Rotate & Crop

• First, choose a photo and open the thumbnail to enlarge the picture.
• Click Edit in the upper right-hand corner.
• On the upper right side, you will see a little wand.
  Click on it to automatically enhance your photo – very cool.
• On the right side ( or the bottom depending on how you are holding your phone) you will see a menu of photo editing icons.

• Now, click the little white box to crop or straighten your picture.
• All you do is drag the corners to crop. When you click done your work is saved.

You guessed it. This is how you cut those random strangers out of your family photos!

Now in the image above notice the little white box with the arrow at the top?
This is where you rotate your picture.
However, you can turn your photo any way you want by moving the compass wheel.

Add Filters to Your Photos

• Next, you see the filter icon. It looks a pyramid of 3 circles.
  You really need to try all the options to see the cool effects.
  There are about 10 different choices.
• When you have the effect you want, click done in the upper right corner.

Change the Lighting and Color

• The white circle with dots is where you can change the brightness, change the color saturation, or even change your picture to black and white.
• You will see Light, Color, and B&W
• You need to click on the icon you want to use to edit, and the menu will open.
• Play around with the options!

Get Rid of Red Eye

Red eyes in pictures can pretty much ruin your photos.
Editing red eyes out of your photos is so easy, you really can’t skip it.

Now, this time, when you click the little white circle with dots you see a new icon that looks like an eye with a line through it.

All you do is tap the icon, and then tap the eye in your picture and voila, gone.

Try Mark-Up to Edit Pictures

This so cool, you need to try it right away. There are many reasons to write on or mark up a photo, so have some fun with it Here’s how you do it.

I used Mark Up a couple of photos below to point out important points.
This is something you probably haven’t used much if ever, so grab a photo to practice on together.

Open up a photo, go to Edit, and this time choose the 3 little dots (…)

• Now choose “Mark-UP
• You’ll see two markers, a pencil, eraser a lasso and a color wheel.
• Try them all, change colors, erase to start over
• The lasso is for moving you drawing or mark-up 
• Use it to draw around your mark-up and then you can drag it anywhere

But That’s Not All

• Click on the little plus sign + on the right
• A menu with 4 choices will appear
• Here you can add a text box write anything in any color and move it around
• Add your signature
• And magnify any part of your photo!
• Then try adding a shape or an arrow – your choice of size and color.

I have used the signature option a ton. When you create a signature, it saves in your photos and you can just drag and drop from now on.

Revert to Original Photo

I promised you from the beginning that you could get your original picture back and you can.

• Open the photo that you edited.
• Click Edit again.
• Now you will see the word Revert along with the other editing icons.
• Just click Revert and then click Done.

Need More Storage Space?

Open Photos

To Save Storage Space on your phone, go to settings:
Turn iCloud Photos and choose “Optimize Storage”
A full-resolution version is stored in the cloud and you can download it any time.

Your photos still be available on all your devices, but a smaller device version is kept on your phone.

For a complete lesson on increasing iPhone Storage, check out:
6 Easy Steps to Declutter Your iPhone (It’s Not Optional)

Honestly, I have over 4,000 photos on my phone at any given time! Do you have many many photos too? Don’t let it get to you, I think I can help.
Check out how I have them organized and how I did it in
7 Steps to Organize and Declutter Digital Photos.

You are ready to start editing! As you are editing you may want to do some organizing of your photos and you can learn how to do that in
7 Steps to Declutter & Organize Digital Photos

If you haven’t had a chance to check out the new iPhones, take a look here.

You also may be very interested in iPhone Camera Essential Tips for Taking Great Pictures.

Remember, just like all of the techy stuff, don’t get overwhelmed and frustrated by doing it all in a day! You will be teaching others before you know it.
Take your time and have fun.
Please, let me know if you have questions. I am happy to help.