How to Edit an Instagram Post - A Complete Guide

Googling “edit Instagram post“? So are 1 billion others.

That’s the number of people who use Instagram every month. 500 million people use Instagram stories every day. These are compelling numbers that show how deep Instagram has seeped into our lives.

Here is another statistic that is useful if you are a business owner: 200 million Instagram users visit at least one business profile every day and one-third of the most-viewed Stories are from businesses.

Now that we have established how important a position Instagram has in our lives, let us talk business now. A simple scroll through your Instagram feed is proof enough that posting quality photos is pivotal to your Instagram success.

How to Edit Instagram Posts?

If you have ever toyed with the idea of being active on Instagram but didn’t work on it, assuming that you need expensive cameras to take stunning pictures, then you couldn’t be more wrong. With a decent smartphone and smart editing tools like instagram post makers, you can work magic with whatever picture you have. Here’s how you can edit your Instagram posts:

#1. Have a good picture

Remember this: for Instagram, it’s all about the photos and aesthetics. Your Instagram posts will receive a lot of attention if it has stunning pictures in it. Take shots in different lights – natural lighting is always preferred. Please do keep in mind that no amount of editing can fix a photo that isn’t good.

If you are using your smartphone camera, then we would advise you to use the HDR mode in it. It is good when you are using it where there is no natural light, for close-up or outdoor portraits.

For businesses that manage multiple Instagram accounts but do not have products of their own, it is wise to use stock photography and then personalize it to suit your brand identity. It can save a lot of money and time. Not many businesses have a budget for professional photographers.

Use a photo that has the size that Instagram recommends. If the size of your photo is too small, then it might not appear clearly and no matter how much you edit, it won’t look good.

#2. Upload on Instagram

Once you have chosen the photo that you want to add, the next step is to upload the photo on the Instagram app.

Click the plus sign at the top of your Instagram feed and choose Post or Story from the menu. You can select the photo you’d like to edit from the photo gallery on your phone. Instagram crops the photo, but you can adjust to its original width by using the Expand icon.

#3. Choosing a filter

Filters are a personal thing because not everyone likes the same kind of filters, which is why options are aplenty. In fact, users often apply Instagram Photoshop actions in addition to filters embedded in the app. When you add filters, you need to have in mind the kind of emotions it evokes. Some filters might make you feel warm, some might look as if it were perfect for your brand.

Each filter has its own personality, and it can be used for a specific purpose. Keep experimenting with different filters on each of the photos you have so you know how they fare.

You can change the filter’s effect by using the sliding scale. Here is another tip, once you find a filter that resonates with your brand, ensure that you use it at all places so that there is a distinction. If you observe the pictures of most businesses and celebrities on Instagram, you will observe that they use the same kind of colors, effects, and filters. This way, the users will be able to identify the brand just by looking at the photo.

You can have filter preferences by hiding the ones you don’t use and managing the ones that you use a lot by reordering them in the way you want on the filter tab.

#4. Adjust the Lux settings

There are high chances that you might have used the Lux feature but have no idea what it was called until now. It makes your photos more colorful and brings out the minutest of details thus enhancing the effect of the picture on your visitor.

After you have selected the filter that you want for your picture, tap on the wand icon above your photo. That’s Lux.

#5. Use editing tools

While you have Instagram’s editing tool, we would still suggest you take a hard look on the outside for editing tools that are more powerful. Thankfully, we have listed a bunch of photo editing tools for your reference. Use anyone among them to add the best jazz for your photos.

When you edit an Instagram post, there are a number of aspects of the photo that can be edited. Starting from brightness, alignment, contrast, warmth, structure, highlights, shadows, saturation, and so on. Try to play with all the editing options available before you decide to finalize the editing part.

#6. Post your photo

You can either post your photo by clicking on Share or if you are not ready to post it yet, then you can post it later using the Instagram scheduler. Thankfully, you can save the edited photos on Instagram itself.

Wait. How do you do that? All you need to do is to publish your picture when it is in airplane mode. Once you post the picture on Airplane mode, you will get an error message informing you that the upload has failed, but you can be assured that the photo will be saved in your phone’s Gallery.

This is how you can edit your Instagram photos without too much trouble. Using these tips, you will be able to create stunning Instagram pictures, provided you read the rest of the article. To get more visibility for your personal brand and easily share more of your work, consider adding a link to your bio on Instagram.

Best Instagram photo editing tools

You have just taken a picture of your favorite friends and you see an object that you don’t want in the picture. Or let’s say you have taken a picture at a professional event where you have been hired as a professional photographer but you see the picture has a particular section you didn’t want present on it too.

Isn’t your photo ruined?

Well, at least that would be your first reaction.

Thankfully, with photo editing apps, it’s easy to edit an Instagram post. You can cut out things that you don’t want on the photos you have. Instagram does have its own photo editing features, but if you want editing just beyond minor changes, then you need to use Instagram pictures.

Photo editing apps on Instagram can help with resizing, design, display and other editing abilities. We present to you some of the most promising photo editing apps for Instagram.

#1 VSCO

Most designers use this app for quick editing of pictures. You can use its built-in camera because of which you don’t have the app when you are looking to use advanced options.

Another great aspect about this app is that you can download the same filters as those available in Adobe Lightroom. You can also be connected to a community of photographers if you search for the hashtag VSCO.

#2 Snapseed

It is one of the most popular photo editing apps on Instagram. Using Snapseed, you can send pictures directly from the app to any other social networking site.

Not only does it have basic features like crop and rotate, but you can also use advanced features like lens bur, tonal contrast, white balance, double exposure, etc.

#3 Canva

Easily the most popular photo editing tool on this list, Canva provides access to over a million graphics, fonts, and photographs. It even allows you to create print graphics.

To edit an Instagram post, Canva allows you to create custom templates for all types of social media content including the ability to optimize them for each platform. It even adds templates regularly for special occasions like Christmas, New year’s, Mother’s Day, Independence Day, and so on.

#4. Adobe Creative Cloud Express (formerly Adobe Spark Post)

With Adobe Creative Cloud Express, you can create social graphics, web pages, and short videos. It has a huge repository of templates especially in categories such as collages, seasonal, and travel.

Not only will you be able to create your graphics, but you can also use patterns, Lightroom, and Creative Cloud.

#5 Unfold

Unfold by Squarespace allows you to start with a template that is extremely well designed. You can find templates for any industry that you want to create pictures for.

The pictures that come out of the app look professional. For marketers who use a lot of stories or mix their own footage with stock videos, the Swish app is right up their alley.

#6 InShot

The InShot app uses video editing features such as speed customization, music, trim, cut, and split on top of filters to create fantastic Instagram pictures. One of the best features is that the videos are instinctively split by InShot instead of Instagram’s arbitrary split for videos. There are 16 layouts that can be used to make collages of the pictures that you have.

The app has most qualities that would be required for an Instagram editing app and is not necessarily template-based. It has editing features like canvas size, adjustments, filters, backgrounds, text, stickers, and much more.

#7 StoriesEdit

This is an editing app that focuses only on Stories. Since they concentrate only on Stories, the templates that it has feels like a scrapbook. Stories are based on pages one after the other.

It even allows you to adopt different kinds of templates and make each of them look different from the others. For brands that are in weddings, beauty accessories, and fashion, this is a fantastic tool.

#8 StoryCutter

For those who are looking for basic video editing features, StoryCutter is a fantastic tool. It allows you to combine photos to create Instagram videos.

The UI/UX of the picture is considered easy for the users even while being able to create professional-looking pictures and videos on Instagram.

#9 Instasize

If you are a content creator and you are looking for a powerful photo editor tool, then InstaSize can be your go-to option. It has all the professional editing tools, beautifying tools, and text editor. An intuitive app, it has features that can help you make changes in your picture with relative ease.

There are more than 80 photograph-inspired filters that will let you add any kind of effect that you want to your photos. It also has options to use collage layouts which are provided as templates. It has brilliant patterns and gradients that can be used for every mood.

#10 Quickshot

When marketers are not looking to add text in their pictures, then there is nothing better than this app. It offers a bunch of modes that can enhance the aesthetic value of the pictures. The ‘Strobe mode’ is good if you are capturing the picture of something that is in motion. The ‘Quickshot mode’ works best for the perfect angle and enhancement. The ‘HDR Mode’ is for lighting adjustment.

The filters that are available on Quickshot are categorized in different ways such as essentials, vibrant, and portrait. It has a filter for every conceivable occasion. Using Primers, you can set the mood for your pictures. Quickshot’s portrait mode helps you add depth to the image and gives you the same portrait mode effect that iPhone X and X series offers.

Tips to Edit and Post Instagram Photos Like a Professional

There are millions of pictures that are uploaded every day on Instagram. If you want to be popular on Instagram, then you need to post flawless pictures that your followers would love.

To edit an Instagram post, you need to use colors, filters, effects, tones, etc., to get the desired picture. Here are some of the tips that can be used to post highly effective pictures.

Proper lighting

We cannot stress more on the importance of proper lighting. Lighting is quintessential to make your pictures look Instagram-worthy. If the lighting is poor, no amount of editing or filters is going to save how the photo looks. We would always suggest you use natural light over artificial lighting. The best time to have your photo shoot is in the morning or afternoons as there is a lot of influence from the Sun during this time.

Use strong shapes and colors

If you want to create stunning pictures that attract the attention of your audience, then you need to take pictures that have defined shapes, lines, and brilliant colors. Even if you are not an expert at editing, you can surely find ways to come up with the features that we spoke about in the previous line.

Editing apps

We have mentioned the importance of editing apps too when posting on Instagram. You can also include these photos in your reels by leveraging available reels editing tools. It doesn’t take a lot of time and nor does it burn a hole in your pocket. Most of the basic functions of these photo editing apps are available for free. You can bring out the desired effect on your pictures. It will certainly create a huge change in the way photographs looked earlier. Tinker with all the features that are present on the app and find out which one works best for what you desire.

Use Grid reference

Most people have a problem aligning the picture on Instagram, isn’t it? This is where using the grid feature eliminates the problem totally. The composition of the pictures is greatly enhanced when you leverage the grid feature.

Have fresh perspectives

Most photos are taken at our eye level, isn’t it? We do that because it is comfortable to take pictures that way. But if you want to take interesting photos, then drop this habit. Take photos from different vantage points. Take pictures from above, below, from the ground up, and at different angles. Try this experiment with each of the pictures that you post on Instagram and see the difference.

Add depth

Focusing on your subject alone might not be the smartest thing to do when you take your pictures. When you take a picture, concentrate on the background, patterns, layers, everything else that also is a part of the photo.

Let’s say you are taking a picture of a man in a mountain, make sure that you cover aspects of the mountain, his accessories, and so on.

Wear your creative heart

Why are some photos on Instagram so popular? Because they break the conventional style of taking pictures. Do not take pictures that are cliches. If you want to stand out from others, then it makes sense to think in a way that not many will be thinking.

You can also come up with a ridiculous style, you never know it might catch on. It will also help you stand out from the crowd when you have a distinctive style of your own.

Minor edits

Too much editing is also bad for the health of your pictures. A lot of people are guilty of doing this. Sometimes it can even make your photo unattractive. While adjusting aspects like contrast, shadow, warmth, and highlights, a bit is alright. Be stingy when it comes to using these features. Too much of them doesn’t help your case at all.

Add filters/effects

No matter how much of a novice you are when it comes to editing apps, there are a lot of filters and effects which doesn’t let you think about it. The quality of the photo can be greatly increased by adding effects and filters based on how you want it. These filters even have the capacity to change the mood of the photo by using gradient filters.

Quality is important

Posting a lot of pictures is not necessarily the best way to get popular on Instagram. Instead, focus on the quality of the pictures that you post. The most minimal thing that you can do to get scintillating pictures is to use proper lighting for pictures. Photos that have been poorly edited will not work in your favor at all.

Why Should You Avoid Editing your Instagram Posts that are Already Published?

We know, we talked about how to edit an Instagram post. After you post your photo on Instagram, you can still edit the picture, but there is a big drawback associated with it. If you try to edit a picture on Instagram that has already been posted, then it will reset the engagement that you got. No matter how many likes, comments, and shares that you got, nothing will remain. It will start at zero.

Conclusion

If you are looking to edit an Instagram post, know about the third-party photo editing tools available, and how to take stunning pictures for Instagram, it will be tough to find a better resource than this article. Instagram is a great place to be in if you are a photo aficionado or you are a brand that is planning to stay relevant by being active on the platform.

If used well, Instagram can be a great place for your brand and its success. The only thing that you need to do consistently when it comes to Instagram is to consciously take photos that have been well-edited, otherwise, it might look as if you don’t make much of an effort for the platform.

Your prospective customers are watching and you need to give your best and have a strategy when it comes to winning on Instagram.

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