Have you ever come across a stunning photo in your Instagram feed and wondered how it was so perfectly captured on a phone? We’re going to let you in on a little secret: Instagram photos are often edited with mobile apps before they’re shared. We caught up with four popular Instagram photographers to get their tips on how to use Adobe mobile apps to help you step up your social media game.
Highlight with lowlights
Griffin Lamb, a landscape photographer from Seattle, WA, is surrounded by inspiring nature. When capturing landscapes, Griffin notes the importance of enhancing through highlights and shadows. “As a landscape photographer, my goal in post-processing is to make adjustments to my images that enhance the viewing experience. With Lightroom Mobile’s powerful highlight and shadows tools, I am able to make subtle adjustments that create images of greater clarity and greater drama.”
Cut and combine with Photoshop Mix
The cut and combine features in Photoshop Mix can really help your creativity come to life. NYC-based photographer, Jerm Cohen, shares his secret to creating shots with an element of surprise. “For my #EmojiPortraits series, I used the Photoshop Mix app to select, drag & drop the emoji onto my photo and perhaps mask out certain parts of it. If it needs any more final touches, or I just want to view it on a big screen, I’ll sync it into Lightroom on my laptop.”
Get wavy and abstract
Chicago-based photographer Elise Swopes has a unique approach to creating abstract photography, using swirls and waves to create an original image. “The Liquify tool in Photoshop Fix can be a lot of fun to try. I decided to pull it out for this photo. I used the Twirl option and drew clockwise for a crazy spinning room. Then I used the Defocus tool and drew over the part that was not twirled. Finally, I went to the Adjust tool and lowered Saturation all the way. In the end, I thought it would be cool to add a single hand that is somewhat spinning the room so I used the layers in Photoshop Mix.”
Utilize natural light
Adventurist and Tahoe-based photographer Jordan Herschel gives his take on this shot of a lone horse in eastern Oregon. “The last light of the day created a great contrast between the blue sky and the glowing golden grass, so I used Lightroom’s cross-toning feature to introduce a slight amount of blue in the highlights and orange to the shadows to emphasize this look,” explains Jordan. “I then brought back some of the highlights to save some detail in the sky, and raised the shadows to be better able to see the horse.”
So there you have it – be sure to to download Lightroom for mobile, Photoshop Mix, and Photoshop Fix to your mobile device and explore your creativity using these tips. Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram and share your creations with us using the hashtags #psmix, #psfix, #lightroom, or #creativecloud – we might just feature your work on our channel!