Expert photographers and online creators aren’t just skilled at capturing impressive shots on high-quality, professional equipment. They also edit ready-made pictures in specialized, paid software to polish and boost their appeal. But, what if you take photos with an ordinary mobile camera and want them to look just as striking?
You can improve your photos without paid software or in-depth retouching skills. There are a variety of solutions that allow you to turn an average image into a professional-looking one. Read on to discover what useful editing tips and free photo enhancement tools can help you create eye-catching visuals.
How to digitally enhance photo quality
Before upgrading your images, learn what essential elements you should consider when starting with the editing process.
- Upscale image resolution
Low-quality images look unprofessional and blurry. Moreover, poor-quality visuals are difficult to process, as any enhancements will not fit well into the overall style. However, even if your photo resolution is bad, don’t discount it. Automated online tools can increase your picture resolution in just a few seconds.
Depositphotos Image Upscaler is a free AI-powered photo enhancer. The online tool uses neural network technologies to double an image’s resolution, even if the quality is extremely low. Depositphotos Image Upscaler automatically analyzes visuals, recognizes objects, and finds fragments for improvement. For example, it can reconstruct pixels, remove unnecessary noise, sharpen details, and brighten colors. As a result, you get a professional-looking photo. The tool supports files weighing up to 15 MB in JPG and JPEG formats.
Using Depositphotos Image Upscaler, you can enhance low-res photos in just four steps:
- Go to depositphotos.com.
- Upload your file, or drag and drop it onto the page.
- Wait until the end of processing and evaluate the result.
- Download the improved image to your device.
- Emphasize a focal point
Pro-skilled photographers strive to convey certain meanings when capturing their shots. To do this, they focus on the composition’s main objects. Modern cameras can automatically recognize focal points and make them sharper. Nonetheless, aspiring photographers often concentrate on minor elements unconsciously. You can use the Rule of Thirds to avoid these mistakes. Visually divide your shot into nine equal rectangles, place the main object on the left or right side, and leave the other areas empty.
Even if you’ve broken the rule of thirds when shooting, it can be easily corrected. Most online graphics editors and mobile applications provide the cropping option. With it, you can delete excess picture parts, which will help create a focal point for your composition. Also, you can blur out the background and leave the main object in focus.
- Brighten colors
Most amateur camera lenses can’t capture all saturation shades in an environment. For example, grass doesn’t turn out as bright, or water ends up somewhat gray. As a result, the overall composition looks dull. That’s why you have to adjust the visual’s color range to make your photo more vibrant and eye-catching.
A color correction feature is available in most photo editing mobile applications. It allows you to make the colors in your images more saturated or even faded. You can manipulate all colors in a composition or work with a specific shade.
- Create contrast
Contrast establishes a difference between specific objects in an image and adds visual depth. Professional photographers use it to help users better understand a composition, draw attention to certain details, and deliver ideas. When you take pictures with a mobile camera, some photo areas may blend. As a result, the image becomes incomprehensible, with unclear accents.
You can quickly increase image contrast in mobile graphics editors by adjusting white balance, shadows, highlights, and contrast filters. It will help you add some drama to the composition. However, ensure there are no apparent dark spots due to over-filtering.
- Sharpen details
Besides correcting colors, adding contrast, and highlighting your picture’s main objects, consider its clarity. Mobile cameras take moderate photos where you can easily see various details. Nonetheless, when zooming in, there might be some blurring or blending. To avoid it, add sharpness. This will create an apparent distinction between numerous elements in the picture and improve their perception. Editing apps allow you to regulate the intensity of sharpening so you can fit it to a particular composition.
Top apps to enhance photos
Mobile applications provide advanced picture editing functionality, and they are in no way inferior to professional software. Discover three popular apps you can always keep at your fingertips.
VSCO
VSCO is a convenient and user-friendly mobile graphics editor. It provides all the options you might need to enhance your photos efficiently. You can add text to your visuals; brighten and darken images; change aspect ratio; adjust exposure, contrast, sharpness, saturation, tone, and white balance. Moreover, it allows you to get rid of skin imperfections. The app’s library also contains ready-made filters for improving images. You can make your photos warmer, cooler, or brighter with just one tap. All processed files are stored in the VSCO Studio, so you can return to their editing anytime.
Adobe Lightroom
Adobe Lightroom is a mobile version of the favored professional photo enhancement software Adobe Photoshop. It matches the original software functionality and is free to download. With Adobe Lightroom, you can adjust light and color, make your image more detailed, and soften its elements. You can also remove unwanted objects from your photos with the Healing Brush and correct the perspective of certain scenes. Aspiring retouchers will appreciate the automatic photo enhancement feature, which greatly improves colors. An extensive professional tutorials library is also available in the app.
Snapseed
Snapseed is a simple-to-use mobile photo editing app with advanced features. It allows you to create real digital masterpieces. Currently, there are 28 manipulation options available in its workspace. For example, you can sharpen an image, change perspective, apply an HDR effect, add grain, adjust head position, and more. The app also offers multiple built-in filters for auto-correction. If necessary, you can also download ready-made presets to improve your photos.
Extra tips for efficient photo quality enhancement
Beginner photographers are usually unfamiliar with the basic image retouching principles and edit their visuals intuitively. Unknowingly, you can make your composition even worse. Here are some extra tips to effectively process your photos in mobile apps and graphics editors:
- Do not make excessive changes. Aspiring creators often try to set all image properties to the maximum. As a result, they get unrealistic photos with unnatural colors, shadows, and saturation. It’s better to choose a moderate intensity for your filters, even if you think the improvements aren’t as distinct. Also, you should keep in mind that displays render colors differently. So, what seems to be nicely bright on one screen, may look over-saturated on another.
- Make sure your horizon is leveled. A tilted horizon is the most frequent beginners’ mistake that can go unnoticed and make your composition look unbalanced. You can easily straighten it in the editor and avoid this problem in future photos by enabling Grid in your camera settings.
- Use autocorrection. Aspiring retouchers can’t always combine filters correctly or set their needed intensity, which often makes their images look unaesthetic or insufficiently enhanced. Most photo editors offer an auto-correction tool that automatically enhances photos by analyzing the visual and choosing suitable filters.
Bottom line
Photos don’t always come out perfect, since many variables affect their quality. Nonetheless, it is possible to create digital masterpieces without professional equipment and expert editing skills. Multiple online tools and mobile applications allow you to enhance photos online for free. They provide user-friendly and convenient image editing options which are understandable even for non-professional users. Consider the presented tips and tricks in your next photo manipulations to achieve desired results.