For thousands of users, social media aren’t just a way to keep in touch with other people or socialize. They are also a very efficient business tool. After all, exposure on Instagram or Facebook will guarantee that whatever you decide to post will be viewed by a large number of potential clients or followers. This is why the pictures you post should be, well, picture-perfect.
You should never underestimate the importance of a good picture. Texts usually go unread, so the main impact should be dealt through the images you use. That is why they need to be flawless. That is why you need to edit them with utmost care and precision.
So how do you actually do it? How do you turn an average photo into a showstopper? Well, there are quite a number of hacks that can help you with that. In this article, we’ll cover a handful of surefire tips that you can use to edit your pictures for social media. Let’s delve right in.
1. Adapt the Right Size and Ratio
We’ll start with the basics. The photo you are going to use should absolutely fit the media standard. This means that – if necessary – it has to be cropped. Make sure to research the perfect size and ratio for your socials of choice and fit your image into the mould. For instance, Instagram favours images with a 1:1 ratio and your shared pictures should be 1080*1080.
When cropping the image to the necessary ratio, make sure that you don’t ruin its composition. Stick to the always-popular guidelines like the Rule of Thirds or the Golden Spiral.
2. Get Rid of the Distractions
Even a perfectly composed image can be ruined by a tiny detail – a zit on a model’s forehead, a trash bin in the background, or a passer-by in the distance. Well, since your image has to be flawless to grab the viewers’ attention, you need to erase all the distractions. Luckily, even the most basic of photo editors allow you to get rid of odd objects in a matter of seconds.
If there are no distracting elements in the image, but it still somehow lacks focus, make sure to create one. You can do it either by blurring or darkening the background or by adding sharpness and clarity to the pic. Once again, basically any photo editing software or app will be fine for the task.
3. Master the Colours
Think back to big brands’ ads or blockbuster promotional posters. What do they all have in common? That’s right, they are meticulously composed colour-wise. So much so that they are both instantly recognizable and visually-pleasing.
You can do the same. First off, you need to pick a colour scheme that would be a signature to your page aesthetics. Make sure to use the colour wheel to determine the best hue combinations. Then, stick to this colour scheme so that your posts all feature these predominant colours. This way you’ll create a brand for yourself. In case you want to post a pic that looks cool, but does not match the overall aesthetics of your other posts, a cleverly applied filter or 3D LUT preset will do the trick.
4. Consider Branding Your Pics
While watermarking your photos isn’t editing per se, this could be an integral part of your brand’s recognition and your copyright protection.
Take your time to design an exquisite watermark – or have one professionally designed for you. Then, make sure to brand the images you plan to post. There is a catch, however. You need to place the watermark wisely so that it wouldn’t obscure the photo’s object and at the same time, it would be hard to crop out. So consider putting the watermark against some textured or detailed background and a bit further away from the edge – this way it will be practically impossible to erase it flawlessly.
5. Make Your Images More Expressive
There are plenty of ways to make your posts more eye-catching. First off, there are filters that, despite being a bit of a cheat, are still a great way to enhance the look of your image. A properly chosen filter will not only help you maintain your style but will also hide some flaws that happened due to shooting errors. With a filter, you can slightly correct poor exposure, lack of contrast and saturation, or change the temperature of your photo.
Then, there are captions. A well-placed and gracefully designed caption will help you not only grab the viewers’ attention but also highlight the theme behind your photo. Just make sure to stick to a maximum of two fonts and choose those that are perfectly readable.
There are certainly more niche tips on social media photo editing, but these five are the most doable and most efficient. They are the secret to a social media post that would resonate with people and make a splash. But how does one implement these tricks?
In case you don’t quite know what programs to use to make your photos Instagram- or Facebook-worthy, we have a couple of suggestions.
If you are a seasoned user, you can go with the ever-popular Lightroom. This Adobe product is packed with advanced-level tools that will help you improve your image in terms of colour balance, dynamic range, sharpness, etc. There is also a respectable set of filters and a great text tool. The biggest downsides to this otherwise amazing photo editor are its heavy price tag and a really messy workflow.
If you are a bit on the newbie side, then consider editing your social posts with PhotoWorks. This user-friendly software offers both all the basic tools and a host of more advanced instruments that will help you enhance your photos in a matter of minutes. PhotoWorks heavily relies on its sophisticated AI which means that most of the edits are automatic (but also manageable). The photo editor comes with easy portrait retouching tools, a batch processing and watermarking feature, and a library of over 200 filters. And the best thing about PhotoWorks is that it is fairly affordable.
And that’s it. This is how – and with what – you can easily make sure that the images you choose to post online will catch the eye of viewers and potential clients. So make sure to implement some or all of them to make your social media page a magnet.
