How I Save Time and Money by Editing Blogging Photos on My iPad

Hi there!

Like most beginner bloggers, when I started this blog in January of 2013, it was more of an outlet for me than anything. I had so many thoughts running around in my head, and I needed to get them out, ASAP, before I drove my family crazy. Haha. (I still do drive them crazy, just so you know. 🙂 )

Little did I know, as the months blogging went by, my desires for my blog would grow and stretch into becoming something more. I wanted to share my thoughts and ideas with the world – whoever would stop by and read what I had to say. 🙂 The only thing is, a beginner blogger’s budget is, in almost every case, about nil.

Zero.

Why? Well, it’s sort of painful to invest in an idea that is a total shot in the dark. No one wants to pay big bucks at first, when absolutely no income is, well, coming in.

Here’s something funny you should know about me: I am super stubborn and super determined, and 99% of the time, I will find a way around having to do things that cost a lot of time and money – two things I didn’t have much of when I started blogging.

I’m going to share with you the biggest way I save time and money in my blogging hours, and hopefully this will help you, too. Bookmark it, pin it, whatever you need to do, and also you might need a notepad. This is going to be long! 🙂

How I Save Time and Money by Editing Photos on iPad

I believe the general consensus is that once you start your blogging or photography venture, you need to purchase a DSLR camera and shell out the big bucks for photo editing software. Then you’ll have to spend hours hunched over the computer, editing photos, until they are, you know, picture perfect.

Did I mention I am a mother of 4 children aged 7 and under, and I do not have time to be hovering over the computer for hours at a time?

There had to be a way around this, I mused. . . and there was! Read on.

Editing Photos on the iPad

I already had a basic iPad, and in this day and age, I am willing to bet many beginner bloggers already own some sort of smart mobile device – smart phone, tablet, something. So that took care of the first part of my problem.

I used a point-and-shoot camera exactly like this one when I was first starting out. Then, I waited until Christmas of last year and asked for a biggie: my Canon Rebel T3. It was on sale on Amazon and my sweet hubby let me snatch it up while the deal was still hot. (It has since been discontinued by the manufacturer – the Canon Rebel T5 is the current similar model, which you can see here. And bonus: right now it is a Holiday Deal for $100 off.)

I figured it was a nice beginner DSLR camera, with all the options I needed to get started. And I love it. At this point I don’t want anything fancier than what I have. I am still in the learning process and definitely consider myself an amateur photographer.

All that being said, the camera takes great pictures for an amateur photographer, but every digital photographer knows you are not going to publish a photo straight out of the camera and likely get your best work. You need to have some editing power, and that is when most people turn to Mac or PC photo editing software.

Purchasing the Canon Rebel T3 was already a stretch for me – I did not have the money to throw at monthly or yearly plans for Adobe Photoshop. I also could not get the hang of PicMonkey. I tried, but I just couldn’t do it – hats off to those of you who can! 🙂

However, I was pretty quick at editing photos on my iPad using various programs that are much, much less expensive, and still very powerful.

The Eye-Fi Mobi Memory Card 

So, Eye-Fi is no longer. 🙁 I can still do the same thing, however, with this memory card adapter (if you have android products, you can try this one.)

No wires, no cables. This little memory card has saved me so much time and hassle, I can’t even. I just can’t even.

Here’s the best part: I do not have to sit at the computer to edit photos. I can edit photos in the kitchen. In the bathroom. (Ahem.) On the road when we are traveling. At night, in front of the TV. In bed, when I can’t sleep. ANYTIME, ANYWHERE! I don’t need any Wifi connection when I am editing photos, and the Mobi can also send them to your computer via a computer-based app.

Sending the Edited Photos to Your Computer

If you couldn’t already tell, I love Apple. I love iPhones, iPads, AppleTV, and yes, I love my MacBook. Instead of using the Eye-Fi app for my Mac, I simply open up iPhoto. . . and since I use iCloud, the photos automatically upload to the program and to my hard drive. Then it is super simple to drag and drop whichever photo I want into my media library when working on a blog post. Or to FoodGawker, or wherever I need to upload a photo.

Even if you don’t have a Mac, you can still access your Photo Stream on a PC running Windows 7 (or later) and iCloud for Windows.

I am not familiar with Android devices, although I always hear great things about them. I am assuming they have their own version of a PhotoStream or iCloud setup, with an easy way to automatically transfer photos to the computer.

Apps for Photo Editing

If you’re going to edit photos on your tablet, you’ll need some good apps.

Here are my time-honored, favorite apps to use for iPad photo editing. These apps, when combined, are powerful and best of all, inexpensive. (I still can’t believe how cheap some apps are, for what they do.) Plus, if this is for your business, the purchases are tax-deductible. I’ll list each one, and if you have a favorite not on the list, please let us know in the comments!

(Eye-Fi is no longer operating. See above for a similar recommendation!)

Snapseed

This app used to be a paid app, but a few years ago it went free. This is a fantastic app for editing photos quickly. I have tried dozens of apps, and this is my favorite because you can see your adjustments as you make them, which makes for a much smoother, easier, and quicker editing experience. Lots of options, can’t believe this is a free app.

Snapseed for iPhone

Adobe Photoshop Touch

This app is a paid app.  You can do many of the same things with your photos that you can do in Photoshop. Worth every penny. I use it every time I create blog pics, because I can easily create images in the dimensions that I need them and do lots of editing.

Adobe Photoshop Touch for iPhone – since this is a separate app, it does have its own $4.99 price tag. I haven’t bothered purchasing this app on my iPhone, but if I didn’t have an iPad to work with, I definitely would.

Rhonna Designs

Ah, this app is so FUN!!! Probably my favorite app of all time. I mean, besides Pinterest. 🙂 This is a graphic design app that comes with tons of pre-made graphics and a nice number of fonts. She is always adding extra graphics packs and I always purchase the extras. Worth every penny, and I use it every single time I make a graphic. Can’t speak highly enough of it. OUTSTANDING for Instagram. I first got this during an app sale, when it was free.

Rhonna Designs for iPhone – same thing, just for iPhone. If you have purchased packs on the iPad, you can access them through the iPhone and vice versa.

PicShop

I don’t use this app too often, but it does have a blemish correction tool that I use every once in a while. I also got it for free during a sale.

PicShop for iPhone

Aviary

Another editing app that is pretty powerful, although I don’t use it very much. Also found it when it was free.

Aviary for iPhone

Over

Over’s a pretty cool app that I used before the Rhonna Designs app came out. There are tons of fonts you can use to add text to photos, and some graphics. I pretty much stopped using it when I started using Rhonna, but it’s still a good app.

Over for iPhone

AppsGoneFree

This is a wonderful app I downloaded years ago. A website named App Advice takes the best apps that are normally paid apps but are on sale and give you a collection each morning. This is how I get paid apps for free. I hardly ever purchase apps anymore.

Note: I tried to link to the AppsGoneFree app while composing this post, and it says you can’t purchase the app right now. ??? I have no clue why. I still get daily free app updates so I know it still works. Here is their web site, you can check at the top to see if the app is available in the App Store.

The Pictures and Lenses

Here are a few before and after examples of photos that I have taken with my Canon T3 Rebel and edited on my iPad.

My all-time favorite lens for food photography is the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Standard AutoFocus Lens. It is super reasonably priced and takes much better photos than the stock lens. At the time of writing it is going for around $102. Great price for a great lens, right? Favorite, favorite lens of all time. You can find this lens here.

Here are a few photos I have taken with this lens. I don’t have the “before” pics anymore, but you can see this lens can really produce sharp pictures:

You have to understand, I am not a professional photographer. I barely qualify as an amateur photographer. All I have is a beginner DSLR, a generic lens, my iPad, and a few inexpensive programs that I have learned how to maneuver around with photos.

The point of these pictures is not to show you how qualified I am as a photographer, because I’m telling you that I’m not. The point is that I can take a normal, mediocre picture and with the help of my iPad and iPad apps, I can (quickly) visually improve the picture and make it much more appealing, which is all I need to know how to do at this point – and which is what most beginner bloggers and even photographers can start with.

Plus, I can do it without having to sit at my computer. I can edit anywhere, in minutes, and I only spend a few bucks per app, if anything.

In Conclusion

Please let me know if you have any questions. I sure hope the tips in this post help someone as much as they have me!

In short, here are my recommendations for getting around having to edit photos at a computer:

• You need to own some kind of smart device – I use my iPad and iPhone.
• You will need at least a beginner digital camera. You can also use a point-and-shoot, although you will be limited in your options.
• This is my favorite camera lens of all time, and it is a steal for how good it makes photos look.
• You will need the Eye-Fi Mobi wifi card to connect your photos with your mobile device. Try this one instead! 
• See the app list above for the most helpful apps for photo editing. Note: If you already subscribe to a monthly Photoshop plan, they have special iPad apps with your subscription. Definitely try out the adapter and edit with your iPad!

I think that’s it. Did I leave anything out? If you already own an iPad and a DSLR, then there are only a few things to get to help your photo editing experience, and hey, guess what? Christmas is just around the corner. 🙂

Whichever method you use for editing phots, happy photo editing!!

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Love,

Dandy