How to edit your photos using Snapseed

[DanniS]

Caption: A photo of two hands holding a phone which has the Snapseed app open showing the different filters.

Many of you seemed to enjoy my previous post, 3 tips for editing your photos using your phone, and asked me for more tips on mobile editing. So I decided to make a post about my favorite app, Snapseed. 

I use Snapseed all the time to edit my photos because it offers a great variety of options to choose from. Here are some of my favorite tools and how to use them. 

Tune image

Very often, your photo needs just a bit of retouching and adjusting. You can do that with the Tune image tool. 

Once you open the app and select the image you wish to edit, click on Tools at the bottom of the screen. The first option on the list will be Tune image. It allows you to improve the Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Ambiance, Highlights, Shadows, and Warmth of the photo. Just slide up and down the menu to select what you want to adjust and then swipe left and right to see how the photo changes.

Caption: A set of three mobile phone screenshots showing the Tools menu in Snapseed (left), a list of what you can adjust with the Tune image tool (middle), and a retouched photo of waves crashing against a high stone wall (right).

HDR-scape

The HDR-scape tool allows you to create a perfect blend of highlights and shadows (light and dark areas), enhancing the details while still keeping the photo balanced. 

You can find the HDR-scape option in the Tools menu. When you select it, you’ll see four different choices at the bottom: Nature, People, Fine, and Strong. The HDR-scape tool usually leaves little to no room for any additional editing of your photos as most of the times, they look perfect.

Caption: A set of two mobile phone screenshots showing the “before” photo of boats moored in front of low ochre buildings (left) and the enhanced “after” photo when selecting the option Nature in the HDR-scape tool in Snapseed (right).

White balance

The White balance tool is similar to the Warmth setting in the Tune image tool but it lets you experiment more with this aspect of the photo. 

White balance is located in the Tools menu and has a list of two settings, Temperature and Tint. Swipe left or right to create a cool blue or warm red hue with the Temperature setting, or add a green or pink color to your photo with the Tint option. The White balance tool can make a dull photo look vivid, artistic, and catchy. 

Caption: A set of three mobile phone screenshots showing the original photo of a yacht harbor and a city from above (left), the Temperature and Tint options menu of the White balance tool with selected values (middle), and the enhanced photo with pinkish hue (right).

Selective 

The Selective tool allows you to make different types of adjustments to different color areas of the photo. 

When you choose Selective from the Tools menu and tap on the area you wish to enhance, a four-letter menu will appear: B, C, S, S. From top to bottom, the letters stand for Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, and Structure. Slide up and down to select a setting and then swipe left or right to make changes.

Caption: A set of two mobile phone screenshots showing the original photo of a narrow street lined with yellow buildings and a wall (left) and the enhanced photo with the Structure setting of the Selective tool set to 100% and different letters over the different color areas (right).

For more info, check out the Snapseed help center here.

Do you use Snapseed? Which is your favorite tool? Show us your enhanced photos in the comments below.

[RafsanRana]

I also use this app. it took some seconds to make photos awesome. the only editing app that I used for long. thanks, @DanniS  for your informative post. 

[DanniS]

@RafsanRana I'm glad you find it useful! I love it as well! It's so great and makes your photos pop. 🙂 

[Petra_M]

Thanks a lot for this post @DanniS! I really like this app, but I wasn't aware of all these things what you are explaining here. Here is one of my photo, after I edited using Snapseed, and my favorite tool is drama and HDR.

Caption: Photo of Hassan II Mosque, Casablanca, Morocco (Local Guide Petra_M)

[DanniS]

@Petra_M You're welcome! That's an amazing photo, congrats! You can try so many different things in the app which is great. The HDR-scape tool does help a lot 😉 Good job! 

[davidhyno]

Thanks @DanniS  for your Snapseed tutorials!

It is really an easy and fast app to use, and my favorite tool is the perspective correction "Perspective": with this it is very easy to straighten out monuments or landscapes with surprising results!

Bye,

David

[SunMoon]

@DanniS I always use this apps for editing photo. this apps function comfortable for me. thanks for sharing I know think  from this post 

[DanniS]

@davidhyno and @SunMoon I'm glad you like it! Looking forward to see some edited photos from you. 

[ShafiulB]

@DanniS  Thanks for the detailed tutorial for Snapseed. This is no doubt great app photo editing!

I regularly use snapseed to retouch or color correction! 

A photo from popular Baitul Mukarram, Fruit Market in DhakaPettern by sharmaThe different view of Dhanmondi lake which shows the Wonder of Summer nature

[DanniS]

@ShafiulB Absolutely gorgeous! The colors are enhanced, they are sharp and brightness and contrast is adjusted. Snapseed really does bring out the best in photos. Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂