How to Edit Low Light Photos

Some of the year's picturesque seasons are now here with fall in full swing and winter just around the corner. The only possible downside might be that nights are longer and less time for natural light.

Lighting is everything when it comes to photography, but low lighting doesn't mean you should pass up any awesome photo opportunities. Fortunately you can turn any poorly lit photo into a fabulous pic with the right mobile editing app!

Instasize has the tools to help save photos and make them Instagram-worthy even when they come out too dark.

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How to Edit Low Light Photos Using Instasize

Pull up the low lit photo of your choice on the app and tap the icon with adjustable sliders. This allows you to edit your photos settings. To improve the quality of poorly lit photos, we're going to focus on Shadows, Highlights, Brightness, and Saturation.

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Brightness

If you want to increase the brightness of your entire photo, equally increasing the bright and dark spots, Brightness is the setting you adjust. This is best used to improve upon photos taken during gloomy weather.

It might not be the best way to fix a poorly lit photo with very dark and very light elements, as it can over-expose sources of light.

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Shadows and Highlights

When photos come out too dark, it means details aren't as visible or as crisp on your photo. You can brighten these dark spots by adjusting the Shadows setting, swiping left or right to increase or decrease the intensity of your edit.

Shadows only touch the dark parts of your photo, leaving the bright spots as is. You don't have to worry about bright spots becoming too exposed as you try to bring out details from your photo. Highlights do the oppposite, increasing or decreasing the intensity of light / bright spots on your photo without touching the dark areas.

Playing with shadows and highlights can also add depth to your photo, making it look richer and eye-catching.

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Saturation

Once you've tweaked brightness, shadows, and highlights, you might want to adjust the photo's saturation, too.

It increases or decreases the intensity of the colors present in your photograph--a perfect way to bring out pops of color that might have been altered when playing around with the other settings. The higher the saturation, the more vivid your photo will look. Less saturation will make for a more muted outcome.

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Beauty Tools

Got a specific spot in your photo you want to brighten? You can be more direct by using Instasize's Brightening option under the beauty tools. Just tap at the area you want to brighten (works best for white areas, like walls, teeth, even eyes) to add that additional level of detail.

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General Do's and Dont's

• Do make use of your smartphone's manual or pro setting. Editing dark photos on Instasize is a breeze, but you can improve the shots you take by going off auto-mode and maximizing your cameraphone's manual setting. You can customize aperture, exposure, and shutter speed to let more light in.

• Don't use your flash. You might be tempted to add a little light to a low light photo opportunity, but flash over exposes a photo, removing a lot of its details and composition. As a result, you'll have less to work with during editing. It's always better (and easier!) to edit a photo with low exposure than an over-exposed photo.

• Do stabilize your shots. Since you wouldn't have great lighting to bring out the details on your photo, you want to make sure every shot you take in low light is crisp. Make sure you're holding your phone tightly and taking a clear shot. Better yet, use a tripod!

• Do take photos in HDR. If you're taking photos with a darker foreground and a lighter background, turning on your phone's HDR setting will allow your cameraphone brighten up the dark foreground without ruining or over-exposing the well-lit background.

You don't have to worry about taking awesome pics these coming seasons. Instasize helps you turn any photo op situation into an Instagram-worthy one! Don't be afraid to play around and adjust photo settings, or even apply a filter!