iphone car photography series: Ep. 2 - Editing Car Photos with free apps

In Episode 1 of this series, we focused on capturing car photos using nothing but your iPhone. Now, in this second part of the series, we’re moving on to the editing process.

The good news? You don’t need expensive software or subscriptions to make your photos stand out. There are free applications available that give you all the essentials you need to bring your photos to life.

In this post, I’ll highlight three free applications that you can use today. Apple’s built-in Photos app, Snapseed (by Google) and Lightroom Mobile (the free version).

The video goes more in depth on the individual features of each application, so if you want that, check out the full video below.

Why you should edit your car photos

You’ll hear often that taking the photo is just half of the work that goes into it, and that editing is where your vision comes to life. Balancing the light and color as you are enhancing the details of the car, separating it from it surroundings and giving it a surreal feeling is the quintessential meaning of being an artist.

Without it, your photo ends up being flat, dull, and lifeless. It gets lost in the thousands of images you have on your phone, what you see online, etc.

Now the goal isn’t to edit the photo so much that it seems unrealistic, unless that’s what you’re going for. But for the majority of photographers who edit car photos, you’ll likely do a more realistic edit starting out and then work your way into more abstract creative styles.

With all this in mind, let’s take a look at the first application you can start using, today.

Apple photos - native application for iphones only

Every iPhone has this application to sort and organize your photos, but underneath the surface is a toolset that can actually unlock more creative freedom than it used to.

Any pro model of the iPhone takes a RAW image, which if you don’t know what a RAW image is, think of it as that flat, lifeless photo we talked about earlier. No color, depth, contrast, etc.

RAW images have the largest amount of information in them and allow for the largest range of editing to take place, making the photo whatever it is you want it to be.

Basically, RAW or nothing.

The photos app doesn’t have anything super crazy in terms of features when it comes to editing, but it has all the basics you need to enhance your photos.

Exposure, brightness, contrast, highlights, shadows and saturation are just a few key basics that you need to balance the light and color of the photo.

Sharpness, noise reduction and vignetting are tools to refine the image.

Cropping and straightening are perfect to keep your car framed properly and size it up for social media, which is likely where you’re going to be posting it.

Unsung hero feature is that your photos are already located here once you take them, so no uploading or exporting photos when the edit is done.

Why is it good for car photography?

The photos app is a native application that has powerful organization and sorting capabilities, so you can keep your galleries in order fairly easily.

It’s perfect for beginners because it’s not complex, it’s a low barrier to entry because you already own it. And a lot of people use iPhones so sharing across multiple devices is seamless with features like AirDrop.

Sharing your final edits with your potential future client while sipping some coffee at cars and coffee? Boom, shot, edited and AirDropped to them all before their cup is empty. That’s speed.

You don’t need to know anything about editing to use this tool, it’s accessible, and it’s free. That’s why it’s perfect for beginners.

Snapseed by google

Snapseed is a free application designed by Google, so yes, I am not forgetting our Android friends in this series.

It’s a step above the native Photos app from Apple but it’s a step down from more professional tools that cost money, but there are still some features on this that are normally paid in others.

The main feature in this that’s normally a paid feature is selective editing. This is where you can tap on a portion of the photo and edit just that one section.

This is a useful feature to bring out details of the car without bringing it out in anything else, like it's surrounding.

It allows you more creative freedom in your edit and takes more skill to learn it properly, but once you do, it’s very powerful.

This also introduces another feature that’s also found in Apple Photos (now with AI) and that’s Healing.

Have someone standing in the way of your shot? Heal them out. It’s not perfect from my uses, but if used right, it can help remove distractions.

You also get introduced to Styles and Filters - but I call them Presets. These are standardized edits that bring a certain characteristic to your photo.

No, not those Snapchat filters your kid loves.

These are baseline edits that give you a starting point. They are by no means a one click solution. In fact, most times Presets make your photos look bad at first until you refine them.

Snapseed does a great job at introducing the concept of Presets using this feature and it should be leveraged in making your edits.

Other features like Double Exposure, text overlays and lens blur are all present features in Snapseed that Apple doesn’t have (except Apple does have lens blur).

It does boast a heavy list of features for a free application and is definitely a step up.

Why it’s good for car photographers?

For one it’s even more accessible because it’s available on any smartphone so Android users and Apple users both can benefit from it.

It doesn’t require a login, so no giving away your email in exchange for lackluster capabilities.

It has MORE features than the Apple Photos application and you don’t need to spend a dime on it.

It has features that are normally behind a pay wall like Lightroom.

So anyone who wants to be a car photographer that has elevated their editing to a level where they want to do more, this is a great step.

I only used it once for the purpose of the video and this post, but in the limited time I had used it, I definitely would recommend using this long before paying for Lightroom.

Lightroom Mobile (free version)

Lightroom is considered a professional editing tool and is widely used across the industry. It has arguably the best features including AI ones that can elevate your photos to a professional level.

However, this is a caveat to this app. And that is the subscription model. It’s powerful, but expensive for beginners.

Luckily, though, there is a free version to give you all the basic needs and a taste of what it’s capabilities are before you ever purchase it. And those features are the ones we focus on.

You have your normal adjustments but get introduced to curves. Curves are great at refining color and light.

Color Grading. Rather than just focusing on saturation, luminance and color correction, you have color grading to enhance your shadows, midtones and highlights separately, making more dynamic looks.

Texture, clarity and dehazing tools are included in refinement of the photo which is a step up from the other applications.

Presets are available here as well however you have way more control. You can upload presets you’ve purchased from others or create your own and have them saved in the app. You’re not at the mercy of marketplace styles like Snapseed.

Why is it considered the best for photographers?

Simply put, Lightroom has the most features and capabilities than any of the other apps mentioned. You unlock cross-platform capabilities, so if you own Lightroom as a subscription on one device, you can use it on others taking your edits with you.

I can edit on my computer then switch to my phone to continue my edit.

You have AI features that enhance your photos faster than doing it manually, like noise reduction and healing (which is far more accurate than Snapseed)

Professional photographers use Lightroom (albeit LR Classic is their top choice) and Lightroom Mobile is the newest version that is cloud based, so newer photographers usually use that one.

This is the application you graduate to once you’ve maximized the other applications and have gained enough editing skill to take full advantage of the paid features. And by this point you should ideally be making money from your skill so the cost of the subscription shouldn’t be a sticker shock to you.

Final thoughts

No matter what application you use starting out one thing matters most. Editing your photos.

You will never achieve a professional status if you do not put in the effort to learn, even on the most basic edits.

Don’t look at professionals and say to yourself you have to edit just like them right away, start small, simple.

Make your basic edits to bring your flat image to more realistic and dynamic looks. Invest in some presets next to learn the styles of those you look up to, even create your own to speed up your process, but don’t rely on them on their own.

Once you’ve mastered the basics in the free applications, consider moving on to the professional grade ones that cost money. I use Lightroom so I speak to it, but there are likely others out there that you can consider.

Coming up in this series is accessories to further enhance the RAW image of your photos, so stay tuned for that on my YouTube channel.

See you next time.