Today I’m doing something a little different! I’ve had several followers who have asked that I share how I photograph my papercrafting projects. Truth is, my photographing is probably no different than your own, but I’ve fallen in love with 2 apps that I wish I’d had my whole life. So to honor that I’m sharing which two I use and exactly how they work. I hope this encourages some of you to take the extra step and edit your papercrafting photos like a pro!
My go to editing app is Afterlight 2! I truthfully wish I had purchased this app long ago! It was literally the best $2.99 I have ever spent! It was so easy to use, and unlike many photo editing tools, it includes a curves feature and selective saturation which are crucial for papercrafting projects.
When I was photographing this project, we had not had sunlight in a week, and you can clearly tell in my unedited version! You also get a nice shadow from my hands and phone, because all I had on hand was an overhead light at the time. That’s one seriously bad photo; I’m a little embarrassed haha! Editing to the rescue!
There you have it ladies and gentlemen; with a few easy adjustments, you have a bright pretty photo! I personally like to first crop and straighten my photo. I then adjust curves, selective saturation, and lower the shadows.
The final step is to add a white border around the edge! I have fallen in love with Whitagram for 12×12 layouts especially, but even this 8 1/2 x 11 page needed a little white space for the perfect Instagram photo. Best part is, it’s free! This app is a no brainer for all your Instagram needs!
This app is totally self explanatory, so I won’t give you a rundown on it. Just do yourself a favor and download it!
Can you believe the difference?! I’m still surprised every time I go from a poor photo like this one to the end product. I’ll be honest most of my photos aren’t this poorly lit and poorly photographed, but for demonstration purposes, I thought it was a perfect example!
Here is another example of the dramatic effect minimal editing, a drop shadow, and white border can make for a 12×12 layout!
Let me know if you guys decided to use any of the apps? Or feel free to share some of your favorite photo editing techniques!
Asher Smiles 
Great information! Thank you 😊. I see the name of the first app, but maybe I’m blind…. What is the name of the 2nd favorite app you are talking about? Tia.
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Thanks for pointing that out for me! I fixed it all up! The 2nd app is called Whitagram!
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Lovely papercraft compilations in your post. They look very stand out & effective.🌸Whitagram sounds an interesting App, thanks for sharing on this. Will check it out. Although I may not get as far as adjusting saturation etc!
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Well, if you do at some point want something more, Afterlight is extremely easy to use! Thanks for always sharing your time around here, sweet friend!
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