Modern smartphones can take stunning photos, but any

The photographer will tell you that taking a photo is only half the battle. The editing is a
a fundamental part of the photography process, as it can turn good shots into
stunning images.

I will guide you through the process of editing a single image taken with a
smartphone, using the most important settings. We will not cover all the
available options in Snapseed. That would require more time and participation. In
change, these Snapseed image editing tips and tricks are designed
so you can start with the basic concepts, on which you can improve
as you learn more about editing and photography.

INITIAL SCREEN
The initial screen of Snapseed has very few elements to work with. In the
center, we see a large ‘+’ icon that, if we press it, will allow us to import the image that
we want to edit. From Snapseed we cannot take photos, first we have to take it
from the camera app we have on our mobile and then take it to
Snapseed. At the top, we have a three-dot menu that contains the section
application settings, a series of tutorials, and a final 'Help' section
and suggestions. Within the 'Settings' section we will be able to:
• Activate the dark mode of the application to save battery while we edit.

the photograph
• Choose the size we want to edit (we recommend not touching)
• In 'Format and quality' we choose 100% so that the app provides us with the image at

maximum quality. The files will weigh more but this way we ensure to have the
better result.

LOADING A PHOTO FOR THE FIRST TIME: INTERFACE

By tapping on the home screen, the gallery of our phone will open. Let's choose the
photo we want to edit and click on it. Next, you will see that it appears already
in the application, splitting the screen into three parts:
• At the top, we find the 'back' button to undo and redo.

editions, recover the original image and see all the edits we have made.
carried out.
• An information icon where we will have the details of the photograph (place of

record, date...
 • The three-point menu that we explained earlier.

Now let's go to the lower part, which is where everything important about the application is.
• We see a small image carousel that has filters already incorporated into it.
the same. If we keep clicking on them, we will see the change in the photograph.
main. These are preconfigured filters like the ones we see on Instagram and
It will be useful for a superficial editing, when we do not want to stop for too long.

time. This section is called 'Designs'.

• In the second section, 'Tools', we will find all the sections of

editing of the application. At this step, we will stop further on

depth.
• To finish, in 'Export', as its name indicates, we are going to share

the photo with third-party applications, save a copy of the photo, export it
according to changes in 'Settings' (see when we saved it at 100%). In
‘Export the image as’ we can save it with the title we want.

DEEP EDITING: 'TOOLS' SECTION

If you just want to use Snapseed in a superficial way, that is, opening the image,
applying a preset filter and then saving it, the usage tutorial of the
the app would have been over for you. However, if you want to edit the images more in
depth, keep reading as we are going to stop at the section 'Tools'.
This section consists of nothing more and nothing less than 28 different functions that steps
to explain to you in detail below.

IMPROVE PHOTO
Surely, the tool you are going to use the most to edit photos in Snapseed. Thank you.
To 'improve photo' we are going to retouch all the basic elements of the image such as
contrast, brightness, saturation, shadow, warmth… To move between the different
We are going to place our finger on the photo and make a gesture from top to bottom. To
modify each element, we move the finger from left to right.
The elements to change can also be made to appear by clicking on the icon.
of stripes at the bottom of the screen. If you want the application to make the adjustments
automatically, we will click on the ‘magic wand’.
The best thing you can do to see what each element does is to play around with increasing it.
and reduce it. Whenever you want to see how the photo was before and now, you have
by clicking on the icon in the top right that we see in the previous screenshot. While
we hold down, it will offer us the original image. When we release our finger, we
the edited image will appear.
Remember that you can see all the edits you make to the image.
by pressing the 'back' button at the top of the screen.

DETAILS
In this section, we are going to apply greater detail and definition to the image. It is divided
in two parts:
• Structure. The more detail, the more 'hard' the image will appear, while at
less detail will appear much smoother.
• Sharpness improvement.

CURVES
This is a section that more technically skilled users in photography will recognize. We
allows you to change the brightness and shadows curves to lighten or darken the image.
To avoid confusing the reader too much, let's say that in this section we are going to configure the light of

the image. I advise selecting some of the default settings in the bottom icon
of cards. We press and see the changes instantly. We accept when
let's have the one we like the most and that's it. Much better than putting up guides and
moving the curves.

WHITE BALANCE
How to make the colors in the photo look natural and real? The image is not the
same if we do it with cloudy daylight, or with fluorescent light. Here we are going to
be able to adjust the temperature and tone of the image overall. We can also
apply the real colors by selecting which is the 'real white' with the tool
dropper. Also in 'AW' we can adjust the white balance in a way
automatic.
TRIM
The usual option to crop the image. We can make a free crop to choose a
default cutting shape set by the application.
TURN
As its name suggests, we will be able to rotate the photo if we have it in one direction.
wrong.
PERSPECTIVE
Experiment with photographic perspective. You can tilt the image, rotate the
image... and in the space that remains when performing the perspective movement
We can choose to fill it with black, white, or perform a smart fill.
better than you can do in this section is to investigate and play with the different
options it provides you.
EXPAND
This tool is used to expand the boundaries of the image. It can be a good
a way to place a white frame around the photo is with this tool. To
Hello, we opened the guides that appear in the image, having chosen the white cube.
If we want a black frame, we choose a black cube. If we want smart filling,
We click on the smart cube, but be careful because it doesn't always have the results.
desired.
SELECTIVE
We can apply a specific correction at a specific point in the image with
this tool. We are going to click on a specific point in the image and adjust
brightness, contrast, saturation and structure. If you want to add another point, click on
the ‘+’ button that we have at the bottom of the screen. To start selecting among
buttons, click on them. When the button is illuminated in blue, the changes
they will affect that area. To view the image without buttons, click on the eye icon.
BRUSH

We are going to 'paint' over our image and apply lighting and exposure effects, only
exposure, temperature, and saturation. Choose a quality, adjust the intensity of the effect.
From -10 to 10, apply on the image to modify it. I suggest you activate the icon.
from the 'eye' to know where they are applying the effect. With a touch of a finger, we apply
the effect and with the pinch gesture (with two fingers) we move and zoom in on the image
to apply it more precisely.
With this retouch, for example, we will be able to put an object or person in white and
black and the background in color, or vice versa is one way, then I will tell you another. For that, let's go
to 'paint' the person or object with the saturation brush set to -10.
stain remover
Do you want to remove any element from the image? This is your function. Nevertheless, you ...
I advise that the stain remover works best for extracting elements that do not
are very located close to other different ones, such as, for example, the clouds on the side of
this image. You just need to enlarge the image, run your finger over the object to be removed
and the application will do the rest.

HDR LANDSCAPE
With this function, we will fix the images that offer us many areas of
lighten dark areas thanks to dynamic range (HDR)
darken overexposed areas. In this section, we will choose whether the HDR landscape is
we apply to people or to nature, if we want a fine or intense filter. If we want
to adjust it manually, we click on the stripes icon and change the filter intensity,
the brightness and saturation, moving the finger up and down and from left to right.
In the previous capture, the image on the left is the result of applying the HDR landscape.
nature, and the image on the right is unedited.
GLAMOUR SHINE
As its name indicates, we are going to add a bit of 'glamour' to our image. Not to
this filter works well on all images, try to choose those with a theme that is
more in line. We can choose and adjust the default filters that appear in the
section and adjust the halo, intensity, and warmth of each of them.
CONTRAST TONE
Let's fine-tune the contrast settings of the image a little more. The changes are
so subtle that unless you are working with a very contrasted image you will not notice
just changes.
DRAMA
A filter with which we are going to give character to our image. It is recommended to apply.
to photographs with very little contrast, brightness, flat, or that have an opaque veil.
We can choose from six different drama filters and each of them allows being
adjusted in intensity and saturation.
VINTAGE
As the name suggests, we will apply a series of vintage filters that provide
an aged appearance, as if from another era, to our images. It consists of twelve
different filters and each filter can be adjusted independently.
FILM GRAIN
Different filters to add a grain and thus provide another look to our
image.
RETRO LIGHTING
We found this filter to be more 'vintage' than the one actually called that.
application. As a sample, we have a couple of screenshots.
GRUNGE
Translucent templates that we place over the image and give it a look
radical. The arrow icon applies the template randomly, in the striped icon.
We will adjust the qualities of the image and in the next icon we will select the template.
desired. If we slide our finger towards the fingers we can change the style of the template.
The results can be tremendously appealing.
WHITE AND BLACK AND NOIR

It is a series of sections dedicated to all the filters and configurations of the

image to achieve black and white
PORTRAIT
Highlight the faces in a portrait by applying light filters, smooth the face, the skin, and the
clarity of the eyes... you can choose between default settings or choose the ones you
you want individually.
HEAD POSTURE
With this setting, you can change the position of your face if you didn't come out well in the selfie.
As you wanted. Be careful because this setting can yield somewhat
strangers.
UNFOCUS
We are going to apply a blur filter to the photograph, adjusting the circles of
localized affectation at a specific point. We can adjust the transition of the
blur between both circles as well as the separation of them.
Vignetting
To place a vignette on the image, which translates to darkened edges and center
clearer.
DOUBLE EXPOSURE
One of the most interesting adjustments in Snapseed is the double exposure. With this
we will be able to 'mix' two images by superimposing them to create effects
psychedelic and unique. To create a double exposure image, we press on the
icon and select the first image. Next, we select the second one.
image that will be mixed with the previous one by clicking on the lower icon ‘+
Next, we are going to position this last image as we want, moving it from
site, changing its size, rotating it, etc. Once we have it, we play with the
icons that we see at the bottom, combining the images through lightening,
added, overlay, etc, being able to also adjust the opacity of both images.
TEXT
With this function, we will be able to add text to our photograph. We can choose between
different text templates and colors, as well as being able to adjust the opacity. With the
we will place the text where we want as well as the orientation and the size of
same.
MARCOS
Add frames to the image. We have up to 23 pre-installed frames to try out.
about the image before confirming the edit. As always, each frame can
adjust by sliding from left to right, in this case the width of it.
WORKING WITH LAYERS IN SNAPSEED
At a much more domestic level than in Photoshop, thanks to Snapseed we will be able to
working with different layers in the same image to create very attractive effects,
like the one we already saw of extracting the color of a person in close-up on a
colored background. To access the different adjustment layers that we have applied in
An image we have to go to the top icon of 'back' and then click on 'see edits.'
I am going to try to teach you how to work with layers through a tutorial to place on
our silhouette, another photo, to achieve a very striking effect.
Make sure to take a photo where the central character is clearly distinguished from the background.
Well, this way we will achieve the effect better. We open our photo and go to the tool.
‘improve photo’. We are going to raise the brightness, contrast, highlights, and the
we lowered the saturation until we had the photo in black and white. As we can see, the silhouette has
left quite detached from the background.

Once we have our black and white photo, we go to the double tool.
exhibition and we place the image we want on top. We adjust until we see
that our silhouette and the added image match well. Now, below, we click on the
card icon and we click on the combination that we find most convincing. On the icon of
Let's adjust the opacity of both images.
Now let's go with the final result. Let's go to the layers/back icon at the top.
from the screen and we click on 'View edits'.
We click on the 'double exposure' edit and enter the central editing icon.
Now, carefully, we are going to 'paint' over our silhouette so that the other image
it should start appearing. For the background to appear, you need to place the ‘double brush
"exhibition" (you have it at the bottom center) to 100. If you make a mistake, to erase press
the brush at 0. To zoom in and move around the image, use two fingers. To paint, just
one.
EDITING IN BATCHES
Have you done a photographic work in which all the images are very similar and
Don't you want to edit them one by one? Well, you can configure an image, adding everything.
the editing steps you want, copy them and then paste them onto the other images that
wants. To do this, once you have made all the adjustments to the image, we will press the
icon of 'layers/back'. In 'View edits' we will click on the three-dot menu and,
later, 'copy'.

We open the new image, we press the 'layers/back' button again, 'view edits',
three-point menu and, to paste the edit we did earlier, we press
'insert'. It's a good method for, for example, adding the same facial retouch.
a portrait photoshoot.