As a Bookstagrammer and book blogger, I’ve taken a LOT of book photos over the years. During that time, I’ve discovered some amazing free apps that save me time and make photo editing a breeze! Below, I’m sharing my favorite apps for Bookstagram, plus some tips on how to use them for your own book photos.
Quick Intro to Bookstagram
First, if you aren’t super familiar with what Bookstagram is, feel free to check out my post all about how to start a Bookstagram (and what it is).
Essentially, it’s a community of book lovers on Instagram that shares book reviews, recommendations, reading inspiration, and all things bookish.
It’s a great way to connect with other bibliophiles, find new favorite reads, and even work with publishers to get ARC books for free!
Best Apps for Bookstagram
Now, let’s talk about my favorite apps for editing book photos, sprucing up Instagram stories, and more! It’s a fun way to tap into your creativity and really make your book photos stand out.
I use most of these apps every week, and I’ve found them all easy to use. I hope you find them helpful, too. 🙂
Looking for some book photography inspiration? Here are some helpful book photography tips (using just your phone) and Bookstagram photo ideas!
Adobe Lightroom
This is my go-to photo editing app! The mobile app version is free. All you have to do is upload your photo, make your edits, and export it. Voila!
My favorite feature of Lightroom is the presets feature. You can create your own presets (specific brightness, tints, saturation, and other settings), then easily apply them – with just one click – to all your photos. That way, they will match a cohesive aesthetic (if that’s what you’re going for).
You might need to play around with the different setting options at first to figure out what they do, but otherwise this app is super easy to use!
Canva (Graphic Design Tool)
Canva is by far my favorite graphic design tool. I use it almost every day for work! Specifically for Bookstagram, I use it to create Bookstagram templates, add illustrations or text to photos, and sometimes to quickly edit photos.
You can also use this tool to add book cover images to photos with e-readers, cell phones, iPads, etc.
You can even add animations to your images (from Canva’s graphic library) to make them pop!
There’s a free version, which allows you to use most of the features – including the pre-made design templates. Canva can be used as either a mobile app, or on your computer through a web browser.
Facetune
While I generally prefer the Lightroom app for editing my book photos, I use Facetune for two specific purposes.
First, you can use the “touch up” feature to remove mistakes or blend colors. It’s super helpful if you want to get rid of a reflection or any strange discolorations in your photo.
Second, it has a “blur” feature that allows you to blur the background (or any specific area) of your photo. (I used this more back when I had an older iPhone that didn’t have Portrait mode, but I still find it useful sometimes!)
The free version of Facetune allows you to use at least some of the features (including the ones above), so it doesn’t hurt to have it on hand!
Have you used any of these apps before? Are there any other apps you use for Bookstagram?