Creative

6 Great Photo Editing Apps [Instagram]

 in Books / Creative / Fun / Instagram by

Great Photo Editing Apps [Instagram]

I know that this is a book blog, but as a book blogger, we don’t really make any money or get a ton of traffic (except for you wonderful people who stuck with me over the years). The new way to drive traffic to your site is to use Instagram. It takes a bit of work…okay, a lot of work, but it’s fun.

Sometimes I’m convinced that it is a time waster with changes to Instagram, but it’s a good way to exercise a creative part of your brain.

But how do you make your photo look good?

Well, first off, you need to get a good photo.

Some people like lots of colors, others choose a type of color to focus around (giving their Instagram feed a ‘theme’). But, generally, you can’t just post a photo with no photo editing. Generally it’s due to lighting.

Over the year or more that I’ve been using Instagram in relation to this blog, I’ve learnt a lot and have finally found a fantastic bunch of apps that I swear are the best!

1. Lightroom CC [Free]

This free editing app literally has everything you need. It’s free, which is a plus, and lets you choose from a handful of preset options and then customize it more, or lets you completely choose what you want to do with your photo. So simple to use!

6 Great Photo Editing Apps [Instagram]

2. Snapseed [Free]

Another fantastic free app which I love to use to add some ‘drama’ to photos. It allows you to do a lot more to the photos than Lightroom, but I use it after I use Lightroom. (I use most of the apps in this post together). Best thing, it’s easy to use!

6 Great Photo Editing Apps [Instagram]

3. Enlight [Free w/ Subscription Option]

This is a free app, but you can pay a ridiculous fee to get extra parts. I highly don’t suggest purchasing it, as it is either a monthly subscription or a one time fee, that is really high. The bits that you go to buy you can get from other free apps. It works like a photo shop and great for adding features into photos or mixing photos. It’s a little tricky to use at first but great, once you learn.

6 Great Photo Editing Apps [Instagram]

4. Photofox [Free w/ Subscription Option]

This is the newer version of Enlight and it’s the same deal. It’s updated, works a little better and lets you more easily add layers. You can pay the subscription fee to get more layers…but I just add layers, save, upload the photo and keep adding. It works fine. You just can’t go back and edit a layer later. But, not a big deal. Once again, love it and it is a little tricky. But once you learn, it’s easy. Don’t purchase the extra bits though, not worth it.

6 Great Photo Editing Apps [Instagram]

5. RNI Films [Free]

This app is great for getting a vintage look to your photos. I use it for the dust filter, which adds a wonderful vintage effect. For the photo editing, it is very simple and there aren’t tons of options, but still, it’s good to combine with other apps.

6 Great Photo Editing Apps [Instagram]

6. WordSwag [$4.99]

Yes, this app does cost money but it’s fantastic. This is really only for adding text to photos, but it’s fantastic! There’s a great selection of options for adding some nice fonts to your photo. You can choose from selected photo options, for a plain background, or you can use your own photos. I find $4.99 a little high, but I use it enough to make it worth it. If you make a lot of photos with word text, it’s good. But you can also do similar things on Canva and such. But the font options are pretty good and I really like it.

6 Great Photo Editing Apps [Instagram]

Overall these are some of my favorite apps and they are all great. I use a lot of them with each others, pulling what I want from each app. I try and keep everything free as, since I don’t make money, I don’t want to spend it. I highly recommend these all!

Do you have any photo editing apps that you suggest and really like?

 

 

Book Bullet Journals? 1

 in Books / Creative by

So Laura Sackton over at BookRiot came up with 3 bullet journal book spreads that really helped her get on top of her reading life. Pretty nifty idea, huh??

From BookRiot

My Opinion

While this is so cute, I personally would find it to be a waste of time. During the time that you had to draw all of this stuff out, you could have read a decent chunk of the book you were drawing.

Sure, I love looking at a good bullet journal as they’re visually gorgeous (some of them are just works of art) but I don’t think that I would ever personally make one. I mean, come on, it takes so long. I find it to be kind of a time waster. Give me a simple planner and some pens (even colored ones) and I’ll write stuff in. But put all of this work in? I mean I barely have time to socialize with my friends for a few hours (which is needed to keep sane) let alone create a masterpiece like this.

But I know that some people really love them. It can be relaxing and if you got the time to do it, then all power to you. But the question is, does it help you any more than just buying a simple one? Yes, I know that it’s customized and all yours, but…does it really matter?

What are your thoughts?

Bookworm vs. Book Critic – Who To Trust? [My Opinion]

 in Books / Creative / Fun / Interesting / Loving Language by
*This post is purely based on opinions and spurred on by a post from BookRiot

Sometimes you’re looking for a good book to read, but the question remains where to get your suggestions from.

Should you go and ask some serious bookworms what they found to be good and would recommend? Or should you go and find some detailed suggestions from Book Critics? 

Naturally, one might think that they should turn to the Critic because, after all, it is their job to recommend and review books. But a critic (based on my knowledge) doesn’t exactly do a book review. Sure, they will ‘review’ the book, but it’s nothing like those reviews you find on bookworms blogs where they just fangirl and say how much they liked it and why. Critics are critical (hence the name).

They will look at a book and rip it apart, finding what was wrong with it, saying why it didn’t sell well, showing how it is similar (or not similar) to others books and all that good stuff.

 

New Years Reading Challenges

Now, don’t get me wrong. Sometimes I do truly appreciate that. But I want the honest reviews from the reader.

I like reading reviews that have the emotions of the writer. Bookworms, who are passionate about books can sway me to read a book that got a bad review from a critic, just because they’re so passionate. And hey, generally I end up loving it. 

If I left it up to critic I might never have read that book and lost out, which would have been so sad!

Bookworms are passionate and can make good arguments. Critics look at it from the literature stand point. And not all good books (story wise) have fantastic writing styles. Look at a lot of romance books! You may love a really badly written romance book, just because of the story. A critic would most likely rip it apart. Another bookworm would fangirl/boy with you about it until kingdom comes.

Now, this is not saying that critics are useless. They write some really helpful reviews and it can be necessary for an author to grow and do better. It can also have its negative sides too, such as completely destroying a pretty decent book.

So when it comes to who you should trust, that is completely up to the individual!

For me, I trust the bookworms. They are passionate about series and read so much, not critically but just for enjoyment, that I feel that their opinions are good. 

This is not me telling you to trust what I say on my blog in my review, and on others too. You have to take their opinions with a grain of salt too. A disgruntled bookworm can be nastier than a book critic (as they’re paid and can’t say certain things generally). You really have to read the review and see if it fits what you’re looking for. I’ve had recommendations of books in genres that I would never read, and even though it got a great recommendation/review, I still didn’t read it. It’s up to your opinion.

If you want something more….detached and factual, I’d look for a decent critic review. If you’re looking for something with some serious passion (or hate, depending on the review), then maybe a bookworm is your choice.

What are your thoughts? Do you like reviews from bookworms or critics more?

*All points made in this post reflect my own personal opinions and are noway backed up by data or studies. This is just me, a bookworm, doing her little rant.*

 

Perfect Book Lovers Vacation – The Open Book, Scotland

 in Book Events / Books / Creative / Fun / Interesting / Library by

Are you a book lover? Do you need a vacation? Are you willing to wait…3 years?!

Well look no further because I got you covered.

This wonderful little bookshop has a room available and for $50 a night, you can run the bookshop!

No better way than to be able to run a bookshop for a week with a little less commitment. Sounds perfect, right?!

CBS did a wonderful little segment on it, which you should check out below!

While it does hurt me a little bit that the bookshop isn’t run by a massive book lover (she watches the movies more than reads the books) it’s still a fantastic idea. There’s also a potential up-and-coming movie about this place. Not sure how to feel about that, but I guess well see.

But if you’re looking for a little quiet get away, and are willing to wait about 3 years for a spot (as she’s completely booked up until then) then this is your destination!