Make your travel photos go from so-so to stunning

by Chris Guld, GeeksOnTour.com

Do you go to beautiful places and take pictures that don’t do the place justice? I am often disappointed when I look at my pictures, thinking, “It looked so much better than that.” I almost never accept a photo as it was taken. At the very least I crop and apply the “Auto” filter just using Google Photos. But sometimes I want more – that’s when I use Snapseed.

I took the photo on the left with my iPhone, then I used the free Snapseed app to edit it and make the photo on the right. It’s SO fun! Snapseed works on either iPhones or Android. There is no Snapseed available for computers, just mobile devices; although if you have a Chromebook that can run Android apps, that works great. (Here’s the link for the Android Snapseed app.)

To create the changes above, right on my phone, I start by opening the photo in Google Photos, then:

• Tap the 3-dot menu in upper right
• Open in Snapseed
• Tap “Tools” and HDR Scape
• Rub your finger on the photo: right = more of the effect, left = less
  In my example above I may have overdone it a bit 🙂 just to make the change obvious
• When you like the effect, tap Checkmark
• Tap Tools and then Text
• Double-tap where indicated and type the words you want, drag it in place and change the font and style if you want, then tap the Checkmark
• You’re done. Tap Export and Save

For lots more about using Snapseed, see the Geeks on Tour “What Does This Button Do?” Episode 136, Editing photos with Snapseed.