As we have mentioned before, attractive, high quality images are key to Las Vegas social media success. It doesn’t matter if you’re on Instagram or LinkedIn; you want all of your pictures in tip-top shape. This can be an intimidating reality for some people, but you don’t need to go out and buy a $700 camera. These five simple tips can make just about any picture look pretty sharp. They’re not all free, but I assure you not of them are even close to that expensive camera.

1. Download Over

Over

While scrolling through Instagram or Pinterest, perhaps you’ve noticed pictures with cool looking text on them. How did they do that? There’s a good chance it was with Over. Over is not so much for photo editing as it is for typography. I love it and use it almost every day. It’s a simple yet powerful 4.5 star app that takes you ten minutes to figure out and cost you $1.99.

2. Download Afterlight

Afterlight

If you’re only going to download one photo editing app from this list, make it this one. It one of the best I’ve ever come across. If you’re looking just to do the basics – slap a filter on your picture and maybe adjust the brightness – this is the app for you. If you’re looking to win an award and be featured on the cover for National Geographic, this is also the app for you. So it’s pretty much the app for everyone. 4.5 stars, costs a buck and makes you look like a million.

3. Your Pictures Don’t Have to be Squares

Square pictures are ugly. The screens at movie theaters aren’t squares. TV’s aren’t square. I’m not quite sure what possessed Instagram to force the square picture into popularity for the first time in the history of photography, but they did. With that being said, we kind of have to play by the rules. Kind of. Use Afterlight, Squaready, or similar apps to place a white border around your pictures. That was, you picture will fit the square platform without cropping the picture to a square. (And for the love all that is holy, do not use screen shots from your phone. You know the ones with the sloppy black backgrounds.)

Best of luck to you, Las Vegas social media people. May your pictures be beautiful, and may your followers like them ceaselessly.