I recently wrote a guest post for the wonderful lifestyle blog A Bubbly Life written by the very sweet Laurel. In it I wrote all about my favorite two apps for editing photographs on your phone. I wanted to share the post here with all of you, and to tell you that I am going to be introducing you to another fantastic FREE app later on this week. You don't want to miss this one, it's like Instagram & A Beautiful Mess combined…it's beautiful. But for today, here is a quick post on tips for photography using just your phone.

As a blogger, I have come to really appreciate the true value of good quality photographs, and since getting my first 'proper' camera (the Canon pictured above) a few years ago I can really see the difference the photographs have made to my blog from a professional point of view. But, carrying a big, heavy camera around all day just to capture my coffee dates just get frustrating. And then I have to fiddle and play around with the settings to get the light just right, and never mind the editing that comes afterwards.

But, after getting my first iPhone last year, I cannot tell you how it has revolutionized my blogging. I am able to quickly snap bits of pretty-ness as I walk to work, sit at my desk and especially, while out and about with friends.

I can edit, add text and upload them to my blog in a matter of seconds. AMAZING!

Today I want to share with you my two favourite apps for blogging. I hope you find them useful. I have mentioned them both on numerous occasions on my blog and Facebook page, and that's because I think the are just wonderful.

One of them is only for the iPhone (Instagram) but A Beautiful Mess is for Android users too. If you know of any other great apps that you love to use, please pop me a comment below.

Happy Snapping!

Instagram has been around for a while, but it is still one of my absolute favourite apps for quick and easy editing on my iPhone. When posting photographs to my instagram feed I try and use the same filter so ensure consistency with my brand. It also looks a lot neater and is easier on the eyes when my photographs have a similar feel to them. But that is completely up to you, you can go wild with the filters and frames available and are only limited by your imagination! Download Instagram for free through Itunes.

Here are some images I've edited using the Valencia filter:

When you take photographs on your phone, play around with angles and make use of as much natural light as you can. Using a flash really takes away from the natural feel of your photographs and makes the look plain and artificial. Natural light is softer and more forgiving on people and products.

A Beautiful Mess is a photo editing app designed and developed my one of my favourite blogs...A Beautiful Mess. This app allows you to add backgrounds, make collages, add text, add cute doodles and frames and change the colour of each of those elements. Its super easy to use and the results are pretty amazing. I often get readers asking how I add all these effects to my photos, and it's so simple. This app has also recently been released for Android users. You can download it through the Itunes store for .99c

All of the photographs above were taken with my iPhone 4S. Nothing too fancy, but with a little bit of time and thought, you can really make your pictures pop! Do you have any other tips for taking great photographs with your phone?

Look out for my new favorite app coming to the blog soon.