Do you hate spending more time getting your photos Instagram-worthy than actually enjoying what you’re doing in the snapshots? Or do you get tired of taking snaps of your piping hot brunch food, only to bite into gross cold eggs 20 minutes later because you couldn’t get the lighting just right? Same.
Enter: SelfMade. It’s the app that aims to make your life a hell of a lot easier (especially if you’re an entrepreneur, influencer, or creative) by putting a professional social media team right in your pocket via a photo-editing app.
SelfMade users send in pics with edit suggestions and receive professionally edited photos in record time (with unlimited revisions). The app works with talented photo editors who can do high-level edits, like omitting distracting people or objects from a background, turning a background black and white, changing the color of an item to match an aesthetic, turning an image into an illustrated cartoon, and creating a mirror images.
The editors rely on a personalized mood board, reference edits, and notes submitted on each photo to get just the right final edit that fits the user’s aesthetic. Users can also select color scheme and beauty preferences (from All Natural to Flawless).
SelfMade Mood Board Example
SelfMade Mood Board Example
And after testing out the app myself, I can say SelfMade (and team behind it) seems to get to know you as you get to know it. I’m far from an “influencer” on social media, so I was worried that these edits would feel overdone or inauthentic. But they can be as simple or intricate as you decide, which made me feel less like I was handing over my feed to someone I’d never met, and more like I was better equipping myself to post the perfect edit when I wanted, styled exactly the way I wanted it.
The first few photos I submitted to SelfMade were sent back to me fully edited within minutes. They took my minimal initial suggestions and gave me images that popped and enhanced the features I wanted to spotlight. Honestly, once they turned the notoriously dull, murky water of the East River in New York into a dynamic photo (featured below), I was sold.
I’m now also able to post photos of mouth-watering food, and eat it while it’s hot, too. Who ever said you can’t have it all?
I see the app’s draw for people like me, who would rather send out photos and have them come back ready to post than spend hours staring at a tiny screen trying to find the brightness balance. But it’s especially useful for anyone whose social media presence has become crucial to his or her success. SelfMade helps users plan out and schedule their social media posts and promises to help attract more “real followers, engagement, and more new business,” according to their website (and some of their top users).
We chatted with a couple avid SelfMade users to talk about how the app has helped them boost their personal brands and create cohesive, marketable feeds.
Lifestyle blogger and all-around influencer Courtney Danielle (@CurlsAndCouture) has added 7,000 more followers to her Instagram since SelfMade asked her to test out the app last year. She was drawn to the professional level of editing at first and stayed for the timesaving aspect of the service.
“When I realized how much time I would save with editing, I was like ‘Okay, I’m all in,’” she told InStyle, adding it was a major ease on her professional and personal life.
“As an influencer, you have deadlines like having to post at 3 o’clock or making sure you post within a certain time period. And my boyfriend at the time would get so irritated because I’d forget to edit before we went to dinner and I’d have to sit there and edit.”
She says the app has allowed her to enjoy her free time and remain confident that her Instagram, which she equates to her business card, is in check.
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User Kaitlin Gerety (@KaitlinMarieMusic) agrees that the app’s made a huge difference for her while she’s been growing a following for her budding music career.
“I would say [Selfmade] definitely has a great impact on where I am and where I’m going,” Gerety said. “I can now reach out to companies feeling a bit more confident because my feed is like a professional resume.”
Gerety also believes the app has helped her not only increase her following from about 26, 000 to now more than 115,000 in a little over a year, but they’ve also helped increase her engagement and attract business partners for collaborations.
She’s even recommended it to friends who use their feeds for fun, and they’ve adopted the app as well. “What I really like is that they don’t alter your body, it’s not like photo-shopping or altering your body to make it [“beautiful”] or anything, it’s actually making your photos pop.”
Prices may seem a little steep at first ($50-$150 per month depending on your package and amount of photos edited), but perhaps it’s worth a look (or a like) if Instagram is your lifeblood.
Visit selfmade.co for more information on SelfMade.