How Photo Overlays Can Boost Your Creativity

You don’t have to be a professional photographer to understand the beauty of creating eye-pleasing images. Today, almost anyone can shoot a stunning photo with their smartphone camera and make it look like a piece of top-level photography. But there is a way to make your photos even more appealing.

Yes, we are talking about photo overlays.

It’s a growing trend that is threatening to win over the world in the years to come. You can see it already as millions of people just cannot create new images without any overlay effects. From professional photographers to amateurs and Instagram users, it looks like everyone is crazy about photo overlays these days.

Although overlays can make some images seem artificial, they come with so many advantages that you simply have to use this element while making fresh photography. The reason why we love photo overlays is the fact that they can boost creativity, so keep reading to learn more about the impact of photo overlays on your inspiration and imagination.

Photo Overlays: Definition and Popular Types

Photo overlays come in many types and formats, but we want to explain the whole concept if you are a beginner-level photographer or simply a curious Instagrammer.

Photo overlays are external elements that you add to the original photo. It is usually another image or texture imported through a special image creation program, app, or any other editing services. Adding photo overlays used to be a complex process in the early days of professional photography, but now even first-time users can do it quickly thanks to the “drag and drop” function.

Overlays have a lot of different purposes. You can fulfill multiple purposes using a single overlay or simply focus on one goal and stick to it. Jake Gardner, a custom writing expert, mentions a few common reasons to utilize photo overlays:

• Make a more beautiful image
• Improve original elements that don’t look as good as expected
• Add thought-provoking elements to the image
• Insert missing effects to augment the message of your photo
• Give images an additional layer of depth and emotion

These and many other factors can convince you to use photo overlays. Now, the question many photographers ask is: What sorts of image overlays are there? It is almost impossible to answer this question because overlay libraries keep growing, so you can find millions of new layers day after day. If you are still not sure what you want, check out some of the most popular types of photo overlays.

• Sky overlays: This is one of the most commonly used overlays because beautiful sky layers make an excellent background for your photos. The same goes for lighting and night sky overlays.
• Snow overlays: Users also love snow overlays, especially if they want to add a notion of love and romance to their images.
• Fog overlays: Mist and fog are also a popular choice because they always create a special atmosphere.
• Glitter overlays: If you want to look like a real star, you can use the glittering effect.
• Vintage overlays: A lot of people love retro styles, which is why vintage elements play such a major role in photo overlays.
• Firework overlays: Photographers who want to display glamour and celebration will often use firework overlays.

7 Ways Photo Overlays Make You More Creative

The list of photo overlays is literally endless, but you get the point already. With so many eye-pleasing photo layer libraries, it’s reasonable enough to conclude that overlays can make you a more creative photographer, but we decided to point out seven highly practical ways photo overlays can boost your imagination.

1. It enables you to experiment

The first reason why photo overlays make you more productive is very simple and straightforward – they allow you to experiment with alternative visuals and try out different solutions. Jason Jacobsen, a digital marketer at the college paper help agency, says you can change and adjust a photo in a way that suits your personal or professional ideas: “This is particularly useful for subpar and imperfect photos since you can improve them substantially.”

2. Effortless customization

Another reason why photographers love overlays comes in the form of effortless customization. You can find a lot of layers that are easy to customize in a way that perfectly matches your creative plans.

3. Photo overlays evoke emotions

If you spend some time analyzing photo overlays, you will realize that they often evoke strong feelings and emotional reactions. This is exactly what you can use as a source of inspiration because you can amplify the emotional connotation of your images and make them look more convincing or appealing in the eyes of a viewer.

4. Simplicity leads to new ideas

The best thing about photo editing is its sheer simplicity. Instead of wasting hours on overlays, you can now play with hundreds of templates within minutes. What does it mean to you in terms of creativity? It means you will often discover fresh and interesting solutions even when you start the process without any ideas whatsoever.

5. Overlays lead to multiple variations

Let’s say that you are making a brand new line of photos for a client. In this case, you can use photo overlays to create multiple variations of the same product. It’s a good way to give your client several options to choose from while sticking to the basic idea.

6. Save time and focus on idea generation

As we already mentioned, the “drag and drop” feature makes photo overlays easy to use. This saves photographers a lot of time, so they can neglect technical aspects of the work and concentrate on idea generation instead.

7. Overlays add context to the content

Sometimes a simple overlay can help you to add a whole new context to the photo. It’s a powerful tool if you want to emphasize a social issue or contribute to the higher cause through your images.

The Bottom Line

Photo overlays are one of the easiest ways to make a more appealing image, but they also serve as a genuine creativity driver. Many photographers use the existing overlay libraries to find inspiration and turn images into artwork and we strongly recommend you do the same thing. If you need any tips or suggestions on where to find photo overlays or how to use them properly, don’t hesitate to write a comment or send us a message!

AUTHOR BIO

Alice Jones is a digital marketer and blogger from San Francisco, CA. She is an expert in graphic design, marketing, and freelancing. Alice is a passionate traveler and a dedicated yoga practitioner.