20 TOOLS

Best Photography and Photo-Editing Apps for Students

Photography can be a key that helps kids unlock their creativity. Taking, editing, and sharing photos can be a great way for kids to learn about the world around them and show how they see and experience things. These photography apps, games, and websites should cover your students' photo-taking and photo-editing needs. There are tools for basic cleanup and cropping as well as more specialized filters and effects that offer an extra punch. You'll also find ways to store and share choice images so that student works reach beyond the classroom.

ChatterPix Kids

Photo app lets students share learning by making anything talk

Bottom Line: With its playful premise and ease of use, ChatterPix can be a fun, creative app for elementary school classrooms.

Grades: K–6
Price:
Free

ToonCamera

Photo- and video-editing tool captures the world with a cartoon lens

Bottom Line: Engaging tool may require a focused prompt to get kids thinking about how to use the available options.

Grades: 1–12
Price:
Paid

PhotoGrid - Video & Pic Editor

A few navigation flaws, but a fun way for kids to get creative

Bottom Line: Flexible tool with some frustrating but harmless navigation issues.

Grades: 3–8
Price:
Free

Pixlr - Photo Collages, Effect

Easy photo-editing tool sparks creativity, teaches basic art techniques

Bottom Line: Experimenting with the tool's open-ended features involves kids in the creative process.

Grades: 3–12
Price:
Free

Canva for Education

Create, collaborate and share with versatile design tool

Bottom Line: From interactive presentations to group collaboration to parent communication, Canva is a one-stop shop for a variety of classroom tasks.

Grades: K–12
Price:
Free

Flickr

Popular sharing site potentially useful as a classroom photo resource

Bottom Line: Make use of some incredible photographs in your classroom, but don't let students wander astray on the site.

Grades: 5–12
Price:
Free, Paid

Adobe Capture CC

Magical design tool extracts colors, patterns, and more from images

Bottom Line: The rare combo of "wow" factor and utility, this tool help students recognize and use the designed world around them.

Grades: 6–12
Price:
Free

Adobe Photoshop Mix - Cut out, combine, create

Impressive photo-editing app focuses on compositing, blending imagery

Bottom Line: While it's tackling a slightly niche design need (blending, layering, compositing photos), Photoshop Mix is an incredible tool that makes these processes shockingly simple on mobile devices.

Grades: 6–12
Price:
Free

Photoshop Express Photo Editor

Top-notch photo editor helps perfect pics for creative projects

Bottom Line: This is a powerful, free creation tool from the industry leader in photo editing.

Grades: 6–12
Price:
Free

Sumopaint

Impressive, easy-to-use tool for creating and editing images

Bottom Line: Sumopaint can spark students’ creativity, encourage them to be artistic, and provide them with new, image-related tech skills.

Grades: 6–12
Price:
Free, Paid

Instagram

Stellar photo app promotes sharing, creativity but has risks

Bottom Line: An absorbing, endless gallery of images that's fun to browse but tricky for classroom use due to privacy and content concerns.

Grades: 7–12
Price:
Free

Clips

Create and share videos with cool effects, tons of language options

Bottom Line: This slick video creation app is fun, empowering, and accessible in lots of languages, but be careful with sharing.

Grades: 8–12
Price:
Free

InShot Video Editor

Social media-aimed creation app has cool features, some pitfalls

Bottom Line: For students, there's a lot of fun to be had and valuable editing skills to be gained, but teachers will need to do all the instruction and deal with the ads.

Grades: 8–12
Price:
Free, Paid

PicCollage Grid & Photo Editor

Versatile, intuitive, engaging collage maker yields impressive designs

Bottom Line: With some privacy setup, and possibly upgrading to the paid version, this can be an excellent design tool for creating custom collages, teaching graphic design, layout, and photo editing.

Grades: 8–12
Price:
Free, Paid

PicMonkey Photo Editor Design

Reliable photo editor built for design and social sharing

Bottom Line: A great, social media-friendly option for teaching teens design, layout, and photo editing, but the paid version is more competitive with other tools.

Grades: 8–12
Price:
Free, Paid

VSCO

Popular photo tool behind "VSCO girl" phenomenon is worth a look

Bottom Line: It offers more polish than many competitors and is less of a popularity contest than Instagram.

Grades: 8–12
Price:
Free, Paid

ArtStudio - Draw and Paint

Easy, amazing art with high-quality lessons, creation, and sharing

Bottom Line: ArtStudio provides exciting digital tools and helpful information for high school artists.

Grades: 9–12
Price:
Paid

Gimp

Free, full-featured photo and image editing app impressive, daunting

Bottom Line: It's a great choice for students and teachers with needs beyond simple tweaking, cropping, and color correction, but requires significant self-directed learning.

Grades: 9–12
Price:
Free

PicsArt Photo Editor & Collage

Top-notch photography app crams in professional functionality

Bottom Line: PicsArt Photo Editor & Collage offers teens and adults extensive, flexible, real-world functionality in a tight mobile package.

Grades: 9–12
Price:
Free to try

Snapseed

Extremely powerful photo editor will equally delight pros, amateurs

Bottom Line: It successfully walks the fine line of photo-editing features, offering satisfying experiences for those making quick edits and those crafting perfect images.

Grades: 9–12
Price:
Free

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