How to edit Instagram photos like a professional influencer, according to the creator of a photo app with over 2 million downloads

• Instagram influencer Tessa (Tezza) Barton and her husband Cole developed a photo filter app inspired by Tezza's popular Instagram page, which has 776,000 followers.
• Tezza, who posts lifestyle, travel, and fashion content on Instagram, created the app as a way to share her photo-editing tips and the photo filters she uses with her followers.
• The "Tezza App" is subscription-based and users pay $1.99 a month to have access to photo filters, editing tools, and effects that Tezza creates using software like Adobe Lightroom.
• The app was launched a year ago and has 2 million downloads, Tezza said.
• Tezza shared her tips with Business Insider on how to edit Instagram pictures so they will stand out.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

If there's one basic skill an aspiring Instagram influencer needs to master, it's how to edit photos.

That's why influencer Tessa (Tezza) Barton, who has an Instagram page with 776,000 followers - sharing lifestyle, fashion, and travel content - created a photo-filter app with her husband, Cole, inspired by the filters she would use to edit her Instagram pictures.

"Every day we were getting, 'how do you edit this photo?,' 'how can I create my own aesthetic?,'" she said in an interview with Business Insider. "So, that was exactly who we built it for."

With no previous app development experience, Cole built the app from scratch. That took them about a year and a half, with Tezza designing the look of the app and all of the filters using software like Adobe Lightroom, they said.

"We were as scrappy as it gets," Tezza said. "Living in a shoe box, working on a million different business ideas at once. We could have hired someone, but we were determined to do it on our own."

Today, the app has 2 million downloads and 4.9 out of 5 stars on the iTunes App Store (out of 5,000 ratings). The app just launched video editing and Instagram Story templates.

Influencers like the popular YouTube star Aspyn Ovard, who has 3.4 million YouTube subscribers, and lifestyle blogger Amber Fillerup, who has 1.4 million Instagram followers, have recommended the app and spoken about how they have used it.

The "Tezza App" is subscription-based and users pay $1.99 a month. Tezza said they decided on a subscription model to allow them to consistently update it with new filters.

"This allows us to maintain it and keep growing the way we want to," Cole said. "We knew we were going to be continually improving it and releasing new features all of the time."

In an interview with Business Insider, Tezza shared her tips on how to stand out on Instagram.

See also: How to become a successful influencer, according to YouTube and Instagram stars

1. Choose a color aesthetic or 'look'

An aesthetic, or the look you are going for on your Instagram page, can be achieved by editing your photos in a similar way, Tezza said.

The Tezza App offers a variety of presets (pre-set photo filter settings) and templates, which Tezza creates and can be selected and used instead of, or with additional editing, on the app directly. Presets bring out certain colors within a photo and templates are used to add elements like borders.

"Having your color aesthetic, or nailing down what your photos look like as a whole, is super important," Tezza said. "Because that is your entire brand, right?"

Tezza said she has never once deleted a photo from her Instagram page. She said it's a good way for people to observe her creative growth and evolution as an influencer.

Once you have the aesthetic down, you need to focus on the actual content you are shooting, Tezza said.

2. Get inspired and 'stop focusing on one image'

"Sometimes we will give ourselves a challenge," Tezza said when she and Cole start to feel uninspired.

They'll do things like force themselves to shoot multiple images in a certain place or particular room, coming up with something different.

"We will just come up with every single angle and use light in a different way," she said.

"Stop focusing on one image, and really focus on an aesthetic," she added. "We try to create a series. Really create more of a story than just a single picture."

Pick one filter that can go along with everything that you are doing online, she said. That will help give you a clear voice. She said to use this filter not just on your main Instagram feed, but in your Instagram Stories and videos as well.

She advised using "story templates," which she said will make your Instagram Stories stand out and have a professional look.

"I just think when you are scrolling through Stories every single day, it can get pretty boring," she said.

3. Think about why you are taking the photo and who you want to like it

Take time to nail down your overall tone and what audience you want to reach through it, Tezza said.

If you're more "moody" and "high fashion" then go with that as your brand, she said. Or if you're really happy and more into lifestyle content, then show that on your page.

"I think it's good to think about why you are taking the photo and who you are wanting to like them," she said. "Because, sometimes I'm like, 'Why isn't this brand hiring me?' But then I take a step out and realize that my aesthetic does not fit that."

For more on how to become a successful influencer, according to YouTube and Instagram stars, check out these Business Insider Prime posts:

YouTube star Shelby Church breaks down how much money a video with 1 million views makes her

How Instagram influencers land their first brand-sponsorship deals

Beauty mogul Huda Kattan, who built a $610 million fortune from online fame, shares 3 business tips for influencers starting their careers