Simple Editing Hacks That Will Make Even Your Worst Travel Photo Insta-Worthy

Editing photos for Instagram can be a slippery slope. There are the obvious "don'ts" — don't mess with someone's skin or body — as well as some unspoken rules, such as not making your photo look overdone or fake. But an edit that's done well can have major pluses.

"At the end of the day, the reason we take photos is because we're trying to share something," Josh Haftel, mobile product manager for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, says. "Going in and editing your photo enables you to have that much more ability to tell your story."

Haftel believes that editing is a major element in today's digital photography space. That's because cameras, regardless of whether you're using an iPhone or a DSLR, aren't the only tools for a creating a meaningful photo. Editing allows you to bring out the colors that struck you most as you try to recreate the in-the-moment experience you had on that cliff or beach at sunset.

While on an Adobe photography trip to Cuba last week, I sat down with professional photographer and filmmaker Renan Ozturk, who walked me through a ten-step process of turning what I thought was one of my worst travel photos into one of my best.

Click through to see how some simple tweaks can turn an image into Insta-gold.