Some people say that the best camera you’ll ever have is the one you bring with you. In those terms I guess my phone comes close to being the my best camera. Since the camera in the phones always are the best when it comes to bringing out the best of your pics there are great apps that at least will bring you closer to your desired result.

In this post I’ve put together some of the best apps in my opinion when it comes to photography and iPhone.

Photoshop Express (link to app store)
I guess Adobe don’t need any further presentation. In the image-industry they are one of the biggest and the Photoshop-softwares have been around for quite awhile. With Photoshop Express you get one feature that I think is necessary if you’re keen on getting the noise out of your pictures.

Below you have the same picture, with and without the reduce noise function in Photoshop Express.

iPhone-image of Visby sunset without reduce noise function (Click image for large version)

Same picture as above, but now with reduce noise (Click image for large version)

A note to using this function is that, when you reduce noise, also loose details so the result will, as always, differ depending on what you want to show.

Photoshop is free but you have to spend a few bucks on getting the Reduce Noise Function

Instagram (link to app-store)
If you like filters and sharing images with the rest of the world you’ll love Instagram (my nickname at Instagram is pedrohansson). I’m surprised how creative and actually really beautiful images that are shared at Instagram. And many of those just using their iPhone (1)

iPhone-Image using Instagram-app

Pro-HDR (link to App-store)
One of the apps that I’m using the most. The iPhones built-in functionality for HDR is quite good but this app is so far ahead in terms of control and image quality. If you don’t know what HDR is and are interested in getting some new ideas for your photographic session I suggest that you look into it. In short HDR is using several exposures (over- and under exposed) to create one image. By using several exposures you can use the lighter information in the under exposed image and vice versa. HDR-apps can also being used for creating motion and ghost-like effects.

Another side-effect with HDR is that you can find colors that otherwise aren’t possible due to over- and under exposure-difficulties.

A side effect of using two images is that you need keep the camera absolute still, otherwise you get some blurry effects.

iPhone HDR-image of South Kensington Station in London

I hope you can use some of the app-tips above. Happy for comments. What is your best photo-app and how do you use it?

(1) A portion of the images at Instagram are shot with professional equipment

Update: Thank you Helen for these nice tips!

Pixlromatic (link to App store)

Screen Capture from Pixlromatic

This is an app that comes out of the box with a pretty nice set of filters. Some of them are quite similar to the top-seller Hipstamatic but others are more “original”. I’ve tried this app and my first impression is that it’s quite good even though it brings alot of noise to the image, but I guess that’s normal with app’s like this. Since int comes with no charge I think it’s definitely worth downloading.
Pixlromatic-image with “rain-effect”

iDarkroom (link to App Store)
This app is quite like Pixlromatic, i.e it comes with a bunch of filters to use. The user interface is fast and friendly and it’s really easy to like. The cost for this app is 7,00 SEK (about $1) in App Store so I guess it’s well spent money.

Screen Capture from iDarkroom