This is quite traditional filter-app The difference between this and most of the current filter-apps may be that there are fewer filters to use, and filters that are the opposite of subtle.
I’m not the biggest fan of using filters, but when I use them I want to use them in a way that it really shows that filter’s been used. With that said, this app contains some really nice ones, if you like to use filters.
If you download the free app you’ll have to live with some ads, but I don’t think that they are too annoying.
The test photo is a photo I took with my iPhone 5. Below it, you’ll find the same photo after the Vintage app is used, and at the bottom you’ll find two screen shots.
Lapse It is an award-winning full featured app for capturing amazing time lapse and stop motion videos. It is easy, fast and intuitive.
No need for expensive photography equipment, you just need Lapse It.
One of my first posts on this blog was about which iPhone Photo-apps I preferred. And since then I now and then have posted and reposted that list.
Instagram
(link to app-store) – From my previous post
If you like filters and sharing images with the rest of the world you’ll love Instagram (my nickname on 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) What I think separates Instagram from many other “filter-apps” is their strength as a company. You can feel the quality.
(1) A portion of the images at Instagram are shot with professional equipment
Perfectly Clear
One of the downsides with “phone-photo” is usually noise, and dealing with the small sensor. With this app I’ve rescued many images that sometimes get to dark, with to much noise, and so on.
It’s not a traditional photo app with ton’s of filters and picture bending operations, but it’s a great tool to use to enhance images.
I think that almost everyone that’s interested in taking pictures with the iPhone have come across this app. In my opinion it’s one of the easiest out there to use, and it comes with quite a lot of features as well.
I downloaded Snapseed quite a long time ago (in technology terms) and I immediately liked the GUI. Professional and really easy to use at the same time. I can’t say that this app is the best in terms of amount of filters or in number of parameters you can change, but I think it’s one of the best apps in quality and GUI.
Startscreen in Snapseed
Photoshop Express
(link to app store) – From my previous post
I guess Adobe don’t need any further presentation. In the image-industry they are one of the biggest, and the Photoshop-software 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, Noise Reduction (this feature is actually the single feature that I use in this app but Noise is almost always a problem when you’re using mobile phone cams so I use it on almost every pic I share).
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
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.
This is, together with ProHDR and Photoshop Express the photoapp I’m using the most. I started off with using the “junior-version” but upgraded to the full version later. What I really enjoy with PhotoToaster is that it has some really nice filters to enhance the picture without making them look “too funky”. Focus on many of the filters are almost like a pre-set Photoshop app.
The last app on this list is PowerCam. This is app that I only use when I wan’t to do Tilt-shift images. With Tilt-shift I don’t just mean the effect when things will look like a miniature world. I use it more frequently when I wan’t a nice bokeh (from Wikipedia: the blur,or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image). This app does that better than any of the other I’ve tried on the market.
I’ve just logged in to the app Soundtracking on my Spotify account, right after I’ve got the news about this new music and image sharing app. I think the idea behind the app is really good; to instantly and easy share your music among your friends straight from your mobile or from within Spotify and add your own Instagram pics attached to your suggestions.
My user name in the app is (of course 🙂 ) saarimner; so if you wan’t to find your first friend there just add me.
As you might have discovered in the screen capture above I didn’t figure out that I should have deleted the first image from my first choice 🙂
If you’re using Spotify you’ll find the app under the app finder on the left hand side. It’s currently down on 28:th place in the app list, but as it’s featured in the app suggestions so I guess that may change rapidly.
For me it sounded a bit strange at first to mix your music suggestions with your images, but the more I think about it, I guess it’s all about creativity and I think they’ll actually fit quite well together.
Soundtracking – Screen Capture iOS
In the iOS app you find all the functionality you’re searching for easy accesible. If you’re used to use apps like Shazaam for capturing music around you, you’ll find a way to that as well in the app. On the downside, if you don’t have a Spotify account you’ll just have the possibility to listen to previous or buy the songs from iTunes. Other than that I really think that this will be an app that I use quite often to discover and share new music and fitting pics to it.
If you currently are a user, or you try it out for the first time it would be great to hear you thoughts around it.
At the moment I’m in Barcelona for work. While being here I’ve tried out a new photo app – 645 Pro. This is quite different iPhone photo app than many others due to it’s layout, and ambition to be a “close to professional” iPhone app.
Screen dump
I really like the graphical layout and the feeling in the app, but sometimes the adjustments are a little bit tricky due to it’s tiny buttons. On the other hand I wouldn’t (like one of the comments indicated in App Store) like to have a smaller preview screen either so I guess it’s just a matter of priority.
Plaça Catalunya, Barcelona
At the moment I’ve just used it for essentially B&W-photos which I think are really good. I especially like the feeling the B&W pics get. On the other hand I think that one of the best strengths is the quality and control factor (like the focus handling and live preview solution), but I haven’t explored all the possibilities yet. I can comment on that in a later post.
Arlanda Airport – With 645Pro
This is an app that I think I personally will use more and more often because there are continuously things to explore within the app, and sometimes – as other things in life – the best things are the one’s where you don’t see it all on your first look.
One of my first posts on this blog was about which iPhone Photo-apps I prefered. Well, those things change when apps get updated and new apps are developed, so I thought I’d share my best apps at this moment.
Snapseed
I downloaded Snapseed quite a long time ago (in technology terms) and I immediately liked the GUI. Professional, and really easy to use at the same time. I can’t say that this app is the best in terms of the amount of filters, or in number of parameters you can change, but I think it’s one of the best apps when it comes to quality and GUI.
Startscreen in Snapseed
Photoshop Express (link to app store) – From my previous post
In the image-industry Adobe are one of the biggest players, and the Photoshop-software 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, Noise Reduction. This feature is actually the one ingle feature that I use in this app, but since Noise often is a problem when you’re using mobile phone, I use it on almost every pic I share.
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 those that will use this function is that, when you reduce noise, you also loose details so the result will, as always, differ depending on what you want to show. In the images above I’ve tried to show this. Photoshop is free but you have to spend a few bucks on getting the Reduce Noise Function.
Instagram (link to app-store) – From my previous post
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 taken with their iPhone (1) What I think separates Instagram from many other “filter-apps” is Instagrams strength as a company. You can feel the quality in all their software.
Pro-HDR (link to App-store)
Pro-HDR is 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 HDR from before, and are interested in getting some new ideas for your photographic sessions, I suggest that you look into it.
In short HDR is a technique where you are using several exposures (over- and under exposed) to create one image. By using several exposures you can use the lighter information from the under exposed image, and vice versa. HDR-apps can also be used for creating motion and ghost-like effects.
The hard part, when you’re HDR is to keep the camera absolute still, otherwise you get some blurry effects.
Friday night I spent at the restaurant Pontus By The Sea here in Stockholm. On the other side of the water from that restaurant, there’s a boat with a Hostel on it called Af Chapman. This is a view from the restaurant side.
The pic is taken with an app called Slow Shutter. With this app you can set the shutter speed (like using the S-mode on a DSLR). This pic is taken with 15 seconds open shutter. I really like this app if it wasn’t the fact that the pics can only be 3 MP in size.
I’ve added a “clearity-filter” and framed the photo in Photo Toaster and reduced noise with photoshop for iPhone afterwards.
A couple of months ago I made a post about cinemagraph‘s (pictures with parts of them moving). I think this is a really cool way to spice up pictures.
Earlier this week I came across a great iPhone-app that’s all about this technique, Cinemagram. I’ve just tried it out a little bit but I think it’s a really cool app. I think that the best results are given if you record people doing things, like reading a newspaper or just turning their heads and so on. I’ve made a few of those but with respect to those that are featured I’ll let them rest in my cam.
You can find me on Cinemagram by searching for the user Saarimner.com
This image is just an image (taken yesterday from Gondolen in Stockholm) to show what Cinemagram is (look at the roads).
This is the first real week in Stockholm with “full spring”. In Sweden this is some amazing days. It seems like everyone just un-freezes from the Winter and there are happy people all around.
What’s also really amazing when spring arrives (as in the autumn) is the lighting conditions for photo. I can’t exactly tell you what it is but I think it get’s so much easier to get good shots, even with an iPhone-camera, so I’ve been quite busy taking pics during the days this week.
First of is a pic of Kungsgatan two days ago during lunch hour. What I like with this view is that there are very few who takes any pictures here (maybe it’s due to looking silly on a shopping street.. I don’t know 🙂 ) while I think this view holds one of Stockholm’s nicest views of great architecture.
This pic is taken with HDR and then adjusted with Photo Toaster to get a touch of an older look.
Saarimner.com 
