When I show people images that I've made with my iPhone, I'm always asked, "what apps are you using?" Today I thought that I would share five that are in my heavy rotation. Each of these apps hold their own, but sometimes I find that I’ll run an image through three or more before posting it online or even printing it.
Photogene was the very first photo app I bought for my iPhone. Short of having a clone tool, it's very much like having Photoshop on your phone. My favorite features include crop, straighten/rotation, sharpen, levels, contrast, exposure, color balance and saturation, but it has many more. For the power behind this app, it was easy to lay down $2.99 for it.
The second photo app that found its way onto my iPhone was CameraBag. With filters like Helga, Colorcross, Lolo, 1974, 1962, Magazine and Instant, this app is a must if you like toy cameras and/or a fun vintage feel. It’s fast and simple to use and a great introduction into processing with iPhone apps. I recommend that if you only get one photo app, you spend the $1.99 on this one.
I was using Photogene and Camerbag on a regular basis when I was turned on to Photo fx. Photo fx has way too many features to go over in this review but it was the Center Spot and Grain filters that sold me on it. However you'll find plenty of other uses for this app. It must have at least 100 filters packed into it, ranging everywhere from black and white filters to old photo filters, filters that change the lens perspective to filters that change, night vision, fog, color graduations, the list just goes on and on. You can even upgrade this app for more filters and options. It’s another $2.99 app but I couldn’t imagine not having it.
TiltShift Generator is shortchanged in my opinion; a fantastic app that seems to be overlooked all the time. Its prime function for me is using it very much like a tilt-shift lens, being creative with selective focus. But it also has a powerful vignette filter and a great color filter allowing you control over saturation, brightness and contrast. For $0.99 you really can't afford not to have this tool in your iPhone Photo Bag.
Last on my list and used almost every time I process an image, is Best Camera. Find the app here and its community Web site here. This app has several stackable filters that can turn the worst of images into something you want to share with the world. It’s a romantic app with filter names like Jewel, Paris, Slate and Candy, it also allows you to add vignette, crops and borders. While I highly recommend this app and will easily call it one of my favorites, I must admit that I wish it allowed a little more user control on some of its features. Another $2.99 app that I don't think I could live without.
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