PicLab HD is a nifty app for creating those inspiring images
that you get all over the internet these days. You know, the ones
featuring a photo - probably with at least one retro filter applied -
with a helpful aphorism layered over the top in an attractive, friendly
typeface. Yeah, those. PicLab HD makes them an absolute doddle, enabling
you to either snap a photo or grab one from your photo library, then go to town on it.
As well as adding typography - lots of fonts and full
control over size, positioning, opacity, rotation, and colour - you can
also layer illustrations, ornamentation and other design elements on top
of your image. PicLab HD features full layer-based editing and also
packs plenty of tools for making your original photo look its best, with
loads of lighting and film effects to choose from as well as preset
photo filters and adjustment tools for fine tuning the brightness,
contrast, exposure, saturation, and the blur level of your photos.
02. Sktchy
You'll either love or hate sketch-based community photo editor app Sktchy
Connecting with people around the world in a new way, here
you can choose from a selection of photographs, uploaded by the Sktchy
community and create a portrait from that image.
Sktchy co-founder Jordan Melnick comments: "Our community of
artists is growing every day because Sktchy is the perfect place for
them to find inspiration and share their art with the world, in part
because of the neat way we layer portraits over the photos that inspired
them."
03. SnappyCam Pro
Using a burst of shots, you won't miss the perfect pic again
Are you always a second too late in capturing the perfect
shot? Then high-speed camera app SnappyCam Pro may be just the solution.
Like a DSLR, with SnappyCam you hold the hold the shutter button to
take a burst of photos, so you'll never miss the perfect shot.
Developed by founder of SnappyLabs John Papandriopoulos,
the app is super-fast, with the ability to capture up to 60 photos a
second, of which you can keep all or choose the best and delete the
rest. Images can be exported as animated GIFs and videos. And there's
also separate focus and exposure support for eligible devices.
04. Photoristic HD
Photoristic sits midway between basic native apps and expensive pro applications
Photoristic HD is an iPad image app that's just powerful
enough to be quite useful without overloading you with features that you
don't really want. It's all about the photo editor - it features
standard image adjustment tools (white balance, exposure, contrast,
highlights, shadows, vibrance and saturation), with additional colour
controls, a black and white mode, split toning and a hefty collection of
presets for Instagram-style quick fixes.
It's fast and easy to use and can handle images up to 20
megapixels, and while they're not exactly giving it away it comes at a
fairly reasonable price for its no-nonsense set of genuinely useful
photo tools.
05. Photochop
Photochop - Chop Up and Distort Your Photos does exactly what it says on the tin
We probably like this app for its name (in full: Photochop -
Chop Up and Distort Your Photos) as much as for its function. It's a
cheap and cheerful little photo editor tool for mucking about with
pictures. Simply pick a snap from your iPhone's photo library, chop it
up into a set of tiles and then go crazy.
You can either work directly with the tiles, dragging them
around, rotating and resizing them to create a collage effect, or
there's a warp mode that works in the same way but results in a
distorted image rather than a collage. Obviously it's nothing you can't
easily do in any image editing app in a couple of minutes and you'll be
hard pushed to find a serious application for it, but it's a fun
graphical toy to have in your pocket.
06. Handy Photo
Handy Photo is all about the interface and photo editor tools
The selling point of photo editor Handy Photo is its
interface, which uses the corners of the screen to cater for rotating
menu options. It's all designed to keep the central area of the screen
clear, allowing you to use swipe gestures to tone your effects up or
down, much like Luminance. It's a powerful photo editor; the UI isn't for everyone, but this is an amazing price for the effects you get. Tip: The 'Move Me' tool enables you to clip out objects and move, resize or flip them.
Path On lets you add funky text to photos in unique ways.
You draw the path you'd like the words to take, then type in your
message - the text then flows along the path. The custom options are the
real killer feature here, with you being able to adjust the font, the
letter space, and the alignment. Although it's a little fiddly, Path On
is probably the best adding-text-to-photos tool around. Tip: The photo filters are best avoided.
08. Frametastic
Organise your photos and keep your memories in tact
Frametastic
is a tool for sharing the big picture; not just a moment but a memory.
It allows to you to have a creative outlet for organising the
photographic elements of your life whilst also allowing you to alter
your images with a set of colour filters. Kind of like Instagram but
more framey. iPad retina and iPhone 5 screen support has just been
added. Tip: For high resolution, 2000x2000px output, choose 'ultra resolution' on export.
09. Camera+
Camera+ is adored by iPad users and has subsequently arrived on iPhone - hooray!
The Camera app that comes on the iPhone by default is not
brilliant: yes, you can use it to take some decent shots, but it doesn't
offer you much creative control. This is where Camera+ excels. The app
has two parts: a camera and a photo editor, and it truly excels at the
latter, with a huge range of advanced features. Tip: Camera+ doesn't just limit you to
editing new pics - you can quickly import your existing photos into the
Lightbox so that you can breathe new life into them.
10. Facetune
Hide your blemishes, wrinkles and more with Facetune's photo editor
Embarrassed about your laughter lines? Feeling blue about
those blemishes? Fear not, Facetune is here! Grab a photo from your
Camera Roll and start your makeover; you can remove unwanted freckles,
blemished skin or hide bags under the eyes with Smooth; reshape that
wonky nose or misshapen jawline with, er, Reshape; and make subtle
tweaks of colour using Tone. The results of this photo editor are truly
impressive. Tip: You can share results over Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr - if you dare.
11. Geló
Persevere with Geló and the results will speak for themselves
A splash of colour can alter the look of an photo
dramatically. Give your iPhone shots some extra oomph with this cool app
for the iPhone. Gradients have become a lost art in iPhone photography,
but Geló fills that gap in the market well. It needs a little more
patience than your average photo app, but persevere and the results are
excellent.
Once you've taken or imported an image, you see a carousel
of 'gels'. Cycle through to choose a colour, tap it, and then it’s
applied to your shot. Using the sliders you can tweak how the filter
affects your shot. Tip: You can easily apply specific RGB values though, that might mimic your favourite tints in iPhoto or Photoshop, say.
If an app-maker claims on its website that its app "makes
you creative", incredulous eyebrows will be raised. But when the app is
FxCamera, the hugely popular and highly-rated photography and
photo-effects app from Bitcellar, you can take that bold claim a touch
more seriously.
The killer feature here is Voice Picture, which enables you
record a voice message at the same time as you are taking photos. This
is done via the on-screen shutter button which, when swiped to the right
and held down, allows you to create a kind of spoken caption for your
image. You can even share Voice Pictures on Facebook. Tip: You can use FxCamera as a normal camera and improve your images with its auto enhance feature.
A smart photo-compositing app that allows you to double up
on your images. Clone Camera lets you produce a 'photo' of a scene with
the same person in it multiple times. It's simply a case of taking up to
four photos of the same person in a different location, and then
selecting the areas you want to stitch together into the final photo. Tip: The app works best if you have a tripod, or can otherwise keep your device still
14. Retromatic
Retromatic can be frustrating at times but it portrays a great vintage feel
'50s-inspired photo app Retromatic enables you to import
your photos, cut them out using an instant alpha tool, and then apply
vintage effects to them. It’s quick and easy to use, and looks great,
although expect frustration if you want to do anything more than the
basics. Tip: The instant alpha tool works well, but
you have to hold down on the screen to make it switch between a brush
and pinching to zoom.
15. Photoshop Touch
Photoshop is running neck-and-neck with iPhoto to be named the iPhone’s best image editor
The Photoshop
family continues to grow, with its latest addition bringing the
formerly tablet-only Photoshop Touch to Apple and Android smartphones.
It's an effective re-imagining of Adobe's
killer desktop app, carrying over many of its most compelling features,
including layers and adjustments. One of the best image editors around. Tip: The app is bundled with 29 fonts for adding text to your photos, including Adobe Garamond Pro, Cooper Std Black, and Myriad Pro.
16. Camera360
Camera360 offers a huge range of functions and no ads
Camera360 is a remarkable smartphone photo app. It's
perfectly self-contained with a huge range of functions, no ads and no
insistence in promoting paid content.
Touching the photo after applying a filter produces a nifty
quick comparison of the 'before' and 'after' versions. One drawback is
that the process of importing photos is slightly tedious, with one too
many clicks involved. Tip: Go to Enhancement>Night for a great filter to correct slightly dark or underexposed photos.
17. PhotoWonder
PhotoWonder has a good collage feature with multiple layouts and photo booth effects
Excellent user interface makes PhotoWonder one of the
speediest smartphone photo apps to use. It also has a good collage
feature with multiple layouts and photo booth effects. The filter
selection isn’t huge, but many are so well-designed that you’ll find
them far more valuable than sheer quantity from a lesser app. Tip: The 'Vintage' filter works magic on photos of buildings or scenery. Combine with 'Sweety' for a dreamy retro effect.
18. Vintage Deco
Vintage Deco is designed to give your images a retro scrapbook feel
Vintage Deco is a brand new iPhone photo app designed to
give your images a retro scrapbook feel. The filters are a bit clumsy
and lean towards Instagram, but there’s a lot of fun to be had by
importing a picture just to play around with the nostalgic stamps and
borders. Tip: The 'Stamp' section has some amusingly
whimsical affirmations such as 'All you need is love…and a cat' and
'Success is the best revenge'.
19. Magic Hour Lite/Free
Magic Hour Lite has some brilliant filters and a tilt-shift function
The combination of subtle filters and tilt-shift function
allows Magic Hour Lite (called Magic Hour Free on Android) to produce
some truly unique results. The filters create effects that are far more
sophisticated than some of the tinted, overexposed pre-sets from other
apps.
Note that this photo app forces you to crop your image to a
square, which can either be a hassle or very convenient if you’re
uploading to Instagram. Tip: The 'Magic Hour' filter gives
everything a lovely, soft luminescence. All filters seem to work best on
lighter images, such as those taken in daylight or pre-edited to reduce
underexposure.
20. LINE Camera
You can add text to your pictures in over 100 fonts and 20 colours
Sleek and easy-to-use, LINE Camera comes with a solid range
of filters, borders, icons and stamps. You can also add text to your
pictures in over 100 fonts and 20 colours, making this free smartphone
photo app one of the best for typography. Tip: Check out Stamp>Heart Symbol>Shine for a nice selection of kitschy sparkle brushes.
Tadaa lets you adjust the strength of all its filters, which
is ideal for people who like fine-tuning their photos with subtle
effects. This iPhone photo app tries to get you to use its own social
network, but you can still use all features without a login. Tip: Click on the frame icon to access a
nice range of photo film borders. Unlike Instagram and Magic Hour,
you’re not limited to a square and can apply the film border to a photo
of any size.
22. Rakuga Cute
Look beyond the cuteness and Rakuga Cute has some interesting features
At first glance this iPhone photo app seems aimed at
Japanese schoolgirls rather than discerning designers but Rakuga Cute
actually contains some unusual editing functions which makes it an
interesting addition to your photo repertoire. Tip: The 'Mosaic' option lets you
selectively pixelate any part of a photo, quite useful for blurring out
license-plates, identities or should you feel so inclined, body parts as
well.
An extremely slick interface and witty copywriting makes
iPhone and iPad photo app Camera Awesome a delight to use. The functions
and filters are grown-up and sophisticated. The only inconvenience is
that in the process of editing a picture you’ll inevitably end up
previewing demo versions of paid-for features so there’s constant
backtracking involved if you want to stick with free content. Tip: The 'Awesomize' button lets you
brighten and sharpen a picture using one click, but still with the
option of fine-tuning details if you wish.
24. Photoshop Express
Photoshop Express offers the sort of professionalism you'd expect from Adobe
As you would expect from Adobe, the interface and user
experience of the Photoshop Express photo app for Apple and Android
devices is faultless. It fulfils all the functions you need for picture
editing and will probably be the one you turn to for sheer convenience.
However none of the filters really jump out, and some are
surprisingly naff for an app that comes from the developer for
designers. Tip: 'Straighten' and 'Flip' are two useful functions not included in many other apps.
25. Photo Editor by Aviary
Aviary strikes a balance between serious and playful
Aviary is a very pleasantly designed app that strikes the
perfect balance between serious photo-editing and playful
photo-decoration functions without looking bland or childish. Perhaps
because it’s quite new, the selection of filters and stickers are fairly
small, so any future updates would give this app great room for play. Tip: The 'Strato' filter creates one of the most convincing vintage effects from all the apps tested.
26. Paper Camera
Paper Camera's interface is quirky to say the least
Filter effects aren't exactly a new thing, but Paper Camera
takes a different approach to the post effects found in the likes of
Instagram. What does it do? Well, it displays effects in real time on
your camera as you're using it. There are some neat effects on offer -
including cartoon, half tone and sketch.
Whilst it's not necessarily an app that will change your
workflow or outlook on life, Pixlr-o-matic is a nice tool for adding
retro effects to your images or photos. It has 100 effects, 280 overlays
and almost 200 different borders - so for the grand cost of nada it’s
worth including in our run down.
28. 3DSteroid Pro
Create stereoscopic images with 3DSteroid Pro - and you won't get banned from the Olympics
Want to create stereoscopic 3D images from the camera on
your phone? Yes, thought so. Check out 3DSteroid Pro - an app that
enables you to do just that, with some excellent tools and a very
user-friendly interface. Tip: You can save out a high-res image but not in the free version, so it's worth forking out for the paid-for app
29. Ampergram
Ambergram is a great way to play with photos and type
Combining typography
with popular photo editor Instagram led Phillip Pastore to create
Ambergram, a cool app that enables you to create endless typographic
compositions using cool photos of fonts. You can capture and tag your
own letters, or use the app's already stellar offerings generated by the
communtiy. Tip: Letter results can be filtered by style and the location in which they were spotted.
A bit of fun to end with. At first glance we got a bit
confused and thought this was a music app... That's because it was
released by electronic music duo Goldfrapp in anticipation of the release of their sixth studio album, Tales Of Us.
The app combines two of your photos using the 'double
exposure' photography technique; creating an illusory joint image.
Images created can then easily be saved to your camera roll and shared
with friends via email, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
