~ Sanam Khan ~
08-10-2011, 05:40 PM
The Best Photography Apps for Your iPhone
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2010/09/iphone-photography.jpg
With the quality of cellphone cameras approximating that of yesterday's point-and-shoots, you can take some amazing photographs on your iPhone. It gets even better with the right apps. Here are our favorite photography apps for your iPhone.
Camera Plus
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/2010/09/custom_1285825435828_cameraplus.jpg
Your iPhone's default Camera app is pretty great, but it doesn't do much to solve the problems that are inherent with cellphone cameras. Camera Plus adds a few helpful features that do. Two of the most notable are burst mode and anti-shake. Burst mode lets you take a series of photographs quickly to help you get the best possible shot, and anti-shake lets you know when the camera is stable so you can avoid taking blurry photographs. The regular version is free, and the pro version will set you back a reasonable $2.
Darkroom
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/2010/09/custom_1285821594210_img_1388.png
One of the biggest cameraphone annoyances—frankly, it extends to consumer cameras in general—is poor low-light performance. Darkroom is an app that seeks to alleviate this pain. It's specifically geared to take photos in low light. While that's pretty much all it does, it does it well. Darkroom will wait until your iPhone is steady before it snaps the picture, leaving you with the sharpest possible image. When you're done, you can save your photo or upload it to an online album.
Hipstamatic
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/2010/09/custom_1285821470469_img_1356.png
Hipstamatic is a blast and can be very addictive (so don't say I didn't warn you). It's a camera app that simulates a bunch of analog cameras (mostly of the plastic variety) and creates some pretty stunning effects (check out the Hipstamatic Flickr group for some evidence). While the $2 app includes some starter lenses, flashes, and film stock, you'll quickly find yourself buying new ones from the in-app store if you're not careful. While Hipstamatic is, by far, my favorite camera app on the iPhone, do not buy it if you're not prepared to either restrain yourself or sink at least an extra $5. The fun of Hipstamatic is in making your own camera configurations, but you'll end up with beautiful pictures no matter what configuration you choose.
CameraBag
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/2010/09/custom_1285821483229_img_1365_03.png
CameraBag makes photographs look like they were taken with a variety of different cameras. Some of the filters are similar to what you'll find in Hipstamatic, but there are a couple of key differences. First, CameraBag offers a more diverse range of effects. Second, you can take a picture within the app but preview the effects before saving them. While the entire process takes a bit longer and doesn't have the quick-snapping fun of Hipstamatic, CameraBag ultimately provides you with a lot more control. It'll run you $2 to give it a go. If you're looking for something between Hipstamatic and CameraBag, take a look at lo-mob. It's very similar to CameraBag in functionality, but provides numerous types of film stocks and camera effects that are closer to what you'll find in Hipstamatic; it's also $2.
DSLR Remote
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/2010/09/custom_1285821691306_img_1357.png
DSLR Remote is a pretty amazing piece of work. It lets you use your iOS device to snap photos with your DSLR. You can control all its functionality and even access live view mode on certain cameras (note: this is only available in the pro version). It works by connecting your DSLR to your computer via USB and running a server application. Both your computer and iOS device connect to the same network, letting the server accept instructions from the client. Photos are saved where you specify, and there's very little lag between shots since everything's transferred very quickly over USB. DSLR Remote is an affordable $2 for the lite version, and a considerably less affordable $20 for the pro version (although I'd argue it's worth it).
Photo Scatter
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/2010/09/custom_1285825368814_img_1391_01.png
Taking photos with your iPhone is great, but they're kind of useless if they just sit on your phone for the rest of eternity. While the built-in iPhone camera app offers a few sharing options, if you want to get your photos on photo-sharing sites, you may want to give Photo Scatter a try. Photo Scatter works with Flickr, Shutterfly, PhotoBucket, Picasa, Twitter, and Facebook (although, at the time of this writing, Facebook isn't working so well). You set up all the services in advance, and then you can upload photos in your camera roll to any of them with just a few taps. Even better, you can use the app to take photos and upload them immediately after. Photo Scatter is free and is a great app, but it's worth noting that they're having a few issues with Facebook and the developers are currently overwhelmed with fixing the issue. It might be a little while before things get resolved, but it's a free app so it's not as though you'll be losing anything by giving it a shot.
Specialty Camera Apps
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/2010/09/custom_1285821558259_img_1360_01.png
You'll find far more than three "specialty" camera apps in the iTunes App Store—some of which you'll find in the honorable mentions, but Pano ($2), ProHDR (Free), and TiltShift ($2) are the three we'd download first to bolster our phone's camera chops.
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2010/09/iphone-photography.jpg
With the quality of cellphone cameras approximating that of yesterday's point-and-shoots, you can take some amazing photographs on your iPhone. It gets even better with the right apps. Here are our favorite photography apps for your iPhone.
Camera Plus
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/2010/09/custom_1285825435828_cameraplus.jpg
Your iPhone's default Camera app is pretty great, but it doesn't do much to solve the problems that are inherent with cellphone cameras. Camera Plus adds a few helpful features that do. Two of the most notable are burst mode and anti-shake. Burst mode lets you take a series of photographs quickly to help you get the best possible shot, and anti-shake lets you know when the camera is stable so you can avoid taking blurry photographs. The regular version is free, and the pro version will set you back a reasonable $2.
Darkroom
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/2010/09/custom_1285821594210_img_1388.png
One of the biggest cameraphone annoyances—frankly, it extends to consumer cameras in general—is poor low-light performance. Darkroom is an app that seeks to alleviate this pain. It's specifically geared to take photos in low light. While that's pretty much all it does, it does it well. Darkroom will wait until your iPhone is steady before it snaps the picture, leaving you with the sharpest possible image. When you're done, you can save your photo or upload it to an online album.
Hipstamatic
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/2010/09/custom_1285821470469_img_1356.png
Hipstamatic is a blast and can be very addictive (so don't say I didn't warn you). It's a camera app that simulates a bunch of analog cameras (mostly of the plastic variety) and creates some pretty stunning effects (check out the Hipstamatic Flickr group for some evidence). While the $2 app includes some starter lenses, flashes, and film stock, you'll quickly find yourself buying new ones from the in-app store if you're not careful. While Hipstamatic is, by far, my favorite camera app on the iPhone, do not buy it if you're not prepared to either restrain yourself or sink at least an extra $5. The fun of Hipstamatic is in making your own camera configurations, but you'll end up with beautiful pictures no matter what configuration you choose.
CameraBag
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/2010/09/custom_1285821483229_img_1365_03.png
CameraBag makes photographs look like they were taken with a variety of different cameras. Some of the filters are similar to what you'll find in Hipstamatic, but there are a couple of key differences. First, CameraBag offers a more diverse range of effects. Second, you can take a picture within the app but preview the effects before saving them. While the entire process takes a bit longer and doesn't have the quick-snapping fun of Hipstamatic, CameraBag ultimately provides you with a lot more control. It'll run you $2 to give it a go. If you're looking for something between Hipstamatic and CameraBag, take a look at lo-mob. It's very similar to CameraBag in functionality, but provides numerous types of film stocks and camera effects that are closer to what you'll find in Hipstamatic; it's also $2.
DSLR Remote
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/2010/09/custom_1285821691306_img_1357.png
DSLR Remote is a pretty amazing piece of work. It lets you use your iOS device to snap photos with your DSLR. You can control all its functionality and even access live view mode on certain cameras (note: this is only available in the pro version). It works by connecting your DSLR to your computer via USB and running a server application. Both your computer and iOS device connect to the same network, letting the server accept instructions from the client. Photos are saved where you specify, and there's very little lag between shots since everything's transferred very quickly over USB. DSLR Remote is an affordable $2 for the lite version, and a considerably less affordable $20 for the pro version (although I'd argue it's worth it).
Photo Scatter
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/2010/09/custom_1285825368814_img_1391_01.png
Taking photos with your iPhone is great, but they're kind of useless if they just sit on your phone for the rest of eternity. While the built-in iPhone camera app offers a few sharing options, if you want to get your photos on photo-sharing sites, you may want to give Photo Scatter a try. Photo Scatter works with Flickr, Shutterfly, PhotoBucket, Picasa, Twitter, and Facebook (although, at the time of this writing, Facebook isn't working so well). You set up all the services in advance, and then you can upload photos in your camera roll to any of them with just a few taps. Even better, you can use the app to take photos and upload them immediately after. Photo Scatter is free and is a great app, but it's worth noting that they're having a few issues with Facebook and the developers are currently overwhelmed with fixing the issue. It might be a little while before things get resolved, but it's a free app so it's not as though you'll be losing anything by giving it a shot.
Specialty Camera Apps
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/2010/09/custom_1285821558259_img_1360_01.png
You'll find far more than three "specialty" camera apps in the iTunes App Store—some of which you'll find in the honorable mentions, but Pano ($2), ProHDR (Free), and TiltShift ($2) are the three we'd download first to bolster our phone's camera chops.