Wyndham Wisdom

Photography Apps

These days the most convenient camera we're likely to have is our smartphone, loaded up with photography apps. Even the tiniest compact camera is often left behind,
but nearly everyone carries a phone wherever they're going.

Until fairly recently, cellphones produced fuzzy, low-resolution photos that were only worth viewing on a cellphone. But suddenly, their images rival the ones created by the finest digital compacts. And unlike those cameras, smartphones (especially the iPhone®) have a suitcase full of easy-to-use photography apps that give you a huge array of looks and creative effect --without a Photoshop-size investment of time or money. Here are a few photography apps that will bring out your inner artiste for just a couple of bucks.

FOR iPHONE® USERS
Download these from the iTunes App store

Hipstamatic ($2; added Hipstapaks $1 each)
A throwback to our glorious analog past, as epitomized by the Kodak Brownie camera. Its four lenses and three films give your pictures a retro look, from a rough black-and-white to a Polaroid effect to a psychedelic wash of color. The Hipstamatic photography app even offers analog prints made from your shots. Or just share your stylin' masterpieces with friends by using the app's built-in Facebook and Flickr sharing functions.

CameraBag ($2)
Like Hipstamatic, this photography app lets you filter your photographs with a series of special effects. But CameraBag goes beyond retro, adding such looks as "Colorcross," "Infrared" and "Fisheye" (shown). Stack 'em up by adding more than one filter; use the desktop version ($19) to customize existing photos. 

PhotoTropedelic ($2)
Like a time machine back to the 60s, this photography app will turn your snaps into Pop Art masterpieces worthy of Peter Max. After fine-tuning your vision, use the Facebook uploader to blow the minds of friends and family with a single click.   

Pro HDR ($2)
High dynamic range imagery is all the rage these days. You shoot the same scene at different exposures and combine the images using software that yields a hyperdetailed photograph with extended tonal range. Or simply add this photography app. Rudimentary HDR capabilities are built into the iPhone, but this app allows for more sophisticated use; you can let it take over or exercise manual control. Those painterly HDR images your DSLR-shooting friends love to show off are now easily within your reach.

TiltShift ($2)
Expensive tilt-shift lenses are used on SLRs to minimize the area of focus and give full-size scenes a "toy" look by narrowing the depth of field so severely that the scene looks like a miniature. Tilt-shift lenses were developed for architectural photography to maximize depth of field, but creative folks started using the lenses for the opposite reason. This app does it all with software, at a fraction of the price.

No iPhone? Try these apps
The field is smaller, but here are our favorites

Camera360 Ultimate ($4)
This travel photography app enables numerous special effects including LOMO (a toy-camera look),
HDR and tilt-shift. androidzoom.com

PicSay Pro (about $4)
Another multifaceted photography app that lets you sharpen; distort; insert cutouts of other pictures; add color splash to black-and-white images; add text, balloons, and shapes; and create tilt-shift and faux HDR effects. picsaypro.com

*Endless Vacation® magazine is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc.  iPhone is a registered trademark of Apple Inc.