17.10.2013

My photography apps

17.10.2013

My photography apps

My apps

Having begun using my smartphone to take photographs, I was immediately interested in the various photography apps that the market has to offer. There are some that I started using that I really liked; some to take the shots and others for post-production. Today, I’m going to tell you about their various features.

London

I’ll start with one of the first ones that I downloaded, HIPSTAMATIC.
It’s an iPhone app that allows you to take square photographs, designed for Instagram. Hipstamatic is one of the most well-known mobile photography apps and is used by many professional photographers and journalists. Its main feature is the analog effect it gives your pictures, thanks to a series of interchangeable software filters in the form of simulated lenses, films and flashes. It differs from other apps in that you can’t adjust the photo after taking the shot, and nor can you edit photos you already have saved on your phone. Whoever uses it needs to be really familiar with it to get the desired result. You can create vintage-effect photos by using a mix of lenses and films chosen before taking the picture; from black and white, to lomo, to desaturated.

The application includes several standard packages (a combination of lenses, filters, flashes and even frames), while others can be downloaded for free, or can be acquired through an in-app purchase. It is frequently updated with new offers, and is very sensitive to the needs and demands of its users.

Portrait

If I don’t like the end result, I use SNAPSEED.
This is a post-production application, an absolute must for every mobile photographer’s phone because it’s simple, yet very effective at the same time, and it’s free. Everything is done using the touch screen, so it may seem like a game, but it’s not; it performs very precise editing and you can alter even the smallest details…
There is loads of choice in the Snapseed menu; as well as the usual options to adjust brightness, contrast, straighten the photo or improve the sharpness, you can also use special filters, such as vintage or drama, to give your photos a unique touch; for those who like them, you can also add a frame to your picture. And there’s more than just post-production; with this app, you can share your work on the various social networks, such as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

Portrait 2

For those who use Instagram, which is confined to using square images, there’s SQUAREADY (I use the free version, but there is one you can purchase too). This is an easy-to-use app that allows you to make all your photos square simply by adding a mount. This app, too, has the sharing aspect; you can share your photo on many social networks and also choose the image quality.

People

The latest download on my phone is VSCOCAM, the latest from the digital media tool company, VSCO; in my opinion, the best post-production app ever. It has a very minimalist interface and is easy to use, with a series of 53 different filters that go from shades of grey, to street portrait, to analog effect, allowing you to transform your photos, adding class and quality without distorting the image, which is what tends to happen with other apps. Furthermore, you can adjust the exposure and contrast, crop the photos and do everything that is required of a professional editing job. It does have one weak point though, and it’s quite a big one: in order to edit a photo, the image is resized, which causes you to lose the sharpness of image when you print it out.

Party

Raffaele Cavicchi

Raffaele Cavicchi; Instagram: @ralfmalf; 38 year-old photographer from Trieste; founder of GoodFellas IMP; works as an events reporter for both cinema and fashion; Imagelogger for Samsung.

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