5.16.2014

what's on my phone. photo editing apps.

are you an app-a-holic? (defined by the urban dictionary as someone who is obsessed with buying apps for their phone.) let's say facebook, twitter, and instagram are a given...how many other apps do you have on your phone?

as you can see from this screenshot of my phone, i don't have many. i usually only look for new apps when there is something in particular i need. as a blogger who documents what i wear, eat, and do, i take an obscene amount of photos, so naturally photography and photo editing apps rule my phone. then i have a sprinkling of random apps from fitness trackers to traffic apps to business apps for banking and square register.


i generally don't spend too much time editing photos for quick posts to instagram, but it's nice to have options when a need arises. here are my go-to photo editing apps:

PicFx - $1.99

PicFx is known for its infamous bokeh filters. it makes your photos fancy schmancy and sparkly. this is one of the first apps i got for my phone and i still use it. i don't use the bokeh as much but this app has a couple of filters that i use all the time. i like that you can rotate and play around with the opacity of the filters. this is my most used app.

above - original
below - layered and rotated five filters


from time to time, i help manage social media accounts for individuals and small businesses. i needed a way to add my own text to photos for labeling, event announcements, and other marketing pieces. After Photo doesn't have the easiest interface, but it allows you to add layers of text, comes with approximately 30 filters (many similar to instagram's), 30 textures, and 52 fonts! that was the seller for me (wait, it's free!) as many other apps come with slim selections at the free level. more fonts and a pro upgrade are available for in-app purchase.

i haven't even scratched the creative surface of this app - check out the after photo description page to see screen shots of its capabilities.

above - original photo
below - crop, filter, layered text w/drop shadows


i'm sure we all have a collage app for combining multiple pictures. i came across Pic Jointer years ago and stuck with it for its easy interface. it doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles, but it gets the job done.



sometimes we can't choose who steps into our background. hello, guy on the phone! so i needed a way to separate my main objects from everything else. Big Lens allows you to adjust the depth of field just like you would with your dslr. for $0.99, you get a range of f1.8 - f3.5, 23 filters, and eight lens flares.

you can see the range offered here.
sometimes just a little separation makes the subject pop.


i learned about PicLab from misskait a while ago, but only recently purchased it. it is actually a free app, but your photos will have a piclab watermark. $1.99 gets rid of it plus unlocks a bunch of other fonts and effects, so i thought it was worth it. i got PicLab for the sole purpose of being able to post my entire photo to instagram without having to crop it. it's an added bonus that it comes with 80+ fonts, 90+ borders and shapes, 39 light fx, 15 textures, 24 patterns, 15 filters, plus a pencil to scribble with. you can create tons of fun layouts with this app.

above - original
below - filter, border, text
(i previously used A beautiful Mess to post full-length photos, but for $0.99 you get slim selections - 4 fonts, 16 borders, 6 filters, and a bunch of phrases and doodles that i found myself never using. if you like to decorate your photos with pre-made sayings and doodles, you'll like this app, but be prepared to dish out lots of $0.99s for each additional pack. easy to use and very fast.)


what are your favorite phone apps?

19 comments:

evie said...

wish i understood more abt these apps, i am not very app user, i have hard time w/ new android phone, hate it...would love learn more abt photo apps so could take more pictures of my 3 4 legged girls

Mrs C said...

I am a fan of your Instagram.. now with this apps, I am in for a treat! :) Keep those pics coming!

Stanislava E. said...

I didn't know there are so much photography apps. I liked the big lense! I use only Instagram, cropic and have fish eye on my phone but never used it.

Shybiker said...

Interesting what's being developed. However, I don't own a smartphone and try never to use my dumb cell (which I bought only because pay-phones disappeared from the planet).

Amy's Fashion Blog said...

Thanks for sharing this. I haven't brought an apps for my phone. I have all the free apps. Which I haven't find any good photo editing one. So I will for sure check these ones out.

Shannon said...

What fun apps. If I ever get a smartphone I will have to get some of them. Thank you for your reviews.

Unknown said...

thanks for sharing this i love photo apps

Anonymous said...

I like the effects you did with picfx and biglens, does it take an insane amount of time to get these effects? I have one program, that looks good on my phone, but when viewed on the pc it looks pretty bad.

Sumit Nangia said...

Awesome Apps. Will try them for sure :)

Sakuranko said...

Oh very good filters!
xx

www.sakuranko.com

A Very Sweet Blog said...

what COOL effects becks! totally adding these to mine. thanks girl!!!
http://www.averysweetblog.com/

Marie said...

That's for the suggestions. I have to get them. My favorite photo app is Afterlight. I love using all the different filters.

Best, Mree

Unknown said...

I didn't realize there were so many photo editing apps! I'll have to check these out. Thanks for the recommendations :)

Teresa said...

I want them all!!!!! Thank you so much for this useful information, especially for fashion bloggers <3 ur the best!

...downloading photo editing apps... haha

xx
Teresa
www.trend-ish.com

Jenn said...

Photo-editing apps are the bomb! I rarely post photos without slapping a filter or some effect on it nowadays

Diva In Me said...

Wow!!! I really like Big Lens and PicLab! You know what, I'm going to check it out now. Thanks so much for sharing.
To get nice glowing natural skin, I use Camera360. I just realize I do not use a lot of apps for photoshoots. I mainly upload pictures from my computer to the phone and use PhotoGrid to make collages.

Ebb said...

try A Beautiful Mess. worth it!

susan jakovina said...

OMG! I love the big lens app! Must try this one.

NenaS said...

Cool apps! With so many out there, it's good to know which ones work well!

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