These days, the best photography takes place for me when I’m with my iPhone. It’s my trusty companion for precious everyday moments. And when we’re travelling, the phone is great for candid travel shots.
The iPhone by itself is no big deal – it’s just a 5 mega pixels point and shoot. But when combined with the multitude of iPhone photography apps available in the market – it’s an amateur photographer’s playground. I am completely and utterly in love with some of these apps which make everyday photography so much more fun.
Here are my favourites:
This app allows you to take a shot or use an existing photo from your phone’s gallery, enhance it with a variety of different filters and share it via various social media platforms. Instagram pays homage to both the Kodak Instamatic and Polaroid cameras so what you get are incredibly cool retro-looking photos. The good thing about Instagram is that you can edit just about any photo from your phone’s gallery and play around with Instagram to your heart’s content. The only downside? You need internet or 3G access for Instagram to work, and this can be an issue when you’re overseas with limited wifi access.
Hipstamatic
Hipstamatic brings back the fun of old-school plastic cameras. You get about the same post-processed, retro effect as Instagram except you don’t need internet access. Plus I love how my phone is immediately transformed into a cute toy camera complete with different vintage lens and camera bodies. The downside? You can only play with photos taken ‘live’ with the Hipstamatic and you can’t use it for existing photos on your camera.
Quad Camera
This is an app for a multi-shoot toy camera. It allows you to take between 4-8 quick shots in succession and creates one image. You end up with fun and often very interesting shots. But be warned. This app is not easy to use. Resolution is lower than your regular iPhone shots. And while you can adjust the amount of time between each shot, you still end up with just a couple of seconds, so it’s important to plan your shots. Focusing can be a bit of a problem because of the short timeframe and you may sometimes end up with a series of blur splotches. Nevertheless, it’s still good fun. Photos below were taken in the vivid setting because we wanted mood shots. If you want shots with more regular lighting, shoot with the bright setting.
Bullfrogs Symposium 