Cool (free) photo apps to try
KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 — The best thing about using an iPhone as a camera are the hundreds of apps that can tweak, filter, change, stitch, and layer the photos in so many ways a digital SLR can’t.
Besides the staple apps like Instagram, Camera+, and Snapseed, what other iPhone photo apps would you need?
Here are three apps that we think you should give a try; they’re free after all.
KLIK By Face.com
This ingenious app snuck under the radar a few weeks ago, but appears to be getting much more buzz recently thanks to its surprisingly accurate facial recognition technology. Using photos and information posted on your Facebook account, the app can carry out real-time facial recognition to identify and tag friends in photos. It’s also a great way to recall a person’s name at a party.
Upon installing the app, you would be prompted to connect it to your Facebook account. After that, try taking a picture of a friend who’s in your FB list – within a few seconds, the person’s first name should be floating above his/her head.
The app isn’t always accurate or fast, but it does “learn” faces by calculating the probability of a match, presenting a list of possible matches, and prompting you to select the correct name.
Be warned though — the phone does get a little hot after prolonged use, indicating that it makes heavy work of the iPhone’s processor and battery.
Download the iOS app here.
EyeEm
Those who remember the US$41 million (RM129 million) photo flop Color would remember how it allowed users to explore photos taken by others close by.
EyeEm plays upon a similar concept, except that it’s much simpler to use, given its familiar look and feel to Instagram. After signing in using your Facebook account (or regular e-mail address) you would see a feed of others users’ photos presented in big colourful tiles that represent locations, events, and topics.
Taking a photo using the app is as simple as most iPhone photo apps. It also has 14 different photo effects, and before uploading the photo, the app prompts you to pick from several different tag tiles to categorise your photo before posted to the public photo feed.
Alternatively, you can also create your own topic with other EyeEm users for a more personalised sharing experience.
Download the App here for iOS, and here for Android.
Camera Awesome
Those looking for a free alternative to Camera+ would do well to download Camera Awesome, which enhances the iPhone’s camera capabilities tremendously. First, is its series of functions like image stabilisation, burst shooting, and timed shots.
Secondly, it packs in an “Awesomize” button that immediately enhances colours or fix lighting issues. Unlike Instagram’s one-tap fix-it solution for photos, the amount of “awesomization” in this app isn’t all-or-nothing: rather, it can be adjusted by moving a slider to gradually enhance the photo.
There’s no shortage of filters and after-effects. The free ones bundled within are good enough for most, but if you want more filters, presets, textures and frames – there are close to 300 of them – you’ll have to pay for them, with preset packs starting from US$0.99, and the entire bundle costing US$9.99.
Download the iOS app here.
