Photo editing applications are great tools to have when you’re practicing photography or simply want to have the option of enhancing and improving your photos for social media. Sharing the Best Photography Apps for 2019.
Nowadays, adjusting a photo’s brightness, contrast, colors, and even its composition only takes a couple of quick taps on your mobile device’s screen. And with the integration of higher specs in mobile cameras and the growing desire for picture perfect images, photography apps are now considered a necessity.
Best Photography Apps for 2019
Today’s generation provides us with a wide variety of applications to fit all of our mobile photography needs. We’ve compiled a handful of photography apps that you’re sure to love—and soon won’t be able to do without.
Things to Consider When Choosing a Photo App
It may be overwhelming to choose among so many mobile photography apps available for download, more so with their wide range of advanced editing tools and functions. To help you narrow your list down, you may want to consider these five things when choosing a photography app for your mobile device.
User-Friendly Interface
The best photo editing app to have is one that you’ll be able to use, and that means it has to have an interface that you can work with. Fortunately, many of today’s apps are developed with easily accessible menus and an intuitive interface. It’s just a matter of seeing which one is more efficient for your personal editing workflow.
Editing Features
No app has everything, but it should at least have a good variation of editing features and presets so you don’t have to go looking for them in any other app. A little research—or some downloading, if you have time—can help you find a few apps that offer specific functions and filters that you’re looking for.
Importing Options
You’ll find that some editing apps are also camera apps. This two-in-one characteristic will save you a few precious seconds that you would normally spend on importing photos from your phone’s camera roll. It may not seem like a big deal at first, but you’ll appreciate the convenience of being able to import photos quickly and easily.
Direct Sharing
Many photography apps, like Instagram, offer direct sharing to social media accounts. A direct sharing function saves you from going through the hassle of having to open multiple social media and website apps just to share a single photo across multiple platforms.
Compatibility
Some apps are available on both iOS and Android devices while others are exclusively available for a specific mobile operating system. If you have multiple devices, you may want to choose an app that works for all so you don’t have to adjust and use a different application every time you switch devices.
Best Photography Apps of 2019
With all the high-rated photography apps available for download (or a small purchase) today, it may be challenging to figure out which ones are for keeps. Below, we feature the year’s best, most downloaded photography apps that ensure quality image editing capabilities and output. We promise, you can’t go wrong with any of these!
VSCO
VSCO (pronounced like visco) is currently one of the most popular photo editing apps for both iOS and Android users. It offers manual camera settings, advanced and professional editing options, and dozens of gorgeous filter presets that can transform your images into realistic vintage and film photos. The app also allows you to publicize your art and discover curated content from other users.
One thing to note is that VSCO uses codes, icons, and numbers in place of words, so remembering the labels of your favorite filters and editing functions may require some effort.
Camera+
Camera+ is well-loved by iPhone and Android users for its manual shooting controls similar to that of a DSLR camera. It offers ISO, shutter speed, white balance, and manual focus adjustments, among others. At the same time, “The Lab” section within the app offers a collection of useful editing tools and filters. Other features include touch focus and exposure, different shooting modes, 6x digital zoom, horizon level shooting guide, clarity adjustment, “front flash” that uses the screen brightness, and iCloud Lightbox sync.
Cortex Camera
Cortex Camera is the go-to app for shooting at night and low-light situations. One of its most sought after features, aside from professional manual camera settings, is its capability to combine multiple photos to create a single high-resolution, noise-free image. It will ask you to hold the mobile phone still for a few seconds until it finishes taking several photos. This way, it captures a long-exposure photo without the need for a very slow shutter speed or tripod. The app is available on iOS and Android devices.
Adobe Lightroom
Fans of Adobe Lightroom on Windows and Mac can enjoy this mobile version on their iPhones, iPads, and Android devices. Aside from offering much of the same professional photo enhancement settings, signature filters, and the familiar intuitive interface with slider controls, the mobile version has an in-app camera with shoot-through presets. Another plus is that it allows synchronization with the desktop app, so you don’t have to open the latter just to make quick edits. To unlock its full functionality, you’ll need an Adobe subscription.
Snapseed
Snapseed is another famous app with a user-friendly interface and powerful editing features. However, its simplicity shouldn’t be underestimated as it is integrated with a few specialized editing tools similar to that of Photoshop. Beginners can now learn how to use and utilize the popular Healing Tool, which works simply by tapping on or brushing over areas of concern to magically “heal” facial blemishes and remove unwanted elements from your image. The intelligent Brush tool also allows you to brush over areas of the photo that you want to adjust in terms of exposure and other general image enhancements without touching the rest of the image—all without having to pay for a subscription.
Some would say that it doesn’t actually beat other popular apps like VSCO and Instagram; it works well with them in supporting the user’s varying editing needs. The app is compatible with IOS and Android platforms.
SKRWT
While you have a photo editing app that takes care of general image enhancements, SKRWT (pronounced like “screw it”) does the magic in terms of aesthetics and symmetry. This iOS and Android app was specifically developed to correct perspectives and distortions that are common in photos that feature architecture and other sceneries or subjects with lines and patterns. As you edit, the grid lines on the screen will serve as your guide in aligning and straightening out your photo. The included add-ons, 4PNTS and MRRW, also feature four-point corner reworking and mirroring to fix more complex distortions.
PicsArt
PicsArt is a fun and modern photo enhancement application that integrates the use of funky stickers, collages, text, preset filters, personalized drawings, and even animated GIFs into your usual editing process. Users can even cut out parts of an image and combine it to a preset background in the app for added versatility and originality of output. This fun and colorful application is suited for IOS and Android platforms.
Prisma
Prisma is a unique app that infuses your photos and videos with great works of art and famous paintings. The app, which is also a camera app in itself, combines your media with filter presets that each exhibit the signature style of world renowned a+rtists like Van Gogh, Picasso, and Levitan. You can share your edited works in your in-app feed for other Prisma users to view and consume your art. It consistently updates and releases new filters to suit people’s ever-changing and dynamic interests. If you’re an artsy person who doesn’t mind making “obvious” edits on their images, this app is for you.
Shane Haumpton is a beginner in writing, self-confessed coffee addict and shutterbug, and manages to do all these while enjoying life as a nomad. She is interested in writing on a variety of topics, ranging from photography, travel and arts.
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