Here’s a bit of trivia that will blow your mind, 2.71 billion people use their smartphones every day. That means, almost every third person in the world has a mobile phone! You know how it is when you’re always reaching for your smartphone, you’re probably making full use of its camera too.
What’s so cool about mobile photography is that there are gazillions of apps that you can use to create stunning images. And if you’re like me who’s always taking advantage of great lighting with an impromptu baby photoshoot, you’re probably wondering what camera apps are worth getting, this is what this guide is all about. Let me share some of my favorite apps for mobile photography:
Snapseed
Snapseed is one of my most-used mobile photography apps. This is a Google-owned app that lets you adjust your photos, apply filters, or edit the images quickly and easily. The app looks and feels like a premium app but it’s free. And there is a range of photo editing tools and options that will bring out the best in every image.
Snapseed comes with standard photo editing tools such as rotate, crop, brighten, etc., or you can choose from any combination of adjustments as a custom preset. The presets can be applied to any image in the future with just a touch of a button. The edits are always subtle and non-destructive, plus, you can always undo the edits from the edits stack.
Get Snapseed for iOS here
Get Snapseed for Android here
VSCO
VSCO (pronounced “visco”) is one of the most popular mobile photography apps for a reason. It’s easy to use, it comes with a host of useful features, and it’s a great platform for self-expression. With this app, you can edit your photos on the go, making subtle to intense adjustments in a snap! You can also use VSCO to edit videos using a variety of mobile presets and tools.
And to show off your awesome work, you can also share your edited images to the VSCO community for a chance to be curated by VSCO as well as explore inspiring photos from other artists too!
Get VSCO for iOS here
Get VSCO for Android here
Litely
Babies are impatient, easily distracted, they won’t sit still for more than a few seconds. And for us moms who are taking hurried pictures, the results aren’t always picture perfect. That’s why I love a good app that lets me adjust the exposure, sharpness, and color saturation of an image. Litely is one of my go-to apps for mobile photography because it adds subtle tones to photos to improve their quality.
The app is so easy to use, the film-inspired tones are flattering and the results look professionally made. Litely also offers standard photo editing features such as crop, rotate, and vignette. It also comes with Photoshop and Lightroom presets although these features aren’t free.
Get Litely for iOS here
Prisma
This is one fun app that you can try with the kids! Prisma is a photo-editing app that turns any image into a painting or a drawing. Imagine turning selfies into a van Gogh, Picasso or a Salvador Dali painting. The app comes with hundreds of art filters to choose from.
In fact, Prisma has over 300 art filters in its library so if you’re the kind who loves to experiment with different filters, you’re going to have a field day. New filters are also added every day, including special releases. Apart from the fun filters, Prisma also comes with basic editing tools such as exposure, sharpness, contrast, brightness, etc.
Get Prisma for iOS here
Get Prisma for Android here
A Color Story
Do you love playing with different colors and lighting effects? I do love a dash of color in every photograph especially when I’m doing my own baby photoshoot that’s why I use A Color Story. This is a fun app that lets you apply over 100 movable color and lighting effects. It also comes with over 300 filters and 20 photo-editing tools including HSL, curves + selective editing.
With A Color Story, you can adjust specific spots on an image one at a time, which gives you more control over your edits. Most mobile photography apps don’t have this feature. It also comes with a batch-editing feature in case you want to edit multiple images simultaneously.
Get A Color Story for iOS here
Get A Color Story for Android here
SKRWT
Taking a picture of our little ones is not a straightforward affair most times and if you always end up with weird angles that are hard to correct, you will love SKRWT! This is a useful perspective and lens correction app designed to add symmetry to an image. With SKRWT, you can straighten an image and reverse any distortion. The all-purpose lens correction also lets you correct horizontal and vertical lines as well as pillow distortions.
Get SKRWT for iOS here
Get SKRWT for Android here
Artifact Uprising
What’s better than taking snaps of your kids? Printing the said pictures, of course! If you enjoy printed digital photos, I highly suggest downloading the Artifact Uprising app.
Artifact Uprising elevates the quality of your shots and prints these photos seamlessly. With this app, you can fill entire photo books of everyday family moments that will be cherished for years to come. I love the minimalist interface of the app, the simple navigation and of course, the different photo styles to choose from. There are settings for postcards, a frame gallery, and holiday themes. You can also import and print your Instagram photos using the Artifact Uprising app.
Get Artifact Uprising for iOS here
TouchRetouch
TouchRetouch is more than just your average photo editing tool. It gets rid of unwanted elements in a photo with just a tap of a button. That’s hardly groundbreaking but unlike other photo editing apps, the TouchRetouch app specializes in greater edits, allowing you to remove large objects, including power lines.
The app could also fill in the gap for a seamless visual or clone one part of the image then place over another. These kinds of edits are quite painstaking and time-consuming with a regular app so it’s nice that TouchRetouch was able to simplify the process.
Get TouchRetouch for iOS here
Get TouchRetouch for Android here
