Since I own an iPhone 4s, I take pictures (almost) all day. I wrote about it before but I’ve been testing a lot of apps the last 6 months. Shooting with a DSLR (which I also have, but I make way more photos with my iPhone) is awesome, but a whole different level of photography.

If you have a smartphone that makes great photos, you have a very good and lightweight camera within the reach of your hands – at all time. That’s the key here.

Photography Apps
It’s also very convenient with a couple of simple adjustments and some well designed apps, your regular photo turns into a shiny, crispy or retro shot – and you can share it within a few seconds. Like I said, I have been testing a lot of photography apps the last months. A lot of friends ask me what apps I use, and which one they should get/buy. So now, I’m able to give all Iphoneography interested people tips on shooting and editing photos with a smartphone (in this case, an iPhone)… (click the button to see the whole blogpost ~ ‘lees meer’ = read more)

How do I work

• I always shoot with the regular iPhone camera, in HDR mode. There are people who prefer to shoot with the Camera+ app (there are more creative features when shooting with this camera). In Camera+ you can tap with one finger to tell the camera where to focus, then another to tell it where to sample the light. If you take advantage of this feature you’ll end up with much better shots.
• I make 5 t 6 shots, horizontal and vertical. I go to my cameraroll and pick out the 2 or 3 best ones.
• I open them with an app for ‘simple’ editing. With that I mean; making some adjustments in brightness, clearness, color, and I may add effects like ‘vibrance’,  ‘magic hour’, ‘lofi’. (those last ones are all camera+ effects).
• If I want to add a more creative filter, more dramatic effects, I think about it first: What do I want to show with this photo, should it be more romantic, dramatic, over the top? It also depends on the subject. Are there people, pets, buildings, food in the photo? Is it a sunset, or dramatic clouds? Which colors are dominant in the photo?

This photo is made in HDR mode, with the iPhone camera. It’s edited with the Camera+ app:  ’Scene Clarity’ & ‘Effect Retro Lo-Fi’.

My three favorites
Regarding those options and choices, I use different apps and filters, but these are my three favorite apps and their filters/options:

1. Camera+ (iPhone)
This app has some nice filters, my personal favorites are Nostalgia, Diana, Contessa, Cross Process, Toy Camera, Tailfins and So Emo. The great thing about the filters in this app, is you can also choose how much of the filter is added to the photo.

2. Snapseed (iPhone)
An excellent in-app that helps make your photos pop with a variety of useful adjustments and fun, high-quality effects. You can target specific image areas using simple control points for selective adjustments. I think this one is most comparable with the way you edit photos in Photoshop.

3. Phototoaster (iPhone)
This app also allows you to change the exposure, temperature and lighten shadows. But also contrast, tint, recover highlights and blacks. It’s all there and easy to use! Next to that, it has some nice subtle filters like Happy (basic), Lowlight (basic), Chilly (basic) and Recover Hightlight (basic). The more dramatic filters are in the Deluxe menu. Where my favorites are Double Down, Fade Out and Bleach Bypass. But the filters I use the most in this app are the Supreme ones: Soft Focus, Roadhouse, Xpro, Hipster and Blue Fade.

I made this compilation with the app Picture frames. Afterwards I edited it with Camera+. ‘Scene Food’ and ‘Effect Vibrant’

Some other creative/fun editing apps
If I want to go ‘crazy’ with a photo, I use some different apps; all with their unique and fun features.

• I like ColorSplash, because it lets you make your photo black and white with specific a ‘splash’ of color.

• Lenslight is fun because you can actually add sunlight, sunrays, glow and the moon to your photos.
• PowerCam is a fun app because it has live view, and has a video recording option as well, which is cool if you want to make a short video with effects! For photo’s I don’t use this one.

• MagicHour (crops them into square photo’s, good for Instagram) for Android and iPhone has some very pretty filters. Easy to use. Make your photo’s square automaticly, so good for tuning up Instagram photo’s.

• FilterMania (square photos as well) has some very extreme (but fun) filters, like Clouds, Nebula, Sparkles and Water.
• BigLens is good for creating photos with strong zoom/focus contrast. Good for portraits and photos of interior (see below). A good review and how-to here.

• One of the latest camera apps that deserves some attention is Wood Camera. With live view, a lot of nice filters and a very adjustable tilftshift function, definitly one worth checking out.

Here, I am editing a photo with the Photo Toaster app.

Sharing Apps
Instagram for iPhone & Instagram for Android ~ Upload your photo’s to the mobile super fast growing network Instagram. Think you already heard about this one.
Tumblr for iPhone & Tumblr for Android ~ Upload your photo’s directly to your Tumblr. From there, pin them to Pinterest. Networking your photo’s!
Flickr for iPhone & Flickr for Android ~ Upload your best photos to Flickr.
Facebook ~ Or, of course, just upload to Facebook.

This, one of my favorites, shows how detailed iPhone photo’s are. Made in HDR mode, slightly edited with ‘Automatic Scene’ in Camera+.

Sharing on the web
Sharing on the web via your computer can be a lot of work. Because you would have to upload them to your computer… you can do this the ‘old fashion way’ with your cable, or via Dropbox app or Photosync. Another option, ideal if you are very much behind in posting your iPhone/Mobile photo’s to the web, try Social Folders (just watch the video!). From there, if you are updated again, try ifttt. Just read the post, it’s a very handy tool to manage your photo apps, networks and workflow. Especially if you have many different social networks; saves you so much time.  500px – And only your very best super awesome photos deserve to be one 500px!

Instagram browser tools
To like, follow and browse (and pin) Instagram photo’s on your computer, followgram, pinstagram and pingram are great tools. Statigram is fun, you can see who like your photo’s the most, how many followers your gained and which followers you lost. On your phone, browse and like photos (more easily than with Instagram) with the app Gramory. Instamap is also fun, you’re able to see photos based on their location (your own city, or any other in the world).

See my iPhone shots on my iPhoneography set on Flickr. Fun to know: The photo with the ladybugs, I took at Scheveningen for an O’Neill contest. And I won it with this photo!

Find & follow me on Instagram @rosalieruardy and find & follow IN10 on Instagram @in10rotterdam.