You can improve the quality of the photos you post on social networks every day, even if you don’t know how to use Photoshop. Today, there are several very decent applications for this.
To save you time searching for the best, I have put together a list of 9 apps that are popular this year. There are options for both iPhone and Android users.
Polarr
Polarr offers an impressive collection of filters (more than 150 paid ones). All of them are placed in different categories, which makes the work much easier.
As in other similar applications, the effect saturation is adjusted with a slider. What makes Polarr different is that here you can not only create your own filter, but also share it with friends.
Another plus is that you can add weather effects to your photos. Snow and clouds, a stunning sunrise or raindrops are created with the press of a button.
When you purchase a paid account for $$2.49 per month, Polarr syncs with the desktop version: you can edit a photo on your smartphone, then send it to your computer to see the result on a big screen and make changes if necessary.
Retrica
Retrica has 55 free and 25 paid filters. There is a randomization mode, a timer, interval shooting and a blur effect. This is when the camera focuses on you and blurs the background.
There are many options for processing photos, videos and even collagesIn addition to a huge number of real-time effects, the application has stamps, stickers, drawings and the ability to add your own text.
On the other hand, I didn't like that you have to pay separately for the ability to download an image from the gallery in both the free and paid versions. By the way, there is paid content even in the Pro version.
VSCO
VSCO is the app with the most customizable filters. You can adjust saturation, there is advanced editing, fine color adjustment, and a built-in camera.
Once a filter is applied, VSCO offers a single slider to adjust the intensity of all effects, each of which can be softened or intensified. There are also additional settings – you can set color, shutter speed, sharpness, skin tone, film grain, etc.
It is also worth mentioning the built-in camera. You can take a photo directly from VSCO and edit it there. The camera also has settings: focus point, ISO and white balance.
Full access to over 130 filters and additional processing tools is available by subscription - $19.99 per year.
Snapseed
A great set of free filters with customization options for portrait photography. There are also powerful tools for post-processing images. Snapseed can add HDR effects and rebuild curves around a given point.
With the help of portrait mode, you can smooth out the skin, make the face lighter, add shine to the eyes. In editing mode, the original files are not changed. That is, any change can be undone or adjusted. To do this, click the Edit History icon at the top of the screen and delete the unnecessary layer.
A Color Story
Color Story is one of the best photo editing apps that surpasses the built-in editor in Instagram in its capabilities (banned in the Russian Federation; belongs to a corporation that is recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation). Its main task is to make colors more saturated. You can increase the brightness and saturation of all colors, even white.
The app has over 100 filters, including 40 motion effects: lens flare, bokeh, light leakage, soft glow, and texture. Any of them can be moved, made larger or smaller, rotated, and also have their transparency adjusted.
In addition, there is the ability to create your own. In addition, Color Story has 20 more tools, including brushes, curves, sliders for adjusting shadows, exposure, etc. The mass editing function allows you to apply effects to several photos at once. This saves a lot of time when you need to process several similar photos.
Afterlight
The trick with Afterlight is that its filters are created by famous photographers. Therefore, each of them gives a photo a special mood, and not just adds brightness or contrast. And although the last update of the application was in 2014, it is worthy of a place in this review.
Filters can be used individually or in combination with each other, manually selecting the hue, saturation, and depth of each effect. There are also tools such as selective coloring and double exposure.
You can create your own presets. For convenience, the built-in presets are grouped by color. Above each one there is a strip of one of the colors - blue, green, red, purple or orange. This strip indicates which color category this filter belongs to.
Darkroom
Darkroom is a powerful editor with a rich set of functions and a wide selection of filters. The latter can be applied to photos taken in Live Photo mode. The filters are conveniently arranged in categories, but only 12 of them are available for free.
The choice is wide – from bright to vintage monochrome. All are divided into categories – landscape, portrait and black and white photography. The saturation of all can be adjusted with a slider.
It is possible to create your own filters and save them as presets. Plus, the free version of Darkroom also has a batch editing feature that allows you to process entire albums at once.
The app has a whole collection of advanced tools: HSL, curves, selective editing, shadow correction, exposure, healing brush and much more. Most of them are completely free.
Platforms: iOS.
Enlight Photofox
There are countless great, fine-tuned filters here. Those in the Analog section will give your photos a film effect, the BW section has stylish black and white and vintage presets, and the Duo section lets you mix two colors with a gradient.
I liked that Enlight allows you to modify ready-made professional filters for yourself and save them as separate presets. Special thanks for this. You can adjust a lot of things, for example, brightness, graininess, filminess, and also add fades and vignettes.
For sophisticated users, there is a tool called a mask. It is used for point correction. For example, for a sunset in the background, you can choose B/W, and surround the object in the foreground with red.
Enlight Photofox is free to download. However, most of the tools, including masks, are only available in the paid version, which costs $3.99.
Platforms: iOS.
