We are revitalising our Top Five Apps section to our Photo App Lounge column. This a section within TheAppWhisperer where we ask highly accomplished mobile photographers and artists to list their top five apps and to explain why they have selected them.
Kicking us off today is highly accomplished mobile artist Lynette Sheppard from Hawaii, enjoy! (foreword by Joanne Carter).
To read others from this series, please go here.
“I suspect that many mobile photographers will name Snapseed as their go-to optimizing app. Ditto for me but I don’t need to repeat what has already been said. So I will focus on my five favorite processing apps beyond Snapseed”.
Image Blender
Combining images and collaging make up the majority of my mobile photography pieces. Although I use a number of apps to merge photos, Image Blender is the one I use most consistently and the only one I teach in classes. It’s user interface is simple and intuitive while it has multiple blend modes and masking capability. And…drum roll here… it uprezes to the larger of the images that I am blending.
Color Thief
Color Thief lives up to its name. It “steals” the colors from images in your camera roll and applies it to a chosen photo. I often joke that I can resemble a dog watching a ceiling fan as I scroll through images and watch the color shifts. But it’s so much more than entertaining for me. It inspires me and reawakens the muse when she’s fallen asleep. It’s one of my all time favorite apps for accessing other realities, which is my main photographic interest.
Tangled
Tangled is actually a powerhouse of an app though at first it appears to be a one trick pony with a few variations. Okay, about 17 variations. And it’s a great set of tricks. Digging deeper into the more advanced functions, you find that the possibilities for image making are nearly endless. I’m still discovering new ways to use it. Be sure to go into settings to make sure photos save at full resolution as well as set it to uprez small photos (it’s great at this.) Also, select the setting that says “use advanced effect settings” to get the full use of this amazing app.
RePix
RePix has myriad brushes and effects that I love to use in creating more dreamlike images. It also has the best dust and scratches effect I’ve come across. I like most of the brushes but there are a few I don’t use like “hearts” and ‘tags” – that is personal taste. Effects are painted in so you control where and how much to apply. RePix also has some pretty cool filter presets and optimizing tools, though I mostly use the brushes.
Distressed FX
I always liked Distressed FX. Now I flat out love it! The latest update with myriad effects you can purchase makes for the best grunge and texture effects that I’ve encountered. The new Heavens pack can even fill in those bald skies. Filter effects and texture strengths are adjustable as are brightness, saturation, and contrast after applying. You can add and adjust blur. The birds in the app are pretty great, but I almost never use them. They can be addictive and I would caution folks to use them judiciously.
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3 Comments
Jeshua Lacock
What about Oilist? 😉
Lynette Sheppard
OIlist is a pretty cool app – I wish I had a top 20 or 50 to share – I use that many apps for different looks. I must admit my favorite painting apps are ones where I make all the brushstrokes myself like Photo Viva and FoolProof. That said, I really like the chaos setting in Oilist as well as the ability to use different brushes/settings in the same image – that makes it so I can make it one of a kind.
Carol Wiebe
Lynette’s work is such a pleasure to behold. These app tips and tricks she has offered here are a tiny keyhole for peering through the door of her many skills, in the hopes of utilizing them in our own work.