Cara Gallardo Weil – My Top 5 Photo Apps
Welcome to our new Photo App Lounge section of theappwhisperer.com. This is a very small area on our site where we ask highly accomplished iPhone photographers what their top five photo apps are and why.
Kicking us off today is Cara Garllardo Weil, we previously interviewed Cara in both our Day In The Life series and also our Extension of the I interviews. Cara Gallardo Weil was born in Hong Kong to Filipino parents who moved there in the early 60s to work in publishing. Her early life was spent in Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines. She studied graphic design in London and spent more than 20 years there before returning to Hong Kong, where she currently resides.
Her Hipstamatic work has been featured in the global photography project, ‘Adventures in Hipstaland’, run by the developers of the Hipstamatic app, ‘Adventures in Hipstaland Hong Kong’ in November 2010, ’Adventures in Hipstaland Tuscany’ in July 2011 and ‘Adventures in El Nido, Palawan’ in January 2012.
She was also recently included in the list of ‘5 Amazing Hipstamatic Photographers’ by Business Insider and one of her images ‘Double Crossing’ was selected for inclusion in Mashable’s ’10 stunning Hipstamatic iPhone Photos’.
We caught up with Cara in between shoots and asked her what her top five photo apps are, this is what she said…
Copyright image – Cara Gallardo Weil – ‘London Reflections’
‘Wow, it was hard narrowing it down to 5 apps!!! But I would say these are my top 5. I do use Iris a lot as well … I slipped that in with Snapseed as I often use it in combination with Snapseed…’
Number 1 – Hipstamatic
‘My iPhoneography obsession started with Hipstamatic. It is still my number 1 go-to app. I generally use it to shoot everything. The only time I use either the native iPhone camera or ProCamera is when the light is bad. I do find that you need to have good light with Hipstamatic otherwise you can end up with very dark images.
I have my favourite combos John S with most of the lenses, Libatique with Blanko and I really like the two lenses that were released recently, Jane and Foxy. For black and white images I tend to use John S or Lucifer VI with most of the black and white films, and Foxy is pretty good too. It may seem a little daunting at first, as there are so many combinations. You need to shoot a lot and experiment in order to figure out what appeals to you. Hipstamatic have an
on-line field guide that is very useful . There are several Hipstamatic groups on Facebook that are good for reference and the community is always very helpful if you have any questions’.
Number 2 – Snapseed
‘I almost always go to Snapseed when I begin to process an image. I always use it for straightening and cropping images. It has some good filters drama and vintage. I will sometimes combine Snapseed with another app, like Iris’.
Number 3 – Photo Wizard
‘Photo Wizard has lots of tools to make adjustments to images hue, saturation, colour balance, etc. You can also use it to sharpen images. There are also many filters available if you want to distort the image’.
Number 4 – BlurFX
‘I like using this for blurring parts of images. There are 3 choices for the blur effect and the mask option is really good for accuracy you can zoom in on the image and reduce the size of your brush for more accuracy’.
Number 5 – TouchRetouch
‘This app is fantastic for removing anything that you don’t want in the image. Unwanted scratches, specs of dust even bigger things like wires, poles, manholes on the street… its great! It has a clone tool that can also be very useful’.
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Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter is a British photography journalist, editor, curator, and the founder of *TheAppWhisperer.com*, one of the world’s leading platforms dedicated to mobile photography and art. Since its launch in 2009, TheAppWhisperer has become an international hub for artists of all levels to discover, learn, exhibit, and engage with contemporary photographic practice.Built on principles of inclusivity, accessibility, and artistic excellence, Joanne has spent almost two decades championing mobile photography as a serious artistic medium. Through interviews, critical essays, exhibitions, competitions, and education, she has helped shape and document the evolution of mobile art on a global scale.Her work has taken her internationally, lecturing on photography and mobile art at institutions and events including the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, alongside appearances in the UK and Europe. She has served as a juror for international photography and mobile art awards across Portugal, Canada, the United States, South Korea, Italy, and the UK.Joanne is also the founder of *TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com*, one of the first online galleries dedicated exclusively to collectible mobile art, connecting artists with collectors across Europe, the United States, and Asia.Before founding TheAppWhisperer, Joanne worked extensively in print journalism and photographic publishing, including roles at a paparazzi photo agency and as deputy editor of a leading photography magazine. Her freelance journalism, criticism, and commentary have been published widely in both the UK and the US, with bylines in *The Times*, *The Sunday Times*, *The Guardian*, *Popular Photography*, *NikonPro*, *DPReview*, *Which?*, *Vogue Italia*, *LensCulture*, the *BBC*, and more recently, the *Financial Times*, where her published letters on photography continue to contribute to wider conversations around the medium.Alongside her editorial and curatorial work, Joanne’s own photographic practice has been exhibited internationally across the UK, Europe, South Korea, and the United States. Her work increasingly explores themes of grief, loss, death, memory, and the body.Her current research interests centre on grief, death, and poverty, with forthcoming postgraduate study leading towards doctoral research in these areas.Joanne is currently developing new long-form writing and photographic projects and is available for commissions, editorial projects, speaking engagements, and collaborations.Contact: joannetheappwhisperer@gmail.com)
6 Comments
Kim Martino
AWSOME Cara! Thanks to you & Joanne :))
Cara Gallardo Weil
Thanks Kim! 🙂
David
Great list, Cara!! Your lead image “London Reflections” is magnificant!
Cara Gallardo Weil
Thank you so much David! There are lots of other apps I use on a regular basis like Iris, Image Blender, Juxtaposer, ScratchCam, Slow Shutter, Photo toaster and Wood Camera… so top 12! 🙂
Laetitia Harnie-Coussau
I like so much your ‘London Reflections’ nice shot and edit 😉 Like you, I remain faithful to hipstamatic.
Robert Lancaster
Fantastic images and app collection!
The only one I have yet to lay my hands on is Slow Shutter.
So many apps … so little store credit.