Adobe Transforms iPhone Photo App with Powerful SLR Features – Free for Users!
Adobe Transforms iPhone Photo App with Powerful SLR Features – Free for Users!
Adobe’s latest Project Indigo harnesses advanced computing power to deliver a more natural appearance for your photographs, akin to the quality typically produced by an SLR camera.
Available for download in the App Store, the free Project Indigo app serves as a potential alternative to the default Camera app. However, it requires specific types of iPhones. The app is compatible with all Pro and Pro Max iPhones starting from the iPhone 12, as well as all non-Pro iPhones from the 14 onwards.
Adobe emphasises that Indigo employs advanced computing capabilities, so the more recent your phone, the better the experience. In addition to being free, the app does not require an Adobe account or sign-in.
Indigo boasts several features designed to enhance photo quality, as outlined in Adobe’s recent research post. Firstly, it offers manual controls, allowing you to adjust shutter speed, ISO, exposure, focus, temperature, and other settings. Secondly, it enhances your images with a more natural, SLR-like appearance. Lastly, it leverages computational photography, a feature worth exploring.
Typically, most mobile camera apps capture a single image of a scene or subject. This often results in what Adobe refers to as the “smartphone look,” characterised by over-brightness, low contrast, excessive colour saturation, and a softness that can sometimes appear overly sharp. This is not always the desired outcome.
In contrast, computational photography tends to underexpose shots and, crucially, captures multiple images of the same scene. These images are then combined to minimise noise and other issues, resulting in a higher-quality photograph. Indigo takes this process a few steps further:
“First, we under-expose more than most cameras,” Adobe explained in its blog. “Second, we capture, align, and combine up to 32 frames when producing each photo. This means our images have fewer blown-out highlights and less noise in the shadows. While using our app may require a bit more patience after pressing the shutter than you might be accustomed to, the reward will be a superior photograph after a few seconds.”
Indigo’s computational process is effective regardless of the format you choose. Many seasoned photographers prefer to shoot in RAW format rather than JPEG, as RAW retains higher quality and provides more editing options. However, RAW images can consume a significant amount of storage. With Indigo, the computational benefits apply to both RAW and JPEG formats.
Additional Features of Indigo
The app includes two modes for still photography: Photo and Night. Photo is the default setting, but if the lighting is low, the app will recommend switching to Night mode. In this mode, Indigo not only adjusts to a longer exposure time to capture the darker environment but also takes multiple images each time the shutter is pressed. Longer exposures necessitate keeping the camera steady to avoid shake, which may require a tripod or other stabilising object.
To learn more about Indigo, you can refer to Adobe’s detailed research post, which explains how it works and showcases various captured photos.
How to Use Indigo on Your iPhone
To get started with Indigo, ensure your iPhone is compatible, then download the app from the App Store. Experiment with the different modes, such as Photo and Night, and utilise the manual controls. You may want to compare photos taken with the built-in Camera app and those captured with Indigo to see the differences.
Looking ahead, Adobe has expressed interest in developing an Android version of Indigo. Additionally, they are considering alternative “looks” for the app, including personalised options based on how you wish to capture a scene. Other potential features may include a portrait mode for higher quality and options for panoramic and video recording.
“This is just the beginning of Adobe’s journey toward an integrated mobile camera and editing experience that leverages the latest advancements in computational photography and AI,” stated Adobe in its post. “We hope Indigo will appeal to casual mobile photographers seeking a natural SLR-like aesthetic for their images, as well as advanced photographers desiring manual control and optimal image quality, along with anyone who enjoys exploring new photographic experiences.”
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Joanne Carter, creator of the world’s most popular mobile photography and art website— TheAppWhisperer.com— TheAppWhisperer platform has been a pivotal cyberspace for mobile artists of all abilities to learn about, to explore, to celebrate and to share mobile artworks. Joanne’s compassion, inclusivity, and humility are hallmarks in all that she does, and is particularly evident in the platform she has built. In her words, “We all have the potential to remove ourselves from the centre of any circle and to expand a sphere of compassion outward; to include everyone interested in mobile art, ensuring every artist is within reach”, she has said. Promotion of mobile artists and the art form as a primary medium in today’s art world, has become her life’s focus. She has presented lectures bolstering mobile artists and their art from as far away as the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea to closer to her home in the UK at Focus on Imaging. Her experience as a jurist for mobile art competitions includes: Portugal, Canada, US, S Korea, UK and Italy. And her travels pioneering the breadth of mobile art includes key events in: Frankfurt, Naples, Amalfi Coast, Paris, Brazil, London. Pioneering the world’s first mobile art online gallery - TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com has extended her reach even further, shipping from London, UK to clients in the US, Europe and The Far East to a global group of collectors looking for exclusive art to hang in their homes and offices. The online gallery specialises in prints for discerning collectors of unique, previously unseen signed limited edition art. Her journey towards becoming The App Whisperer, includes (but is not limited to) working for a paparazzi photo agency for several years and as a deputy editor for a photo print magazine. Her own freelance photographic journalistic work is also widely acclaimed. She has been published extensively both within the UK and the US in national and international titles. These include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Popular Photography & Imaging, dpreview, NikonPro, Which? and more recently with the BBC as a Contributor, Columnist at Vogue Italia and Contributing Editor at LensCulture. Her professional photography has also been widely exhibited throughout Europe, including Italy, Portugal and the UK. She is currently writing several books, all related to mobile art and is always open to requests for new commissions for either writing or photography projects or a combination of both. Please contact her at: joanne@theappwhisperer.com
