11 Must Have Photography iPhone Applications

The advent of the app store has opened a large number of applications for niche markets and one of the most popular markets that developers have been targeting has been photography. The number of photography applications for the iPhone pales in comparison to the number of games that have been released, but what the numbers don’t reveal is the high percentage of quality apps versus junk available to photographers. Below are 11 photography related applications that I have on my iPhone and have been using even more following my upgrade to the iPhone 3G S.

Note: If you missed it see my Apple iPhone 3G S Camera Review.

PhotoCalc

This is the Swiss Army knife of photography applications. It contains a Depth of Field calculator that allows you to determine Hyperfocal Distance, Near Limit, Far Limit, etc. based on Focal Length, Aperture and Subject distance values. There is also a Flash Exposure calculator taking into account Aperture, ISO, Flash Power, Subject Distance and Guide Number. A solar calculator that is based on your location will keep you informed to when Twilight Begins/Ends, Sunrise, Solar Noon, and Sunset happens. There is also data on Moonrise, Moonset and Moon Phase. If that weren’t enough there is a Reference area for Glossary terms, Zone System info, the Sunny 16 Rule, Films, Filters and an Exposure Reciprocation calculator.

Tiffen Cool fx
Tiffen has transitioned nicely to the world the iPhone. Their Cool fx filter application provides 36 color filters, 54 black & white filters, 63 Diffusion/Texture filters, 27 film grain filters and 18 color temperature filters. Filters can be saved as “virtual” layers and images are saved out as new files. This application provides a new lease on creativity with iPhone generated photographs.

Tiffen Photo fx
Tiffen’s other filter product while not as robust provides more stylistic filters including 6 Wild fx filters, 4 Classic fx filters, 6 Fun fx filters, 6 Outer fx filters and 4 Face fx filters. With the ability to save out photos with filters applied to them it’s easy to experiment mixing and matching effects from multiple applications.

Color Splash
Color Splash enables you to convert a photograph to Black & White while selecting an area to remain in color. The application enables you to save editing sessions and resume editing sessions that are incomplete. The controls  (Pan/Zom, Color, Gray, Mask and Brush) take some getting use to and its not as precise as a more robust desktop application like Photoshop, but it does get the job done.  As with the previous applications noted images are saved out leaving the original intact.

Photogene

Is a handy application that allows you to adjust levels, exposure, colors and RGB settings for a photo taken on an iPhone. Cropping tools, Framing templates, Thought/Speech bubbles and Sharpening functions are also available. This application has been a gold mine in that it is able to clean up photos quite easily and effectively. This is usually the first application I run when preparing a photo taken on my iPhone and in my mind is the Adobe Photoshop of the iPhone.

TiltShift
A fun application that applies lens or gaussian blur adjustments to a photo to mimic a tilt-shift lens effect. The tilt-shift lens effect being the means to create an optical illusion that you’re looking at a toy like scene. The controls do require a bit more thought than one might hope for, but the end effect works well.

DoF Calculator

A straight forward Depth of Field Calculator that factors in “Film Format”. The “Film Format” value takes in to account magnification factors which is something that was missing from PhotoCalc.  Calculations are to 7 decimal points and seems to be highly accurate.  Other than “Film Format” calculations are based on Focal Length, Aperture and Distance. Results are provided for Focus Distance, Near Limit, Far Limit, Total DoF, Circle of Confusion and Hyperfocal Distance.

CameraBag
CameraBag lets you take a new photo or select an existing photo to give a Helga, Magazine, Mono, 1974, Infrared, Original, Lolo, Instant, 1962, Cinema or Fisheye look to. The application doesn’t provide much control over each image treatment, but as a pre-canned solution it works well. I use this application selectively usually at the end of my iPhone photo workflow.

Pano
A handy software solution to create Panoramic photos using your iPhone. The software allows you to take photos and align them for clean stitching. There are few to no controls in this application so its a mixed bag, it’s straight forward and simple yet no room for fine tuning.

Google Earth
While not specifically a photo application the iPhone version of Google Earth provides a mobile research tool that every photographer should have on hand.  The ability examine locations before hand or in transit is great and on top of that you can see photos taken near locations of interest and access Wikipedia entries if any exist for your area of interest. All around one of the slickest applications I’ve seen for the iPhone.

FocalWare

I’ve saved my favorite application for last. FocalWare provides data essential to photographers who photograph outdoor subjects.  The application can work off your exact location (via GPS), locations you manually set or locations that exist in an included list of locations.  Why is this application so valuable? Sun & Moon location, in relation to due North, is provided in degrees, elevation and time of day. This provides an exact means of researching and preparing to photograph a subject with specific lighting or placement of the sun/moon in the scene. The controls for this application are dirt simple and its also possible to see data for dates far in the future.

[tags]Photography, iPhone, App, App Store, Apple[/tags]