Easy iPhoneography: Seemingly Endless Filters

As I mentioned in The Best Camera is the One You Have with You, the iPhone 4 takes some pretty good pictures, but even if you have an earlier iPhone, you can still turn pictures into a work of art by the use of filters.  Apps with filters are an easy way to add a lot of interest to a photo you've taken, giving it any number of looks such as aged, cross-processed, black and white, sepia, vivid color, etc.

I've always loved the ease of Instagram, an app which allows you to apply a filter to your photo and share it in mere seconds.  The only problem with Instagram is that it only has fifteen filters.  Even though the filters are pretty good ones, it leaves you longing for more. Today I discovered my new favorite app for filtering, and best of all, it works well with Instagram.

Magic Hour is a photography app with endless filters.  It has endless filters because, in addition to coming with over thirty filters preloaded, it has a "Filter Market" where you can download additional filters for free.  Where do those filters come from? They come from users of Magic Hour, users who take advantage of the "Make Your Own Filter" feature of the app.  This feature gives you access to curves, saturation, brightness, and contrast adjustments, vignettes, textures, and frames, all of which you can combine in seemingly endless ways.  Once you've created your own filter the way you want it you, can name it and save it. If you want to, you can even share it on the Filter Market.

Another thing that Magic Hour excels at is sharing photos.  It has a number of ways to share photos, including the usual suspects such as Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr.  However, it has a number of others, including Instagram.  When you share via Instagram, the photo isn't uploaded to Instagram directly.  Instead, the Instagram app is launched with the photo ready appearing in the app, ready to share.  If you interested in getting into iPhoneography, Magic Hour is a good place to start.

Many Filters to Choose From

Additional Filters in the Filter Market

Making Your Own Filters

A Multitude of Sharing Options