11 iPhone Apps That Will Ensure All Your Pics Are Lit AF

Step up your photo game.

There are many great phone apps out there that can make your photos pop. We tried some of them, and here are 11 that we loved, whether for everyday use or occasional, nice-to-haves.

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All prices listed below are in Australian Dollars.

1. Snapseed

Snapseed

Every photo-savvy person has Snapseed on their phone, and it's not that hard to understand why. It has all the basic functions you need for editing (brightness, contrast, blurs, vignettes, and sharpening, among others), and its layout is clean and easy to use. Yes, they have filters that people tend to overuse, but what makes these filters great is you can adjust how heavy you want that filter applied. And if you decide that some edits were not necessary, there's an activity log where you can remove what you don't want.

Price: FREE

2. Manual

Kevin Russ for shootmanual.co

Say you're in an environment where the lighting isn't right. Or you want to capture a moving subject. Manual allows you to adjust the ISO, shutter speed, white balance, and aperture to your liking. Obviously, you are still limited by the equipment you've got, and (at the moment) the lens of your phone is no where near as powerful as an SLR's. Still, isn't it cool to get a little bit more of control?

Price: $ 4.49

3. Slow Shutter Cam

Slow Shutter Cam

Use this app if you want to achieve those dreamy light trails or blurs in your photo. Slow Shutter Cam works amazingly in urban photography, like when you want to capture a moving train or when there are walking pedestrians. It transforms movement into smooth snaps. For best results, stabilise your camera on a tripod or a ledge so the static objects in the photo stay sharp.

Price: $2.99

4. Cortex Camera

Cortex Camera

Cortex Camera should be your go-to app for any low light situation. It may take a while to load the final image, but that's because it has a built-in technology that's really too complicated to explain. All you have to know is that technology minimises the shake in the camera, producing sharper night-time photos.

Price: $4.49

5. LightTrac

LightTrac

LightTrac is an app that basically tells you the sun's angle at a specific time in a specific location. With that, you get information on light and shadows. So if you have a scheduled photoshoot or you're a wedding photographer, it will allow you to plan in advance. The downside of the app is it doesn't read the weather, so just keep in mind that that can affect the light.

Price: $13.99

6. A Color Story

acolorstory.com

acolorstory.com

Like Snapseed, A Color Story has the basic editing tools you need to enhance your photo. But A Color Story wins in terms of the pretty filters you can add to your photo, like flairs and leaks, if you want to be more fancy. It's obviously not for everyday use, but more a nice-to-have.

Price: FREE

7. Adobe Photoshop Mix

Adobe

Adobe Photoshop Mix is another great all-round editing app, but what makes it stand out is the ability to layer several images. It's a simplified version of the desktop program, but it lets you adjust the opacity and pick how you want the layers blended.

Price: FREE

8. Handy Photo

Paul Brown / Via youtube.com

Handy Photo has several tools that make it great, but the best one is its magic crop, which isn't just any cropping tool that allows you to crop in. If your image has a background that can be cloned (not patterns, though), this cropping tool allows you to expand your canvas by filling in the extra area.

Price: $4.49

9. Burzt

Burzt

Burzt is a super straightforward app that converts your burst photos into GIFs. The app automatically uploads the burst photos from your albums. You can also choose how fast you want the GIFs to go.

Price: $2.99

10. Waterlogue

Waterlogue

While not for everyday use, Waterlogue is a trippy app that tranforms your images into watercolour-like paintings. You can choose from several filter types and adjust the size of brushstrokes to your liking.

Price: $5.99

11. Retype

Retype

Retype has a wide range of built-in fonts and filter styles that let you add text to your photos. Also not for everyday use, but it sure makes your Instagram pretty.

Price: $4.49