Resources - Apps for Photographers

For our third and final instalment of our Resources series we are going to look at applications, better known as apps.

Almost Free
Many photography apps are free but generally, you will have to put up with the occasional advert which can be annoying at times. Often, the apps you have to pay for are so reasonably priced that you may choose to pay the small amount to go ad-free.

So let’s kick things off with weather apps.

Accuweather
(free)

Many blippers head outside to find their daily photo.
But weather apps aren’t just useful for working out whether it’s t-shirt and shorts or rain coat and wellies weather!
Additional information such as sunrise and sunset times, weather warnings and visibility can be really helpful in your photography decision making. With a good amount of detail, the Accuweather app offers worldwide weather updates up to 15 days ahead.


Clear Outside
(free)

This one is a must for the landscape or astro photographers and can be used in conjunction with, or indeed instead of, a weather app to give a detailed outlook for the day with an emphasis on cloud cover.
It might look a bit frightening at first, but once you get used to the layout it becomes invaluable.

PhotoPills
(£6.99)

Visiting a new location?
No list of photography apps would be complete without Photo Pills.

This app is jam-packed with useful tools to help plan your photography by virtually visiting your chosen locations in advance and helping you get the best out of your trip. It’s great for landscape, astrophotography, architecture, time lapse and travel photography.
You may wonder how photographers manage to ‘get-lucky’ with the location of the moon, sun or Milky Way. Well, this is very possibly what they’ve been using to plan ahead.

Be warned this one is not for the faint-hearted and it’s not free, but take the time to learn how it works and it will pay you back many times over. To get you started, there is a dedicated website and many YouTube help videos. You may also want to look at the Photographers Ephemeris (£2.99) before deciding on the app that suits your requirements. Like Photo Pills, this is powerful app that will allow you to plan your photography trip.

Pocket Light Meter
(free/£10.99)

A great little free app that turns your phone into a light meter.
For those moving away from auto, this app will help you understand how the settings work together. There are a number of other similar apps that do the same thing so it’s just a matter of finding the one you like the feel of.

Hyperfocal DOF
(free)

For those wanting to dig a little deeper into the technical side of photography why not download a hyperfocal distance calculator app?
This is available in apps like PhotoPills but you may like to try out a free version.

You can easily calculate hyperfocal distance by choosing your camera from the list, select your focal length and aperture and the app will do the rest.

And just in case you were wondering what on earth we are talking about, hyperfocal distance is the focusing distance that gives your photos the greatest depth of field.

Snapseed
(free)

Snapseed has been around for a long time, but for those looking to get creative and edit their photos before uploading to Blipfoto, there are lots of tools and filters to help achieve the result you are looking for.

You can just have some fun with your photos trying out different filters, but there are many more possibilities if you want to make use of its full set of tools.

Photo editing apps
(free/paid)

Many of us are happy with our photos just the way they are, others like to dig deeper and remove the smallest of dust spots and blemishes and some love to spend hours making numerous adjustments to achieve the desired result.

There are a number of paid and free apps to help with image editing ranging from fairly simple but effective editing tools such as Lightroom and PhotoShop Express right through to heavy duty apps with all the whistles and bells such as PhotoShop.


Blipfoto
(FREE)

Of course let’s not forget the Blipfoto app.  While we are unable to provide official support for the app, it still offers an alternative option for uploading images direct from your phone, browsing journals, making comments and giving out stars and hearts.


We hope you found this topic interesting and, as always, we welcome your comments and suggestions!


Let us know if you would like us to cover other subjects in the future.