Photo Apps

When I first got a smartphone one of the things I was most looking forward to was downloading and playing with camera apps.  I’ve always enjoyed looking at artsy photography and felt it could be something I could get into.  One of the first apps I downloaded was Vignette.  The reviews seemed mostly positive and it had a free demo version (the full version is $3.99).  Ever since that day this little app has helped me explore my creativity and provided me with countless hours of fun.

The app has gobs of photo effects (76 to be exact) and frames (57) to customize and create one-of-a-kind photos.  The only drawback of the demo version is that once a photo is saved it can no longer be altered.  So once you’ve applied an effect and saved the photo, you can’t go back later and try different effects.  This, however, is remedied in the full version (I think).  Regardless of this little snafu, the Vignette app has been far and away my favorite camera app to date.

In contrast to the Vignette app is the widely popular Instagram app that was just recently made available to the Android market.  I was very excited and downloaded it immediately.  However, I quickly discovered that Instagram doesn’t hold a candle to Vignette.  The main draw of Instagram is that it provides a social network in which to share your photos and view those of others.  Beyond that, the app is fairly sparse with what it can do; it only has a fraction of the effects of Vignette.   Instagram’s user interface is slightly better, but not enough to make up for the reduced functionality.

In short, if you’re looking for a camera app to capture your life in photographs, Vignette is the way to go.  Check out some of my photos on the right-hand side of the blog or on my Facebook page and let me know what you think!