MOBILE --> 4 PoWeRfuL iPhonE pHoTo EdiTing ApPs

4 Powerful iPhone Photo Editing Apps ~~>

Yes, it is possible to take good photos on your iPhone without shoving it through a lo-fi photography app. And as cool as it may seem to make your party photos look like they were taken in 1976, one can't help wonder what we will think of them in retrospect.

"iGranny," your offspring will ask in 2050, "why is that photo of you from 2011 so tattered and old?"

"Well, listen close, Hansolo," you say as you take him on your cyborg knee. "In 2011, we had our hands on some incredibly advanced mobile phone and camera technology. And instead of using it to properly record our moment in history, we took photos in applications that destroyed all of the detail to apply an antique effect because we didn't feel like our generation had enough cultural credibility."

Now you made little Hansolo cry. Are you happy?

Lo-fi apps have their place, but for photographers who want to use their iPhone for higher-quality image capture and editing, here are some useful and fun apps. Click any screenshot for a larger image.

[Don't Miss: 9 Apps to Transform Your Android Phone into a High-End Camera]

PhotoForge 2

PhotoForge 2 has all of the basic options that you have come to expect from iOS editing apps, with the added muscle of more serious photo software. PhotoForge 2 can open almost any image type, including RAW formats and files as large as 20 megapixels. It edits images at full resolution so you can see exactly what your final photo will look like at any stage during the editing process.

 

The sequel to the popular PhotoForge app, PhotoForge 2 has most of the features from its predecessor as well as some new updates to prevent crashes when editing large-format files. Curves, levels, brightness and contrast, shadows and highlights, and auto white balance are all available and the app also has over 30 customizable filters that range from sepia toning to vintage 3D. At any time during the editing process, you can access a visual history feature that allows you to see your photo at various stages of the editing process.

When you are done editing, you can choose an image size and export your photo directly to social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Dropbox, Picasa, and Tumblr. The app has complete layer functionality and masks that allows for cool effects, such as color emphasis a-la Color Splash. The layers option also allows for watermarking your images by importing your watermark on a new layer.

Photoforge; $3 (iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad)

Camera+

 

If you are looking to download just one app to suit all of your basic photographic needs, look no further than Taptaptap's Camera+. It does everything-you can take, edit, and export your photos all within the app. The coolest part about Camera+, though, is definitely its capture options. When you are composing your shot, use two fingers to lock the separate focus and exposure points before taking a photo using the normal, stabilizer, timer, or burst mode. The capture feature also gives you a grid overlay so you can obey the ever-important rule of thirds.

After you have taken the photo, pull it up in Camera+'s lightbox where you can add filters, digital flash, crop (using its built-in "golden ratio" tool) and put a border on it. In the Scene modes feature, you can choose from different options like Sunset, Portrait, and Backlit to automatically adjust settings for better photos. From there, share it on Facebook, Twitter or Flickr. See our full review of Camera+ here.

Taptaptap; $2 (iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad)

ComicBook

 

Create a comic book about your life complete with text and flashy onomatopoeias with 3DTopo's ComicBook app. First, import your existing photos into one of the 30 pre-made layouts. The layouts come in both portrait and landscape mode and can fit up to seven different photos.

After you have added a photo and sized it to your liking in the layout, choose one of the nine photo filters like sketch, vibrant, or manga to make your photos look more animated. Once you have found the right effect, add captions and exclamations. You can change the fonts, size, angle, and source of the speech bubbles as well as add some of the 55 different classic comic book graphics. Then *POW!* upload it to Twitter or Facebook!

3DTopo; $2 (iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad)

Filterstorm

 

Available on both iPhone and iPad, Filterstorm is an excellent program for editing and enhancing your images. Filterstorm makes good editing extremely easy. To make the blown-out sky in your landscape photo more dramatic, you can curve out the highlights and apply it using a mask brush. There are brightness and contrast options as well as a saturation control. More advanced options include a clone tool, a multi-exposure tool, and border effects. And if you want to see your progress, the app features a 10-step visual history.

Once you are done, you can save your edits as automatons so you can quickly apply them to other images to give batches of photos the same unique look. Export your new and improved photos (you can size them up to 3072-by-2200 pixels) and send them to friends over Email, FTP, Flickr, and Dropbox.

Filterstorm; $4 (iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad)