It’s no longer news that the mobile phone photography scenario is filled with big hitters and as the days go by, it is getting harder and harder to distinguish between what was shot on a smartphone and on a camera (well, thanks to social media and image compression). Shooting natural light with an iPhone and a digital camera is almost indistinguishable and more and more people have taken to highlighting these similarities the same way developers have taken the opportunity to create apps that maximize the efficiency of these smartphone cameras and what they can deliver.
If you’re not a ‘snapchat chatee’, then chances are you do your image post-production somewhere else or if you’ve caught the Tik-Tok or Insta-Reels fever, then you must be stitching your videos together somehow and whilst there’s a host of great applications out there, the five mentioned below are the OGs of mobile photography, cinematography and post-production;
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- Filmic Pro;
The Filmic Pro app turns your phone into a full one cinema camera, offering opportunities to make in-camera adjustments like adjusting white balance (not just from pre-saved setting but very detailed adjustments to the last kelvin and tint). It offers very detailed control features and is compatible with most smartphone gimbals in the market. Filmic Pro is available for both Android and iOS devices for a fee if you want to use its full features but the free version also offers a lot more than most other applications do.
- VN Video Editor;
Let’s consider VN the Premier Pro of mobile editing apps (without the crashing). VN’s simplistic approach to video editing, colour grading, and sound design ensures that even a beginner can get everything right on the first try. VN is available on both Android and iOS stores and is completely free.
- Darkroom;
Darkrooms were used in the era of film photography to develop images for print without ruining the negatives (what we call RAW today) and that is what Darkroom essentially is. It is a post-procession app specially for iOS devices that offers detailed options for photographers to manipulate colors and exposure amongst other things to ensure they get the image they want.
- Adobe Lightroom Mobile;
Adobe Lightroom needs no introduction. It is the most used photo-editing application on the planet (closely followed by Adobe Photoshop). Delving into the mobile photo space was always in the works for Adobe and their platform offers the full desktop experience on a smartphone plus if you connect your Adobe account, you always alternate between mobile phone and desktop to edit the same image(s) which none of the other applications offer.
- Snapseed/Picart;
These are amongst the most used image processing applications on the planet. Both Snapseed and Picart (Yes, they are separate applications. I couldn’t decide which gets the fifth slot hence the double feature) are incredible apps that offer their users vastly similar features with an occasional difference here and there. Picart could be described as Photoshop for mobile phones. Both these applications have gone through various iterations and have been refined using user feedback so if you’re just getting into the mobile photography scene, here is a good place to start before you head into the other spaces that require more “precision”.
Other apps worthy of a mention include;
- VSCO
- Moment Pro Camera
- Filmborn
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Feature Image by Kahlibrownofficial, Shot on Redmi Note 10 Pro. Used with Permission.
