Awesome (Free!) Apps for the Budding Photographer

Good afternoon, all!

I hope your day is going well!

For today's post, I'd like to inform you of some awesome photography apps on the iPhone or on Android devices. Some of them you've heard of, or have and have had for forever, but others are fairly new and somewhat unheard of.

I've been using one of them like all day and I hate to admit it, but... I'm obsessed! It's so much fun! So I absolutely have to share. If you're into photography, these are must-have apps for you! So check 'em out:

1. Instagram. I mean, c'mon; how could I not include this on this list? If you don't have it, or you know nothing about it, here you go - though I personally think it's more for artsy or creative photos, you can document life through the lens of this app by taking a shot or uploading a photo from your camera roll. You can edit your photo in a number of ways: crop, rotate, brighten, create highlights and shadows. The most popular part of Instagram is that there are variety of different filters you can apply to your photos. These give an old-timey feel to your photos - whether you choose black & white, or a warmer color that makes your photo appear "vintage." Above are some of my Instagram photos that I had a lot of fun with. Instagram photos, after you've gone through the whole process of editing them, come out square, unlike the ones I've pictured here. For some reason when I made a collage of them, it decided to alter them a bit. Who knows why. Not a big deal, however. But now you know a bit about the program if you didn't know much about it before. If you don't follow me already on the app - my username is "clareelisabeth" and you can check out all of my other Instagram photos. Get onto the App or Google Play store and download Instagram right now!

2. Picstitch. This app is great for when you want to make a collage of photos and put them on Facebook or Instagram, or wherever else you like. You can create a collage by uploading a number of photos and placing them into an already set framework. So if you can't decide which picture to keep or show off, make a collage of 'em! It can be a collage of similar photos, or a random assortment. Here is my example, to the left. I took these four photos in my backyard and at Buckingham Pond. I thought they were beautiful and I wanted to get some good shots of all of them. To save room on my camera roll on my phone, I put them all together into one photo - this collage - and now they take up less space and I get to enjoy their beauty just as I would in each individual photo I took. There are a million photo collage apps out there, but I think Picstitch is by far the best. The others you can do a little bit more with, but for the simplicity - I'm sticking with this app!

3. Flipagram. If you're interested in making cool montage videos with your photos, set to your favorite music - this is the app for you! You can select up to as many photos as you want, set the speed of the video, choose a song, and save to your phone. It's awesome. And if you ever want to surprise a friend for a birthday or something - make them a cute little Flipagram and they'll love it - I guarantee it!

4. Studio. This is the app I've been obsessing and fawning over all day. I just found it and I am madly in love. You can add text (your own, quotes, typography, etc), frames, doodles, the list goes on and on! And the best part is - it's all free! Here are a few of the ones I've created just today (left and below). I am having so much freakin' fun with this app, and you will, too! Download it right now and get busy with your creative side! I like to bring out my creative side by using my favorite photos of people, nature, etc. and adding some bling - such as, inspirational quotes or something you can #hashtag on Instagram or Facebook. Go to town with it! I know you'll love it as much as I do!

 There are a million and one more apps out there for photographs - shooting, editing, etc., but these are my absolute favorites. And I love to share my thoughts with you all, so I thought this would make a good blog post for today. Since I've been having a lot of trouble coming up with some stuff to write about as of late.

So that's all for now, folks! Hope you enjoyed today's post. I'll see ya around!

xoxo, Clare