Tried a better photo app?

By Adrian Toon, director of a2n.

Ever thought you wanted a little more control over your phone camera? Well there are apps that will do just that and hand back some, if not all of the camera control.

Automatic settings for all cameras are great for the typical scene for photography, but the technology, while sophisticated, can only make basic assumptions of what it thinks you want. By taking full control of your camera’s settings gives you the flexibility to be creative in what you seek.

One of the relatively new features of these apps is the ability to take RAW images. These are the images seen by the sensor in full detail for that design of sensor.

Look into RAW if you are becoming keen on photography as it gives you a great deal of image adjustment and detail, but you will need photo editing software that can view and adjust these images, which are often seen as the ‘digital negative’.

These apps also allow you to take control of aperture and shutter speed, so basically putting your phone into a manual camera mode. There is no better way to learn about photography than taking control of aperture and shutter speed.

Some apps give you the ability to select ISO sensitivity, covered in my last column.

For a suggested app, I use ‘Camera+’ on my iPhone, which gives me much greater control over the device camera when I wish to be a little more creative. There are many others to try but the key is to explore and be creative. Remember, the better the image, the more likely your magazine editor will choose your PR for use in his next magazine edit.