It began with a few Polaroid-style shots in the Twitter feeds of my more hipster-minded friends. Then it spread to Facebook. Pictures of nights out were transformed into black and white Studio 54 tinged masterpieces. Artful lens flares and washed out filters were added to holiday photos, making the seven days in Magaluf look more like seven days off the Florida Keys in 1952
According to their online photo albums, my friends no longer inhabit the humdrum world of 2011. They are living perfect vintage lives, the decade determined by the effect they apply to a photograph on their mobile phone.
They’ve all discovered the simple fact that Instagram can transform even the most technically screwed picture into a charming and whimsical delight. Whatever the image, a quick coat of the “Poprocket” effect smooths the rough edges and transports you to a world of space race Americana.
I don’t want to use the phrase “turd polishing”, but nothing else seems to so neatly sum up the magic of Instagram. You could photograph a dirty crisp packet floating in a puddle next to an abattoir, add some tilt-shift and some sepia-tinted soft focus et voila! Granny’s next birthday card.
As someone who barely knows her F-Stop from her Photoshop, I fell for mobile retro photography and fell hard. Instagram was used to photograph everything – the dog, my dessert, days out, dresses, donkeys, desks and countless other things that don’t begin with “d”.
Then I got rid of my love worn iPhone in favour of a shiny new Sony Ericsson Android phone. I hadn’t done my research and I did not know that Instagram wasn’t available for Android. I was bereft, my photos looked so clear, crisp and in focus. How depressingly dull.
My new phone may well have a mobile CMOS sensor, 8.1 megapixels and maximum aperture of f/24, but what use is that if I can’t make my pictures look like my Dad took them in 1968?
Thankfully, I have discovered several powerful retro image apps in the Android Marketplace. Between Retro Camera and LittlePhoto I am now happily snapping away with vintage abandon.
Whilst my photography skills are still best described as amateur yet enthusiastic, I’ve managed to achieve some impressive results. I am under no illusions about my photographic abilities but I know that I quite like seeing the world through a rose-tinted camera phone lens.
Five Mobile Retro Photo Apps
The original photo:
Instagram: The app beloved by all wannabe hipsters who can’t be bothered to buy an instamatic or discover the art of lomography. You can use the app to take and edit images or edit images already on your phone. Photos are cropped down to a square and linear or radial tilt-shift can be applied before a filter is selected for the image. The 15 filters are displayed on a slider beneath the image, making it easy to pick and preview. Instagram is as much a photosharing community as it is an image editing app. Images are published to a public feed with options to geotag and share via Facebook, Twitter and email. A fun app that’s only downfall may be its ubiquity.
Phototreats: An iPhone app that enables users to apply a wide range of stylish and retro-orientated filters to existing images. Filters are organised into themed “packs”, geared towards specific moods, places or artistic styles. Five packs come free with the initial install and two additional packs are available for $0.99 each. Four out of five of the free sets are tasteful and useful, whilst the “Benefit Winter” pack is rather cheesy and of limited use outside of December. The filters are one size fits all, with no options to increase or decrease their strength.
Retro Camera: Android’s answer to Instagram, minus the photo-sharing aspect. This app comes with a cute interface that turns your phone screen into a retro camera. There are five camera styles available, including the warm tones, high contrast and scratches of the “Little Orange Box” camera or the low saturation images and film edges of the “Pinhole” Camera. Retro Camera can only be used to take images, so effects cannot be applied to existing pictures. All images produced using the app are a square shape, which makes it difficult to get physical prints.
Snapseed: An iPad based image editor that claims to make “any photograph extraordinary”. I’ve pushed this claim to the max by using it to edit my first attempts at catwalk photography. It handled my out of focus efforts with good grace and produced some impressive results. There are a range of edit tools and sets of themed effects and filters. The strength of the filter is controlled by a simple slide across the screen. Brightness, contrast and saturation can be selected and adjusted using an upward stroke. Grunge effects are somewhat heavy handed and the range of frame options is disappointing.
LittlePhoto: Not quite as pretty and easy to use as Instagram or Retro Camera, this Android app boasts an extensive selection of tools and effects. Some are subtle and some are just plain tacky. Individual effects can be tweaked and personalised, though this is not hugely sensitive. Some effects offer multiple variants and colour casts. Effects can be layered leading to some creative and unique results. The main issue is the interface, especially the annoying menu display and fiddly navigation within the app.
