iColorama

I’m a bit of a sucker for photo apps on my iPad, and over the years have experimented with quite a few. Most of them appeal initially for the rapid and interesting effects that can easily be produced, and most of them quickly lose their appeal for the simple reason that they are  - as far as I’m concerned anyway - a bit over the top and ‘fake’. In addition, most photos put through these processes are not admissible in camera club competitions and so have limited value for me. It is more sensible to use normal photo processing software and one’s own photos, including textures and colour layers. Playing with apps can, however, be an absorbing, even soothing, activity and a fun way to fill some spare time, when reading or TV or other leisure activities don’t quite scratch the itch. 

I’m not talking about the very useful processing apps, like Snapseed, which is my (and many other photographers’) choice for mobile editing as it is very good and versatile. No, these are apps like Distressed FX, which offers texture overlays; Waterlogue, which allows you to convert photos into watercolour effects; BeCasso which offers a variety of creative ‘paint’ filters and my current favourite discovery: iColorama, which offers a plethora of styles and effects. I rarely pay a subscription for these apps, just using whatever free content there is. I rarely delve deep into them either, so I suppose I’m not going to produce instant masterpieces without practice. Nevertheless, they can give quite pleasing results, like the sunset fantasy above. (Not that I can remember now how I created that! That’s the downside when I’m ‘just playing’ as I fail to note the various stages of experimentation so that I can never replicate the effect twice!) 

The same app produced the image below, produced ‘in the style of Van Gogh’. Rather fun.