VSCO

This intuitive photo editor’s uncluttered interface makes it a breeze to add a film-like look to photos

What the app does

It’s fair to say that app stores are awash with photo editing and Instagram-like filter apps, but VSCO remains a firm favourite of many people thanks to its clean, elegant interface and intuitive controls. VSCO is big on film-like presets, but also makes it easy to achieve subtle enhancements using its manual sliders.

When to use it

Trying out different styles and looks for your photos is a fun part of the learning experience in photography, and this app enables you to experiment easily with a range of treatments. While you can, of course, use your smart device’s camera to take photos from within the app, if you’ve already imported some of your D-SLR pictures to your device’s camera roll, using an app such as Lightroom, Creative Cloud or PhotoSync, you can carry out your edits on these images.

How to use it

VSCO uses an icon-driven interface, and while it can take a while to learn which icon represents which parameter, it’s worth persevering, as the simple slider controls make it easy to increase or decrease the strength of effects with a swipe of your finger. What makes VSCO stand out is the way that you can add tasteful washes of colour, fades and vignettes, or take your look to the extreme. The basic film effects are good, but there are lots more that you can add via in-app purchases, and there’s a VSCO community that’s easy to join and to share your results with.

As well as downloading your shots, you can share them with the VSCO community

You can quickly adjust the strength of the free filters by using intuitive sliders

Image adjustments include clarity, fade and a basic split-toning feature

Cropping and rotating are carried out independently, so there’s some back and forth

You can import photos from your phone or shoot with the app’s responsive camera