Phone and Tablet Tips

Find the best photo filters quickly

There are so many image filters to choose from across so many different apps that you can spend more time ‘editing’ your photos with supposedly simple one-click enhancements than you do setting them up and shooting them.

Adobe, which is better known for image-editing software than camera apps, might have the answer. Photoshop Camera for both IOS and Android ( www.snipca.com/35168 ) lets you apply your filter before the picture’s been taken, and take it out before pressing the shutter button if it doesn’t look right. Better yet, it actively detects what it thinks is the main focal point of the image and applies filters as appropriate, giving you the best chance of capturing the perfect picture.

It’s well worth downloading to play around with, even if you don’t tend to use filters, as beside the weird and wonderful arty conversions there are some genuinely useful tools for improving run-of-the-mill shots. These include options for photographing food, which could give recipe bloggers a professional edge, and a blue sky filter (see screenshot left).

The latter makes dull days look much more appealing by overlaying the shot’s background with a blue sky with wispy clouds. We found the result convincing when working with hard edges, and it’s a simple alternative to the masking method we explore in our Cover Feature (page 50) on photo and video editing.

The app is free, but you’ll need to sign in with a free Adobe account, or using Facebook, Google or (on IOS) an Apple account. The full range of filters is included for free and growing over time.