I am joining Brian this week to show off a wonderful smartphone filter and show you the amazing difference that filters can make to your own pictures. It’s so easy and you can try so many effects. It’s a lot of fun too.

I use Photo Lab for iPhone but have heard many good things about PiZap. Both have as a free and paid options so you can experiment with filters and see if you enjoy using the program. When you decide to pay for the app even more filters are available.

You may remember Sydney from our trips to Neko Ngeru the local cat cafe. He has been adopted since I took my pictures, but this smartphone image is such a wonderful contrast of colour and black and white that I have been tempted to experiment.

Smartphone Filter ‘Cerulean Blue’

The filter I selected was Cerulean Blue in the ‘Masterpiece’ category of Photo Lab. This enhances colour and gives a really interesting textured quality.

As you can see in Sydney’s smartphone transformation, the outlines are simplified and the colours brighter. I did not change the filtered photograph at all.

3 Filter Tips for Smartphone Fans

1. Save your experiments as you go. You can add different filters to a favourite image and delete the ones you don’t want later.
2. Have an idea where you might be sharing your filtered image on social media. It’s not essential but Instagram is square while Facebook and Twitter are rectangles. The format of Sydney’s filtered image is squared off after being ‘Instagrammed’.
3. Try to remember or write down the name of the filters if you use multiples on one image. Trying to replicate a series of three or four filters when you forget one is a frustrating photographic experience. Our friends the Kitties Blue create lovely multilayered images and often share the filters they use.

One Final Filter Thought

Before you delete some of your disappointing cat photographs from your ‘phone, try running them through a filter. What you thought was an underlit, gloomy or overexposed photograph may be transformed into an impressive image by the addition of a shimmer of stars, a delicate frame or a painterly effect.

It’s not going to work for every picture, but filter magic can open your eyes to fun and entertaining image correction that can be eye-catching or eye-opening. Just ask Harvey.

Does your smartphone have a filter you love, or can you recommend a different app for us to try?