Photo: Courtesy of Facetune.
Photo: Courtesy of Cycloramic.Cycloramic
This one's a little hard to believe unless you try it yourself. Cycloramic is a panorama app, but there are dozens of those out there already. What makes this one special is the fact that it employs your phone's vibration motors, spinning it in place on a flat surface and giving you a hands-free, 360-degree image. Watch as your phone rotates and spits out a high-res, manipulatable panorama. You can share it as you please, and even convert it to Instagram video.
Photo: Courtesy of Facetune.Facetune
Perhaps you lack the technical skill or even just the patience to retouch your own photos. Plenty of desktop software exists to help newbies, and even some mobile apps, too. But Facetune simplifies the process even further by contextualizing often-used Photoshop tools specifically for portraits. It has a "Whiten" tool for teeth, "Smooth" to erase wrinkles, and even a few filters to brighten and even out skin tone.
Photo: Courtesy of Frontback.Frontback
This app couldn't be simpler in its conceit. Frontback takes two photos at once, using both your rear- and front-facing cameras. This gives all of your images context — your reaction shot to a basketball dunk, for example, or a head-to-head portrait of you and your friends. Users can share their images via social media, email, and SMS. Its simplicity is paying off — TechCrunch reports that Frontback recently closed a new round of funding of about $3 million, and that Twitter has allegedly expressed interest in buying the company.
Seene
Filters are fine and all, but they'll never make your image pop like 3-D can. Seene gives your images depth by plotting points within a static image, and then employing a parallax effect from four different angles. Basically, you take a single photo and then rotate your phone around your subject; Seene figures out the rest. The focal point stays the same, and the amount of rotation is limited to a few degrees. But you'll be able to share and embed your Seenes, as in the example above, so that anyone can manipulate your image.
Photo: Courtesy of Dubble.Dubble
Cut-up technique meets the selfie generation with this new app, which makes a faux double exposure out of your photo and a random stranger's. Dubble simply overlays your image with another user's, creating a composite in the process. (You get to keep both your original and the mashup, though.) Adam Scott, the co-founder of the company, told Techcrunch that the serendipity and accidental beauty of true double exposures should be the draw for users. "There’s still a massive quality on film that you can’t really get on digital," he said. "And one of the things I really like about film is this unexpected feeling you get from getting your films developed, or taking a Polaroid and waiting for that to develop over time."