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The makers of VSCO Cam unveil an Instagram-like app for GIF making
Let's face it: GIFs continue to be a popular way of expressing yourself, no matter how you'd argue the word is pronounced. There are a number of apps that'll help you make your own animations, and now the folks behind VSCO Cam are joining the fray, too. The company built DSCO: an iOS app that lets you easily capture a few seconds worth of footage to create the moving image. If you're familiar with VSCO, you know that its mobile photography app allows you to apply a number of presets to achieve the look you're after before beaming them to a social network, posting them to the company's own portal or just saving them to view later. The same is true with DSCO. Once you have the video, you can employ a number of filters, including a collection of presets developed alongside MTV and others, to put the finishing touches on that all-important GIF. You can then send it to the aforementioned spots for sharing or safe keeping. The app is a free download, but like we've already mentioned, it's only available on iOS.
VSCO Cam adds Collections to curate photos from other users
VSCO Cam has offered some community features powered by its Grid tool on top of its regular photo-editing chops for some time now. Today, though, the company added a new way to interact with your fellow VSCO snapshot enthusiasts. With updates to both the iOS and Android apps, VSCO Cam delivered Collections: a feature that allows you to curate your favorite photos from other users. Grid provides a place to share your images in a minimalist format for all to see, but with Collections VSCO pulls in snapshots you like from other photographers to build a separate library. When you're scrolling through the photos in Search or Explore, simply double tap to save one before publishing it to your Collection.
VSCO Cam adds batch editing for your mobile snapshots
Adobe delivered the ability to copy and paste edits to multiple images in Lightroom for iOS last month, and now you can do the same with VSCO Cam. With version 4.1 for iOS and 3.2 for Android, the preset-driven app adds a tool that will allow you place edits on multiple shots in your library with a few simple taps. If you're looking to give a dozen images from last weekend the same treatment, this is sure to make the task much easier. And if you mess up, there's a handy undo button to avoid any permanent blunders. Of course, VSCO Cam is free to use (unless you want to buy more presets, natch), while the aforementioned Adobe option requires a Creative Cloud subscription. Both the iOS and Android updates are available in iTunes and Google Play now, if you're feelin' the itch to take 'em a spin.
VSCO Cam equips iPads for its style of mobile photo editing
VSCO Cam has been a popular choice for smartphone photo edits on iOS, and more recently Android, for quite some time. When the outfit sought to update its app for the latest version of Apple's mobile OS, it went a step further: properly equipping the iPad to be a better editing option. As a VSCO Cam user, the most useful part of version 4.0 is the Preset Gallery that allows you to view multiple filters side-by-side before making a selection. It takes advantage of the increased screen real estate too, while letting you modify, undo and view all the tweaks in a handy Edit History. There's also a new web uploader for getting your shots from a computer to a mobile device, and thanks to Sync, selected photos can be accessed across that mobile device fleet. Don't worry about downsizing in the process either: the full-res files are transferred back and forth, even massive DSLR images from Nikon's D800 and the like. Thanks to iOS 8, VSCO Cam lets you adjust manual focus, shutter speed, white balance and exposure when capturing images, similar to other photo apps for Apple devices.
VSCO Cam for Android taps into its Grid for endless inspiration
Popular mobile photo-editing app VSCO Cam made its way to Android back in December, and now the preset-driven option has reached version 3.0. On top of adding the free VSCO Grid image showcase that's already included in the iOS version, you can now search and follow fellow photogs posting images there. What's more, updated sharing options make it easy to share what you find in that library and tweaked privacy tools allow you to nix location settings to keep your locale private. And of course, there's the usual UI and performance tweaks in this latest Visual Supply Co. release that's now available for download via Google Play.
VSCO Cam app for iOS adds more 'community' features in a bid to take on Instagram
The VSCO Cam app has developed a pretty dedicated following of serious mobile photographers. Over the summer Visual Supply Co. even unveiled a minimalist publishing platform called VSCO Grid. But ties between the two were... let's say, weak. An update for the iOS version finally rectifies the situation, by fully integrating VSCO Grid. Most notably it adds the ability to follow people and browse a feed of your friends' most recent photos, taking the first tentative steps into social network territory. You can obviously search out friends on your own, but VSCO also serves up a collection of curated artists it thinks are worth tracking. The update to 3.0 isn't all about the "community" though; the camera and editor themselves have received a few nice tweaks. There's a new Tilt & Level tool that makes sure your pics are perfectly aligned, both vertically and horizontally. The crop tool has been updated for a "smoother, more accurate experience," and the details view for photos has added pinch-to-zoom support, for really digging into the nitty-gritty of your compositions. You can also now set the app to automatically save images to the iPhone's Camera Roll and turn off location tagging if you're paranoid about your privacy. For now the update is iOS only, but Visual Supply Co. promises the new features are coming to Android in the near future.
Popular photo-editing app VSCO Cam makes its way to Android
VSCO Cam, the hugely popular photo app for iOS, is now available on Android. That means all of you rocking Google's mobile OS can get in on the photo-editing tools and simple interface that iPhone owners have been using for several years. Like that other mega-successful photography app, VSCO Cam lets you apply filters, though it includes more in-depth controls, such as the ability to favorite images and use presets. (You can purchase additional preset packs from within the app, as well.) Of course, sharing is on board, too, so you can blast your latest pics to Facebook, Google+, Instagram (yeah, really) and Twitter, among other social networks. Head to the Google Play Store to download the free app; it's compatible with Android 4.0 or later.
One iPhone photographer's workflow
One great way to learn how to take and process better photographs is to learn from professionals, and for many of us time and circumstance precludes dropping everything to do an internship with a professional photographer. Fortunately, there are pros like Jessie Webster -- who runs the "Sweet Thing" blog -- who are kind enough to share their photography workflows with the world and help make our photographs better. In a classic post from July 30, 2013, Jessie outlined her photo editing process for Instagram. Yeah, I know -- I was thinking "a process for an Instagram photo?" too. But that's what spells out the difference between a professional photographer and someone taking snapshots with an iPhone. Jessie started with a self-portrait taken with TimerCam (free or US$1.99 for the pro version) and then ran it through VSCO Cam (free) to add a filter, lighten, straighten and crop the photo. Next, she moved the photo to Afterlight ($0.99) to add clarity and sharpen the image. Finally, the image passed into Touch Retouch ($0.99) to remove some distracting foreground rocks and sticks before being uploaded to Instagram (free). Be sure to check out Jessie's tutorial on Sweet Thing for more details.
