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Whether you are photographing with your DSLR/Mirrorless camera and want to use your phone for location scouting and planning, or you want to shoot and edit right on your phone, we’ve got you covered. These are our recommendations for the best apps for photographers in 2022.
Best Apps for Using Your Phone as a Camera
If you are an iPhone user and are looking for an alternative to the built-in camera app, Camera+ 2 is a great choice. I have been a longtime user of the Camera+ app, and the updated Camera+ 2 app makes a useful app even better. For a long time, locking your exposure and focus separately required a 3rd party app, and while this is now possible in the standard Apple app, I still find the interface of Camera+ 2 to work better in this scenario.
Apps for Scouting and Planning your Photoshoot
This might seem like an obvious one, but I find Google Maps to be an invaluable planning tool for photography. Besides the obvious uses (getting driving or transit directions to your destination), the satellite/street/terrain views are super helpful in scouting a new location. When I travel, I like to check out where I’m staying in street view and get an idea of whether there will be opportunities for photo walks/photoshoots in the immediate area. If another photographer suggests a location, I can quickly pull it up in Google Maps and check it out. It can be helpful when planning my gear to have an idea of what type of situation I’m headed to, and the easiest, most convenient way I know to do this is with Google Maps.
Best Apps When You’re Out Photographing
Pocket Light Meter is a super simple and really useful app. It’s a basic reflected light meter, but it offers a couple features that make it really easy to use. You can click to take meter readings from various parts of the scene, and it has an easy-to-use settings dial so that you can quickly enter any two exposure values (of ISO, aperture, shutter speed) and it will automatically calculate the third. There is also a convenient log feature that allows you to make settings notes for shot-planning purposes. My favorite feature is that, along with exposure, it also measures color temperature in Kelvin for white balance purposes. While the app version of a light meter won’t be the precision device or offer all of the features of a Sekonic or other standalone meter, I have found this app to be impressively accurate and a really useful tool.
Best Apps for Sharing Your Photographs
If you are looking to showcase some of your images in Instagram stories, you will want to check out this app. Unfold contains customizable templates that you can use to create really nice looking Instagram stories. Outside of a few free samples, templates are available as an in-app purchases or on a subscription basis. It’s easy to get started and easy to customize, with impressive results, especially considering how simple this app is to use. Still, the subscription model is not ideal.
If you have any questions or feedback, please post your comments in the comments section below.