pixlr-o-matic

Five fun photo apps for the iPad 2

Given its size, the iPad 2 is a better photo viewer than photo taker (unless it's acting as a photo booth). And as a photo viewer, it's fantastic. Flipping through photos on the iPad's touch screen pulls you closer to the images than clicking through photos on a laptop or desktop with a keyboard. I recently tried out three photo-browsing apps, a photo-processing app, and a photo-booth app on the iPad. I offer you my thoughts on each.

First up, two apps for browsing Instagram images. My favorite of the duo is Instagallery, which lets you view … Read more

How to use Pixlr-o-matic

Pixlr-o-matic is a retro photo-processing application for the iPhone and iPad. It's free, ad-free, and easy to use. It's a useful app for older iOS devices without cameras as well as the iPad 2, since iPad-specific versions don't exist for retro-photo iPhone apps Hipstamatic and Instagram. With Pixlr-o-matic you can take a photo or upload one from your photo library; apply a filter, an effect, and a frame; and then save or share the photo. Here's how the app works on an iPad 2.… Read more

Pixlr-o-matic photo app hits Android

Autodesk has been busy spreading its free retro photo-processing app Pixlr-o-matic across every major platform. In August, it launched an iPad app and it quickly shot to the top of the download charts; it's still sitting in the top 10 free photography apps. And now Android users can test out the 25,000 possible combinations of color filters, lighting effects, and frames on their photos.

What's best about the app is the interface, which lets you quickly apply what you want, see the end result, and then share or save your final photo. The Android app is the only version that can connect to messaging services on your Android device such as Skype or IM. Images can also be saved to your SD card at resolutions up to 2,000x1,000 pixels, and they're stored with the names of filters you've used.

Unfortunately, you can only apply one filter, lighting effect, and frame at a time, and you can't increase or decrease the effect. The only way to apply additional filters is to save out and reopen the photo. Also, all of the color filters have nondescriptive names, making it a pain to quickly pick your desired result. For example, "Sophia" is apparently heavy vignetting typical of a toy camera lens.

You can check out the slideshow below for more details, but overall Pixlr-o-matic is worth the free download from the Android Market. Not sure you want it on your smartphone? You can also test it out as Facebook or Chrome Web apps, download it as an Adobe Air application for Windows, or just use it in your browser. … Read more