Photoshop Camera is a smart photo app that pulls out all the stops when it comes to ‘computational’ photography. Not an app for daily use, but for taking special pictures very quickly and without further editing afterwards. And then immediately share it with the rest of the world via social media.
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You don’t need an Adobe subscription to use the Photoshop Camera app. But it is handy, because then this app integrates (in terms of recordings and parts thereof) in your other Adobe packages. At first start you need to log in with an Adobe account; or make one. Once logged in, it is important to give permission for various things.
First of all – of course – the app must have access to the camera, otherwise there is not much to photograph. Tap the appropriate checkbox and grant that permission in the iOS system notification that appears. Repeat for Photos Library Access, otherwise you can take photos but not save them to your iPhone’s camera roll. Then you can also activate the third and last option: Location Access.
Handy in itself, because that way you always know where a photo was taken. If you do not trust Adobe 100% in terms of data collection, only allow this option when using the app. If you close the app (swipe up), you don’t have to worry that everything is continuously collected in the background.
Pay attention to privacy settings
A ‘sneaky’ option is still enabled by default, in which usage data is passed on to Adobe. It is better for privacy reasons to turn that off. To do this, tap the button with the three dots (…) at the top of the app’s screen (as soon as the viewfinder is activated) and then tap the gear. Tap on About Photoshop Camera and put the switch behind Send usage info from.
Also check (one level back) below preferences, whether there is anything else you like there. For the rest, you don’t really have to set anything exciting here. Although it is always practical to take a look at this after an app update. Maybe someday something useful will be added!
Live effects and filters
The nice thing about Photoshop Camera is that filters and effects are applied live. What you see is what you get, so to speak. By default you just take pictures without any effect. To activate a filter, tap the button with the stars to the left of the shutter button in the bottom center of the screen. Choose one of the filters and you will see the effect live. Keep in mind that you can swipe from right to left to apply available effects within that filter.
Somewhat strange: if you rotate your device for a landscape orientation, this swipe does not ‘rotate’. In other words: you have to swipe from top to bottom in that case.
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Are you not enough with the standard set of filters? Don’t worry, there is much more available! To do this, tap the globe in the top left corner of the screen. Or slide the filter bar all the way to the right and click the + there. Divided into categories (scrollable bar at the top of the screen) you will find a whole series of extra filters here.
Tap on a filter you like, read exactly what the filter does and tap ADD LENS to add it. Then it is ready to use. Return to photo mode by tapping the camera button at the top right. Select the added filter, swipe to view filter settings if you want, and press the shutter button if you like the image.
Usable filters
There are several filters that are quite practical. Plague weather and no blue sky? Is a filter for! Not a portrait hero, but still want to be able to shoot pro-looking black and white portraits? Be sure to try the filter Grit. The filter has four modes, all accessible again by a swipe action. Interesting are the versions where the background is filtered out or blurred. Doesn’t always go 100% right, a little change of position usually helps.
The results can sometimes be called quite impressive. Filters in the library are also available for download for other types of portraits (selfies!). This partly concerns the well-known Instagram-like bling toys. But there are certainly useful things in there.
The downloadable filter is beautiful and handy Golden Hour. As you may know, the golden hour is that one hour just after sunrise or before sunset, when everything turns a golden-yellow glow. However, sometimes you cannot be in the desired place at that moment. Or – perhaps even more frequently – the sun is missing. You can solve that with the Golden Hour filter.
The end result is a bit less beautiful than what the real golden hour has to offer, but in case of emergency it is a nice surrogate solution to have on hand. Although it will not work miracles in the pouring rain or a heavy snow shower…
Finally and perhaps unnecessarily: all your photos taken with Photoshop Camera end up on the camera roll of your iPhone after pressing the shutter button. So there is no in-app storage, which is nice.
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