A Color Story: Photo Editor

Using a color story has been very fun. The plus packs are great, and have made me feel much more inspired as I take and edit photos. I also like the grid function, so I can see what my photos look like next to one another. I wish that it wasn’t so expensive to get all the plus packs and editing tools to keep (I’m not a super fan of subscription services, so far I’ve only bought the filters and effects I like). That said, I’ve still enjoyed using the app quite a lot. I take more pride in taking a nice photo now, and pay much closer attention to color! I feel like I’m starting to develop my own visual language or style in photographs, which I’ve never felt before in this medium. Hope others enjoy as well! **update on current edition: it seems like all the glitches with the most recent update have been resolved—it works fine. I do wish that I could access photos from my shared photo albums in iPhoto from the app. I also don’t like that more and more features move from being a part of the free version to items that must be purchased. I can tell that they are reaaaaaallly pushing the subscription service, which I don’t like because then I don’t permanently own the tool/filters.

I loved this app until the most recent update. It was always my go to and now I’m a bit disappointed. I think the update isn't as user friendly. Not really a fan of the the new visual icon set up for the filters and effects. The color text box really interferes with seeing the filter effect icon preview. Not a huge issue, but something i noticed immediately. Locating “saved” and “recent” edits takes a bit of getting use to, but what has really shattered my heart is actually using the Saved/Recent edits. Before the update i could easily scroll through my saved edits at the bottom the bottom of my image, click any one I’d like and see a preview of how my image would look. I could keep previewing other saved edits before i decided which one id like to use. Now i actually have to click “use” from the pop up without actually previewing my image with that saved edit. And after i click the use button and realize i don’t actually like that edit with my photo, i then have to go through and undo every single filter layered in the saved edit. I have to start the process all over again hoping the next saved edit i choose will work for my image. If not, the undo process begins again. This is really disappointing and makes the saved edit feature almost useless.

Aside from the apps that came with my phone—text, email, weather, etc—this and Instagram are the only apps I have on my phone and use. And they go together perfectly. I have tried a number of photo editing apps in the past but ended up deleting them because this one is as close to perfect as you can get for a photo editing program on a phone. There’s a huge number of filters and new packs are released periodically. Always on trend colors and looks for your pictures, and with a wealth of classics, too. The filter packs are usually done as collaborations with well-known artists who have very specific styles, and so you end up being able to elevate own iPhone photos into works of art themselves. I use filters from every single pack and enjoy that you can create your own folder of favorites, which makes accessing them quick and easy. There are comprehensive editing tools as well like sharpen and brighten and temp editing. I appreciate that you can edit videos with the filters, too, because Instagram’s app is sorely lacking with video editing tools. I’m a dedicated fan of this app for life.