iPhone Apps: TinType by Hipstamatic

Cost: £0.79
Developers Website: http://hipstamatic.com the TinType page is here.
Available from: App Store on iPhone. 

I joined the iPhone party quite late. Just this month in fact! I made a considered choice that I would find it the most useful and good quality smartphone for photography. 

 

I'm really enjoying exploring all the apps and wanted to share my TinType experience with you all!

 

Now you may already familiar with Hipstamatic but TinType's interface is a little different. 

 

On opening the app you go straight to the shooting mode/view finder. The area included in the cropped frame is indicated clearly and you tap the screen to shoot. As with most apps you can switch between rear and front facing camera with the dedicated button on the bottom right of the screen.

 

You can also use a photo from your library.  Just tap the link to your photo reel in the bottom left of the screen. This is one big advantage TinType has over Hipstamatic where you can't apply effects post photo.

 

Once you have the photo you want to use, you have three different choices of filter. Black and white, sepia and colour all three emulate TinType also known as Wet Plate Collidion processing (a very early type of photography). You can choose to have a boarder or not. There is either square or cropped frame.

 

Film grain intensity can be added or removed using a slider.

 

Then you can also change the highlight intensity for the eyes. The app sometimes finds it hard to pick up the eyes. When this happens there is a little slash through the eye symbol.

 

You can change the "depth of field", with a slider. Basically this slider just makes the top and bottom of the frame more or less blurry. So not actually changing the DOF.

What I liked most about this app:

When I got my new phone I sat down to have a look at the apps. I thought I'd have a go with TinType to see how good it was. Now I lined up my first shot, really not expecting it to be very flattering. I'd been home from work for a few hours, scraped my hair back, put on my sloppy clothes and didn't have any make up on and my skin is quite blotchy in places. This is what I got:

 

© Katherine Broadbent

 

 

Three words: NEW FAVOURITE APP.

 

Haha. Vanity aside it's an amazingly cool effect and I've never seen shots from a smart phone like it before.

 

If I can get shots like that making no effort what can I do putting a little thought in?

Here are a few shots I've gotten recently.

© Katherine Broadbent

 

© Katherine Broadbent

 

© Katherine Broadbent

 

© Katherine Broadbent

 

 

Same picture with showing the three different filters available.

 

© Katherine Broadbent

Colour.

 

© Katherine Broadbent

Black & White

 

© Katherine Broadbent

Sepia

 

 

Pros: 

• Really unique filters.
• Fast and Easy to Navigate.
• Can apply filters to existing photos in your library.

  

Cons: 

• Not so good if you have a heavy fringe or are an animal (app can't pick up your eyes)
• Can't edit anything such as contrast/brightness/ect. But most things can be easily tweaked in another app before being transferred into TinType. If you're that bothered.
• Only three filter choices come as standard with no upgrade available at the moment. Quite a limited choice for a paid app.
• Apple only.

Overall: Bravo! I love it. I am officially hooked on the Hipstamatic universe!