10 Essential Photography Apps You Can’t Do Without

When it comes to setting up your smartphone or tablet, there’s one thing you can’t miss adding: apps. Apps are big currency in today’s technology, and we all have our own favourites that we carry around with us and use regularly. As a photographer, you can also get a lot of great benefits from using these apps – perhaps more than you might think. Here we’ve compiled a list of the ten apps that you absolutely must install as soon as possible – you won’t believe how useful they are!

 

1. Instagram

Let’s get the obvious one out of the way first! Instagram is a fantastic place to share your work and interact with fellow creatives, as well as getting the word out to potential clients. Right now there is a lot of change going on with the social network – feeds changing from chronological to popular, for example – which means a lot of new strategies are going to be needed for those who want to succeed. However, this is still the biggest social network out there for photographers. Get your account set up and start posting today.

 

2. Pinterest

From the biggest social network to the second biggest! Like Instagram, Pinterest is all about sharing images. You can get the app for Pinterest in order to use it easily on your phone. This means you get notifications directly to your phone whenever anyone interacts with your content, which is great for tracking your posts. You can also use all the normal functionality of the website – creating boards, adding pins, searching, liking, and more. This is also brilliant for checking your inspiration and moodboards on set – it’s all right there in your pocket.

 

3. Weather Apps

There are lots of different weather apps out there – AccuWeather and Dark Sky are a couple of the most popular ones. If you shoot on location, you cannot go without this. It will help you to track weather patterns, hopefully keeping you dry and letting you know what kind of limitations you may find for your shoots. If you were thinking of shooting for three hours on the beach, it’s very useful to know that a rain storm is going to blow in about an hour after you start – cram in as many great shots as possible before your time gets cut short. It will also tell you how to dress and protect your equipment before you head out.

 

4. Camera Control Apps

There’s one on the market called Trigger Trap, and camera brands are starting to roll out their own in-house versions too. This is an app which allows you to remotely control your camera, even pressing the shutter. This is hugely useful for minimizing shake, especially in long exposures – you can set the camera down, leave it be, and then press the button from your phone so that you are not affecting the camera body in any way. It’s also good for those times when you need to be in front of the lens yourself.

 

5. Model Release Apps

There are, once again, plenty of these on the market. Apps like Easy Release allow you to set up a model release form to be signed digitally. You can bring it up on your phone screen and allow the model to read through it, then sign it right through the phone. Later, you can email a copy to yourself or the model, export it to your computer, or print it off. This is so useful for those who don’t want to carry a million pieces of paper – or those who often forget to bring them along to location shoots. This way, you are always covered.

 

6. Photoshop Touch

This is a tablet-friendly version of Photoshop, allowing you to edit photos taken with your built-in camera just the same way that you would those from your DSLR. If you have the ability to upload images from your DSLR to your tablet on the go – such as by adding them to DropBox from camera – then you can also get started on edits this way. It’s never going to be a match for a full professional editing suite, but it’s the closest you will ever get on a tablet.

 

7. Pocket Light Meter

This is a great way to fill in for a very expensive piece of equipment without having to spend anything at all. Needless to say, this app won’t always be as accurate as the real thing, but it comes pretty close. Point it at your subject and set it up with the shutter speed or aperture that you want if those are non-negotiable. It will do the rest for you. This is essential for the perfectionist who wants to get it right every time – especially if shooting with film.

 

8. Album App

This app allows you to create an album on your device, which might not seem so special. Well, what happens next is. You can upload the whole thing to Facebook, email it as one album batch, or even get it sent to print. The key thing here is the ease and speed with which it can be done. It allows you to set up a client’s album on the go, which is fantastic for those who don’t have a lot of down time between travelling and shooting.

 

9. DropBox

There’s so many ways in which this app is helpful, it’s hard to list them all. Perhaps the biggest advantage is the ability to add shots from your computer straight to Instagram or other apps. You can set up folders here for your clients, then add the images from there without having to do any extra work. Plus it’s with you no matter where you are or what device you are using.

 

10. 2Do

Finally, 2Do is exactly what it sounds: a to-do list app. The appeal lies in the ability to easily set up new tasks, set deadlines and auto-repeats, and tick them off. The tasks left for the day will appear in your notifications until you have ticked them off. Perfect for the photographer who has too many clients to be able to remember which images have to be edited by when for who.

 

Do you have any apps you can’t live without? Give us your tips below!