Hipstamatic Review

Hipstamatic can be explained in one of two ways - the first is to describe what it is supposed to be. It is supposed to be an homage to the old analog cameras of the 70's and 80's that created distinct looks to photos by the lenses, film, and flash bulbs used. The other way to explain Hipstamatic is to explain it to the uninitiated - this is an app that creates funky effects on your photos.

You can choose from a variety of lenses, films, and flash bulbs. Lenses generally provide different hues to the photos, the various film types affect the frames the pictures are printed on, and the flash bulbs simulate lighting effects on the photos. The shorthand to all this is that Hipstamatic allows you to create photos with unique effects without much work on your part - just choose your equipment, and take some pictures. You can also shake your device to shuffle the equipment on your camera, which is great if you're just starting to mess around with the app.

And Hipstamatic is definitely fun to mess around with - by simply adding a few effects, you can make your photos far more artistic and stylish than they were before, without the need for any Photoshop effects. Photos save by default in a lower resolution (to reduce the time needed to process images), but you can enable high-resolution image saving from within the Settings app if you so choose. Hipstamatic also offers more effects through in-app purchase if you tire of the included ones.

If there was a way to improve Hipstamatic, it would be that you can only use it with pictures you take live with the camera. You cannot use it with pictures you've already taken, which s a shame as it would be great to see how pictures look with other effect combinations, or to see how older photos look with Hipstamatic effects applied. This would also make the app worthwhile for non-iPhone owners to get to play with Hipstamatic effects with their photos taken using other devices.

As it is, Hipstamatic is a great way for amateur photographers to take great looking photographs without much effort. While I would like to see its use expanded to more than just photos immediately taken, this is a neat way to spice up photographs.