There are a lot of photo editing apps out there, and many of them fall into the same general category; they edit for brightness, contrast, exposure, as well as other elements. Phoster by Bucket Labs ($1.99) works alongside your favorite photo editor to add some flair to your best pictures. This app instantly won me over and has landed itself a place in my photography folder. If you enjoy photography and typography, you will love this app.
The concept is simple: Choose one of the many pre-made poster concepts, add a picture, then customize it to your heart’s content. Essentially, this app allows you to add one of your pictures to a pre-made template, doing the bulk of the typography work for you. You can then modify the template to fit your theme. Finally, you choose one of four filters that add the look and feel of paper to your poster. You can make an invitation to a party, or merely an “I just went for a walk” poster with your favorite picture of that old-looking fire hydrant, and show it to the world with the “share” link. Anything you can think of becomes a headliner with these trendy poster layouts.
The mechanics of the app are well thought out; everything works as you feel it should. The only thing that this app doesn’t do a lot of is the actual photo editing. It is a layout program, not a photo editor; you will be served best by using this app alongside your favorite photo editor. Make the pic look the way you want, then open up Phoster and let the magic unfold. It’s really interesting to see how the posters turn out. They will drastically change feel from picture to picture — even with the same layout.
The presentation layer is excellent. These developers really understand the device’s feel, the space they are working with, and the way to make the buttons, depth, color and so on, really fit the package.
I didn’t find anything I didn’t like. Download for yourself to find out. Even if you are only editing photos on a semi-regular basis, it’s still worth the $1.99.
