Lumiere is yet another photo effects filter app for iOS, but before you sigh and say: “Oh no, not another Hipstamatic clone,” I want you to pause and give this one a second look.
What makes Lumiere different isn’t that it applies filter effects to your photos – Hipstamatic and a gazillion other apps already do that – but the way it lets you flick from one effect to the next.
All you do is swipe in one direction to switch from one filter to the next, and swipe in the other to change the frame it will appear in. Because everything happens in the live view right in front of you, you can see exactly what your photo will look like. It’s fun, and very immediate.
I made a quick video to show you the swiping controls in action:
(First few seconds of that got messed up during upload to YouTube, sorry about that.)
The only problem I’ve encountered with Lumiere is a little instability. I’ve seen a few crashes, and on one occasion the viewfinder remained completely black until I force quit the app and restarted. Only little things, though.
Lumiere is $1.99 on the iOS App Store and well worth grabbing if you enjoy your iPhone photography.
Giles Turnbull is a freelance writer in England. He also writes for the Press Association and The Morning News. You can find out more at his website, and follow him on Twitter @gilest.
11 responses to “Switch Photo Effects Faster With Lumiere Photo App [Review]”
As a developer myself I loathe to comment on other developers’ work because I know how grueling the dev process can be, but the quality of the photos are less than stellar, so I felt the need to say something.
The actual app idea itself is incredible. I love the “on the fly” filters so that you can actually see how an effect will look prior to snapping the photo.
Forget about sharp, crisp photos. With no visible way of focusing, photos turn out really soft. They look fine at smaller resolutions, but I shot photos outside on a clear, sunny Florida day and the photos looked way too soft. This is a great idea and an app I’m not going to discard. Instead I’ll wait to see what updates they have in store for us.
At a 1.99 I think it’s worth it to try it out. You may like the end results while I didn’t. Just know there is no focus whatsoever. At least none that I could find.
Hi I’m the Nigel the developer of Lumiere.
Thanks for the fair feedback on the app, we are working hard on the next revision.
The focus (pardon the pun!) will be on getting the controls better in the app and adding more resolution choice. We are currently using the standard continuous autofocus option for the camera, but we are working on getting tap to set focus and exposure in a future version, which should help. Also the engine used to do the dynamic filters is getting some tweaking, so hopefully you’ll see an increase in quality very soon.
Like you say the dev process can be gruelling and getting everything squeezed into the first release is a tough proposition! Feel free to drop me a line lumiere@nebulus-design.co.uk for direct feedback, its very welcome and will help get better results for future revisions.
I think it’s a very clever app and I’m looking forward to the updates. Thanks for the reply.
Hi
The latest version now supports full resolution, tap to focus double tap to set exposure position and a load of other features. Hopefully addresses most of your original concerns.
cheers
Nigel
You can add effects to your photos at http://www.addeffects.net without installed software
You can add effects to your photos at http://www.addeffects.net without installed software