There are gillions of mobile apps for photographers on the market. It would probably take a lifetime to investigate each of them. Since I know lots of photographers and am friends with many on Facebook, I decided to do an informal survey by posting the following question:
“What are your favorite photo apps on your phone? I’m not talking about camera or processing apps. I’m referring to other sorts of tools, like sunrise/sunset calculators, light meters, model releases, etc.”
It didn’t take long to get lots of responses. It was easy to see there were favorites, such as TPE, as well as apps that I found more obscure. For example, I hadn’t expected to learn about apps used used with film. It was a good reminder that there are lots of photographers doing many interesting things.
The following is a list of 30 of the apps I learned about. Some are single platform, while others are available for both IOS and Android. A couple also work with desktop/laptop. I added the links I used to investigate each app. I also included Facebook comments when possible.
Hopefully this will whet your appetite to try a few new apps. I know I’ll be checking out several on this list. If you don’t see your favorite app on the list, let me know about it in the comments.
LEGAL APPS
Easy Release – Model and Property releases. $9.99
http://applicationgap.com/apps/easyrelease/
“Great, annotated and photo model release app.”
“Flexible and easy to use. You can even take photo of the subject and include it in the release, which you can then email to the model.”
ASMP Release – Model and Property releases. Free
https://asmp.org/tutorials/asmp-releases-app.html – .VMmsD3b3dko
Shake – Legal Agreements. Free
“A great app for all kinds of quick agreements: model releases, work agreements, etc. It sends a copy to the client/model, and then after they sign, it sends signed copies to both parties. Makes legalese much easier for the layperson.”
PLANNING APPS
The Photographers Ephemeris (TPE) – Natural light planning for sun and moon and more. Mobile: $8.99, Desktop: Free
“I love it. It helps me plan when to do my shoots. I know where the light will be coming from.”
“TPE is a winner, and free on PC and Mac, fee for iPad iPhone.”
“I did a workshop with Bruce Percy in Eigg, Scotland a few years ago and we used this app quite a bit. He has a 2nd edition e-book that will tell you how to use the updated app. If you really dig in you can use the app to find out when the sun will rise or set – but at a specific location.”
“Is the best (accurate sunrise/sunset and angles by location) or Magic Hour and Golden Hour apps that alert you when entering Magic Hour, Blue hour etc,”
Bluehour – Tells you when blue hour will occur. $1.99
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bluehourapp/id425965523?mt=8
Photo Pills – Natural light planning for sun and moon and more. $9.99
“It is hard to use.”
“Tells you where to stand and at what time to catch a moon rise, exposures, planner, hyperfocal tables”
“I can put in my GPS coordinate for wherever I am going and determine where the moon will be that night. I can put the date in so if I want to go to Yosemite and shoot stair trails and not have the moon in the shot at least I know when not to go. Photo Pills is for IOS only at this point.”
Sun Surveyor – http://www.sunsurveyor.com/ $6.99
“Works anywhere, not dependent on data connection. All the info you might need out in the boonies.”
The Golden Hour – Monitor and predict the path of the sun. $1.99
Sun Seeker – Monitor and predict the path of the sun. $6.99
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ajnaware.sunseeker&hl=en
Sunrise Sunset – Monitor and predict the path of the sun. Free
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alokmandavgane.sunrisesunset&hl=en
Star Walk – Interactive astronomy guide. $2.99
http://vitotechnology.com/star-walk.html
“Shows you the constellations / stars that are in sight wherever you point it.”
skyPhysics – Natural light planning for sun and moon and more. $4.99
“For finding good light at my location.”
MoonPhase – Information about the moon. $1.99
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/moonphase-moon-info/id287526650?mt=8
Stellarium – Interactive astronomy guide. $1.99
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/stellarium-mobile-sky-map/id643165438?mt=8
“I love Stellarium for charting stars and the Milky Way. It gives you a 360 degree view as you scroll around and the way it transitions the scene you’re viewing from day to night is smooth.”
Tides Near Me – Monitor tidal conditions. Free
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tides-near-me-free/id585223877?mt=8
TideGraph – Monitor tidal conditions. $1.99
WeatherUnderground – Monitor weather conditions. Free
http://www.wunderground.com/download/index.asp
Dark Sky – Predict the weather at your location. $3.99
PHOTOGRAPHIC TOOL APPS
DOFMaster – Calculate depth of field and hyperfocal distance. $1.99
Time Lapse Calculator – Compute time lapse parameters. $2.99
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/timelapse-calculator/id328074944?mt=8
SL DigiSlate – Digital information slate for productions. $9.99
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.DigiSlate&hl=en
“For Android. Simple. Clean. Works”
Luxi – Light meter attachment to use mobile device as incident meter. $24.95
http://www.esdevices.com/products/luxi
beeCam – incident light meter – Free
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.fmbee.beecam.lightmeter&hl=en
FotometerPro – Light meter. $0.99
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fotometerpro/id439913393?mt=8
Strobox – Lighting diagram creator. (App seems to be no longer available.)
DARKROOM APPS
Reciprocity – Film reciprocity calculator. $1.99
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/reciprocity-timer/id459691262?mt=8
Massive Dev – Film processing chart timer. $8.99
http://www.digitaltruth.com/apps/
SECURITY APPS
Malywarebytes – Android anti-malware. Free/Paid
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.malwarebytes.antimalware&hl=en
“…cause who doesn’t need it.”
