App for black and white photography?

**bb10_fan** · 12-07-2012, 04:49 AM

Hi,

does anyone knows a good app for black and white photography? What I'm looking for is an app that can basically convert color photo into black and white using various filters (like red, green, blue, etc.). The app not necessary have to do it real-time, I mean I don't need to see the results of the conversion when I'm taking the picture. Also would be nice to have the ability of adjusting brightness and contrast. If an app also has a tilt-shift effect, than it's just the best app for me. I was trying to find it myself, but honestly, App World is just a mess.

I'm still a new PlayBook user (and I love it), just trying to find more apps I've got used to on my MeeGo device.

Thanks in advance

**Herve5** · 12-07-2012, 06:41 AM

I saw one appearing very recently -maybe just yesterday, whose very purpose was to allow various combinations of R, G and B to create alternate B&W images, but I don't remember its name... Maybe it's still in the "recent" apps, otherwise search for "photo" keyword...

**bb10_fan** · 12-07-2012, 08:59 AM

Oh, I cannot believe I was so "lucky"! Searched the store 2 days ago, skipped yesterday and here it is

I found it now, thank you very much Herve5. It the same app I'm using on my MeeGo device (called Mono Art). Gosh, I wish developer announce the release on his Facebook page as he does for MeeGo, this way I would not missed it. I love RIM for their support of Qt, this way we can have more good apps for PlayBook or even those we (MeeGo users) got used to

**Herve5** · 12-07-2012, 09:29 AM

Originally Posted by bb10_fan

(...) It the same app I'm using on my MeeGo device (called Mono Art). Gosh, I wish developer announce the release on his Facebook page as he does for MeeGo, this way I would not missed it. I love RIM for their support of Qt, this way we can have more good apps for PlayBook or even those we (MeeGo users) got used to

You welcome!
Out of curiosity, how would you compare the number of apps currently available on MeeGo and on the Playbook?

**bb10_fan** · 12-07-2012, 09:53 AM

Herve5, honestly, it a bit hard to compare

I found that on PlayBook there are not so many native apps, most use Adobe AIR or Java (Android re-packaged?). I prefer native apps because they tend to run faster and less kill the device's battery. While on MeeGo devs have no choice but develop native apps, so there are more of them. Comparing just by number is even harder, Nokia Store now flooded with RSS-feed-like "apps" while BlackBerry World has not yet reached that point

For me is important not the number of apps, but their quality. And what I found is that Qt apps are usually high quality apps (when Nokia introduced Qt for Symbian that was like a fresh breeze to already dead platform, apps became nicer, faster, more functional)

**BKillar** · 12-07-2012, 11:33 AM

You can get a tilt shift effect with PicShop - great photo app for playbook and native at that. Has all you are asking for and more.
There is also a free app called Tilt Shift in app world that is very slow (although I am having some processing speed issues with my PB right now).
And InstaPhoto also has a Tilt Shift feature as well.

Regarding the tilt shift in Mono Art - can you apply vertical, horizontal and round effects? can you control the size of the target and the amount of blur?

Thanks

**bb10_fan** · 12-07-2012, 12:34 PM

BKillar, Mono Art in this version supports only horizontal tilt-shift. I was just thinking that it would be nice to have at least a vertical as well. I think I'll write to developer asking for this feature. I have a quite good impression about him, he always replies fast and politely

I think many devs underestimate the importance of this communication level and that's why when I feel that the developer is responsive I invest in app that will be constantly improving.

I have a PicShop and it's a good app, but I couldn't find any filters specifically to create various versions of B&W photos. Tilt-shift is not the main feature I was looking for (still sometimes nice to have), but rather a number of basic filters for B&W photography. I like how B&W change the mood of the photo and color filters are the key to set that mood.

**BKillar** · 12-07-2012, 01:22 PM

I think I will pick up Mono Art myself - hard for me to pass up any photo editing apps and this one comes with an endorsement.

**bb10_fan** · 12-07-2012, 01:57 PM

BKillar, I didn't mean to endorse the app

it's just I like it and I also like the results it produces. Still, there is a room for improvements on that app (that's why I didn't leave a comment yet, as I have just one). I just found that PB version is more advanced compared to my MeeGo version (added adjustments, supports photos up to 8 MPx) but both have v1.0.0

It seem the developer likes PB more than MeeGo now :/

**bb10_fan** · 12-09-2012, 05:20 AM

BKillar, I've contacted the developer asking for extra features and he replied:

"...for the next release we've planed to add vertical Tilt-Shift, more filters, more tint colors and something extra you'll probably like

Thanks for supporting us...."

Hmm, what could be that "...something extra you'll probably like..."?

**BKillar** · 12-09-2012, 07:20 PM

It could be any number of features - although it is a nice little editor - it is not feature packed. Looking forward to the update.

**bb10_fan** · 12-11-2012, 03:38 AM

Do you have some special features in mind? If yes, then try to send e-mail to developer with feature request and see what he replies. If you don't ask he/they will never know what we want