Last month I featured the uber popular iPhone application, Instagram. With Instagram, millions of users are turning even the most mundane objects into works of interesting art. But, what else is out there? A number of premium and paid applications are out there that allow you to do even more with your travel photos. MacApper recently featured their picks for the top 10 iOS Apps for photography enthusiasts and professionals. With all these enhancements and advancements to the iPhone, it is becoming increasingly easier to take engaging travel photos without lugging any camera equipment around.

Many travel photographers are using multiple apps to upload creative photographs to social media sites and blogs. You can use some of these paid apps with Instagram for even more interesting results.

Here’s a look at five of the ten most recommended photography apps for the iPhone.

1. CameraBag

This app by NeverCenter gives you access to a number of lens filters that you would normally purchase separately and carry around with your camera equipment. CameraBag provides these filters right at your fingertips on your iPhone.

The CameraBag app is $1.99 US and there are some interesting lenses, but there is another app called Camera+ that offers more options, including special effects and color based filters. Some of the filters are similar to what you find on Instagram as well, just minus some of the borders.

Cinema filter on CameraBag. Emo special effect on Camera+ app

2. Pano

The Pano app is developed by Debacle Software and lets you take panoramic shots with your iPhone. While this is fun to play with, getting the images lined up on the screen may be a little difficult given how small it — especially in bright daylight. For $1.99 US though, it’s not a bad app and you can stitch up to 16 photos together, which could certainly yield some very interesting results.

Pano app with three stitched photos

3. ProHDR

ProHDR is produced by Eye Apps LLC and is definitely one I recommend if you have any interest in HDR shots, but no desire to learn how to learn how to shoot and edit with your DSLR. While they are not the same quality obviously, the results can be awesome and certainly a fun way to elevate your iPhone photography. The app is $1.99 US and you need to be pretty steady holding your iPhone or have one of the cool new devices that attaches to your iPhone to function as a monopod or tripod .

If you are unfamiliar with HDR, High Dynamic Range Imaging, it is a technique that fuses multiple exposures together to add drama and highlight details not picked up by just one exposure. By fusing lighter and darker exposures, the result can be quite dramatic. These shots work great when you have both dark and light areas in a frame — room shadows and bright scenes outside a window are typical examples.

Not sure on this app? There is a free version that only lets you save smaller size images and puts a small watermark on them. This is a great way to experiment and see if HDR is something you want to do while traveling.

Rainbow photo with ProHDR app

4. TiltShift

There is a tiltshift option on Instagram, but this is much more advanced. Like the other apps mentioned, this is also $1.99 US. You can focus on linear or elliptical regions and adjust the amount of blur. You can also choose different aperture shapes as well.

Don’t have any photos to practice with right now? TiltShift has a number of sample photos that you can experiment with to get a feel of how the app works.

ProHDR app photo then edited in TiltShift.

5. Hipstamatic

Hipstamatic is taking digital photos back to the analog days of toy cameras and old time film. You can purchase the basic $1.99 app and then buy Hipstapacks to add different lenses, films, and other color camera cases. It is an odd app to get used to as the portion of the photo you see is so tiny, but it is a fun way to experiment with “film” settings and flashes. Some of the lenses are great for low light and may serve well in restaurants and bars where you don’t want to use a flash on your “real” camera.

Photo taken with “film” on Hipstamatic app

Do you use your iPhone as a camera when you are traveling? Why or why not? Are there any other iPhone photography apps you use or recommend? Please share your tips and recommendations with other TravBuddies!

All photos from Erin De Santiago

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