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Tag: Photography

  • Exciting free Photoshop Alternatives for high quality photo edits

    Exciting free Photoshop Alternatives for high quality photo edits

    As we all love to look picture perfect in social medias, all the Groupies, selfies, there is a strong demand for best photo editing software and applications. When it comes to photo editing the popular tool we all remember is Adobe Photoshop but we feel to see alternatives to everything that’s the genetic generation trend so here is some stuff for those who are in search of Free Photoshop Alternatives.

    Technology is revamping day by day & amid that electronic devices are upgrading & becoming better more increasingly, likewise, phone cameras are refining increasingly & passionate level DSLRs or professional cameras are furnished with brilliant sensors.

    But do you know that the best photos can benefit from a compact accommodation in post production?

    Adobe Photoshop is the pro photographer’s tool of choice, but it’s not certainly the only option, there are eminently influential photo editors available completely free of cost if you know where to look for.

    Why do you need a Photoshop & who?

    Are you a selfie fanatic or looks possessive person or an audacious, who wants to make his best-captured shots more captivating, then you might simply need a perfect photo editor, who can purely make your photo remarkably alluring & eye catchy.

    Usually,the best free photo editors offers all the key tools that you need to make your pictures look astonishing ,including curves,contrast & exposure intensification to strain colours,clone stamps & healing brushes to erase flaws,if any ,masks for isolating & editing areas & layers to help you mingle elements to combine effects.

    In this digital era, it isn’t anomalous to know that most people have been conditional to think about Adobe Photoshop whenever they hear about Photo editing. This full fledged photo editing suite from Adobe Inc has been an article of an admirable helping tool for many professionals from every possible diversion.

    If you’re looking for such analogous tools, you’re at the appropriate place, where we have introduced a checklist of best free photo editing tools, both from online & offline, so that you can resume working, even when you are not in contrast of your own PC or MAC. We have stipulated these told based on diverse factors, such as lucidity of the user interface, productivity as in terms of features & other user’s opinion. 

    Here we will have a look at the most popular Free Photoshop Alternatives.

    Exciting free Photoshop Alternatives for high-quality photo edits

    We hope this article will be helpful for those who need a free at the same time efficacious photo editor. Here is the list of Free Photoshop Alternatives

    • GIMP:

    An unprecedented free photo editor, GIMP is a virtuous rival to premier software.

    The elder opponent of free photo editing, GIMP, also known as GMP image manipulation program, is the most robust photo editor around. It’s packed with astounding tools that superbly match those that we usually get in premier software & is upgraded with more features timely.

    The photo editing toolkit is astonishing & includes layers, masks, curves & levels. You can obliterate flaws with the eminent clone stamp & healing tools, create custom brushes, apply perspective changes & apply changes to solitary areas with intelligent selection tools.

    GIMP is an open source project & its section of users & manufacturers has created a huge collection of plugins to amplify its potential even further to Photo Pos Pro:

    Well designed & easy to use -a novice photo editor with a few drawbacks.

    Photo POS Pro

    Photo POS Pro isn’t as popular as GIMP, but it’s another crest caliber free photo editor that’s packed with further image enhancing tools. Its interface is clever & more shrewd than GIMP’s array of menus & toolbars with everything arrayed in a logical & steady way. If it’s still too menace, there’s also an optional ‘novice’ layout that resembles ‘fotor’s’ filter based approach.

    This image editor is a Free Photoshop Alternatives which offers best to the beginners as well as professional photo editors. For the beginners, this software has one click filters and automatic adjustments of the photos. Both the options are well-designed and are more intuitive than the GIMP’s endless features.

    Just like Photoshop, this software provides layers and layer marks both and also offer superb clone and healing brushes. In this software, you can find all color refining tools. Also, you can get complete support for the batch editing and scripts such that you can save your time to do the routine tasks. This online photo editor allows you to directly images from a scanner or camera.

    This software also offers you with some extra frames as well as filters which can help you to create or just save your own filters to use in future.

    One of the main disadvantages of this software is that it has a limit on the size of saving the files. The size limit is 1024 x 2014 pixels. But, if you require more size then you can upgrade it to the premium version and will get the world class Photoshop alternative.

    It is one the best Free Photoshop Alternatives which can be used for Windows, Mac, and  Linux.

    Read Also : How to Fix “Cannot Take Photo” Problem on iPhone and iPad

    • Fotor:

    A prodigious anthology of filters for one – click intensification, plus manual controls. Fotor is a photo supplemental first & foremost, more than it is a Free Photoshop Alternatives, if there’s specific area of retouching you need doing with, say the clone brush or healing too,you’re out of luck. But it includes a pyramid of high-end filters that really do shine. There’ s an unerring tilt-shift tool & a raft of vintage & vibrant color tweaks, all easily accessed through Fotor‘s dexterous brighter menu system. You can manually alter your own curves & levels ,too, but without the convolution of high-end tools. 

    Read Also : Unavoidable Parental Control Apps ,Tools to monitor children

    • Pixlr:

    You might have discovered of Pixlr, as an online photo editor, obtainable the online version, Pixlr is now available s an application for desktop & it is indeed a free, reliable photo editor available now. When compared the that of Photoshop, Pixlr is known for its unchallenged installation & simple user interface. Taking some elements from the online version, it permits apply features & does other stuff within a few clicks.

    Paint.Net :

    Do not get confused about the paint that comes in built with the windows , Because we are talking about something that is really different. This is one of the best Photoshop alternatives which is featured with layering editing and a customizable interface with plenty of tools at your disposal with unlimited undo, tons of effects and filters and community of passionate users.

    Paint.NET is a free photo editor tool which can be used by the individuals who are looking to give a touch up a before going to post it on the web, resize or crop an image, or if anybody wants to do basic image editing. But, if you are using any other operating system then you can check out Pinta which is an open source platform modeled after this tool and available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

    Read Also : The ultimate guide to make Windows run faster (Boost Computer Speed)

    PhotoScape:

    This app offers a lot of usable feature with a minimum user interface so that you do not need to get confused with various toolbars. The PhotoScape can function as a viewer for viewing your photos, for creating the slideshows, and works as an editor with the basic photo with batch editing. Through this tool, you can easily view or edit the images without getting any distracting elements.  Opening up this tool can make you see various interfaces which are responsible for various roles. Also, there is a Mac version of this tool by the name PhotoScape X which has some advanced features such as collage maker.

    This Photo editor works for Windows and Mac.

    Be Funky :

    Do you love making a collage? Then Be Funky which is an online photo editor will work for you surely. This photo editor is a full-fledged editor available with a simple interface. This editor allows you to get photos from the desktop, capturing the photo from webcam, or some other sources such as Facebook or Dropbox. This editor has various features which are arranged in various categories such as editing, touch up, Effect, Graphics, etc.

    All the features of this tool have a simple interface through which you can select and apply the filter or effect in a minimum time. The graphic section f this tool is really superb and consisted of several graphical elements which can be easily inserted to upload the image. Editing the pic using this tool is really quick and you can easily learn this tool. Simply, you will love this tool.

    The basic drawback of this editor is that it only works for Windows.

    Read Also : Enable / Disable Windows File Protection & Fix Windows File errors

    PhotoCat :

    The PhotoCat offers three options to deal with the images. This tool can help you to edit the image, retouch it using the pre-set filters, or creating the collage using different borders templates. This tool does not require much time to load so uploading on it is very easy.

    This online photo editor is free and has various features available in it such as editing which consists of different kinds of filters and retouch options and other extra elements. This online editor is not much colorful as compared to other editors but this has some standard features which are arranged in an easy access interface. This tool is just superb when you just want to edit the image without any ornamental design or any other kind of features. Thus making it one of the most favoured Free Photoshop Alternatives.

    SumoPaint :

    This online photo editor is a fully functional Photoshop alternative with the editing interface into web browser skin with every of feature you need such as the color picker, info about image, etc. With this tool, you can have multiple windows as you like as managing these windows is much easy. This online photo editor has set up the things altogether. The common interface of this tool only takes a small amount of time to load. This tool is also available in pro version for which you need to pay 4 USD per month, this can unlock various other exciting features of this tool.

    PhotoFiltre :

    PhotoFiltre is an online photo editor and acts a superb image editing software through which you can edit your photo easily and add the filters to make them attractive and professional.  This editor comes up with various features that are easy to be used. The user interface of this software provides complete support to the beginners to create their own masterpiece.

    This is a free photo editor and the best Free Photoshop Alternatives which is available with the image editing and effects package. Not considering the standard editing elements, the PhotoFiltre editor provides a wide range of image effects, photo masks, image adjustments, and thumbnail browser. This tool is worth to try for all the beginners as well as for the professionals.

    VSCO :

    This is one of the best Free Photoshop Alternatives software and camera app for the smartphones. This software has a minimalistic interface which does not look intuitive firstly, but they are a small selection of the professional features. In this tool, you will find a side panel that gives instant access to the grid, journal, store, and library with a button which will take you directly to the camera.

    Also, this software contains various special presets, although they are not very intuitive named the buttons to do feature thumbnail previews for one.

    This Free Photoshop Alternatives works on both Android and OS platform of the mobile.

    How to pick the best photo editors for you :

    All the photo editors we’ve reviewed above are magnificent, but divergent tasks call for different tools. If you’re already happy with the general look of your pictures & just want to augment them a little before sharing them online, a basic editor that permits you to resize, crop & apply filters will be ideal. Many of these have social media sharing built in, saving you the hassle of saving, then uploading them afterward. You are also required to ensure, that your free photo editor lets you work with large files, as having only some online tools won’t let you upload files over a certain size,& others won’t allow you to export high -resolution photos unless you pay for a subscription.

    We just picked the most widely user rated and our personal choice of photo editors as an alternative to Photoshop. But still, there are tons of many other excellent Photoshop alternatives that you can rely upon for high-class photo edits. If anyone got disappointed here due to the reason we failed to include your personal photo editor then we apologize for that with a promise we will give more on this topic some other time.

  • Time Lapse Video Making Guide

    Time Lapse Video Making Guide

    Time Lapse photography is the latest trend to hit all the photographers especially the nature lovers. You get to view a lots of natural phenomenon in quite an interesting way. So you must have come across time lapse video on any social media platforms, because these are a rage nowadays and they rightly deserve so.

    What is Time Lapse Video ?

    Time lapse videos are long videos whose speed is increased so that the slow changes can be viewed and observed better. Time lapse videos are created for those processes which are very slow and humans often lack the patience to view such processes completely such as sunset, blooming flowers, growing plants or any other thing like that.

    Time lapse videos can be made in two ways, either video is recorded continuously and then its speed is increased or photos are clicked after fixed intervals and merged later to form a video. Some slow phenomenon such as sunsets, blooming flowers and many more look stunning and interesting when viewed in time lapse videos.

    Here I have tried to breakdown the process of making a time lapse video and list down all the requirements. So let us begin with this :

    Understanding the Basics of Time Lapse Video Making

    Before actually beginning with the making of the time lapse video you need to understand what time lapse actually is?

    It is any normal video of longer interval which is played at high speed so as to give an effect to the user that time is moving fast or join a large number of pictures together to form a video. Time lapse videos are generally of short interval.

    How to make Time Lapse Video ?

    You got a picture about what is time lapse videography . Now to create a time-lapse video or to begin with the process. You must choose “Subject of Time lapse Video”

    So there are a number of phenomenons which are quite boring and slow to be observed with your eyes but when speed up in time lapse videos look stunning and beautiful. Here are few such listed out –

    • Sunset or sunrise
    • Blooming flowers
    • Under construction buildings
    • Movement of Clouds
    • Rotting fruits
    • Busy street or highway
    • Growing of plant

    All these things can result in some beautiful, fun and cool time lapse videos.

    Then based on the subject you choose you have to decide which type of time lapse video you want to choose whether Smooth or Blocky. But lets get familiarized to these terms first.

    Smooth Time Lapse Video :

    This means that either the video has been shot continuously or the separate shots are taken at shorter time intervals. Smooth time lapse videos are generally preferred for things like sunset, sunrise, movement of clouds or busy street or anything like that which last for few hours or a day not more than that.

    Blocky Time Lapse video :

    In this type of time lapse videos the separate photographs are taken after longer intervals thus when merged together kind of form a blocky video. This type of time lapse videos is preferred for shooting events which take much more time to take place such as blossoming of flower, construction of building, rotting of fruit and many more.

    Now since you have decided the subject for your video and based on that the type in which you want to shoot your video you need the right equipment to shoot it.

    Equipment required for Creating Time Lapse Video :

    Everything needs its own equipment to get that perfection and professional outcome . So if you want to take a professional time lapse video then this will be complex and tiresome. So let us take a look at the equipment needed for time lapse videography .

    There are majorly three options for you :

    • If you own a DSLR then it is definitely the best option since it will let you shoot the video in the best quality and highest resolution.
    • The next best option is the Point and shoot cameras. These are compact and pocket sized cameras. These have lesser features as compared to DSLR but still provides you with high quality videos.
    • Even high resolution camera Smartphones are good enough to make time lapse video and time-lapse Photography .

    Now you can choose which camera to be use for creating time lapse . Once you have decided with what device you are going to shoot your video, whatever it may be you will definitely need a tripod stand. It is important because it helps you in shooting a stable video not a shaky one. It keeps the frame fixed, because if the frame will vary then the resulting time lapse video won’t be shaky and will also save you a lot of effort. It ensures consistency to the video or the pictures.

    Since point and shoot camera is smaller in size you can also go for a gorillapod which also helps balancing your camera on uneven surfaces.

    The next equipment you will need is some kind of device which can instruct your shooting device to click pictures at fixed intervals since you may not be able to stay all the time with your camera. This problem is shot by Intervalometers for DSLR cameras and Time controller device in point shoot camera. But first you must check your camera’s manual since it may already have an inbuilt such time controlling device. Both intervalometers and time controller device acquire the control of your camera’s shutter and then you can set the interval after which you want to click the picture.

    Also instead of buying an additional device you can also have a number of software which also serve the same purpose but you will need to attach your laptop for all time to your camera via a USB cable. You can choose suits whatever suits you well. So I have also compiled some of the best software which are going to help you a lot while shooting a time lapse video.

    For Nikon DSLR camera users :
    • Sofortbildapp (Mac) – Compatible with most of the latest Nikon camera models.
    • D-Software Cam Control(Win) – It can be used for controlling your camera’s Shutter speed, exposure, ISO and Aperture
    • Nikon Capture 4.0(Win and Mac) – It is an amazing and powerful image editing tool. You can control nearly all the features of your camera and also lets you save your pictures directly to the PC. And definitely provides the features for the post editing of the pictures.
    For Canon DSLR camera users :
    • DSLR Remote Pro(Win and Mac) – It is among the best software to control your canon camera from your Windows PC.
    • inPhoto Capture(Win) – This software is quite easy to learn and use. It lets you control some of the latest models from your PC. It also lets you control your Olympus camera.

    Apps for shooting Time lapse using iPhone :

    Now will look at the best time lapse video apps for iPhone –

    • iTimeLapse : It is an all in one app which provides you with the features for every aspect of video making starting from clicking pictures and after editing. It lets you control white balance, iso speed, focus everything. Then once done you can edit all the frames and add audio, background effects and much more editing can be done. But the only problem is that its major features are available in the purchased version.

    Read Also : Cinemagraph app that makes pictures move ( iOS & Android)

    • Gorillacam : This app also provides you with a number of features but lesser as compared to iTimeLapse but it is available for free. For beginners it is a good way to start.

    Time Lapse Apps for Android :

    Let us look into this in detail later now here listing out few apps for android time lapse video making –

    • FrameLapse
    • TimeLapse
    • Hyperlapse by Microsoft
    • Lapse It
    • TimeLapse Camera

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    Editing Time Lapse Video :

    Once you are done with all the video recording or clicking pictures now is the time to edit time lapse video . There are two most popular timelapse editing software used for editing :

    Photoshop :

    None of us is unfamiliar with the power of Photoshop. Here also it provides you with a lot of ease. First open a picture and apply all the editing affects you want to on it. Once done create a new action by selecting Action from Windows.

    Redo all the affects to record the action. Apply this action then all of the left pictures in the batch. For doing so select Automate from Windows and there click on Batch.

    Read Also : Exciting free Photoshop Alternatives for high quality photo edits

    Lightroom :

    This is another software famous for post editing your pictures. Here also in Develop mode apply all the effects on a single picture. Then select pictures from the batch and click on Sync button. Same effects will be applied to those as well.

    Combining Time Lapse Photos :

    In the process of how to make time lapse video , the very last thing one have to do soon after editing is to combine all those edited pictures into a movie . So as your time lapse video gets ready . You need some of the apps for the purpose , here we go with it –

    • Apple Quicktime Pro7(Win and Mac) : Just open the folder which contains all the picture and select the first picture. And then it will automatically combine all the photos.
    • Time Lapse Assembler(Mac): This is another software which lets you merge your pictures but is available only for Mac. It is the best free time lapse video maker.
    • Startrails.de: It is specially designed for creating star trail photographs but can be easily used for making other time lapse videos.
    • LR-Timelapse: It is another amazing software and is available as a plugin in Lightroom. It provides you with features of both startrail.de and time lapse assembler. In free version you may combine up to 400 images.

    Once done with all this you are going to have some awesome and stunning time lapse videos. Also for beginners you may take some test shots before actually shooting the video. Also keep extra batteries and memory cards handy and always keep an eye on your camera. Do share your experience with us.

  • Cinemagraph app that makes pictures move ( iOS & Android)

    Cinemagraph app that makes pictures move ( iOS & Android)

    So , What is a Cinemagraph ? Is that a GIF or is it any short video ? Most of you might be familiar to some of you and unfamiliar to others . But i am quite sure you would have seen a Cinemagraph but never knew its name technically . It is not like any video or GIF and neither like a still image. It is in between these two. Some parts move while some don’t. Have you ever come across any Cinemagraph app .

    How to create Cinemagraph ? Well you take some hectic hard work to create a cinemagraph manually . Is there any apps or software to create Cinemagraph on PC or smartphone ? Of course there are plenty such cinemagraph app that makes pictures move .

    Here I have listed down some of the best cinemagraph apps which can be used easily even by the beginners . Works same as simple as how you create Animated GIF .

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    Best Cinemagraph app that makes pictures move ( iOS & Android)

    Now let’s take a look at the best Cinemagraph apps for android and iPhone.

    Loopsie

    The best feature of this Cinemagraph app is definitely its inbuilt video stabilizer. Thus you don’t need to worry if you have accidentally recorded a shaky video. The inbuilt stabilizer automatically stabilizes all the videos.

    Also the app supports two modes i.e. repeat and bounce modes. Repeat mode means the Cinemagraph begins from the start again after it ends once while in Bounce mode video then plays in the reverse manner. The major problem is that it lacks the customizing features such as adding after effects on Cinemagraph etc.

    To remove the watermark you need to make an in app purchase of $1.99. Also the app can be downloaded on both android and iOS.

    Cinemagraph pro

    This app is always counted among the best Cinemagraph apps and is preferred by the professional photographers as well. The best features for this app comprise the user friendly interface and the amazing customizing options.

    Like loopsie it supports both backward and bounce manner along with adjustable speed and create cinemagraphs from images and videos.

    In its free mode, it creates videos in low qualities and with watermark. The professional photographers need to buy the premium version worth $200 which comes along with the Flixel cloud service.

    Its available only for iOS. If you are owning an android then go for Cinemagraph apps for android . In case you are using iPhone then go for this app even its one of the good Cinemagraph app for iOS.

    Read Also : 25 Best Selfie Apps for every Selfie Lovers – Perfect Click

    Motion Stills

    It’s a very basic app with almost no editing features but is sufficient for creating some fun and cool Cinemagraphs. The best feature is the video stabilizing feature. It lets you create both Cinemagraphs and time lapse videos. Other amazing thing it that it can create a looping video of 3 seconds and with the amazing stabilizing feature it looks like an image.

    You can also join smaller clips to form a longer movie. Its available for free and on both platforms i.e. android and iOS. It’s the best app for creating fun cinemagraphs for beginners.

    PICOO camera

    Its like some photo editing app. It comes with a number of filters which can be applied to the picture for beatifying it further. For creating cinemagraphs, all you need is to select the area which you want in motion. It can be selected in square or circular or customized drawn by hand.

    Although the results are not always fine but the app is definitely best cinemagraph app for day to day use.

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    Its free and available on both platforms.

    MaskArt

    Want to turn your existing videos into cinemagarphs, don’t worry MaskArt is here to your rescue. What it does is that it convert videos into cinemagraph. Just simply mark the sections you  wish to animate and you are done, rest of the portions of the image remain still resulting in perfect cinemagraphs.

    This provides you with even more control over the animated parts. Other awesome feature is that you may even add custom images right over the cinemagraph.

    It’s the best cinemagraph app for converting existing videos into cinemagraphs.

    Fotodanz

    Although the app was discontinued for a while but now its back in the race. It work like Maskart, shoot the video and select the regions for animations. But the maximum video length is for 5 seconds. There are a number of additional features like you can rotate images, adjust speed and length, add filters and control of loop style.

    Creating cinemagraphs is free but you need to make an in app purchase for using some of the filters of about $0.99 – $1.60. Its available on android only.

    Video loop perfect editor Cinemagraph clip maker

    The name seems quite long and complicated right, but don’t worry working with is app is pretty easy. First step is to upload the desired video whose cinemagraph you want to create. Second step is to highlight the regions you want to animate. And then if you want to apply any filters then you can also do that.

    It also adds a watermark to your cinemagraph and can be removed by making an in app purchase of $1.99. It is available for iOS platform only.

    Cinemagraph

    This app is somewhat like the one discussed above but works in a reverse manner. The first step for making a cinemagraph is to highlight the regions you wish to animate and then shoot the video. But the major issue in this app is that it lacks an automatic stabilizer. So the problem of a shaky video can’t be solved here, you may use a tripod for that. While its best feature is that you may edit your cinemagraph frame by frame, that’s like the best editing feature right?

    You may also create cinemagraphs by tapping on certain object, this way it is put in focus and cinemagraph can be created about it.

    The above list comprises of the best cinemagraph apps and can help you become a cinemagraph pro in just a matter of minutes. According to me the best app for the daily use is the Maskart or the PICOO camera while the professionals should prefer full premium version of Cinemagraph Pro. Do share your favorite app from above list in the comments below.