Welcome readers! If you are an Android user and need a fun, easy to use app to do photography with, I have the app for you. It is called picplz and not only is it a photo app that allows you to change your photos on the fly, its a complete community on the web. Let’s talk about it and its features.
Once you download the application from the Android Market you will notice it is not too dense. If space is a concern I would move it to the SD card, which will make the app just under 2 Megabytes in size. Of course with just about any app the data it stores might push it up to something like 3.88 Megabytes in size, which is currently how large it is on my phone.
Once you have installed the app and opened it, you will have to create a user account. Once you have created your user id and password, you will now have full access to the app and its linked website. More on the picplz website later.
When you open the picplz app on your phone it has a pretty basic setup. There are six icons in the main window and an additional camera icon in the top right corner. If you want to snap a photo, simply press the camera button and snap your photo. You of course have full access to all the cameras normal functions such as macro, zoom, flash, etc. Once you have taken your picture and are happy with it select it and let the fun begin. A number of filters pop up and allows you to apply these to your photos. All of the filters can be used with or without borders. I am not a fan of borders so I choose to use the filters without borders. I will share some example pictures I took with the application last week at Caddo Lake State Park in Northeast Texas while hiking the trail with my wife.
The first photo that we took was of Prairie Phlox. I choose to use the Enhanced Definition Filter to sharpen the image a bit.
We came upon an old Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built pavilion along the trail and it had a few interesting ferns growing out of the rocks. For that retro look I used a filter called The 70s.
Here are the same ferns done with a different filter that is pretty pixelated and called Trip to the Optometrist.
If you are old enough to remember instant film, you can add a slight greenish hue to your photos using the Instant Film filter.
I was able to get an other-worldly type shot using the Little Plastic Filter of this small creek at Caddo Lake State Park.
Sawmill Pond is one of the focal points of the park and I thought about giving it an old feel as well by using the Hi Contrast Monochrome filter.
Those are just a few examples of what you can do on the fly using picplz. It’s very easy to select filters for the photos and process them on your phone. Additionally, after your photos are processed you can do a multiple upload to all your favorite social media sites simultaneously such as: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, etc. I don’t know about you, but I like putting all my photos up to my favorites sites with one upload.
You can be as involved with the picplz community as you choose to be. It has similar social features you might find on facebook, tumblr, or twitter such as following other users, liking and commenting on photos, etc. Plus, the picplz community features can be accessed right from the app so can see just about anything you could see on the main webpage.
Overall, I believe that picplz is a fun, easy app to use for the Android and it adds some much needed features to your camera phone. I encourage you to try it out for yourself as it is easy for a novice and has enough to interest a more advanced photographer as well. Hope you enjoyed reading!
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I am half outdoorsman and half technonurd hence my name thenaturenurd. I live in Texas with my wife, Melynie, 14 year old son, Cailean, and our four cats. I’ve been interested in photography since High School and mostly take landscape photographs but have also ventured into other areas of photography. My photography idol of course is Andel Adams, he did fantastic work. As a gadget nut, I hope to bring you clear concise reviews of Android photo applications and maybe even some tips for landscape photography. I look forward to the interactions…