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B+WThe pictures shown here were all shot
on my recent trip to Finland (and sadly
for my waistline, demonstrate how much
eating and drinking I got up to). All were
shot either on the native camera in my
iPhone or using Hipstamatic with the
Loftus Lens and DC film, and are all post-
processed in VSCOcam. 1, 2 and 4 were
processed using the B3 filter and 3 and 5
using the lovely X5. And, should anyone
be interested, the smoked salmon
(picture 1, smoked over young spruce
shoots in the forest just outside Helsinki)
was, by a large margin, the best I have
ever eaten!The best news for readers of this
magazine is that the B&W filters in
VSCOcam are really excellent. Pleasingly,
they are quite limited, which I think is a
good thing as I’ve found with the colour
presets that sometimes the differences
can be minimal. Obviously, I downloaded
them all for the purposes of this article
and sometimes it’s difficult to tell the
difference between them (I understand
that they have to make their money
somewhere, but have a good look
through before you decide to purchase).
The standard B&W presets (B1-B6)
are great, and should be enough for
most people, and the X-series, which
runs the gamut of toned prints, is
absolutely beautiful, particularly X4
and X5, which I am in serious danger of
becoming addicted to!All images © Tim ClinchTHE PICTURES
in the UK from 79p right up to the heady
heights (for apps) of £4.99 for the excellent
Limited Edition Collection. Most interesting
for readers of this magazine are the B&W
filters, which are wonderful.
Next we come on to the ‘community’ side
of things, and VSCO have done this very well
indeed. The website (vsco.co) is excellent
and informative. The grid is packed with
interesting photographers and their work,
and the journal, featuring photographer
profiles, photo essays, tips on using VSCO,
gallery details, updates, tutorials make it an
excellent place to hang out.
I’ve said it many times before, and
probably should get it tattooed somewhere,
but post-production can never make a bad
picture good, or a mediocre picture special,
but it can make a good picture better.
VSCOcam is an impressive app. Cool,
well thought through, useful and, most
importantly of all, controllable. Do I really
need this and Snapseed? Not sure, but with
the sad demise of Alien Skin’s AltPhoto,
I find I’m using VSCOcam more and more.
Give it a try. I think you’ll like it.APP NEWS
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