Magic Hour For Android & iOS – Create, Edit & Apply Custom Photo Filters
Can’t find a photo editing app that grants room for creativity yet isn’t a hassle to use? Magic Hour For Android and iOS is a (snazzy looking) photo styler that comes with lots of built-in photo filters, its very own Filter Market stacked with countless of downloadable filters and the option to create custom filters. That’s right. You can create your own filters, edit existing ones and apply them to snapped or imported photos in just a few taps, producing a unique result each time. More after the break.
Unfortunately for iOS users, while the Android Market has a free variant of the app, the iOS App Store does not. However, if you wish to experience the ‘magic’ in Magic Hour to the fullest, you’ll be better off buying the full version anyway. The free variant is severely limited in comparison to the full version. It only lets you download up to three filters from the Filter Market, does not allow you to save edited/created filters, alter the default resolution or load images from the camera roll/gallery. Though, for Android users who seldom snap or share photos, the free version, with its 40 built-in filters and the option to edit, create and apply your own should suffice.
Magic Hour’s interface is extremely well-crafted. Its smooth, efficient and quite easy on the eyes. It provides you with the option to rearrange available filters as per your choice (Manage Filters > Edit) and more than one way to preview photo filters before applying them. After snapping a photo or importing one from the gallery/camera roll, the app displays previews for all available filters, arranged in separate tabs for built-in, custom and downloaded filters. You can switch between list and grid view. To view larger previews, simply tap on a filter, then swipe across the screen to switch between filter previews and select the drop down menu above to switch between tabs.
From the same screen, you can edit (Recreate) the filter, compare the filtered photo with the original one by holding down the Original button, Save it to your device and Share it with your friends. Through the Share option, you can set the photo as your homescreen wallpaper, share it via Email, MMS or over Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, Cyworld and Me2day. The app integrates with your photo sharing service and social media accounts, providing you with options exclusive to each (uploading a photo to a Facebook album of your choice or adding a geotag to Twitter uploads, for instance).
The filter creation/editing interface provides you with all the essential tools to create great looking effects in seconds. You can edit the image’s tones and contrast with the Curves tool, Adjust the saturation, brightness and contrast of the image add a Vignette, Frame and/or overlaid Texture. You can even set the level of transparency/opacity for added vignettes, frames and textures.
The options at the top of the editing interface allow you to undo the last action, reset the photo/filter to its original state and switch to black and white tones.
Needless to say, Magic Hour is one of the best multiplatform mobile photo styling apps out there and worth every penny of its meager $1.99 price tag. And the free version for Android, even with its limitations, is quite satisfying.
Download Magic Hour Free For Android (Free)
Download Magic Hour For Android (Paid)
