Top 5 Photography Apps for the Galaxy Note 3

Images in this post were all taken with and edited on the Galaxy Note 3, with the exception of the header. All are from NYC, as I haven’t yet had a chance to travel with it overseas. As member of a pretty cool team of #VZWbuzz influencers, I received the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 free to use and review. A line of service with Verizon was not provided to me. No additional compensation was provided nor did I promise positive feedback. All opinions are, as always, my own.

As a follow up to my first post about the new Samsung Galaxy Note 3, I wanted to publish a list of photography apps that I have been using on the Galaxy Note 3. I’m not a full time Android user, but I do enjoy testing new phones. Take my advice with a grain of salt because that’s how it’s meant.

My lineup of gear is quite large now and spans many different manufacturers, my process is still largely geared toward mobile. Or to whatever gets me from taking a photo to actually sharing it and letting the world view it, as quickly as possible. So I am always testing new apps, doing research into apps and generally playing around with them way more than I actually need to.

Instagram isn’t included in this list of five only because for me it goes without saying, it’s always the first app I download and use on any smartphone. However, I use it for sharing and community building. I don’t take or edit my images in Instagram, so I didn’t include it with my five for the Galaxy Note 3 because I wanted to share apps that are used for editing, not for the purposes of social media. Though many of these apps do both.

Keeping in mind that Android is not my main platform but one that I just enjoy tinkering with….these are:

My Top 5 Photography Apps for the Galaxy Note 3

1. My top app on any platform is always VSCO. I can’t tell you how glad I am that it’s finally available on Android for the Galaxy Note 3. For after years it was iPhone only. VSCO allows you to shoot in app, or upload images already taken outside the app. It allows you to edit and share without going anywhere else on your phone. If you’re not into filters, VSCO still has a full set of editing tools that just help you improve what you captured in camera. My favorite is the tool to perfect skin tone via a slider system, in case that wasn’t perfect upon capture. It also allows you to embed copyright information, including your name, into a photo’s meta data. You can also label it as licensable with creative commons.

2. I also enjoy using Adobe’s Photoshop Express for simple edits such as crop, straightening, and mostly for Noise Reduction. It works as nicely on the Android platform as it does on an iPhone. It is not ideal for working with color as it tends to quickly distort images from a contrast and saturation standpoint.

3. Snapseed is another good option that I first used on iPhone. It is most useful for all the basic edits and for specific retouching on certain areas of an image. As with other apps, its filters and color effects are not as desirable. The app is intuitive and easy to use, for almost anyone, in my opinion and is constantly listed as a favorite when I talk with other photographers. Also, Snapseed’s “auto correct” feature is actually an improvement often times, rather than a freaky setting that should be avoided. I like this for time saving.

4. Aviary Photo Editor is one that my friend Verena had to download immediately upon borrowing my phone and finding out that I hadn’t yet added it! It’s a popular one for many Android phone owners with an interface that’s easy to use and enough features to devote an entire post to. The filters are a bit heavy-handed for me but they do save time if you’re really on the go. I do like the ‘Metropolis’ filter for black and white images.

5. Camera ZOOM FX has great features built in that make it a better option for shooting than the default Samsung camera, such as stable-shot mode that only captures a photo when the phone is steady enough to take a clear photo, a voice-activated shooting mode (very rare) and tap-to-focus.

I also like that there is a voice activated feature in Samsung phones, including the Galaxy Note 3. With this option enabled all you have to do is say, ‘Cheese’ and the camera will take a photo.

Honorable mentions go to: Pixlr Express, Flickr, Vignette, QuickPic, Snap Camera HDR, ProCapture, Camera FV-5, Diptic, Studio and Photofy.

Apps I would like to see come to Android: Picfx, Faded, ProCamera, Steller, Hipstamatic and Filterstorm.