FX Photo Studio iPhone app review

FX Photo Studio is a useful little app that comes from inventive creators; Macphun. It has a vast array of filters and effects to choose from including cool / creepy overlays and smart looking borders much like many other editing apps. But it has one feature that, in my opinion separates it from the rest. The ability to select a filter and paint it onto a selected part of your photo. So, for example you could take a photo of your friend in a field, apply the 3D filter and paint it onto them leaving the background clear and making your subject stand out with a cool effect. Your imagination really is the only limit to what you can do with such a great tool.

In the app you’ll find effects laid out in different sets of such as Art, Fantasy, Distortion and Symmetry as well as tools to help you crop, rotate and adjust your image. It even has it’s own Colour Splash which let’s you turn an image black and white and then select parts of it to appear in full colour, which is a very striking effect indeed. 

You can also add text in a fun way. Rather than just adding plain text you have a choice various different styles of banners and labels like those old embossed stickers and even masking tape.

Ok, so FX Photo Studio is never going to beat the likes of Snapseed or PhotoWizard but it is a fun, easy to use app with some useful features. Oh and one nice little unexpected touch and original idea. Most of these editing apps take their time when rendering or processing the final image and FX Photo Studio is no different. But what it does do is give you what they call “Amazing Facts” which pop up whilst you’re waiting. This may sound silly but the facts are genuinely interesting and do take your mind off that seemingly long wait (in reality it’s probably never any longer than a matter of seconds anyway!) It’s a nice optional feature which makes FX Photo Studio all the more pleasurable to use.

After nearly two years of being a dedicated iPhoneographer, I have no idea how this app passed me by until recently. FX Photo Studio is a gem.

See my top ten iPhoneography app review parts one and two…