This post is sponsored by Cricket Wireless.
You could be having more fun with the camera on your smartphone, and I’m not just talking about selfies and pictures of your cheeseburgers. These five free apps that will enhance your creativity. Create collages, stop-motion animation videos, memes and time-lapse videos. Use an easy photo-editing tool to apply filters, straighten crooked pictures and eliminate red-eye. And, of course, show off your fab photos by sharing them quickly with friends or make them easily accessible on your computer.
Photoshop Express
Adobe
iOS and Android
Photoshop Express is a streamlined photo editor that allows you to do the most common editing functions: eliminate red-eye, rotate, flip, frame and straighten (or skew) photos. Twenty-two filters are included, including black and white, silvered and dream. The “magic wand” tool helps make bad photos look good. If Adobe Photoshop on your computer made you feel like a dummy, don’t worry. You’ll have no problem mastering Photoshop Express.
GorillaCam
Joby
iOS
Joby is better known for its compact, bendy tripods, but its photo app for the iPhone and iPod Touch is a lot of fun. Use it to create stop-motion animation or time-lapse videos. If you’ve ever taken a slightly tilted picture of a landscape you’ll appreciate GorillaCam’s bubble level and grid overlay features. Android users, try Lapse It by Interactive Universe for $1.99.
Pic Collage
Cardinal Blue
iOS and Android
Create collages from your photos with Pic Collage. Choose a layout and then select photos. One nice thing about this app is that you can choose pictures from your phone, Facebook or Instagram. You can also add pictures from the web by doing an image search. In addition to using photos, you can fill collage space with stickers or text. When you’re done, save the collage to your phone, email it to a friend, or share it to just about any social media platform.
PicMeme
iPhonig, LLC
iOS
Memes, those photos with the ever-changing captions, traverse the web at lightning speed, so if you want to be part of the action (or part of the problem, for those who feel over-memed) you need a tool that’s simple and fast. PicMeme comes with several popular templates and you can create a meme in about one minute. PicMeme has a built-in function to share to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr or Muzy. You can also save your meme to your own photo album, but what fun is that? Android users, try Meme Generator by ZomboDroid.
Dropbox
Dropbox
iOS and Android
OK, Dropbox is not really a photo app. Although it may seem like the stodgy uncle to these other apps, it’s possibly the best way to share photos if all you want to do is share them with a specific group of people and you don’t want to have a conversation about them. It’s also a great way to share photos with yourself. Enable “Camera Upload” in settings and all the photos and videos from your phone will be automatically uploaded to a Dropbox folder in your account called Camera Uploads. Enable “Use Cellular Data” and they’ll upload even if you’re not connected to WiFi. But be careful of this option (says the person who accidentally ran through 75% of her data plan testing this feature). Alternately, turn off “Camera Upload” and just manually upload the pictures and videos you want. The manual upload is a little tricky to find. On the main screen of the app, touch the three dots on the top right and then touch Upload. You can access Dropbox on any computer and view and download your pictures.