There has never been a better time to dive deep into iPhone photography. With Twitter’s Vine popularizing impulse sharing of short video clips, Instagram ruling the photo sharing space and having acquired the video startup Luma, it may seem as if the outcome of this rivalry will be determined between Facebook/Instagram, Twitter/Vine and Google and its Google+ Photos.
But people seem to be forgetting about Yahoo and its Flickr photo sharing service. After being neglected for so many years, the awoken Internet giant under Marissa Mayer’s leadership has made some notable strides in the mobile photography space.
And with today’s major update, Yahoo’s Flickr iOS app has gained some interesting mobile photography features that instantly make it on par with the aforementioned giants. Here’s the full breakdown…
Yahoo explains:
Today, we’re proud to announce a completely new photo taking experience in our Flickr App that takes full advantage of the depth of capabilities that Apple’s iPhone camera has to offer and more.
In our view, taking a photo should be an enhancement of what you’re experiencing and seeing through your device. We’ve come up with a camera that gives you full control over how your final photo looks, even before you snap the shot.
Yes, there’s a newly flattened app icon, check out the ‘before’ (left) and ‘after’ (right).
First and foremost, the new Flickr version 2.20.1134 has gained a range of dynamic new filters for some stunning effects on your photos. In line with similar photography apps, you can scroll through the effects and see live previews, both before and after you snap a picture.
Yahoo has also added the ability to customize each filter “to get the exact effects you’re looking for”.
Another biggie: there are new pro-grade editing tools that let you enhance, crop and sharpen your snaps, as well as adjust color, use levels, add vignettes and more.
Flickr’s camera has been enhances with the useful grids so you can frame your shot perfectly and align the horizon in-camera. I love how the new camera and editing tools feel lively, thanks to the gorgeously animated UI transitions that feel right at home in iOS 7.
Here’s what the all-new Flickr camera looks like.
You can also pinch to zoom in and out and lock your focus and exposure points, these two features allowing for some rather creative results, as our resident iPhoneography expert Justin explains here and here.
It’s almost like having a complete photo studio in your hands. Yahoo is clearly making significant progress here drawing from its recent addition of KitCam and the GhostBird Software teams.
Oh, and it certainly won’t hurt that Flickr is now a natively integrated sharing service in both OS X Mavericks and iOS 7. To boost usage further, Yahoo is inviting you to tag your shots with #NewFlickrCam, and post them on Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.
“We will post a selection of our favorite shots on the Flickr Blog very soon,” the team promised.
By the way, the iPhone 5 remains the most popular camera on Flickr and Apple doesn’t shy away from proudly underscoring the fact on its Why iPhone web page.
Download Flickr for free from the App Store.
The app requires an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad running iOS 5.1 or later. It’s optimized for the iPhone 5’s taller display, but has yet to gain the native iPad interface.