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iPad, iPod touch, & iPhone app reviews from our editors—and you!
Filed Under:
Developer:
NEXVIO INC.
Age rating: 4+
Compatibility: Compatible with iPhone and iPod touch
Requires iPhone OS 2.1 or later
FocalLabCurrent Version: 1.4
See more Photography app reviews under $5 »
"FocalLab does a good job at what it sets out to do, particularly if you’re looking to add effects like soft blurs, zooming effects, or motion blurs to add a sense of action to your photos." - Macworld 4 of 5 star review.
Unlike other blur/soft apps, FocalLab creates GRADUATED blur surrounding an in-focus area. Simply drag and pinch with two fingers to move and change the size/blurness of the sharp area. Now you can emphasize the subject of interest and enhance composition without expensive professional lens.
FILTERS:
- Dreamy Blur
Frequently used by wedding and fashion photographers - a soft/mist filter to give your portrait or landscape shot a dreamy and glowing effect.
- Soft Focus
A smooth blur to add Depth of Field effect, separating cluttered background from the subject of interest.
- Zoom Blur
Simulates a technique used with a zoom lens equipped camera by zooming the lens while taking the picture. This "zooming" effect brings a super dynamic look.
- Motion Blur
Add motion blur to the background and create a dynamic scene with ease. To change the direction of the motion, just swipe your finger across the screen.
- Vignette
An almighty vignette filter with choice of 3 shapes, adjustment of center and light fall-off.
FEATURES:
- Convenient resize tool with "Smart Crop" option to fit photo to iPhone screen.
- "Selective Focusing" by dragging your fingers around to control the location and size of the area that remains sharp.
- Instant preview of the effect as you adjust the in-focus area and other parameters.
- Full resolution support up to 1200 by 1600.
- Full screen support - toggle on/off the toolbars with one tap.
- Support both portrait and landscape mode.
- Full featured photo viewer with zoom and pan controls to check the effect in detail.
- Option of reverting to original photo if you want to start all over.
- Photos are saved to iPhone's "Camera Roll" or iPod Touch's "Saved Photos".
- Overlay integrated help at your finger tip if ever needed.
Visit our website at
nexvio.com for sample photos.
FocalLab Review
Image editor focuses on blur effects
Plenty of image editors vie for your attention at the App Store. Rather than try to compete by offering to do everything, FocalLab concentrates on selective focus, adding a graduated blur to in-focus areas. With four types of filters as of this writing, the app from Nexvio handles this specialized editing well.
It’s All A Blur: Dreamy Blur is one of the four filters featured in FocalLab for adding selective focus to your photos.
The controls of the app are very simple and well designed: you can select which area of the image to focus on by dragging your fingers over that part of the photo. Each function has a simple slider that lets you adjust the amount of Zoom or Blur you would like to add. You can also choose the Revert to Original option at any time, if you feel like starting over. Once you’re happy with the result, you can save the image directly to your camera roll.
Overall, FocalLab does a good job at what it sets out to do, particularly if you’re looking to add effects like soft blurs, zooming effects, or motion blurs to add a sense of action to your photos. Users looking for other effects, though, might find the concentration on selected focus a little limiting.
FocalLab is compatible with any iPhone or iPod touch running the iPhone 2.1 software update.
[Beau Colburn lives in Boston, where he loves to edit photos.]
Critic Reviews of FocalLab iPhone App
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