Five alternatives to Instagram on Android

Instagram is finally available for Android and its been downloaded by over 6 million people already, making the total number of Instragram users nearly 30 million.

Sadly, not all Android devices can access Instagram, like the HTC Wildfire. This annoys a lot of people.

So, here I’ve put together a list of six alternatives to Instagram that are all free.

Check them out…

RetroCamera

My personal favourite. It lets you take excellent old school shots using five different camera styles based upon the images you get from the Lomo, Holga, Polaroid and Diana cameras and the Hipstamatic toy cameras of yesteryear.

The six camera settings (examples below) offer six different sets of vintage formatting with vignetting, heavy saturation and contrast, colour casts, film scratches, cross processing and frames to give you that instant nostalgic look.

The six camera settings include:

  • The Bärbl – provides faded shots with a neutral colour cast with medium vignetting, minimal scratches and a dirty old stock photo style frame.
  • The Little Orange Box –  provides high levels of cross processing with a purpley-red colour cast and a scratched square film look with some vignetting and a scratched and faded looking frame.
  • The Xolaroid 2000 – provides shots with a bluey-green cross processing, heavy contrast and high saturation levels, minor scratches and, of course, the instant polaroid-style frame.
  • The Pinhole Camera –  provides shots with a kind of full-bleed developing look, with medium-high contrast and low saturation levels and heavy vignetting with an old school film negative-style frame.
  • The FudgeCan – provides shots with a dark green tint, heavy vignetting, blurry spots but minimal scratches and an overall bad processing look. No frame, just square cut shots.
  • The Hipsteroku – provides shots with a medium-high contrast level and intense colour leeks on a old school white stock frame.

The screen layout – as seen in the screengrab below – is good and each camera has it’s own screen style based upon the classic cameras. Pressing the shutter button can be a pain, particularly if you’re taking self-shots, but I think you can change it to a hardware button to make it easier, I think. The viewfinder screen is pretty small but you get used to it.

Overall, it’s an easy to use App and produces some excellent results. The layout of the screen is pretty, but you need a large screen phone to get the best out of it. For free, it is an excellent App and one I would highly recommend.

Retro Camera is available on your Android phone here.

Pixlr-o-matic

Pixlr-o-matic doesn’t offer the social aspects of Instagram but they have tons more filters, not to mention awesome borders, tweaks, glare, glitter and more.

You can get it from the Google Play Store by clicking here, and it’s completely free. Many consider this the best photography app for Android and iOS period, so it’s definitely worth checking out.

Flickr

If you’re a Flickr fan, like me, then the Flickr App is awesome and a must have. It has everything you know and love about Flickr, including its huge community, and it adds filters, boarders and all the sharing to Facebook options that Instagram has too.

Get it from the Play Store right now.

StreamZoo

Streamzoo has all the filters and borders you want, plus the social aspects and even makes taking and sharing photos into a little game where you have to collect badges and more.

Streamzoo has 14 filters, as opposed to Instagram’s 17 but they also have 15 borders and tons of other options.

Get it right here.

Hipster

Last but definetaly not least is Hipster. Hipster borrows a lot from Instagram but it also offers a few things to differentiate it, such as postcards and geo-tagging.

The user interface is very straightforward and opens up instantly to something familiar. It is one of the quickest and easiest of the 5 mentioned above.

Get Hipster right here!

So, there you go, five alternatives to Instagram.

Numbers…

I started a little project a while ago whereby I take photos of numbers. It sounds a little dull when I say it like that but some of the photos I have managed to take are quite cool.

Numbers are dotted around all over the place and the style, fonts, meanings etc. are all a little different.

Anyhoo, enjoy…

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The full set is available here.

I Heart Instagram for Android

A few days ago the social networking camera app that had only been available to iPhone owners was released to us lowly Android users.

The Android app runs nearly identical to its iOS counterpart with only one major difference: the lack of a tilt-shift effect for Android users.

All you need to do is snap a picture, choose a filter to transform its look and feel, then post it to Instagram and you can share it to Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr too. And it’s free.

Here are a few of my recent Instagram uploads…

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Original Thomas Hawk Prints Finally Available

Thomas Hawk, who has to be one of the most prolific photographers on Flickr with over 67,000 shots uploaded, has finally made his shots available for print on SmugMug.

Hawk has started by offering 5,000 of his shots for sale and promises to upload more if the interest is there. And I’m sure the interest will be there. Hawk takes some fantastic shots – available to view here on his Flickr Photostream – and I will certainly be ordering some prints.

Single shots seem to start at $49 for 8 x 10 prints, which is a bargain, and you can even order giant 30 x 30 canvas prints, mugs, t-shirts and even funky postcards for a bargainous $4.

SmugMug is a pretty cool site. It’s an elegant way to display and share your photos and even make some pennies from your shots too.

The Standard Account, which is $39.95 per year, provides you with unlimited storage space, unlimited data transfer and a generous amount of pre-designed templates. The Power Account, which is $59.95 per year, gives you the ability to brand your photo galleries by replacing the SmugMug header and default designs with your own, which most professional photographers seem to do.

SmugMug is best suited for professional photographers and graphic designers who want to sell and display their digital images with potential clients. If you simply want to share photos, I recommend using Photobucket, Google’s Picasa or a free Flickr account. If you want to try and flog some of your shots though, then give SmugMug a go.

Kensington Gardens & Hyde Park

When I lived in London I had the joy of living right next to Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. It was always lovely to walk through the park on an evening or on a weekend.

On a sunny day the park would be full to bursting with families, sunbathers and kids. On a cold day it was full of tourists looking a little lost. On a rainy day the only people in the park were the dedicated joggers and me taking photos.

Here is a selection of some of my favourite photos from one of my favourite places in London. Enjoy.

Inquisitive

Physial Energy

Bench, Sun & Shadow

Avenue of Trees

Inquisitive Squirrel

Feet in the Park

Full Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens set can be viewed here and my Flickr Photostream is available here.

52 Weeks, 52 Photos…

It’s done. I have finished my 52 weeks, 52 photos project on Flickr.

I had marvelled at a number of people on Flickr who had managed 52 week projects and thought I would be able to do it. Sadly, despite managing to upload 52 photos in 52 weeks, I don’t feel like I finished exactly what it is I started.

I had planned to create 52 photos that I had planned but that only worked for the first thirteen. After that, I couldn’t find the time to plan the photos and so started to use photos that I had taken randomly during the week. I also couldn’t find the time to upload a photo each week, hence the last 15 photos being uploaded on December 31st.

Anyhoo, I like all the photos I uploaded – each means something special to me – and I’m glad I did it.

I wish all those well who plan to undertake a 52 weeks, 52 photos project in 2012 – or all those brave enough to tackle a 365 project- good luck!

You can view all 52 photos here. Enjoy.