Review: Photo Booth

Photo Booth is a camera app that lets iPad users take photos with different effects. I'm not talking about Instagram-like filters, but rather effects that produce photos ranging from the unusual to the grotesque.

As the iPad has both front- and rear-facing cameras, users can also take pictures of themselves, provided they can simultaneously balance the roughly nine-inch tablet and hold a pose. In short, Photo Booth can keep users amused for ages.

Being anti-touch-screen (note: I am from the generation before the generation that swipes TV screens, or any illuminated display for that matter), I must admit that touch-screen technology really comes into its own with apps. The ability to select options via touch, as opposed to complicated menu selections or scrolling through drop-down menus, makes for a great user experience.

The app has been designed with simplicity in mind. It opens up with the different camera effects already displayed, giving users an idea of how their photos will come out. To select an effect, users simply touch the image displaying the effect they want to achieve. The images are also labelled with the names of the different effects used.

Once an effect has been selected, users simply frame their shot and touch the camera icon to take the photo.

Above these icons is a filmstrip of photos the user has already taken, which the user can browse by scrolling.

In addition to taking standard photos, the Photo Booth app lets users take images using Thermal Camera, Mirror, X-Ray, Kaleidoscope, Light Tunnel, Squeeze, Twirl and Stretch effects.

Thermal Camera lets users take pictures with great colour effects. Of course, the iPad is not actually able to detect the heat of the objects or people in the frame, but the photos look somewhat like heat maps nonetheless, with blue, red, green and yellow colouring. Users can also tilt the iPad to change the distribution of the colours, so it's based on angling, rather than actual heat.

X-Ray produces black and white photos. I found this effect was great for taking creepy pictures. Kaleidoscope is great for arty types, resulting in interesting images, depending on the subject matter chosen. The Mirror effect is self-explanatory. It's a great tool to put to test the theory that symmetrical faces are aesthetically the most pleasing (hint: they're not).

Light Tunnel lets users frame a circle of the photo by stretching out the outer pixels. The result is a tunnel effect, with the colouring of the tunnel depending on the outer-lying colours of the actual image taken.

Finally, there are effects for those who are into the grotesque - Squeeze, Twirl and Stretch. The Squeeze effect lets users squeeze one section of a photo. Results included teeny noses and large foreheads; in other words, users can turn themselves or their friends into Wednesday Addams-like creatures.

Twirl distorts the frame so that users can photograph their noses twisted to near right angles to their faces. In short, users can make themselves look rather ugly. Stretch is just as effective if it's ugly pictures users are after. Using the Stretch effect, users can take self-portraits, making their nose take up half the space of their faces.

Of course, all of these effects can be used on any subject matter; I just found using them while taking photos of people the most fun.

As a photo junkie without any photography skills, I love photo-taking apps. Of course, Photo Booth is not going to give users photos that look like they've been produced by a professional, but the app can produce a range of fun and freaky photos.

It's also incredibly easy to use; even a toddler will be able to take pictures with the app. They might drop the iPad, too, but most parents are happy to hand their devices over to keep their kids occupied these days, so I'm guessing that's only a secondary concern.