Very few apps really make me want to review them, but in the case of LightLeaker I’m more than eager to do so. LightLeaker joins the list with LensDistortions and RNI Films as some of my favorite apps for iOS that appeal to the photographer who wants much more than what the current suite of editing platforms offer simply because of their emphasis on creating a clinically perfect photo. I’m a person who loves the aesthetics of disposable cameras, souped film, scratched lenses, etc. Essentially, I really am in the pursuit of something that modern digital photography just doesn’t give me due to an engineer’s goals being much different than mine.
I’ve learned how to find perfection in imperfections.
Gear Used
LightLeaker was tested on the Apple iPhone 6s.
Features
Specs taken from the LightLeaker iOS listing
Professional Light Leaks Effect Photo App
âBack in the good old days of traditional photography, light leaks marked a mistake in the development process. In today’s day of filters, it’s a stylistic choice, and Lightleaker offers a choice of 30 different types.â
– usatoday
âMany Artistic Effects
– red,yellow,blue…colorful light leaks!
– 30 type light leaks Effects
âPhoto Sharing
Easy to Sharing Photo with your frinends!
– Twitter
– Facebook
– Email
– Instagram
– AirDrop
– Photo Album
âResolution
– Full device resolution
Ease of Use
After you download LightLeaker, you’ll have the option to use your phone’s camera or edit photos you’ve got on your phone already. The former just loads up your phone’s camera. But the latter lets you take a photo and bring it into the editing suite.
LightLeaker works with a majority of photos, but not with every one in your galleries. You’ll need certain aesthetics and as you swipe through their large array of different light leaks, you’ll see exactly why. Lots of these images look like real light leaks and issues that have happened with film before. If you’ve shot with crappy cameras or crappy film gone bad (or even lenses) you most likely have seen these effects in real life and organically.
LightLeaker lets you not only go through effects but also lets you roll a dice to get a random effect. You can keep hitting that as often as you wish. When you’re editing you can dial down the leaks too. But you can’t reposition the leaks in any way. Perhaps this was done in an effort to keep things looking real and organic.
As you go on with editing, you’ll find the certain aesthetics that really work for LightLeaker. With a majority of the images edited in this review, I imported photos from film that I’ve scanned. In most cases it works well, but I really wish the option was available to edit some of the effects. For example, if you have a black and white photo, the light leaks will be in color anyway.
Image Quality
Conclusions
LightLeaker is $2.99 on iOS. And for that price point, I’m really happy with the results I can get. Someone worked hard on getting these results, scanning them and putting them into photos that simply just work. I like it and when used in combination with other apps, like LensDistortions and RNI Films, I’m sure I’ll get results that will continue to make me really happy.
