By now, you’ve probably heard of the “VSCO Girl” phenomenon — a trend that appeared seemingly out of nowhere during the spring and summer of 2019. If you haven’t, here’s the 411: A “VSCO Girl” is a Gen Z woman who prefers a very particular way of dressing and speaking with some specific products and equipment that project a unique style.
We’re going to tell you exactly how to achieve this unique style, since the real live VSCO girls have been doing the honors for quite some time. Here, we focus on another VSCO girl favorite: the VSCO photo app that brings it all together — for The Gram, of course. With simple filter-based editing tools, apps like VSCO offer tons of unique styles for your images and let you do it in a few quick taps.
Whether you’re an aspiring VSCO girl or just dabbling in photo editing, here’s everything you need to know about mastering VSCO and some alternative apps to consider.
What is VSCO?
VSCO (short for Visual Supply Company, based in Oakland, CA and pronounced “Visco”) is a popular photo app for iOS and Android, launched in 2011, that became famous for its movie-inspired filter presets. There’s also the social media aspect, but the app breaks out of the typical pressured structure of such platforms with a new and harmless approach to selfies, social media and photography — and many are flocking to it.
Image used with permission of the copyright holder
VSCO highlights two things: beautiful filter-based photography that lets you create beautiful portraits of yourself, family, and friends, and a relaxed, non-judgmental social media presence that avoids popularity contests with “likes,” artificial settings, and judgment. On VSCO’s feed, you show your photography appreciation by following that photographer — without liking or commenting. While VSCO continues to target the youth market with its recent Snapchat analog filter, VSCO isn’t just for VSCO girls.
For creative photographers of any age or gender who take portraits of themselves or others, VSCO can help you start creating beautiful images. Now, for the VSCO curious, here’s a rundown on the app, which can be used on both iPhone and iPad as well as various Android devices.
How to use VSCO
The first thing you encounter when you launch VSCO on any platform is the user-based feed, where a wide variety of photography styles and subjects appear. A quick scroll reveals a vast array of objects, landscapes and photo-concept art — and yes, selfies and portraits. The Discover tab, which is divided into categories such as Water, Humanity, Sun and Shadow, Wanderlust, Style and Solitude, allows you to favorite images from which you would like to draw inspiration for your emerging style. You can even share your photos to VSCO.
VSCO comes in a free version with subscriptions that cost $5 per month or $20 per year. Free VSCO gives you 15 presets, while the subscription offers more than 200. The subscription also unlocks advanced editing tools like HSL, borders, video editing, challenges and photo tips on how to best use the app. Presets are identified by cryptic combinations of letters and numbers — the VSCO Girl filter seems to be a particular favorite of the vibrant C1 filter.
You can see previews for each filter in the grid — up to three per row — and categorize them by Favorites, Recent, For This Photo, Warm, Cool, Vibrant, Black & White, and more, so you don’t have to cycle through hundreds of variations to find the right look. Even if you haven’t shelled out the money for a subscription, VSCO shows you previews of all the filters and even lets you customize them, to make sure that if you decide to pay for the app, you know exactly what you’re getting. You can also sign up for a free seven-day trial.
If you’re really into creating alternative looks for your photos, 15 presets won’t cut it. While free presets go by letter-number combinations, many paid presets are named after specific historical films and film grain. For example, KT32 is Kodak T-MAX 3200 film while KU4 is Kodak GC/Ultramax400. Other film brands represented in the VSCO collection are Fuji, Agfa and Ilford. So there’s also a bit of a history lesson being taught in the VSCO app, however subtly.
Here’s how to get started with the free version:
- Launch VSCO from the icon on your mobile device.
- Tap the Studio icon (the one in the middle) and tap the Plus sign in the upper right corner to import a photo into VSCO from your Camera Roll or Gallery.
- Tap the photo you want to work on, then tap the Edit button (second from the left), which takes you to the preset module. Tap the Preset button to display options: All presets lined up at the bottom of the screen, sets of three, four, or a single photo display.
- You can apply a preset immediately or alternately tap the Edit button to access slider-based editing tools such as Exposure, Contrast, Adjustments, Sharpen, Saturation, White Balance and other familiar adjustments before applying the preset.
- Apply Presets — You can see your image with sample presets applied. You can apply any free filter instantly. The presets available through subscription will also appear so you can see what they will look like, but you won’t be able to apply them until you subscribe.
- Create your own preset recipes. A third button at the bottom allows subscribers to create their own preset edits to save and apply to future photos.
- Save and share to VSCO’s own social feed, create a journal, post to Instagram, or save to your Camera Roll.
VSCO is a fast and simple mobile app that offers a generous free version, but if you intend to create unique and beautiful photo presets, a subscription will come in handy. But there is no rush. You can still apply various edits as well as adjust the intensity of the filters to produce many unique effects.
VSCO alternatives
While VSCO has grown in popularity this year in part due to news of the VSCO Girl, it’s not the only player in the game. Preset mobile photo editors like RNI, CameraBag and others offer many variations of this photo theme.
RNI films
RNI (Really Nice Images) is a film filter editor that aims to mimic the look of analog film for your digital images. It does this by digitizing analog slides and negatives, then embedding the profile into a mobile camera app. It recreates real-life film subtlety, definition precision, color separation, skin tones and grainy texture. It features negative, slide, instant, black and white and vintage film categories and offers free film filters with additional filter packs that you can purchase later.
There’s also a range of image adjustment tools that let you crop and rotate, change brightness, contrast and colour, enhance shadows and highlights, or add a vignette or real film grain. It even supports RAW photos. When you’re done editing your photos, you can share them on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter right from the app. RNI is only available for iPhone, but the App Apk is available for Android, if you are smart enough and willing to download it on your Android device.
CameraBag Mobile 3
CameraBag Mobile 3 is another alternative that arranges filters in a vertically scrollable, full-width list that you can easily scroll through and preview how your photo will look with each filter applied. You can stack filters by designating one as the base filter, so that subsequent filters build on the effect of the base filter, not just the original photo. The stars and arrow buttons sort your filters, so your favorite looks always appear at the top of the list. The process starts over with each photo. CameraBag also offers traditional editing controls for cropping, exposure, shadows, midtones, highlights and more, along with slider adjustments. When you’re happy with your final edit, you can use the app to share directly to your social media accounts. It is only available for iPhone.
What’s in a name?
Whether you’re an aspiring VSCO girl or just getting your feet wet with photo editing, filter-based photo editing can take any portrait, landscape, or abstract subject and bring it to life with an alternate history film feel, vintage colors, or carefully applied grain, in between other changes. Whichever app or aesthetic you choose, you’re sure to take your photos to the next level with these filter-based apps.
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Categories: GAMING
Source: newstars.edu.vn