By Jon Vemo
There are so many different editing tools available for editing your pictures and many who are relatively new to photography are sometimes overwhelmed or confused which is the right tool for them. Lightroom, Photoshop, OnOne, and Luminar are some of the most popular, several offering their software on Windows, Mac, iPhone, Android, and others, and all able to achieve similar end results. All are good tools, depending on what you wish to accomplish. I use Lightroom and Photoshop on both my Mac, iPhone and iPad.
But what if you are looking for an easy-to-use tool for applying a new ‘spin’ to your image (pun intended), maybe even morph it into something a little more abstract? There are several apps available to do this, such as ‘Circular Tiny Planet’, ‘Planetical – Tiny Planet’ and ‘Rollworld’; all are apps that allow you to accomplish just such effects.
I have been using Rollworld, which is a fun tool for creating very unique images by morphing your photo, creating a swirled view of your image, a tiny world or island, introduce a worm hole effect, and more. Select an image on your iPhone or Android device and apply adjustments from the different sliders, or select one of several preset adjustments, then chose to save or share via email or social media – all from the app. Some apps even allow you to import a video from your device, pause the video at the desired frame, then apply the app adjustment sliders.
This is a picture I took near Flagstaff, AZ in the fall of 2019:
After importing into Rollworld and adjusting several sliders, the end result is this:
A completely different perspective, right?
This close-up image of a desert wildflower was taken a couple years ago:
This is the same picture after applying several different sliders within Rollworld, softening and enlarging the petals of the flower, and blurring and shrinking everything around it:
Another example is this image taken at White Sands (then) National Monument of the patterns in the white gypsum dunes:
And here is the same image, after applying other sliders in Rollworld to create a swirled image effect:
This last example is of an ice crystal formation on a window in Whistler, British Columbia:
By applying different effects, I can create a slightly more abstract version of the ice crystal image:
These apps certainly will not be your primary tool for editing your photos. But it is a fun addition to your toolbox, for creating unique and different perspectives.
While Rollworld is currently not available in the iPhone app store, the others are available for iPhone and Android devices. If you are struggling with how to use these apps, you can find a variety of instructional videos on YouTube.
Jon Vemo is a Photo Guide with Arizona Highways PhotoScapes.
