Create Photo Stories with Diptic for the iPhone and iPad
By: Joel Klassen
Photography is my passion and I like to believe that a good photograph can tell a story. Sometimes I find it hard to find one picture that can sum up a story. If I have two or more, a photo collage is a great way to tell a story with photographs. Diptic, from Peak Systems, is an app which allows you to create customizable and interesting photo collages. The name comes from the word diptych which is an art piece that has two panels. You can also create triptychs or tetratychs which have three and four panels, respectively. In the app, you can snap pictures on your iDevice or take them from your photo albums, Facebook or Flickr and create an interesting photo collage with many customizable options.
What I noticed from the start is how easy this app is to use. The developers were smart by making the interface very similar to something Apple would make, and most things Apple make are very easy to figure out. When you first open the app, pop up boxes guide you through the app, and they can be brought up any other time by clicking on the familiar information button in the top left hand corner. You first choose a layout which are presented to you on pages which you can view by swiping sideways.
When you have chosen a layout you touch a rectangle to add a photo by either taking a photo or grabbing one from your photo album, Facebook or Flickr. Taking photos from Facebook or Flickr is super easy: Diptic takes you to the Facebook app or the Flickr website where you are sign in (if you aren’t already) and you just have to click allow, so Diptic can access your photos. Your iDevice switches back to the Diptic app and you have access to all your Facebook and/or Flickr photos in a convenient list. Once you have selected a photo, you can move it around and pinch to zoom, which once again felt very natural. When you’re done, you can mirror the images or rotate them and go right on ahead to effects where you can change the brightness, contrast and saturation. You can also change the border colour. The default colour is white but most of the time, I think most pictures look better on a black background. You can change the dimensions of your layout at the beginning, but you can’t change the thickness of the border. I think that this could be a good update in the future as well as the ability to freely rotate photos (not just 90?) and to add Instagram-esque filters.
After customizing your image, you can export it in normal or high resolution quality. You can save it to Facebook, Flickr, Posterous, save it to your photos or send it in an email. It’s that easy. If you’ve ever used an Apple product before, you should be able to master this app from the start. The more you use it, the more creative you’ll get, finding new ways to make interesting collages. Diptychs have been used for centuries and the app Diptic doesn’t bring anything new to the table. Nevertheless, the app executes its function very well and it’s interface is very useable.
Our Rating: 5/5
Download Link ($1.99)
Developer: Peak Systems
Sample Images made on Diptic
