Casually mentioned by Joe Cieplinski on App.net a few days ago, I had to check out this new iOS app, Waterlogue, because I was intrigued by the effect it applied on Joe’s photo. After taking a look at the screenshots attached to the app’s description and taking a tour of the app’s website, I was sold. 

Waterlogue transforms any photo or image into a beautiful watercolour. More importantly, the final result has a rather realistic, natural look, unlike many other ‘photo apps with filters’ that end up giving your photos the same gimmicky, artificial feel.

The developer added a thoughtful detail to the app’s description on the App Store, and since my primary iOS devices aren’t the latest and greatest models, this was a very useful bit of information:

Waterlogue runs advanced image processing software for the highest possible quality watercolor rendering. It produces wonderful images on any device that runs iOS 7, but your rendering times will be shorter on newer, faster devices. Below are the processing times for some typical devices:

• iPhone 5s.…. 10s
• iPad mini with Retina display.…. 10s
• iPhone 5.…. 18s
• iPod touch, 5th generation.…. 31s
• iPhone 4S.…. 30s
• iPad 3.…. 22s
• iPhone 4.…. 92s

 

(Times are in seconds; Processing used example image “West 14th street” at Medium size) 

I’ve been feeding Waterlogue with many different kinds of photos, and I must say that I tend to prefer how it renders landscape shots, photos of objects and still lifes, rather than portraits. But this is purely personal taste, not a specific issue with the app itself, which is really great.

Below you can see a photo I took with Hipstamatic on my iPhone, and two different renderings created by Waterlogue, just to give you an idea of the different watercolour styles you can obtain. If you like to check out more examples of what this nice app can do, the app’s website has a Made with Waterlogue section.