After testing all the photo filters on your iPhone, you will eventually come up with your favorites. These are the best filters to use on your photos.
1. Dramatic Warm - The Perfect Filter for Any Photo
The Dramatic Warm filter, as the name suggests, adds drama and warmth to your image (while also reducing saturation a bit). At first glance, it might seem like this filter is ideal for achieving a vintage look, which is true, but you can use it for any purpose depending on the subject or composition of your photo.
Dramatic Warm is often used for cityscapes and landscapes, reminiscent of 80s travel magazines. When turned up to full strength, the filter creates a moody, somewhat edgy look. Turning it down a bit brings out the softness of the warm sepia tones.
Dramatic Warm is the most versatile iPhone filter, you can use it at different intensities for most of your photos. And if you like the warm and muted look, it might be perfect for you too.
2. Cool Glow - Best for winter and nightlife photography
When the image doesn't lend itself to the dramatic Warm filter, the Vivid Cool filter is likely to be appropriate, as it is the opposite of the previous filter in terms of light and color. It increases the brightness and blues in the image.
The Cool Bright filter is great for images that already have a blue and grey cast. It literally makes the image feel colder, making it ideal for enhancing winter photos. Just be aware that it will increase brightness, so it works best on slightly underexposed photos, especially when there are a lot of whites in the image, such as snow.
The author applied the filter to a cityscape photo, but since there is no snow in the area, you wouldn't know that the photo was taken on a winter day. So the filter helps convey a sense of cold.
The author also tried the filter on stock images of brutalist architecture or vibrant nightlife and it worked perfectly.
3. Silver Tone - Unique Black and White Effect
Silvertone is one of the three black and white filters for the iPhone. The big advantage of this filter is that it is essentially a monochrome version of the Dramatic Warm filter. When you turn it all the way up, you will see that it has the lightest yellow tint. This warm color gives it more life than the other black and white filters.
The Silver Tone filter also increases contrast, so it’s ideal for images that are flat. I applied this filter to some cloud shots and it gave me some interesting results and added an overall vintage feel to the photo.
4. Monochrome - Best for simple black and white photos
As someone who isn’t a black and white photographer, many people tend to rely on filters to get their black and white shots, and Monochrome is the number one choice on the iPhone. It produces a completely different result than the Silver Tone filter – lower contrast and no warm tones, leaving a nice blank canvas for deeper edits to enhance black and white photos. But the black and white effect isn’t the best thing about this filter…
Applying the Monochrome filter and reducing its intensity gives a duller, less colorful look that many people tend to aim for in their edits. It can be used as a shortcut when you don't want to do a lot of editing and then apply one of the 3 filters listed above.
5. Dramatic - Best for Portraits
The final option is the Dramatic filter. Many people like to use this on their selfies, as it’s perfect for enhancing portraits. It reduces saturation a bit and increases contrast, almost like color correction, giving you a cleaner look that’s ready for further editing. However, you can also leave it alone – the desaturated colors will create a softer look, while the increased contrast will bring out the details in the image.
These iPhone camera filters are loved for their versatile yet unique effects. If you take landscape and portrait photos on your smartphone every day, then give these filters a try and see how they can improve your photos.