Best apps for professional photographers

Talented professional photographers like yourself can benefit from the latest tools to complement your creativity. But with such a high ratio available, it can be challenging to know which to use.

To be candid, we’ve put together a vibrant list of mobile apps that can help you throughout each area of your business. You’ll be able to bring exposure to your services and sharpen how you operate.

This guide discusses the best apps for professional photographers, which can benefit you in these areas:

• Mobile camera
• Outdoor lighting
• Editing tools
• Content creation
• Marketing platforms
• Financial management

You might not always have your camera on hand. These are the best apps for professional photographers to make the most out of the ones in their phones.

If you use an Apple phone, Camera +2 can give you the closest experience to an actual camera available through mobile. 

With shooting features that can let you control your photography, like:

• Shutter speed — change exposure distance.
• ISO — brighten or darken a photo.
• White balance — adjust colours to match a light source.

The app also offers multiple options to suit your work, like monument mode. It lets you remove things in motion (like crowds) to help you capture buildings.

An Android app that can give you a similar selection of photography settings is Bacon Camera. Its developers claim to turn your phone into a DSLR.

That accurately describes its features, with its ability to:

• Create timed shots — control the series or lapses.
• Slowdown flashes — capture ambient lighting.
• Ubifocus — five photos shot at once to let you play around with focal points. 

As a professional photographer, you might have a specific niche. Still, if that includes anything outdoors, then natural light is crucial. 

You can’t control the weather, but with PhotoPills, you can always plan the best shoots for levels of light you want. It helps you decide on the right location and time of day to set up.

The app can help you track:

• Sun — twilights and the best hours to shoot.
• Moon — phases, as well as rising and setting times.
• Stars — milky way mapped out for you.

PhotoPills also includes an augmented reality feature that visualises light sources and their paths so that you can create the perfect shots. Its planning tools even allow you to save locations and preparations.

Even with a shoot that had a solid plan and utilised the best tools, it could still be helpful to edit your photography. You can give pictures touch up or create some unique visual art.

One of the best apps for professional photographers is the mobile version of the Adobe Lightroom software. It gives you complete control over every aspect of your photo editing process.

Lightroom’s features include:

• Light settings — highlights, contrast, exposure.
• Enhancements — clarity, texture, grain.
• Colour edits — mixing, grading.

You also get the opportunity to improve your photography skills with lessons from other photographers on editing pictures. The app has both a free version with the mentioned features and a premium version, which adds:

• Healing brush — remove objects or elements.
• Masking — edit specific areas without changing the overall image.
• Cloud storage — backup your photos with an additional online capacity to store them.

As a professional photographer, you rely on your ability to reach new clients. So a great way to market yourself is to create content to share on social media platforms.

You may be familiar with the content design tool Canva, which makes graphics accessible to anyone. Well, Creative Cloud Express is Adobe’s answer to it, and its abilities are perfect for photographers.

You’ll be able to take your edited work straight from Lightroom and put it through on Creative Cloud Express, where you can tailor it to suit the purpose you need. Templates include stories, posts and ads for:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Pinterest

The biggest reason that the app is better for photographers than Canva is its Photoshop-quality filters and effects. Adobe Photoshop is an essential software you’ll likely be familiar with on your laptop or desktop.

A combination of simple content creation and sophisticated photo manipulation means you’ll be able to make quick posts without compromising visual quality.

Stunning photos and exciting content need platforms for you to share them on. That’s why these are two of the best apps for professional photographers to market themselves.

To share your photography and get inspiration for new work, Flickr is a social catalogue of images. It’s positioned as a community of photographers to bring people together through their pictures.

Active participation on the platform could be a great way to network with other professionals. Clients may also use the app to seek out the best photographers, so make your work visible.

An app that likely needs no explanation, Instagram is a visual social media platform. Although it’s not just for photography like Flickr, it’s a great place to market yourself.

The platform floods with businesses who want to increase their potential reach to customers. You can use it to show off what you do and convince potential clients of the quality of photos you can provide them.

Aside from the photo-centred apps, it’s essential to consider making your business day to day easier. That means you can find the best financial management tool to use through your phone.

A business account with built-in accounting software, Countingup is the best app for professional photographers to manage their money. 

It’s tailored to small business owners to provide you with the help and guidance to save you time on admin.

The app includes credible accounting tools like:

• Invoicing and billing — create, send and store your invoices to clients.
• Expense categorisation — automatically sort your costs with HMRC approved labels.
• Receipt capture — use your phone camera to add paper billings to your accounts.
• Cash flow insights — receive regular updates on the money that comes in or out of your business.

You can apply for Countingup in minutes, and you can try it for free within the first three months to see how it benefits your business.

Get started for free.