Review of Layrs - Simple Yet Sophisticated Photo Layering App for iPhone » AlliOSNews

Photo editing on iPhone and iPad’s has continued to grow in depth of ability and easy of use.  Nowhere is that more exemplified as it is in Layrs for iPhone.  Layrs brings a simple, easy-to-use interface with dozens of filters that you can layer onto your photos.  While not as sophisticated as other layer editing apps available in the App Store, Layrs will meet the needs for a large portion of iPhone users without requiring a massive investment.  Or like zero investment.  Layrs is one of the best values in the App Store at the price of Free.

layrs â€" Free â€" Download Now [1]

Layrs allows you to take a photo from your Camera Roll or take a photo by accessing your camera on your iPhone.

Filter Intensity in Layrs for iPhone

Filter Layers in Layrs for iPhone

Once you have a photo in the app, you have a wide range of editing that you can do to your photos.  To start you have dozens of filters.  These filters give you the ability to add things like water droplets to your photo, paper textures and mood filters.  You can adjust the intensity of these filters by tapping the filter and sliding your finger up and down your iPhone screen.  Sliding up intensifies the effect while sliding down lowers the effect.

For some photos, the ability to add a full image filter like this is just what you need.  For example, if you have a photo of a landscape and want to add rain droplets as if you were looking out a window, this is a great way to do it.

The amount of filters in Layrs is impressive and considering that this app is free with all of these filters (it use to be an in-app purchase), you will be challenged to find a better value.

There are time though where you only want to add a layer to a photo in a particular part of that photo.  That is where the power of Layrs really shines.  To add a layer to a photo, tap the Add Layer menu in the upper left corner above your photo.  You can then add another copy of the main photo you are editing to the layer list, a photo from your Camera Roll or iCloud Streams or can take another photo using the camera on your iPhone.

Selecting an area to add a layer in Layrs

Once you have a photo added as a layer, to mask an area that you want to work with in Layrs, simply tap and hold the area on the photo.  Layrs will then automatically start masking that area.  The longer you hold down your finger on the screen, the more area the app will mask.  It takes a bit of learning to get this right but it is intuitive and the app has an easy way to reset should you go to far in masking an area.  The app also has a demo mode that you can view to learn how to better mask your photos.

Once you have your masking complete it is a matter of using the filters or other photo

Adding Multiple Layers to Photos in Layrs

controls to manipulate that layer.  You can of course add multiple layers to a photo to give you ever increasing effects on your photos or different parts of your photos.

To the right is an example of a simple layer that I added to a photo of our friend Lucky The Cat [2] .  I have the original photo then a second layer where I’ve masked just the edge of her black fur and some of her blanket then added the Cosmos layer to the photo.

While I have focused most of my attention to the ability to add effects and layers to photos in Layrs, it should be noted that the app is a powerful photo editing tool as well.  Within the app you can adjust things like Exposure, Contrast, Saturation, light Temperature and Hue but can also sharpen a photo, create a focus point, add motion to a photo and create a radial effect on the photo.  While there are certainly more powerful editing apps in the App Store, Layrs offers a nice selection of basic editing needs that the majority of users will need.

The Sharing Menu in Layrs

Once you have added the layers to your photo and done your editing, getting your creations out of Layrs is easy.  When you are done with your editing just tap the Done button in the upper right corner.  This will pop up the Share menu.  From it you can save the photo to your Camera Roll and share it on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.  From this menu you can also start a new session in Layrs, change the resolution of the photos that you share and provide feedback on the app.

Having used Layrs over the course of the past few weeks, I continue to be ever impressed with the app.  I fully admit that I am not savvy when it comes to layers in photos but with Layrs, I’ve found it easy to do them and quite fun.  Certainly there are other, more powerful layering apps available in the App Store but for what Layrs offers at no cost and its ease of use should make it on everyone’s iPhone to give it a try and have a bit of fun.

During the writing of this review there was a significant update to the Layrs app that has brought two key features to it.  First, there is a new and cleaner user interface that gives you more screen space for editing.  The developer has done this by shrinking down the tools and filters menus from three down to one at the bottom of the UI.  Now to edit a photo you tap the appropriate tool or adjustment you want to use on the bottom menu then select the specific item on that menu.  It is a far more elegant way of doing it and I personally think this gives Layrs a great new look and feel.

The second big new feature in the updated Layrs is the ability to blend filters.  This is a big step forward for the app.

The New User Interface of Layrs

Layrs new version provides 19 blending modes.  This allows the user to combine different layers together and uniquely blend them into one layer.  There are several different categories of blending modes: contrast, lighten, darken, component, inversion, cancellation and normal.  Each category has different modes that lighten the image (lighten, color dodge, linear dodge, screen), darken the image (darken, linear burn, multiply), ones that light and darken the image while boosting the contrast (soft light, hard light, overlay), ones that compare pixels between different layers (difference and exclusion) and ones that adjust the color space (colors, hues, saturation and luminosity) to match, contrast or correct the color of one layer against another layer. Blend modes not only unlock unlimited creative possibilities for the photographer, but also is useful as a corrective editing tool.

To give you a better feel for how powerful Layrs is as an app, I’ve secured several photos put together from the Layrs user community.  These show you the original photo and the edited photo.  All of these were created using the Layrs app and are from large community of users who use the app.  Some of these are very impressive and highlight the flexibility and creativity you can have with this application.  The beauty is you don’t have to be a professional photo editor to use Layrs.  All you need is a little time and creative thinking.  Take a look at the gallery at the end of the review.

Layrs is a free app designed for iPhone.  All of the filters are unlocked in the free app which use to be an in-app purchase.  The app requires that your iPhone be running iOS 6.0 or later.

 

 

 

 

layrs â€" Free â€" Download Now [3]

 

Gallery of photos created using Layrs for iPhone

 

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1. ^{^} layrs â€" Free â€" Download Now (itunes.apple.com)
2. ^{^} Follow Lucky The Cat on Twitter (www.twitter.com)
3. ^{^} layrs â€" Free â€" Download Now (itunes.apple.com)

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