Expose Your Photos To A Surreal World Of Juxtapositions In Ripped From Reality

The interface of the app is nothing special, though it’s pretty self-explanatory. When you launch the app for the first time, there is a helpful tutorial that will show you the basics and other features of the app, which is pretty nice.

When using Ripped from Reality, you have the option to either import a photo from your Photo Library or snap a new one from within the app. At the bottom of the screen are the options for editing your photo into a surreal masterpiece. The top of the screen has more options, including: New Photo, Help, Undo, Settings, and Share/Save.

The meat of the app is found at the bottom toolbar. There are five options: Change, Presets, Add Rip, Adjust, and Before.

Change will give your image a random paper texture and color, though you can always change this later in the Adjust option. For the most part, it seems to give you a random texture and color, and it’s up to you to rip out certain sections. Presets are there in case you aren’t sure how to do your rip. There are some pretty standard ones, such as a Cut In Sketch, Cut Out Photo, and various shapes (including hearts, circles, Xs, and more). If you’re looking for something more unique, then there are preset rips such as Shred Sketch, Scratches, Scratch Sketch, and more. If you can’t think of how to do your own rips, the presets do give you a plethora of cool options.

The Rip/Erase option allows users to draw in their own rips, or erase them. When this option is selected, all users have to do is draw on the image like they would any other drawing app – the selected area will end up being “ripped out,” creating that surreal, juxtaposed effect.

The Adjust option has several different settings that you can adjust to further tweak your image. Settings include: Rip Direction (cut-out, cut-in, sketch inside or outside), Paper Texture (and color), Pencil Outline (strength and color), Pencil Shade (amount of shading and the strength), and Rip Shadow (height and strength). If you tweak with each of these settings, your image can look very special, something that you’ve never thought you’d see.

The last option, Before, allows you to compare your “ripped” image with the original. You may be surprised with the results.

If at any point during your editing, you find yourself unsatisfied with a change, you can always Undo the action with the button at the top. However, there doesn’t seem to be a “redo” button, in case you go back to many steps. Hopefully this can be added in the future.

Once you’re done with your masterpiece, make sure you’re happy with the resolution output by checking the settings. Once you pick the resolution you want, share it! You can share your image via email or Facebook, or you can save it directly to the Camera Roll. The option to print via AirPrint is there as well, and you can even save your rips as a preset, should you want to use it again in the future.

I found the app to be very unique and easy-to-use, and surprised by the amount of depth there is to customizing your final image. Adding some more social networks would be a plus, since most photo apps these days include Twitter, Flickr, or even Tumblr, at least. I did experience quite a few crashes, especially when constantly importing a new image or leaving the app open for a while. Performance should be polished up a bit in the next update.

If you are looking for an app that stands out from the rest and isn’t just another filters app, then give Ripped from Reality a try. The concept itself is very unusual, which will certainly turn a few heads when you share your images.

Make sure to grab Ripped from Reality for the limited time sale price of $0.99, before it goes up. There is also a separate iPad version.