Hipstamatic Just Got A Sidekick In The Form Of Hipstamatch

Ever since picking up my first iPhone back in 2007 I've been big into iPhoneography. As the phones have improved so has the camera quality, with the current iPhone 4S being capable of producing some stunning imagery. An important aspect that contributes to the iPhone's continued success as a popular photography platform has to be the plethora of great apps available such as Camera+, Instagram and my personal favorite, Hipstamatic. Hipstamatic is a photography app that aims to "bring back the look, feel and unpredictable beauty, and fun of plastic toy cameras from the past." Hipstamatic achieves this by offering the user a large selection of different lenses, film and flash types creating a dizzying array of results that can really transform a simple picture into something incredible. The main weakness of Hipstamatic is, ironically enough, its greatest strength as well, namely the aforementioned huge selection of options you have to decide upon before taking a picture. The lenses and film types are named in a suitably "hipster" way which looks good on paper, but can really be a headache when trying to decide quickly which one to use for a given situation. That's where Hipstamatch from Fresly ($0.99) comes in. Hipstamatch is a new universal companion app for Hipstamatic (though not officially part of Hipstamatic) that allows the user to quickly and efficiently preview results for a specific situation by matching subjects, lenses and film types.

It is important to note that Hipstamatch doesn't produce any photos by itself, but it allows the user to use a photo from the app and, by swiping through available lenses and films, see live results on the test photograph. Hipstamatch even allows you to change the lighting conditions so you can see how the different effects will look. The lighting situations Hipstamatch can replicate include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Exterior
• Exterior (with snow)
• Close up with sun light

  Hipstamatch is a a real treat for any Hipstamatic user and perhaps it's even a must-have. It's like taking a hipstaphotography (ok so that's not a word, but it should be!) course and having the information available at all times. The only thing that bothers me somewhat is that these features should be part of the Hipstamatic app itself and not an add-on app that costs money. However, until Hipstamatic integrates these features into a future release, it is a welcome addition to my photography folder. What are your thoughts on paying even more, albeit indirectly, to improve the Hipstamatic app?  Will you be getting Hipstamatch?  I'd also love to see some of your Hipstamatic creations so feel free to share in the comments below (just click the + Image button in Disqus). I might even dig out some of my own.

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