When Kodak moments happen today, no doubt you reach for your cell phone as often as your camera. Improved technology, along with a sea of smartphone photo apps, is making it easier and easier to point, click, upload and share. Even the pros shoot for fun with their phones.

We asked The Times-Picayune’s staff photographers to name their favorite camera apps and give us some tips for sharp shooting with Androids and iPhones. As a little lagniappe, they threw in a few snapshots.

Photoshop Express by zoodress.com Free at Android Market. The app allows for photo cropping, rotating, color adjustment and artistic effects.

“I shot the photo (pictured below) with a Droid X of my father’s crypt at All Saints Mausoleum in New Orleans, with the reflection of a stained glass window. At the mausoleum, the reflection was clearly visible to the naked eye. In the photograph, it was not that pronounced. I used the app, Photoshop Express, to add contrast and saturation to bring out the reflection. Photoshop Express allows me to adjust exposure, saturation, contrast and brightness. Also, I can crop, add borders, tint and apply other effects, all on my phone. Many of the adjustments I use everyday on my laptop with Photoshop CS5, I can now make directly on my phone.” — Rusty Costanza

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RUSTY COSTANZA / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE
"This is a photo I shot with a Droid X of my father's crypt at All Saints Mausoleum in New Orleans with the reflection of a stained glass window," said photographer Rusty Costanza. "At the mausoleum the reflection was clearly visible to the naked eye. In the photograph it was not that pronounced. I used the app, Photoshop Express, to add contrast and saturation to bring out the reflection."

Retro Camera by Urbian Free, or $2.99 for an advertising-free version at Android Market. The app create a vintage, analog look, with settings for “vignetting, film scratch, black and white and cross processing effects.”

“ vintage cocktail dresses under 50 I like the Retro Camera app for Androids. The app offers five simulated cameras, all in a square-format, featuring cool retro looks that would take hours to pull off in a digital darkroom. I find the camera app works well (when shooting) certain subjects, like the old movie projector featured (pictured below), and not as well with my puppy or a plate of cookies. The only drawbacks are a shutter lag (the delay between pressing the shutter button and the actual taking of the picture) and a fairly small file size (1.5 to 2 MB).”—Ellis Lucia

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ELLIS LUCIA / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE
"I like the Retro Camera app for Droids, cocktail dresses " said photographer Ellis Lucia. "The app offers five simulated cameras all in a square format featuring cool retro looks that would take hours to pull off in a digital darkroom."

Panorama setting Free setting on Android X

“Cell phones are the great equalizer when it comes to photography. It proves you don’t need a high-end camera to make a great shot. A good picture starts in the eye. I like the panorama function, which came with my Android phone. This function creates a photo of unconventional dimensions, that is, very wide horizontally but thin vertically. This strange ratio creates interesting pictures and makes me think differently when I’m shooting. Most of all it’s fun.” simple long evening dresses inexpensive bridesmaid dresses inexpensive bridesmaid dresses —John McCusker

Hipstamatic by Synthetic Corp $1.99 through iTunes.

“The Hipstamatic app I use on the iPhone has breathed new life into my camera phone. The app allows you to (virtually) change the lens, flash and film, simulating the look and feel of shooting with a vintage camera, adding borders, lighting effects, etc. I enjoy matching different lens and film settings to produce cool, unpredictable results.” — Brett Duke

SwankoLab by Synthetic Corp $1.99 at iTunes

“So many people I know got into photography after spending time with their dads in the darkroom back in the days before digital. Seeing an image pop on paper was like magic. This app is the closest thing you get to that experience, but in a smartphone. You can take a photo you’ve already shot, open up the program, (virtually) pick the chemistry, come up with different concoction and then put it in the tray. There’s even a timer, and you wait for the photo to develop. The picture pops up, and hangs itself on a clothesline, like in a darkroom. It’ fashion prom dresses ;s just fun to go back to the old-school way.” — Chris Granger

Diptic by Peak Systems $1.99 at iTunes

“This isn’t a photo-shooting app. It creates layouts. If you’re at the beach, for example, you can take a picture of the sand, and a picture of the water, and a picture of a sand castle and a picture of your family, then put them together, add borders and create a mini-layout like a newspaper or magazine. It’s fun to see all the photos on one page, in a creative design. You become your own magazine editor.” cocktail dresses with sleeves cocktail dresses with sleeves; —Chris Granger

Shooting  with your smartphone

The Times-Picayune's assistant photo editor G. Andrew Boyd offers these tips for picture-taking with your smartphone.

He shoots with a Android wedding dress sale mn wedding dress sale mn, but most of the advice works for any camera phone.

• Motion/camera shake is the most common problem for smartphone camera shooters. The best technique is: steady yourself. If you are standing, hold the camera in two hands and jam your elbows into your sides. This will create a ‘human tripod’ that will help your overall image sharpness.

• Recognize that the lag time (usually about a half second or so) is a fact of life with these point-n-shoot machines, so try to anticipate it: plan ahead, and if you’re trying to shoot that shot of the bride walking past you down the aisle, learn your camera’s lag time so you can shoot a bit early and catch the action.

• Check your camera phone’s settings to see what quality options are available to you. You’ll probably want to shoot at the highest option most of the time, unless you know what you’re shooting is only for quick email/messaging use.

• Make sure to keep your fingers out of the front of the camera’s lens! This can be a big problem if you’re not careful. I usually hold my camera phone by my fingertips to take care of this problem.

• Droid specific tip: if you’ party wedding dress party wedding dress;re shooting an outdoor scene and the result looks too light, a good trick it to reshoot with the camera’s flash turned on. The flash will fire, not affecting the image, but the camera will use a smaller aperture because of the flash, darkening your image by about 25 percent.