I recently discovered an interesting new feature on my Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ built-in phone camera. The My Filters feature, found under the magic-wand-looking-thing in the top right corner of the Camera app, sits alongside a range of built-in filters. But rather than giving you a set of standard looks to choose from, it offers a way to mimic the look of any photo that you choose.
Click the + button to add a new filter, and the software invites you to upload a photo. After a second or two of analysis, it offers you its best approximation of settings which match the style of the uploaded photo. Upload something edited with a bright and airy look, and it’ll attempt to match it. Choose a photo with a muted color palate, and that’s what you’ll see looking through your phone camera.
I love the potential of this, but in practice, it takes experimenting with a few photos to really hit on the style you’re trying to emulate. Just like preset packs come in different variants for different lighting conditions, you’ll probably end up with a range of filters to cover different situations.
Even so, it’s a lot of fun and if there’s an easier way to quickly emulate the edits of your favorite Instagrammer, I’d like to hear it. Or, how about using it as a fast method of accessing your own signature edit style on your phone camera?
I edit all the photos that go on my Promptographer blog and social media with a certain look; with the My Filters feature I can grab those settings from an edited photo and use the filter to create phone photos with the same look instantaneously — no editing in Lightroom required.
This isn’t a sophisticated tool: There’s no fine control over what edit settings are changed by the filter, but it’s a quick way to explore different effects with a little more nuance than the standard range of built-in filters. You won’t improve your editing skills with this feature, but you might just find it’s an effective way to instantly style your phone camera shots, ready for uploading to your social media accounts.
