Snapchat has enjoyed its reign among youth and young adults, but it's got to look out for strong competitors like Instagram and other upstarts like Lumyer. Compatible with both iOS and Android, Lumyer offers a comprehensive set of high-resolution effects that go beyond dog ears or flower crowns.
Its aim is to augment reality by animating photos, enhancing videos, and enabling quick sharing. You have access to lots of editing tools to customize visual content. While not a social network like Snapchat or Instagram, it’s a photo enhancing tool with lots of power!
Using Lumyer to create what they call a “Lumy” is straightforward enough. Shoot a photo or video while using the app or choose one from your camera roll. Next, add up to 2 effects and make further modifications to size and position.
Not enough? Throw in filters to achieve the aesthetic you’re looking for. Then share your creation across multiple social media platforms within seconds.
Animate a selfie on Lumyer. Take a photo, add effects to make it move, and save it as a GIF file. For other apps – like Snapchat – a video is the only option for moving selfies. But videos take up more storage space and consume more data. Also, the result is different from a clip and a GIF.
For example, you want a selfie where only your hair's blowing in the wind while all other parts of the image are still, it’s easier to start with a photo and add dynamic elements, compared to standing immobile for several seconds in front of a blowing fan while the camera takes pics.
Take note: if you want videos, choose a filter beforehand, so it's automatically applied to your clip once you start shooting.
The effects you add to a Lumy range from natural to fantastical. Some effects look realistic while others look completely out there. Whatever mood you’re in, there’s an effect that matches it.
Of course, selfies are meant to be shared, so a sharing option is included in Lumyer. With other apps, you can only post on the network. So if you want to post on several different social media accounts, you’ll have to download your selfies first. It’s not super intuitive but doable. With Lumyer, you can instantly post your selfies on Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc. This makes Lumyer, as noted, more of an editing app than a social media app. That’s great news because it means you can choose a wider audience for your creativity.
So far, we’ve mentioned only selfies, making it sound like Lumyer is meant exclusively for personal use. But there’s more to Lumyer. As an editing app, it can handle photos of any kind. So you can jazz up posters, banners, and other kinds of visual marketing collateral. You don’t have to hire graphic designers with specialized skills in animation anymore – not when you can do it yourself.
Have you downloaded and tried Lumyer yet? If not, get it for free from the App Store and Google Play. In-app purchases are possible if you want access to more effects and filters, but for now, you can experiment to see if it serves your business needs.
