Digital Media: Using Photo Apps to Create a Glitch Effects
It’s been a while since I talked about photo apps. In fact, it’s been so long you probably thought I had lost my love for digital media and photo apps. You would be wrong. I simply hadn’t found anything new that I really loved and thought did something different. However, if you follow teen TLTer Elliot on Twitter, then you would know that they take a lot of cool photos and lately, a lot of their photos have this cool rainbow tilt effect. So I asked Elliot how they did that effect. If you ever want to know how to do something cool with tech, ask a teen.
The effect I am seeking to create is this rainbow effect that you see in the picture below. It is called a glitch effect. You know how in the movie Wreck It Ralph Vanellope keeps glitching in and out? That’s the effect I’m trying to create on my photos.
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Elliot shared with me several apps that they use to create this effect and then I found a few additional ones. I should point out that all of these apps are initially free, but they require in app purchases to unlock additional features. I went with just the free versions because they allowed me to create the effect that I wanted. The two apps I liked best were Instabit and Glitch Studio. Elliot’s apps of choice are Vaporcam, Glitch Effect and Rad VHS.

Using the Glitch Studio app, I created this Old TV effect pic. You can’t see it in the picture, but it also produces a wavy gif effect like a TV screen going in and out of reception if you want to use the image as a gif.

I used the Instabit app to create the next two pictures.


As you can see from the screenshots, there are a lot of features that are locked because I didn’t choose to pay to unlock them. In fact, the Instabit app has a cool VHS style camera feature you can use to shoot old school looking video which I did not try out because at this time I’m simply looking at creating cool photos.
As someone who creates a lot of publicity for teen oriented events who also understands copyright and enjoys digital media, I like creating my own pictures and uploading them to feature in promotional flyers and on social media. I also use pictures in a lot of crafts and programs, because digital media is about the extent of my artistic capabilities. These are a couple of cool tools that I am adding to my extensive collection of photo apps for the specific and very cool effects that they create.
Although I barely touched the surface of what you can do with these apps because I was seeking to create a very specific effect, I recommend them. To create the effects that I wanted there was no cost and they were both incredibly easy to use.
Want to know about more of my favorite photo apps and the effects that I use them for? Check out this post or click on the apps tag below.
Filed under: Apps, Uncategorized

About Karen Jensen, MLS
Karen Jensen has been a Teen Services Librarian for almost 32 years. She created TLT in 2011 and is the co-editor of The Whole Library Handbook: Teen Services with Heather Booth (ALA Editions, 2014).
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