Artsy Up Your Pictures With Poladroid

Mac only: Want your candid photos to look a little more retro chic but don’t want to spend a fortune tracking down whats left of the world’s Polaroid film stock and lug the signature boxy, plastic cameras around? Then try Poladroid, a seemingly pointless but actually useful — and really fun — application.

While the instant-developing pictures became a pop art icon, they also had a primary place in the world of high-end photography. Professionals would shoot dozens of images on Polaroid stock to make sure the lighting and scene were just right before committing images to negative.

The application actually adds the signature colour saturation and edge-shading typical of the medium, and playfully attentuates the exposure development so you can see the images come to life (and even “Shake it like a Polaroid picture,” though with real Polaroid film, don’t do that — it messes with the proper distribution of chemicals and therefore exposure).

So it could actually make for creatively spontaneous, and thoughtfully slow, photo editing experience. Or just make something from your mobile phone look a little more authentic (the crappy, low-light shot of Smuggler’s Cove in Pacifica above is now outsider art, I swear). You can also export your results into JPEGs for posterity. Poladroid is a free download for Mac OS X.