Prisma

Description:

One of the newer entries in the photographic application domain, Prisma was founded 5 years ago and is distinguished from its competitors by the fact that it uses AI to create the artistic filters which the app has come to be known for. 

In fact, when you first open the application, you’re greeted with the following:

“Turn photos into paintings using AI.”

As the proverbial expression goes, it does exactly what it says on the tin. And here we also find a divergence from most other applications currently available. While most photographers strive to boost their existing images using filters and settings, Prisma encourages the user to ditch reality and create something new and exciting thanks to the power of AI.  

Based on the programming and algorithms employed by DeepArt, the user is offered a number of different artistic filters designed to mimic a range of styles and artists over the years. Think Munch’s Scream or Van Gogh’s Starry Night and you understand the transformative potential of this software. 

When first opening the application, you are greeted with a fairly simple and clean design, reminiscent of VSCO and it doesn’t take long to get familiar with all the features that are presented. 

You have an inbuilt camera, a gallery and your personal account details and settings. When you go into the gallery you are presented with your available styles, of which there is a staggering amount, providing you are willing to pay for the privilege, of course.

For the free version, the user is given a choice of 11 styles:

• Huawei HiAI
• Thota Vaikuntam
• Gothic
• Mononoke
• Dallas
• Mosaic
• Curly Hair
• Surf
• Daryl Feril
• Tokyo
• Femme

While the choice is plentiful, you have to pay a minimum of $7.99/mo (or £6.99/mo) to get the full capability of the app and as much as $29.99/pa (£25.99/pa). For some, this might be a turnoff, as the free version also outputs all modified images in a lesser quality format (no HD editing or saving features). We also found the prompts to upgrade a little on the intrusive side, popping up every time a photo was saved to the device. 

The weakest element in the app was the built-in camera, which had a noticeable lag every time a picture was taken before it was saved and displayed for the user. This revealed that ultimately Prisma is best used as a post-processing tool, rather than one for capturing images on the go.