The Practice design team has a keen interest in photography, and when we’re not snapping and editing, we love to simply capture what we can through Instagram. Recently though, we’ve fallen for the charms of another popular photography app, VSCO Cam. With it’s gorgeous filters and creative community to follow, will it one day rival its successful competitor?

We were recommended to try VSCO Cam, having largely become bored with Instagram’s predictable filters- we were after something different and more highly regarded by amateur photographers! We’ve since become addicted, not only in taking pictures on the app, but also editing existing photos. For those of you who aren’t familiar, VSCO Cam is your classic photography app, with a wide choice of editing features and filters, and a sharing platform. But the reason we’re so enamored is because it produces results that look a lot more authentic, slick and sophisticated than its rivals do, giving your images the appearance of having been subtly, as opposed to heavily or over-edited. It’s so good in fact, that we don’t think we’ve had an image we can’t seem to enhance well on VSCO Cam. So why is it so great? Probably because its owning company, VSCO, (which stands for Visual Supply Company), have a history of building filters and presets for Adobe Lightroom and Apple Aperture, before they brought their signature style to the app. VSCO Cam is therefore built on the premise that its filters can effectively replicate a filmic look, from Fuji film stocks, to classic slide film.

Despite the sea of talented photographers and wonderful images on Instagram, the app has unfortunately gained a reputation as the home of selfies, blurry images, and unabashed showing off. This is where VSCO Cam differs- you’re more likely to feast your eyes upon a range of superbly artistic and clever shots. And what’s even better is that the app supports sharing on Instagram, meaning users can combine their images to one account. Simply search under the hash tag #vscocam and you’ll see those who’ve tagged their edited images.

Here are some of our current favourite photos from the VSCO Cam community, which we think capture some of the best work that can be achieved:

@thebryandale

@strang2r

@bylertall

So do we think VSCO Cam has the potential to become the next Instagram? From a photography perspective, it’s better. But we can’t see the app becoming as popular, simply because its not a social network in the same way that Instagram is. While VSCO Cam users can publish their edited photos to their individual “grids” which function as profiles, there is no way to “like” or comment on posts. That’s why many users, although preferring VSCO Cam, feature links to their Instagram accounts underneath their usernames, hoping to attract the feedback they deserve. We can understand VSCO Cam’s decision to remain exclusive and not cash in on the same “popularity contest” mentality as Instagram has done. But while this is the case, it makes sense for VSCO Cam photographers to use Instagram as a forum for feedback. In this way, both apps need each other to remain successful- Instagram needs to prove it still sets the precedent for creative smartphone photography, while VSCO Cam needs Instagram to incentivise its users. We can see both successfully functioning and evolving side by side, and we certainly look forward to exercising more creativity now that we’ve discovered VSCO Cam!

Which is your favourite smartphone photography app? We’d love to hear your top choices and recommendations, so please tweet them to us @PracticeDigital, and share them with us on our Facebook page too.