Prisma Is An App So Epic That It Is Actually Upsetting Some Artists

I haven't been this excited about playing with an app since VSCO came out (prior to their ugly update). Prisma will really bring out your inner Picasso and it's just so ridiculously cool. 

So what is Prisma? It's an app (get it here) that manipulates your photos into various artistic styles. It's not just your ordinary boring "art filter" that you're used to in Photoshop or a filter like you see on Instagram, this bad boy actually uses artificial intelligence and neural networks to make it happen. 

Yeah. We're in the future. Time to get artsy! 

It's so awesome that even some artists and art-lovers aren't happy. "Since Prisma has spread, some have complained that the app could devalue the work of real artists and take away work from painters who make art by hand – not within seconds on a smartphone." - (source). 

With how great this technology is, it makes you wonder if something will come out that helps with retouching in a similar way? What will it mean for the photography industry? We'll keep an eye on that. 

There are 35 styles you can run your photos through, and it's all free. The downside is that it only does it in square, and it has the Prisma logo on the bottom right. However, in your settings you can turn that off as well as a few other saving options. It's only available on the App Store for now, so if you have an Android based phone, you'll have to wait a bit. 

Here are some that photographers submitted to give you an idea. 

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Leslie Andrews (Website)

Scott English Milam (Website)

Tony Parenti (Website)

Now that you've seen what can be done with it, let's take a look at how it works as well as some of these advanced "neural" filters! 

So this is an image I took on my phone in Amsterdam. 

Now, once you download the app from the App Store, you can run it through the filters. Even better, you can adjust the opacity (or the impact) so you get reduce those that are too heavy in effect. 

Once you decide on what you want, you can save the image as well. 

Here are a few filters and how it translated this image. Even the icons look awesome, it represents the names perfectly.