Add some “Flare” to your photos with FLARE! Win a free copy NOW!

June 3, 2011 Contests, Just for fun, News, software, Tips & Tricks 52

Add some FLARE to your photos with FLARE!

An awesome app that is fun AND powerful!

Wow. About a week ago I was contacted by the creator of FLARE asking me if I wanted to try out his software and see how I liked it. It was yet another one of those “Apps” for your desktop that instantly transforms your photos into creative funky creations using presets. Wasn’t too interested so I let it sit on my desktop for a few days. One night I was bored and remembered that I downloaded this app…ah, what the hell. Worst case it is crap. Best case it is fun. Well, I ended up sitting there for 3 hours running some recent photos through the software and was very happy with what came out.

To date, Flare is my favorite “fun” photo software, but it is more than fun. You can get pretty cool and serious results with it if you play around a bit. First of all, this is for Apple/Mac only, sorry windows 🙂 Once you download the software you get a free 15 day trial to play around with it but even if you want to buy it, it is only $20 and IMO, it is well worth it for those times when you want to add some easy, but effective effects to your photos.

There are 24 easy ONE CLICK presets included in Flare but the cool part is, you can edit those effects to make them your own. It is VERY customizable and you can adjust just about everything from within the quick and smooth interface. Watch the video above to check out the features.

You can download the App HERE and try it for yourself.

If you own a mac and want to own a copy of flare, download the trial and post an image that you used Flare on in the comments box below. The 1st five people to do so will win a free copy! I will set you up with a license code next week. I would need your name and email address to set them up, so if you are one of the 1st five email me here with the info.

Also, if you download this app you can also get more presets HERE!

Below are a few of my recent images that I processed with Flare, just using the presets! It’s a great app and makes it easy for those of us who are not Photoshop savvy to get cool results. Even the straight B&W conversion is good!

BTW, ALL images below were taken with various cameras such as the Leica M9, Fuji X100, Sony NEX-5, Sony A-33, Leica X1 and the Olympus E-Pl2.

 

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51 Comments

  1. I bought this ages ago. Its fun for a while but soon you tire of it and want to get back to doing “serious” stuff. I still prefer Photoshop + Nik or topaz, and Snapseed. That said, if you have nothing else, this is pretty nice.

  3. I must be missing something here. An app that lets you add filters and frames that look fun? This is like reading a post on Gizmodo in the 90s.

  4. [img]http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/DSCF1645-Huff.jpg[/img]

    better then expected

  7. Here’s another one from me: (I hope I do this right![img]http://www.flickr.com/photos/lainer/5798026015/in/photostream[/img]

  8. Doh! Last one was too dark. Really last one… And stopping spam…
    [img]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20922583/P2067562.jpg[/img]

  9. Ok, last one. Good night…
    [img]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20922583/P1307502.jpg[/img]

  11. OMG! Love it…
    [img]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20922583/P1120165.jpg[/img]

  13. Self Portrait in Flare[img]http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150645680370331&set=a.10150645680270331.693712.531590330&type=1&theater[/img]

  14. I like the lightleaks. It is the first and still only tool I know to ceate film like lightleaks
    use the appstore to buy, it is cheaper

  15. My gosh, what a cool ap. I downloaded the trial and may buy this. It would be nice to have Lightroom integration for such a cool set of filters….20 dollars aint too bad if you need a 1–3 click solution

    [img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2204/5796999702_6b34df864e_z.jpg[/img]

    [img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3203/5796975648_16134ca925_z.jpg[/img]

    • Aperture/Lightroom integration will follow in version 1.2, version 1.1 with new presets and borders/textures will be released very soon.

  16. Cool bit of software, thanks for the heads-up.

    Quick note I couldn’t get any of the presets to show (kind of spoiled things) but an email to Iconfactory was very quickly replied to and everything is sorted.
    If you have the same problem.
    1. Right click Flare and select Show Contents
    2. Inside the Contents Folder select the Resources Folder
    3. Double Click all each Preset to add them to Flare.

    First play:
    [img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3218/5795888222_c187a92d65_b.jpg[/img]

    • Had to be added.

      [img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2481/5795942856_5ca96d71d4_z.jpg[/img]

  20. Just for fun, I know the giveaway is over:

    [img]http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo126/Clancycoop/NatFlare.jpg[/img]

    It is always nice when software companies actually let you try the product. I think I might buy this program, it is very well done. The presets are nice, but I actually like how they handle sliders and effects independently.

    • That’s a nice shot/effect. I like the skin tone and the clarity upfront with the blurred bleached faded background.

  21. Whoa! You mean you want me to take my 21mm ‘Lux with it’s crazy good, anti-flare glass, and add flare in PP? You, sir, are an evil, artistic man!

    • You do know you can just upload one here in the comments using the “Upload Files” right under the comment box right? Click on the “Choose File” and then upload your image.

      If you don’t want to do it that way you can just add an image by using the image tag and adding in the URL to a JPEG itself, not a page that a JPEG is on.

      Easiest way though is to just upload. 🙂 Ill see if I can fix your image…

        • Oh, wait. I did do that, but it showed up as question marks. I tried linking from Flickr. I guess I did it wrong. Did you fix the picture that did show up?

  24. I’m not that fast. I can’t even figure out how to add a picture. LOL![img]file:///Users/lainer/Desktop/OzFlare.jpg[/img]

  25. Love the presets!
    [img]http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lm86qrHUCr1qc06awo1_500.jpg[/img]

  27. Pretty great app! Would be great to get a free license! Here’s one of my tries with it…[img]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20922583/PB137088.jpg[/img]

  30. WOW that was fast! All 5 winners already! The FIVE of you who posted images above this post, email me using the contact tab above with your name and email address and I will have your license codes emailed out next week when I get them back from Flare! Thank you!

    Winners:

    Todd Hatakeyama
    Ken Stead
    chestrunz
    Ami Godfrey
    Denis Cintra

  31. I’m new here! can I still play??
    [img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2802/5793705393_af9e75c60d_z.jpg[/img]

  32. You guys can upload the image HERE as i had to fix all of these embeds through flickr. When you embed an image using flickr or a hosting site, you have to put in the URL to the JPEG itself, not the page it is on. Otherwise, it wont show up. I fixed them all so no worries though!

  34. Thanks for the chance to win!!

    [img]http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/1451/dsc03915h.jpg[/img]

  36. Doing the B&W to my already B&W HP5+ film actually brought out more shadows and textures. Fun tool. [img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2446/5793691131_aa778b7a39_b.jpg[/img]

  37. Darn, I’m away from my computer. I would have totally done it though!

    The one of the blue car driver looks like an old slide!

  39. Here’s a photo using the bleach effect.[img]http://www.lightingleica.com/images/IMG_9332a.jpg[/img]

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