people enjoy using camera apps (like Hipstamatic or previously mentioned Instagram on the iPhone, and FxCamera on Android) that emulate old, cheap, cameras with digital effects. Surprisingly, it adds a whole new dimension to your photos -- so even if you can't get them to look like they came from a $US100 Canon, you can give them a lot of style by making them look like they came from a classic LOMO or Polaroid instead. It's a strange trend, but you can't argue with the results -- some of the photos produced by these apps are remarkably beautiful (in cases where their cameraphone counterparts would certainly be boring and ugly). If you're not convinced, check out some of the photos in the Hipstamatic Flickr group , and you may find yourself singing a different tune. Of course, you don't need to be taking super artsy shots to make use of this -- if, say, your cat happens to do something humorous and you don't have time to grab your real camera, these types of effects can simply make the photo look a little nicer and less like they were taken with your mediocre smartphone camera. We've mentioned a few good apps in this post, but both the iPhone and Android have tons of great options available. The above are merely the ones that I've personally used, but be sure to check out our favorite photography apps for iPhone and Android to see a few more. Again, not every one of