Carrying a tripod and using a self-timer is also a great idea, but you won’t need any of those if you have Groopic installed on your smartphone. Groopic for Android is a quite an innovative app using which you can take group pictures on your Android smartphone (or rather make one) in a unique way, without leaving out anybody. The app is also available for iPhones on the App Store and both the Android and the iOS apps work identically.
Taking Group Photos with Groopic
Groopic is pretty simple to use and it takes only three steps to get the perfect group picture. After you install and launch the app, click on the camera button on the app to take the first picture. Make sure that the background is still (should not have moving objects) and you leave adequate space for the photographer in the pic. After the first photo is clicked, a person from the group, ideally the one who is at the extreme edge, should go and click another picture using Groopic. After the first photo is shot, the app gives you an outline of all the edges that it marked in the previous photo and the cameraman should make sure he aligns the outline including the new person in the group before clicking the second photo. That’s all, now all you need to do is tap the photographers from both the pictures and let the app do its magic. The app will take some time in rendering the final image and it will have both the photographers in it, giving you the best group photo. It’s basically stitching the separate images into one photo but it does it well (mostly). If the second photographer was not able to align the photo properly before taking the second snap, the picture will be rough at the edges (quite literally) and you’d have to do it again. Note: The app is not compatible with all the Android devices at the moment. Here’s a list of all the compatible devices on which the app is tested to work without any glitches. The app also supports quick filters if you are planning to share the photos directly from the app itself. The Magic Wand button brings up the filter option and they are quite decent. After you get the perfect group picture the only way you can save the photo to your gallery is by buying the app. I know, I know, that’s a big fail. But the full version of the app is just 99 cents and if you are happy with the results, you’d probably want to invest this tiny amount on it because you’d likely use it again a number of times. Unless you pay all the photos you take using the app will be locked in the Groopic gallery. You can have a look at them from the app, but if you wish to share the photo, or just make it available in the gallery, you must pay for it.
Conclusion
I was quite satisfied with the app. The first time I used Groopic few days ago, I was getting errors on getting better alignment no matter how cautious I was. However the app was updated yesterday and I don’t get the error message anymore. The photos are also near perfect and it would be tough to tell that the two photos are stitched together. The app has till some ground to cover and I am sure that with future developments, the app will move closer to perfection. Do install Groopic and try it out the next time you go out with friends and plan to take a group photo.
