Hypocam app: A cool camera app for black and white photo lovers

For super cool black and white photos beyond the couple of Instagram filters you get, take a peek at the free Hypocam app (iOS and Android) that we're loving.

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This Italian-based company has created rich filters for black-and-white photography that give your photos a professional, journalistic feel. You can shoot directly in the app with their camera tool, with real-time control over exposure, color, shadows, and more, or pull up photos from your library to edit later. The free version comes with seven filters (with more available via in-app purchase, of course). Each one can be manually adjusted with controls similar to what you'd see in iPhoto -- grain, exposure, vignette, contrast, you get the idea. You can also crop and straighten your photos, and I'm enjoying the frame feature, which sets the image off in a frame of white space. Once you've edited your photos, you can upload them to Instagram, Facebook, Hypocam's own photo stream, and other social media platforms. You can download the free Hypocam app for iOS or Android just in time to snap some gorgeous black-and-white New Year's photos!