Neon Shutter

Neon Shutter is a companion for photographing cities after dark.

Every evening the app gives you one brief. It might ask you to find a shop sign with a dead letter, to shoot a puddle until the reflection reads sharper than the street, or to leave half the frame completely empty. Each brief comes with a small constraint attached, so you have to think before you press the shutter instead of taking the same picture you took last week.

The camera shows you the finished picture while you are still framing it. Five lenses are included, each with its own character: Cyber, Toxic, Emerald, Acid and Lime. Two sliders let you decide how far to push the colour and how much the highlights bloom. What you see on screen is what you get.

After every shot you get a short read on the frame. It looks at where the weight of the picture sits, how bright it came out, how much separation there is between light and shadow, and how much saturated colour is in it. Then it tells you in plain words what is working and what is not. You can keep the frame or throw it away and try again.

Frames you keep go into your journal along with the lens you used, the result and any note you want to write. You can look back at what you shot on a particular night, filter by lens, and send anything you like to your photo library.

There is a streak that counts consecutive nights you shot something, and a set of badges for things like using every lens, finishing your first brief or shooting after midnight. If you would rather work against a clock, you can start a timed sprint and see how good a picture you can make before it runs out.

You choose which kinds of subject you want briefs about, and what time of night to be reminded. If you would rather not be reminded at all, that works too.

Neon Shutter will not make you a better photographer on its own. It just gives you a reason to go out and a small problem to solve when you get there.