Obscura’s intuitive and tactile interface ensures that powerful manual controls are always at hand.

What we love: Obscura enables refinement of all visual elements before you press the shutter—white balance, shutter speed, light metering, and more.

Quick tip: Touch and hold on the focus reticule (the familiar circular crosshairs) to bring up a second circle for adjusting exposure independently. The app can also highlight overexposed and underexposed elements to help you create a balanced shot.

Meet the creator: Developer Ben McCarthy was inspired to make a manual camera app by growing up in their dad’s photography studio. “Obscura adds tactility to all of its controls to replicate the feeling of a DSLR,” McCarthy says. “You feel every adjustment, letting your eyes stay on your subject.”