Colorize is a $1.99 app that any artist with an iPhone needs in their toobox.  It is the definitive “app for that” when it comes to making subjects in a photo stand out with color (original or modified). When working with images with really sharp images, the app can easily distinguish between background and foreground.  With the aid of very intuitive pinching motions, you can zoom in and out to maximize your precision.

Upon first launching the app, you are presented with a screen to select an existing project or create a new one from a new photo or something in your photo library.  A help option is also available and I highly recommend it so that you know what the different controls do.  You can get back to this screen by choosing the “close” button in the popup window.

For best results, I’d suggest an image that didn’t have extreme light and dark areas.  The recolorize options really work well on areas that are not of extreme contrasts.  In my sample image, I could do nothing to color either my son’s black shirt or my daughter’s white one.  Faces worked real well though. :)

The color picking tool works very well.  Not only can you select any color from the color spectrum, but also colors from the image itself.  This is very beneficial when you are going back and re-editing something.

My sample picture doesn’t really do the program justice, so I recommend checking out the YouTube video.  In fact, the video does such a great job of showing how to use the software that I wish the developer would actually link to it as a tutorial in the app itself.   Other suggestions that I’d like to offer is the ability email completed images to someone and/or share them on Facebook.

The only issue I had with the app is probably not app related at all, but Apple related.  There seems to be a bug in the new iOS 4 that doesn’t let you view photos in your Photo app that have been added by third-party apps like this.  I’ve reported it to Apple, but they act like I’m the only one that has ever encountered this problem.  There is a work-around though.  If you launch your Camera app and select the thumbnail in the bottom left corner, it will launch your photos and will let you share them as you normally would.

All in all, I’d give this (and have) five stars.  If I were more of an artist and saw myself using this on a regular basis, it would even make my must-have list.  For the serious artists and photographers out there though, I’d highly recommend this application.  It is well worth the $1.99 price tag.