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The Lensa app - a review of the photo editor with artistic avatars
Great opportunity to play with the neural network and see how it sees you in different artistic styles
Author of the article: Tatiana Zhakova
Journalist, linguist, teacher of storytelling with 10 years of experience
In 2015 she created and promoted her project about Nizhny Novgorod, nnstories.ru, after which she created a course called "Storytelling: How to Tell Your Story" based on it. Over 4,000 students have taken the course.
A linguist by education, she quickly masters new areas. Now she is actively studying screenwriting and storytelling in movies/serials, and writes about it in her project's blog.
A linguist by education, she quickly masters new areas. Now she is actively studying screenwriting and storytelling in movies/serials, and writes about it in her project's blog.
Social networks are buzzing: there's a new app in the App Store, the Lensa photo editor, which you can download for free and make artistic avatars in different styles with the help of a neural network. That is, essentially, you upload some of your photos there and get artistic portraits as the neural network sees you.
Let's find out more about what kind of application this is, how to get the cherished avatars there, how much it costs, and then conduct an experiment - upload the required number of photos there and see how accurate the facial match will be.
Let's find out more about what kind of application this is, how to get the cherished avatars there, how much it costs, and then conduct an experiment - upload the required number of photos there and see how accurate the facial match will be.
Generally speaking, Lens is a camera lens. Apparently, the developers used this name to metaphorically emphasize the meaning of the process - the artificial mind seems to look at you through the prism of different lenses.
The same logic was followed by their previous app, Prisma, which was popular in 2014-2015, but the pictures there were quite ridiculous. Lensa is much more aesthetically pleasing and neat.
The same logic was followed by their previous app, Prisma, which was popular in 2014-2015, but the pictures there were quite ridiculous. Lensa is much more aesthetically pleasing and neat.
What features does the Lensa app even have?
The main functions are 3:
photo editor
video editing
avatar creation
The free version includes manual retouching of 3 photos and creation of video clips with the Lensa watermark.
If you want to process more photos or export videos without watermark, you have to pay 199 rubles per month or 1490 rubles per year.
photo editor
video editing
avatar creation
The free version includes manual retouching of 3 photos and creation of video clips with the Lensa watermark.
If you want to process more photos or export videos without watermark, you have to pay 199 rubles per month or 1490 rubles per year.
Photo Editor
The photo editor is very good - it has all the sliders, which work very briskly. At the same time, they do not twist the picture beyond recognition, but work delicately.
Here you can:
blur the background,
retouch the face, the neck and the bags under the eyes,
add eyelashes,
whiten your teeth.
make eyes bigger and nose smaller
change hair color
Here you can:
blur the background,
retouch the face, the neck and the bags under the eyes,
add eyelashes,
whiten your teeth.
make eyes bigger and nose smaller
change hair color
All in all, all the crawlers you need to make your online image look nicer.
Video Editor
The section with video editing implies automatic creation of a clip from the uploaded videos to the selected music.
The clips are very good and dynamic, I can conclude this as an expert in Reels and Tik Tok. It's nice to watch, the picture changes every 2 seconds, and the program very adequately selects the most interesting moments of the video clip.
The clips are very good and dynamic, I can conclude this as an expert in Reels and Tik Tok. It's nice to watch, the picture changes every 2 seconds, and the program very adequately selects the most interesting moments of the video clip.
Creating avatars
And finally, the best part. The avatar section can be accessed by tap on the face with an asterisk in the upper left corner.
To create your own unique artistic avatars, you'll need to upload 10 to 20 of your photos. They should be portraits and selfies. If any of your photos don't fit, the app will ask you to replace them. I advise you to upload more photos because this way you increase the chance of getting more good takes in the output.
Bad news: you can't make avatars for free, the price tag is quite high. For 279 RUB you get 50 avatars (5 in 10 different styles), for 449 RUB you get 100 avatars and for 649 RUB you get 200 avatars. If that's a pretty high price tag for an application it's certainly not comparable to the work of an avatar designer - the other day I ordered 10 avatars with my character for 6 000 rubles and I consider that a good price for the market.
Bad news: you can't make avatars for free, the price tag is quite high. For 279 RUB you get 50 avatars (5 in 10 different styles), for 449 RUB you get 100 avatars and for 649 RUB you get 200 avatars. If that's a pretty high price tag for an application it's certainly not comparable to the work of an avatar designer - the other day I ordered 10 avatars with my character for 6 000 rubles and I consider that a good price for the market.
After uploading a photo and paying for the required number of pictures, you will have to wait a bit. Your unique masterpieces from the neural network will be ready in 20-40 minutes after placing your order.
Regardless of the tariff, pictures in 10 styles are waiting for you:
Regardless of the tariff, pictures in 10 styles are waiting for you:
Stylish (similar to Rubens' paintings),
Anime,
Light (this reminds me more of Rembrandt),
Cosmic,
Fantasy (hence the elves),
Anime,
Light (this reminds me more of Rembrandt),
Cosmic,
Fantasy (hence the elves),
Kawaii,
Pop (pop art style),
Iridescent (something Korean-inspired),
Focus (with bright backgrounds),
Fairy Princess
Pop (pop art style),
Iridescent (something Korean-inspired),
Focus (with bright backgrounds),
Fairy Princess
Shall we try it?
So, I'm uploading 10 pictures of myself. I have purposely chosen different pictures, some from very good angles and some not so good, some with makeup and some without, some with styled hair and some with disheveled hair.
Because I didn't really want to get pictures from the Internet for 279 rubles that didn't look like me at all.
Because I didn't really want to get pictures from the Internet for 279 rubles that didn't look like me at all.
I waited for 20 minutes, and then I got this pack. The nice thing is that all the avararks can be saved in the gallery with one button.
Of the 50 pictures I received, about 15 looked exactly like me. The rest have some of my features, but there is not a direct and complete resemblance. A couple of avatars I liked so much that I want to look at them over and over again, and one, with a red background, I really put on my avatar in all the social networks, because it is bright, noticeable, effective and does look like me.
Verdict: the app is really cool! And all fans of art, art, as well as trends and social networks can safely test it!
Verdict: the app is really cool! And all fans of art, art, as well as trends and social networks can safely test it!
After all, it's always interesting to see how someone sees the one you love. Especially when it's such a trendy thing as a neural network. People have been ordering their portraits to see themselves on canvas since the dawn of time.
And even though canvases have changed, becoming digital, we are still the same curious individuals who want to immortalize themselves.
And even though canvases have changed, becoming digital, we are still the same curious individuals who want to immortalize themselves.