Recipes save the specific edits and the amount of those adjustments, allowing photographers to apply those same effects in a single tap to later images. Unlike VSCO’s presets, Recipes are custom-made by the user. Recipes save adjustments such as exposure, color and contrast changes as well as any presets used, but the adjustments that are usually specific to an individual photo, like cropping and straightening, are not saved as part of the Recipe. Users can also share their photo Recipes, so other users can apply the same look to their own shots.
To create a Recipe on VSCO, users go through and edit the image as they normally would. Once the image is finished, tap on the edit list to display the changes. Selecting the + icon will save that set of edits as a Recipe. Free VSCO users can save one Recipe, while VSCO X photographers can save up to 10.
To apply that Recipe to a new photo, after selecting the image, users go back to that edit list, then select the editing Recipe to apply it to the image. Those adjustments can be fine-tuned if needed before saving or sharing the shots. Recipes can be organized or deleted by accessing the Organizer in the app.
VSCO says that users were already sharing how they edited a specific shot by sharing what filter was used and the values for each of the subsequent adjustments. The Recipes feature takes that existing idea and makes it easier to share with other users or to save for future shots.
The VSCO app is popular for their filters, including many film-inspired options, and the Recipes tool makes it easier to customize those looks. Earlier this year, the app also launched the ability to apply those same effects to videos.
To use the new Recipe tool, VSCO users need to download the latest version of the app, now available from the App Store and Google Play.