Everyone loves taking pictures with their phone camera. It’s that all-in-one sensation people like, the not having to whip out a separate camera to snap a candid of friends while bar-hopping or when eyeballing that couch at IKEA they’re not sure will coordinate with the new leather Freudian chair most likely also made somewhere in Scandinavia. Most of us are amateur photographers at best, and the low-res, two-megapixel piece of junk camera on the iPhone seems to suit that quintessential young and hipster self-portrait of three faces squished together, dramatic expressions galore, one arm disappearing into the foreground to hold the camera at arm’s length away. It’s definitely no Leica or digital Nikon d90, but in the camera world, it holds its own among the sea of Blackberry’s and Palm Pre’s.

Many apps have been made to improve the somewhat lackluster limitations of the default iPhone camera – apps like Camerabag and Steadycam, the first offering different styles of artistic renderings, and the second curing that obnoxious tendency for the iPhone to produce blurred images by only taking a picture once a clear shot presents itself. Vintage B&W by Erik Pettersson is arguably one of the best in that it’s one of the most practical and expected, and best of all, it’s completely free (as it should be). With Vintage B&W, adding drama and oomph to your everyday pictures becomes as easy as pressing a single button. The power of a black and white photograph is definitely underestimated in the camera phone world.

The app functions as the default camera does, only once you take a picture it will prompt you to either use the image or retake it, should it not be to your liking. If you use the image, the app will “develop” the picture for you, and in a matter of seconds, you will have a clean black and white rendered picture of the original. My cat, Blue, is already lush with photogenic features and a dark, dramatic quality to his grey fur, but after using Vintage B&W, the contours of his face, those sharp delineations of his Egyptian nose and perfectly symmetrical ears become all the more stark and imposed, the tips of his fur highlighted against the darker curves of his body. Using the black and white capabilities of Vintage B&W made a casual hang-out with friends into a dusky soiree of ambience and lofty sensuality – idealized projections of reality. It’s easy to understand how the photographer constructs entire worlds of imagination with a single photograph.

One of the worst parts of the first and second generation iPhones was always the camera. It just seemed tacked on in a decidedly un-Apple way, a vestigial afterthought that, although integrated throughout the iPhone software, never felt as polished as it could. It was almost as if Apple put it there in a hissy fit of exasperation, just because you have to have a camera in a phone these days. But at least Vintage B&W will add some much needed character to however you decide to use your camera, candidly or creatively and anything in between.