The best way to take a group photo

The good: Groopic is a fun app that lets you put yourself in a group picture, add filters, and share it with friends. The bad: There's a lot of shutter lag from when you touch the button to when a picture is taken. The bottom line: Groopic is a must-have for getting the photographer into a group shot, with an easy-to-understand process, filters to spice up your picture, and mostly flawless results. Groopic attempts to solve the age-old problem when taking group pictures: that the photographer is always left out of the shot. But with this app, everyone can be in the picture. And if you're a little bit creative, you also can make some really funny shots. Certain Android phones have dual-shot features that use the front-facing camera to bring an image of the photographer into the shot, but Groopic's solution is even better. Groopic lets you take one picture of the group, then switch photographers and take another. The app then blends the two images into a seamless group photo without ever having to ask a stranger to take a group shot of your friends. You start by taking your first picture, with your second photographer in the photo on one of the sides. Then your second photographer leaves the group to stand in the same spot and lines up the photo with an onscreen ghost outline while you get in on the other side of the photo. Once you've taken your shots, the app asks you to touch each of the photographers on the screen so it can make the complete group pic. The resulting image is a photo of the whole group that seems completely natural. One thing that's important to remember is that the first photographer has to leave room on the sides for both photographers to get into the shot. It takes some getting used to, but make sure to leave space for everyone in the photo.