One of the really neat things about the iPhone, and the reason it is such a remarkable camera is the many ways it let’s you take and then manipulate your pictures. No, it isn’t the best point and shoot camera out there, far from it in fact, but it has something unique going for it- with the iPhone taking the picture is just the beginning. From there you can crop, tweak or completely alter the image. After that you can email it, post to Facebook or Twitter or simply save right on your iPhone for later viewing.

I’m having a great time playing with the device’s camera this trip and decided to highlight a few apps that are especially fun. Most have been highlighted or reviewed here on Gear Diary but they are so awesome that they deserve a second (or third) look.

So here is the first in a series of “iPhone camera apps that rock”.

First up- FX Photo Studio

PhotoStudio let’s you take a new picture or grab one from the photo library. From there is let’s you apply a variety of filters.

In addition you can crop, rotate or adjust the lighting of the image. Most interesting to me were the various filters that let you easily alter the image in some remarkable ways.

Tapping “all effects” brings up the wide array of filters. There are a lot which means it can be overwealming. Fortunately you can add stars to your favorites. This let’s you pick the best of the best for quick access in the future.

Choosing one brings up a preview of the image once the effect is applied. It warns that the actual picture might end up different. For the most part, however, I found it to be quite accurate.

Tap “apply” and it processes the image. It also throws in a number of interesting fun trivia facts. Why? I’m not sure but I guess… why not? It only takes a few minutes.

Once the image is rendered you can crop, rotate, alter the brightness or save it. Tapping the circle returns you to the original image. This let’s you apply effect after effect bit be careful to save the image each time before restoring the original image. The result is this series of images.

It is a pretty amazing process. Most amazing is that it all takes place right on the device.

FX Photo Studio is $1.99, and you can get it in the App Store.