PhotoFunia is a clever and free novelty app for iPhone camera buffs. It will allow you to create a variety of special effects that would take quite awhile in something like Photoshop.

Here are some examples: Using face detection, it can take a photo of a friend and cleanly insert the face over another body like an astronaut in a space suit or someone atop a motorcycle or a surf board.

Additionally, it can take any scene and matte it into an existing frame. Get your picture in lights in Times Square or get a scene in an art museum with everyone admiring your favorite pictures.

The app requires a data connection to work. PhotoFunia sports more than 250 different effects and more are added on a regular basis.

I pretty much yawn at endless effect and filter apps, but this app offers some new twists and it works very well. It will work on iPad, but it is not a universal app (it works in 2x iPhone compatibility mode). My only complaint is that the photos are not rendered at full resolution, which would be a real plus.

If this were a paid app I would recommend it. As a free app (with ads), it is a no-brainer if you want to create some whimsical images to share with family and friends.

The app is a 2.4 MB download and requires iOS 3.0 or greater. Check the gallery for some of my creations, and check the PhotoFunia website for samples of all the effects.