Photo editors are pretty useful: boosting pics to bring out colours, adjusting settings to bring out quality, adding filters to bring out hipsters, etc. Snapseed for iPad is a great photo editor that’s incredibly easy to use.
What is it?
Snapseed, $5.99, iPad. Snapseed is a simple photo editor for the iPad with clever controls and snazzy textures and filters. So along with fixing the basics like brightness, contrast and saturation you can add a grunge or vintage filter. The coolest part about Snapseed is how you use it. You just select the effect or adjustment you want to make from the bottom bar and then (for most situations) cycle through the options with a vertical swipe and adjust your settings with a horizontal swipe (left for less, right for more).
Once you get the hang of it, Snapseed allows for super quick adjustments of pictures. Just a few swipes up and across and you’ll bring out the charm in your images. Of course there are sharing options to Flickr, Facebook and e-mail.
If you want a photo editor that’s deeply intuitive and packed with plenty of options (but not buried in them) Snapseed is where it’s at.
Who’s it good for?
People who want a simple photo editor on the iPad. People who have pictures on their iPad. People who like pictures. People who like filters.
Why’s it better than the alternatives?
The interface makes a lot of sense. Though I’m still swiping horizontally, I’m not dragging fake bars across a fake meter, I’m just swiping wherever I feel like so it feels a ton more natural. Also, being able to compare the effects you’ve made against the original image (it’s a button tap and the original image will appear on the screen) is good for keeping track of what you’re doing. I love the ‘selective adjustment’ option too, it lets you adjust settings for a certain area of the picture.
How could it be even better?
More options, though there are plenty enough, would always be awesome. I’d also like an option to see the changes and edits you’ve made in another screen so you can easily remove them layer by layer if you can (though this might be too complicated). Also sharing to Twitter seems like an obvious thing Snapseed needs.
Snapseed for iPad [iTunes]