First there was the wheel, then sliced bread, followed by the iPhone, and now Snapseed. Nik Software’s ‘Snapseed’ for the iPad is my new favorite photo editing tool. This toolset is only $4.99 and it makes photo editing and sharing super easy and fun. You will need to warn your Facebook friends because you are about to unleash a torrent of hyper creative and beautiful images on them. You can continue reading my review, however for $4.99, you might as well download it, change your status to “Channeling the muse”, and start getting creative.
Just click the icon to download it.
As you can see below, you can quickly (and I mean quickly) use a variety of tools to enhance your images. Everything from simple adjustments like brightness, saturation, and contrast to applying a retro vintage vibe to your photo. All of that power is literally right there at your finger tips. No mouse required. Snapseed photo editing is Minority Report style. Just swipe, pinch, and touch your way to glory! (hmm…that probably didn’t sound right, but you get the picture…it’s and iPad!)
The app is simple to use, so I won’t go into great detail about the ‘how-to’, but basically you choose your effects, swipe up and down to select the enhancement you want to make, and then swipe left and right to control the intensity of it. If you get confused, just click the “?” to get a description of the gestures.
Just click the ? to bring up the help screen. This will get you going quick!
A Quick Work-Flow
Here are the steps I followed to make this image of Hippo, the guest relations manager at the l’Hermitage hotel in Vancouver.
The first thing I did was a few global adjustments to Color, Contrast, and Saturation. Just a couple swipes and I was done!
Next, I cropped the image to my liking. Just a quick pinch and I was done.
This is the coolest feature! Nik Famous U-Point technology has made it to the iPad. Just drop a point on the photo, change its size, and selectively control things like brightness, saturation, and contrast. You can cut/paste/copy/delete as many points as you want. In this image, I just brightened Hippo's face up.
Lastly, I used their cool focus feature to blur the background a bit and add a vignette. A couple swipes, pinches, and touches and I was done. I think I had it finished and ready to share in under a minute.
Speaking of sharing, you can pretty much send your photos anywhere. Even the printer...wirelessly!
The Travel Challenge
Snapseed, coupled with a capture device like an iPhone, has revolutionized my travel photography. Most of us aren’t shooting for magazines. We are just trying to connect to the moments in our lives and share them with friends. I’m in the same boat. When I’m traveling I just like being out and about, making images, editing them as quickly as possible and sharing with others. If that sounds like you, Snapseed is your Huckleberry. On a recent trip to Pennsylvania and Niagara Falls I decided to see what I could do armed with only an iPhone and Snapseed. Here is what I came up with.
Photo Transfer – I use a cool little app that lets me transfers photos between all my iDevices wirelessly. You can download it here.
The following images were all captured via an iPhone 3Gs and edited in Snapseed. Now that beta-testing is over, I can finally share them….lookout Facebook friends!
Before And Afters
Snapseed doesn’t end with the iPhone. It is a fulled featured, super efficient, digital darkroom. To prove it, and let you see the the variety of creative tools you have at your finger tips, here are a few images (from various cameras) edited exclusively in Snapseed.
White Tip Reef Shark Molokini Crater Maui, HA
Camera: Nikon Coolpix 5100 and iKelite Housing
Before
After
Denali National Park
Camera: Nikon D700 / Nikkor 80-200 AFD
Before
After
Jan Ulrich 2004 Tour de France
Camera: Nikon D1x / Nikkor 80-200 AFD
Before
After
Me (in a very back-lit dark photo)
Camera: Nikon D5000 / Nikkor 16-85 VR
Before
After - Wow, look how much detail Snapseed was able to recover with a selective adjustment. It totally saved the photo!
Conclusion
It is pretty clear. For $4.99 you can’t go wrong. This app is amazing. Actually, it’s more than that. In my book, Snapseed is a game changer. It is that innovative.
Just click the icon to download it.
Great review of the app!
Fantastic review of the app. I think I may have to do a little app shopping now :)
Good review and looks like an awesome app! sometimes I wish I wasnt on an android operating system. Apple just haven’t managed to get their claws in me yet :)