First there was the wheel, then sliced bread, followed by the iPhone, and now Snapseed. Nik Software’s ‘Snapseed’ for the iPad (as of 8/02/2011 it is available for all iOS devices!) 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!
A Few More Before/Afters from my Lumix LX5 (click for the review)
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
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.
Just A Few Of My Favorites
Awesome! Snapseed Rocks! No need to carry a Macbook Pro any longer! Woot! My back will thank me for it when I travel!
Looks amazing! I need to go buy an iPad ASAP. Can’t wait for an iPhone version. Or better yet, a Mac App version!
It is Rob. I assume they are headed that way, but I can’t say for sure.
Good stuff Justin, may have to partake in the fun myself!
I’ve been thinking about picking this one up. It looks very promising. Does it work on raw files?
So far the reviews seem favorable on this. Thanx for the writeup.
Gotta get myself one of these. I’m waking up in the middle of the night surrounded by these gadgets with Snapseed.
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You are right! Even I am able to quickly edit photos I did not quite get the lighting and camera adjusted just right. So easy to use. Thanks for the tutorial.
Thanks for the tutorial!
I wasn’t interested in Snapseed until your review with the U-Point technology. It seems to address a few of the problems that I have with my iPhone photos.
BTW, I’ve been using PhotoForge2 extensively on my iPhone as it has the ability to create layers and perform masking. I believe it’s a universal app so it should work on the iPad.
Also, I love your pictures and I’m currently following you on Instagram where I’m @haungo . :)
I’ve installed it by haven’t done much with it yet. Thanks for the review.
Excellent review for the Snapseed! Awesome images too. Thanks for doing this. Just a question: I created an image with the app and now I want to delete it after saving. How do I delete the image? Thanks.
Thanks Robbie! Glad you liked it. If I remember correctly, you will have to go into your camera roll, select the image, and then touch the trash icon. I don’t think you can do it directly from Snapseed. Let me know if that worked. Have a great one!
Thank you, Justin! It worked!
Good to hear!
Test iColorama instead,
http://itunes.com/apps/iColorama
I can send a promo code)
Thanks much, XSD. Someone form your office already reached out to me about that. I only really review things that I use on a regular basis because I don’t have the time to review everything that is offered up. I get a ton of requests! I can’t guarantee anything, but if I dig it, I will post something about it.
Take care,
Justin
Just so everyone knows, Snapseed is free on the App store this week.
Hi..I’m old school..first time using a smart phone(iPhone 5).. I’m scared of technologies..just downloaded snapseed and already stressing out now.. I simply took a sample random picture via snapseed..but now each time I click snapseed app the same picture that I’ve taken just now still appear on the main snapseed app page..how do I delete it? I also accidentally saved it into photo library..and what’s that?how to I get into the library to totally delete that sample pic? It’s just so hard for me..hope u can guide me on this thanks..maybe snapseed is overhyped after all.