![]() ![]() Its smart contrast enhancement is also extremely useful for brightening murky areas of a photo and reining in over-exuberant highlights. Its greatest strength lies in the versatility of its control point system, which makes targeted adjustments fast and easy, even on the small screen of a phone. It’s a standout in the iOS environment, and in the Android ecosystem it’s easily among the best general-purpose editors available. Snapseed is a polished and powerful photo editor. Google+ gets a shortcut on the main screen, Google’s way of saying: “Enjoy this free app, and check out our social network while you’re at it.” Picasa is relegated to the Share menu like a shamed puppy, along with all the apps on your device that are set up to receive images (which will probably include Facebook and Twitter) and antiquated technologies like email and MMS. It also misses out on the new Retrolux filters, which simulate old films. Unfortunately, the Android version of Snapseed doesn’t get the expanded frame selection that was added to the iOS app. The basics do what you’d expect, including white balance, which is something not all mobile apps get right. ![]() Here, you’ll find a (mostly) traditional set of control parameters: brightness, contrast, saturation and white balance, joined by the non-standard but very useful “Ambience.” Instead, we’ll try the Tune Image function. We decided to cancel out of the Automatic tool altogether by hitting the “X,” which returns to the main menu without applying changes. Got that?īy the way, the question mark icon at the top left calls up basic contextual help, but it’s no help for subtleties like this, which must be solved via experimentation and web browsing. Changing contrast influences color, and the “color correction” is actually an adjustment of how much the contrast parameter shifts color. It’s a brilliant interface, though the results in the Automatic tool are confusing. Sliding vertically (again, anywhere on the image) changes the current parameter: here we can choose between contrast and color corrections. The order doesn’t always make sense, but the first item is the Automatic tool, which applies a quick correction to the image. Snapseed’s functions are grouped in labeled icons along the bottom or side of the screen. The iOS limits are more variable depending on device, ranging from 6.25 megapixels on the iPhone 3GS and the original iPad, up to 22.25 megapixels for the latest iPads. On tablets, the cut-off is 16 megapixels, easily exceeded by a slew of digital cameras. On phones, anything more than 8 megapixels gets scaled down, which probably won’t pinch unless you’re using one of Sony’s high-megapixel Android handsets. ![]() You might run into Snapseed’s image size limitation. The thumbnails tend to be miniscule, so you may prefer starting within your Gallery (which offers more browsing flexibility) and opening a photo from there by using the Edit option. This offers the choice of taking a photo with the Android camera app or picking one from your Gallery (or other file browsers if you have any installed). Since you’re probably not interested in tweaking the included sample photo of dead trees, the first thing you’ll do is hit the camera button. Requires Android 4.0 or later Getting Started Flexible control of exposure, contrast, color and sharpness.Innovative “control-point”-based editing approach.The iOS app has a loyal following: we’ll see if the Android version deserves the same.Īlong with Snapseed’s arrival on Android, the iOS version also got a refresh, and in true Google style the app is now free for both platforms (it originally cost $4.99 in the Apple App Store). Photojournalist Dan Chung used the app extensively while photographing the 2012 Olympic Games in London with his iPhone for The Guardian. Snapseed’s iOS incarnation won Apple’s best iPad App of the Year award in 2011. This is good news for the Android app ecosystem, which is light on “serious” photo editors. When Google bought Nik Software, maker of the popular Snapseed photo editor for iOS, it wasn’t hard to predict that Android users would eventually get a taste of that app’s powerful image optimization tools. ![]() The app now brings its control points and filters to Android, with a new emphasis on Google’s favorite social network. Snapseed’s photo editing love isn’t just for iOS anymore. ![]()
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