QuickAdvice: Get A Powerful Photo Editor With Nik Software's Snapseed for iPad
Snapseed for iPad ($4.99) by Nik Software, Inc. is another iPad photo editor with intuitive controls to make editing your photos simple and effective.
The iPad makes a perfect photo editor, thanks to the large screen estate and the wealth of apps available on the App Store. Now there's a new one that gives you full control over your photos in a fun and intuitive way. That app is Snapseed for iPad.
When you open up Snapseed, you are greeted with a two-pane view regardless of whether you are in portrait or landscape mode. On the initial launch, you'll get help overlays every time you do something in the app, but these will go away after the first time. Though you can access them again via the Help button at the top.
There's a sample image already set for you, but you can access your own Photo Library by the button along the top menu bar.
Once you get your photo, you have a variety of options to choose from, as far as how you can change the appearance of the photo. The pane with the various effects and filter adjustments will always remain on-screen. There are two pages of options within this pane - the first being photo adjustments and the second being filters.
On the adjustment options, you have Auto Correct, Selective Adjust, Tune Image, Straighten and Rotate, and Crop. When you go into any of these, you can access various options by tapping anywhere and dragging up or down. This will access the various aspects that you can adjust. When you find a setting you want to change, like white balance, simply swipe left or right to control the levels. This method is pretty intuitive and simple, and makes it so that there are no menus blocking your view of the image.
Snapseed also has six filter options, which are B&W, Vintage Films, Drama, Grunge, Center Focus, and Organic Frames. Some of the filters, like B&W, Vintage Films, Drama, and Center Focus, have different styles that you can view by tapping the Style button. Others, like Grunge and Organic Frames, have various styles but you can't preview them. Instead, the Styles button is replaced by a Shuffle button, which will let you see various styles of effects applied to your photo. Luckily, there is an Undo/Redo button.
The filters can have their filter strength and other settings adjusted the same way as before. Tap and drag up or down to reveal various options, and then slide left or right to adjust the effect to make it stand out more or less.
As you decide on what effects and adjustments you want to make to your photo, they have to be applied for the change to take effect. The Apply button will be found in the bottom right corner. As you tap this, the changes will be processed and applied, and you get taken back to the main view, with your image and adjustment panel.
Underneath the image will be four buttons. These allow you to compare to the original photo that you imported, revert it back, save to the Photo Library, or Share by email, print, Flickr, or Facebook. It also seems to save the image in the original resolution, which is great to have.
Snapseed is a good photo editing app for your iPad because the controls are intuitive. No fumbling around with buttons - just tap and slide. It's just what the iPad was made for. The level adjustments are pretty standard, but the effects included are unique and look great on the right photos.
However, I feel that for a $5 app, the amount of filters is a bit disappointing. I'd expect more than six options if I am paying that much. But for what it's worth, Snapseed is pretty good and pretty powerful.
