Photo editing

If you are like me, you do much of your photography from your phone; I have at least 4 apps for taking pictures. I think I'm going to do crazy filter things but in reality I like to compose a shot and snap a pic then share it. For some pictures I would like to do some photo editing but, like CAD programs, to do it well requires expertise.

I have PS Touch on my tablet because it was pre-installed. I thought I would love it because I get to use the S-pen. Yeah no. I just found it frustrating to work with layers. I couldn't even get the tutorial to go as described. If this is not you I bow before your ability :)

I have 2 go to photo-editing tools that I have installed on my phone and my tablet. They are well written so they actually take advantage of the larger screen on a tablet.

First one is Perfectly Clear. This is a paid app but well worth the $1.99 + $0.99 for the portrait correction. Because there is sooooo much snow (and cloud) in my life, I need a lot of simple correction. With Perfectly Clear you have to option to get a photo from albums, Camera folder or use the built in file explorer. A split screen will show the old and the corrected version side by side so you can see the effect. While the presets are excellent, you can also tweek settings manually with various sliders then save it as a favorite. There are overlays that pop up to give directions on the next step. Once you are done you can either save it or share directly. Really simple, really good correction. Excellent for use on a phone before you post. Super easy to use. Super. Easy.

The other is SnapSeed. This is new to the Play store and now free to iOS users. This is a little more complex to use and does a lot of effects other apps do. What sets it apart for me is the directions overlay and simple, consistent movements are used to enhance your photos. Another really nice feature is being able to set DropBox as your default for getting your photos. Since I have everything upload automatically, all my pictures are available everywhere. All effects are performed on an existing photo (unlike something like Camera ZOOM FX where you see the effect as you take the picture) so you can control where the effect is centered much more easily. Corrections are not split screen but switched as you press the compare button.

With these apps, or similar ones, correcting your photos is really easy so when you share them the photos look as good as you expected.