Optimal photo editing in your pocket

Snapseed app review

By Carlos Bilan, Staff Writer

If you are not familiar with Adobe Photoshop, you should know that it’s perhaps the most powerful photo editing tool used by photographers and industry professionals.

As a Photoshop user myself, I think that the app Snapseed manages to be a miniature—and simplified—version of Photoshop. Thankfully, Snapseed—produced by Nik Software—isn’t quite as complex to use, so you will be able to experience optimal photo editing capabilities using just your smartphone.

Curves, Healing, and White Balance are some examples of essential tools present in Photoshop that Snapseed also possesses. The Curves tool is considered by many to be one of the most potent image transformational tools, since it adjusts brightness and contrasts in such a way that cannot be achieved by simply adjusting them both separately. Healing or “healing brush” is a popular retouching tool used in the fashion industry that is used to remove blemishes. White Balance is similar to Photoshop’s Color Balance, which balances the colours from your photo—say if the photo is taken in yellow lighting, you can reduce the harsh intensity of that colour.

Besides the app covering some essential technical tools, there are a good number of built-in filters that are curated for specific needs. For example, if you took a photo of a landscape, the HDR Scape adds more clarity to the image and contrast making the scenery look more picturesque. The Glamour Glow is a filter that can make your skin look flawless and glowing. Another is the Lens Blur, which makes your photo look like it was taken from a DSLR camera, since it provides focus on the foreground and can blur the background. These filters require several steps in Photoshop to achieve, but Snapseed makes it possible with just a simple slide of an adjuster.

In this day and age, most well-taken photos we see use photo editing software. With Snapseed, you can get your photos to look professionally taken, even when it’s just taken from your smartphone. The app is available for Apple and Android devices, so check it out and start experimenting with those tools!