PhotoEditor
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Twitter update now lets you crop, rotate photos on Android
Love sharing photos on Twitter? If you're an Android user, it just got a little easier. The microblogging service's latest app update adds a simple photo-editor that allows users to crop and rotate images without the aid of a third-party program. It also flashes a reminder to @mention friends whenever you upload pics with people in it, emulating Facebook's photo-tagging feature. Pulling down on the timeline reveals other new features: if there aren't any tweets to load, the app will show recommended tweets, trending topics and will suggest users to follow. In the US, that list also includes news, sports, TV and events updates. While these new additions to the Twitter feed are only available for Android right now, the company promises that they'll soon arrive on iOS.
Aviary is a potent free photo editor for iOS
I'm always on the lookout for another good photo editor so I can finish my images in the field and Aviary for iOS certainly qualifies. This free editor (with the usual option for in-app purchases) has the power to enhance your photos and add useful effects and frames without going overboard. Aviary has the usual things you would expect in a photo editor and it does the job without having to refer to help screens because it is intuitive to use. You can auto-enhance a photo with one tap, crop, rotate and straighten images, adjust saturation, sharpen and blur, and add text. There's a nice selection of useful frames that can be applied with one click. Aviary provides editing tools to other apps and we've reviewed some that use embedded Aviary tools. Now it's nice to see Aviary provide a robust photo editor on its own. The only thing I found missing was a really good undo function. You can click any effect or process to turn it off, but I wanted unlimited undos because it's pretty easy to perform a whole line of edits and find yourself wanting to backtrack. %Gallery-186365% As mentioned, there are a lot of in-app purchases offered. it would set you back about $15 for all of them. I don't think any of them are needed, and you can do some first-rate editing without spending an extra dime. There is a lot to like about Aviary, and I think I could use it as my basic editor for most photos. It's a universal app, and will run on any iOS hardware that has iOS 5.0. It's optimized for the iPhone 5.
Zitrr Camera is a jack-of-all-trades camera app and editor for iOS
There are camera apps for the iPhone that claim to do it all, and some come very close. Newcomer Zitrr Camera (US$0.99, on sale through Tuesday) claims to be the only camera app you'll ever need. With a couple of caveats, it qualifies for the title. The app has a variety of useful shooting modes, including HD video, a timer mode, a burst mode (rapidly shoot frames one after the other), anti-shake software, a big button for larger controls to make shooting easier and even a barcode scanner. Zitrr Camera features 34 live effects, so rather than add them after the image is taken, you can actually set up the filter and see it applied live on your screen. This is very helpful. You can tap the screen to focus and adjust the white balance controls. The app provides a histogram, sharing with all your favorite social networks, and filters that can be applied after the fact. Zitrr Camera also creates slide shows, on-screen guides for composition and a level. That's a lot, but not everything. Zitrr camera also gives you digitally created lenses like fisheye and tilt-shift. It has a collection of frames, and photos can be titled. As you can see, there are a boatload of features in this one app. I used it to take some artsy (to me) photos of my parrot, which I have placed in the gallery. %Gallery-183065% I did have some points of confusion. Initially I thought Zitrr Camera wouldn't save photos to my Camera Roll. Eventually I found that option on the editing screen, not the sharing menu where I expected it to be. I also miss the ability to take HDR images from within the app. There is an effect called "Intense" that uses some HDR algorithms to stretch the picture and add saturation, but I would have preferred to combine multiple exposures for a true HDR effect. Also, once a photo is edited, it drops to just under 1 MP size, which is a considerable loss. Live filters preserve the original resolution, but as soon as you begin editing in the app itself the image loses data. This will be a serious limitation for some users. For casual shooting, it was not a problem. The developer tells me this issue will be resolved in a soon-to-come update. Having said that, Zitrr Camera is a terrific, well thought out camera app. For $0.99, it is a bargain, and it is on sale until Tuesday midnight ET. After that, it's $1.99. Zitrr Camera works on just about any iOS device, and is optimized for the iPhone 5. It requires iOS 5.1 or greater. I think you'll like this app, and marvel at what is included. If the app evolves to output edited images at full resolution, it will be best in class.
Daily iPad App: Deco Sketch Pro is a unique photo editor and graphics creation tool
Deco Sketch Pro is a universal iOS app that features geometric effects that can be added to images you have, or you can start from scratch. The US$2.99 universal app includes 10 brush types with 130 variations. You can extract color from a photo and use it as the base for an effect. You can start with a blank page and create your own designs, useful for creating desktops or other graphic art. The app is simple to use, and when you first load it, you get some help in identifying the on-screen icons. From there, I found it's just a matter of exploring. With photos, you can add things such as sunbursts or other shapes -- whatever you can dream up. It's powerful as a painting tool as well, and while I am no artist, I was able to create some interesting designs that would have been difficult to create with other drawing for painting programs. Controls allow you to zoom so you can work in detail on your image, and unlimited undos let you can fix anything that went wrong. The app worked smoothly on my iPad as well as my iPhone 5. When you are done creating, the app lets you output 8 MB images (2,448 x 3,264), which matches the iPhone 5 camera resolution. The app lets you share your creations to Facebook, Twitter and email. It's a bit hard to describe the compelling output from this app, but check the gallery for some samples. %Gallery-181961% Deco Sketch Pro is a 32 MB download and is optimized for the iPhone 5. It requires iOS 4.3 or greater.
Wrapcam is a clever and unique photo editor for iOS
We've seen a lot of photo editors in these parts, but Wrapcam takes a different approach to editing and enhancing photos. Even better, this app is free until approximately noon PDT tomorrow. Besides all the usual filters for framing, color saturation and so on, this app lets you take your photo and wrap it as if it were a piece of paper. There are several presets for this, and you can modify most filters by swiping on your device screen. There are nice page-curl filters, scroll effects and dozens more. I tried the app on some photos already on my phone, and liked the results. You can also bring the live camera up from within the app. There is an undo command, and a compare command that lets you see your original and quickly switch to the filtered versions. Any image can be shared via the more popular social networks or emailed. There is a very nice Quicksharp filter that is effective, as well as filters that simulate rain, embossing, oil paints and crayon. There is built in help, and links to video tutorials. %Gallery-181271% Wrapcam is a very nice app, and I would suggest you grab it while it is free. After that, it is a very reasonable US$0.99. I like it enough to add it to my permanent folder of photo editors. There are separate versions for iPhone and iPad. Wrapcam is optimized for the iPhone 5, and requires iOS 4.3 or greater.
GIMP now (finally) available as a native Mac app
This is something that's been a long time coming, and it's finally here. GIMP is an excellent Photoshop-esque open source photo editor. While it's been available on Mac for a long time, it has required the X11 Window environment, which itself needs a separate (and somewhat messy) installation. For a long time, the programmers working on GIMP have been promising to eventually take it native, but it hasn't happened until just recently. As of version 2.8.2, you can now simply go grab the GIMP .dmg file from the main website, and then install and run on your Mac as needed. That's good news for those of us who appreciate a powerful photo editor like this but don't necessarily have the cash for big-name apps like Photoshop or Pixelmator. Congrats to everyone who's worked on GIMP in the past. If you like the app and want to support great open sourced work, they could probably use a donation or two. [via LifeHacker]
Aviary launches photo editing application on iOS, turns Android plugin into an app
Last we heard, Aviary was being chosen to replace the deceased Picnik as the main photo editor on Flickr, and now the startup is getting ready to launch its first iOS app and give its previous Android offering a major boost. The Jeff Bezos-backed company has just announced its entry into the application game, giving iOS and Android folks access to an array of its image editing tools -- much like Apple's iPhoto on Cupertino devices or Photoshop Express on ones powered by Google's OS. Naturally, you'll be able to do run-of-the-mill tidbits such as cropping, rotating, sharpening and blurring, which are bundled alongside others like cosmetic tools, one-tap auto enhance and "gorgeous effects." It's also worth noting Aviary was once present on Google Play as a plugin, but has now made the change to a full-on, feature-packed application. Those interested in taking the fresh app for a spin can hit either of the source links below, where a mighty free download awaits you. %Gallery-158194%
Flickr adopting Aviary for photo edits, waves goodbye to Picnik
With Google set to close the Picnik shop on April 19th, it was obvious that Flickr had to go out and seek a fresh replacement. Today, the Yahoo-owned service is announcing Aviary (a Jeff Bezos-backed startup) as the new photo editing tool on its site. Along with promising to be simpler and speedier than its soon-to-be deceased predecessor, Aviary brings expected features like cropping, rotating, sharpening, red-eye reduction and cosmetic whitening, just to mention a few. Of note, Aviary is written in HTML5, opening the doors to become useful on a handful of slates and handsets. Flickr is set to commence the rollout later today, though it may take a few days until you can check out the changes.
Adobe Lightroom 4 is a 'substantial upgrade' with a 50-percent price drop
Still content with Lightroom 3.5? Check out Version 4, which has just emerged from public beta, and you may decide it's time for an upgrade. The revision brings a long list of new features, including improved highlight and shadow processing, better video support, geo-tagging and a Book Module for self-publishing photo books via the Blurb online service. Then there's the clement pricing: $79 as an upgrade or $149 new. Still not sure? DPReview has a detailed assessment at the link below, so don't be jumping to conclusions til you've read it.
Ice Cream Sandwich revamps Android camera and gallery features
It's been a long time coming, but with the introduction of Ice Cream Sandwich, Android finally takes a significant leap forward in terms of camera and gallery features. The camera interface is completely new -- it's faster and easier to use with instant access from the lock screen. Shots are taken immediately thanks to zero shutter lag and continuous autofocus with automatic face detection. Touch-to-focus with exposure lock is now supported, and the UI adds a proper digital zoom slider. The camera app also includes a new sweep panorama feature. The gallery app is also significantly improved, with Instagram-like "hipster filters" and a built-in photo editor that lets you crop and rotate pictures at arbitrary angles. Any tweaks you make are saved in a separate file, keeping the original shot intact. Images can now be sorted by location (using geotagging), and by person (if manually tagged). Video also receives a serious boost in functionality with 1080p capture, continuous autofocus, and the ability to zoom while recording. Additionally, it's now possible to create time lapse videos right from your phone. It's too early to tell if all these features will trickle down to legacy devices or remain exclusive to the Galaxy Nexus, but we'll find out soon enough.
Ice Cream Sandwich may have a built-in photo editor to help your pictures turn out halfway decent
If you envision Ice Cream Sandwich -- the latest iteration of Android -- as a revolutionary update that satisfies every single one of your geeky lusts, we sure hope you've been aching for a photo editor. It appears that AndroidPolice has hunted down a variety of icons and logos presumed to be associated with the feature, but it's not certain if these will actually appear in the final build. The icons hint at a smattering of image editing tools: crop, sharpen, flip, rotate and a selection of 19 possible photo effects are among the options. Again, this is highly speculative, and rumors such as these will likely ramp up as we approach the official announcement. 'Course, we won't scoff at the idea of a native photo editor in Ice Cream Sandwich, but we're sincerely hoping this won't be the coolest thing about the new OS at Tuesday's announcement in Hong Kong. [Thanks, Paul]
SWYP concept printer combines good looks with touchscreen editing
A concept printer from Seattle-based designers Artefact wants to bring those touchscreen editing skills learnt from smartphones and tablets to the not-so-electrifying world of printers. The streamlined SWYP (See What You Print) has a pretty striking design -- for a printer. The paper tray even folds away flush on top of the touchscreen in a very (very!) familar way. That contraption shown above would be able to connect directly to your camera or phone, foregoing the PC step with editing and collating all done on-screen; there's even an augmented reality interface that visualizes ink levels and those inevitable printer woes. At present, these guys aren't gunning to take out the only thing HP hasn't flubbed lately, but hopefully the glossy concept vid after the break will tide you over till commercialization (prayerfully) hits. [Thanks, Gene]
Apple iOS 5 adds instant camera access from lock screen and shutter release to volume-up button
Apple's just announced that iOS 5-enabled iPhones (and likely iPads and iPods, too) are getting a camera shortcut on the lock screen and a shutter button in the form of the volume up key -- a feature that got Camera+ temporarily banned from the App Store last year on the grounds that it used unauthorized APIs. Also new to iOS: the ability to tap and hold to lock focus and exposure on a subject. Rounding out the list, Apple also added an optional grid to help frame photos, and a new photo editor with a basic feature set that includes cropping, rotating, red-eye reduction, auto-enhance features, and the ability to create albums on the device. %Gallery-125437%
