photoediting
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Perfectly Clear migrates from iOS to Mac
I first got a look at Perfectly Clear when it came out for iOS. It was a nice, quick and easy, one-touch solution for improving photos without a lot of editing pain. Perfectly Clear now works on the Mac as a plug-in for Photoshop or Lightroom and maintains the same philosophy it did on iOS -- one click and your photo is improved. Now you might assume a Photoshop or Lightroom user wants more control, but the reality is that with Photoshop on a monthly subscription plan, a lot of new Photoshop users are coming on board. In addition, Perfectly Clear gives you the kind of micro-control advanced Photoshop users may want, so users can adjust photo quality automatically or to taste. Automatic corrections include many portrait features, like face slimming, blemish removal, eye enhancement, teeth whitening and more. For non-portrait photography, Perfectly Clear offers sharpening, noise reduction, vivid adjustments, fix dark images, fix tint, and more. If you don't like the one click fix, there are very in-depth adjustments available for each pre-set. Yes, you can accomplish many of these things with Photoshop adjustments, but Perfectly Clear is easier and faster, and the results can look as good. This version 2.0 of Perfectly Clear has optimized algorithms so it operates at about twice the speed as the pre-update version. Split views with zoom make seeing your changes very obvious, and your custom adjustments can be saved and even shared with other Perfectly Clear users. I consider myself a pretty experienced and advanced Photoshop user, having been enjoying it all the way back to version 1.0. I know enough about the Photoshop tools to get what I want out of almost any image, but Perfectly Clear really works well and with a minimum of hassle. In my testing I found that the enhancements were logical and never over the top. It's not hard to use, and the built-in app help links you both to the manual and video tutorials. It's definitely worth a look for both advanced and newer Photoshop or Lightroom users. You can learn more at the Perfectly Clear website. The Photoshop and Lightroom plugins are US$149.00 each or $199.00 as a bundle. There are free trial versions available. This software is available direct from the publisher and is not on the Mac App Store. Another similarly useful suite of tools is NIK Tools for Mac, now owned by Google. These tools are also priced at $149.00. NIK Tools are excellent and useful, and I find that with Perfectly Clear, I like using whichever package makes the most sense with a particular image. The NIK Tools don't have any portrait features, however. They do have an excellent ability to apply enhancements selectively in the image, something Perfectly Clear lacks. Perfectly Clear plug-ins requires either Photoshop or Lightroom to host them. You need Mac OS X Leopard (10.6) or later. The company is also in late beta for a standalone version that doesn't require any of the Adobe software. Recommended.
Adobe buys Aviary to bring photo editing to more mobile apps
The world of image editing has changed a lot in the past few years -- you're now about as likely to tweak a photo on your phone or tablet as you are on your PC. Adobe is clearly aware of this shift, as it just bought Aviary and its cloud-savvy image editing platform for an unspecified amount. The two firms will work together on bringing Adobe's editing tools and Creative Cloud services to more mobile apps. That photography app you just downloaded on your phone could create Photoshop-friendly pictures, for example. There's no set timetable for integrating Aviary into Adobe's software platforms, but the quick turnaround from the Behance acquisition suggests that you'll see more powerful mobile editing suites within a matter of months.
Pixlr releases a powerful free desktop photo editor for Mac
Pixlr by Autodesk has built its reputation on providing high-powered photo editing online for free. While it offers advanced tools for a small yearly cost -- US$2 a month or $15 a year -- the basic online editor provides plenty of power for your average editing needs. Now the service is offering up a desktop app for Mac and, yes, it's free too. You don't need to sign up for a free account to use the program, but creating one unlocks a few extra effects like double exposure. Pixlr isn't designed to replace Photoshop, but if you have photo editing needs like resizing, cropping, or adding simple filters to your work, you can't do better for the price. The desktop version includes hundreds of different options, from crosshatch, halftone, or dapple effects to overlays, stickers, and borders. If you have a young child looking to get into photo editing, this is a great and inexpensive way to open that door. Pixlr for Mac is available to download for free right here. Enjoy.
Adobe Photoshop Mix lets you undo mistakes, nab Dropbox files
Adobe's Photoshop Mix offering for Apple's slates arrived a few months back alongside its Ink and Slide drawing tools, and it's not letting the app sit too long before adding new features. The latest version adds an undo/redo option that'll help with missteps, swaps background/foreground images by dragging thumbnails and saves full-res JPEG and PNG files to that iPad you're working on. For those of us that don't keep a lot of work files on our tablets, you can now import images from your Dropbox repository to edit or add to Creative Cloud-stored PSDs whilst on-the-go. The update is now available over at iTunes, so if your device hasn't yet alerted you or if you've yet to take the slate-style editing for a spin, have at it.
VSCO Cam for Android taps into its Grid for endless inspiration
Popular mobile photo-editing app VSCO Cam made its way to Android back in December, and now the preset-driven option has reached version 3.0. On top of adding the free VSCO Grid image showcase that's already included in the iOS version, you can now search and follow fellow photogs posting images there. What's more, updated sharing options make it easy to share what you find in that library and tweaked privacy tools allow you to nix location settings to keep your locale private. And of course, there's the usual UI and performance tweaks in this latest Visual Supply Co. release that's now available for download via Google Play.
Google+ Photos now lets you go back and re-edit pics you already edited
Google+ Photos already saves originals of your edited photos, in case you ever regret some of the more Warholish tweaks you made. Now, Google is letting you go back and edit your edits (editception!), rather than making you start from scratch with the original. So if you like all the filters you previously added, but just wanna crop the shot more tightly, you can do that without having to redo the whole thing. The catch is that this feature only works on Chrome, according to a post from Google employee John Nack, which means Android and iOS users are out of luck for now. Additionally, the company is introducing a feature called Auto Awesome Effects (yep) that automatically applies filters to your photos, videos and GIFs as you upload them. As with everything else, though, these effects are reversible; you can undo them if you don't like the ones Google picked out. Look for both features to start rolling out today, in case you have time for a little image-play.
Litely looks to improve mobile photo editing by focusing on simplicity
"The best photos don't look edited; it's all about the story and the moment," photographer Cole Rise quips while walking me through his new mobile image editor. You may not recognize his name, but if you've used Instagram, you've seen some of his work. Rise created the Hudson, Sierra, Sutro and Rise filters for the popular social snapshooting app. But he's quick to tell you that the features in Instagram and other mobile editing software help mask bad photos and are generally too heavy-handed to churn out truly compelling images. So with that in mind, and with a library of presets for Lightroom, Photoshop and Aperture already in his toolbox, he set out to make a non-destructive editor with a simple UI and subtle tools. Something to make film-like tweaks to good photos rather than improve mediocre ones. He created Litely for iOS.
Lightroom mobile review: Adobe brings (most of) its digital darkroom to the iPad
Talk about timing. Almost as soon as I convinced myself I could use an iPad Air in my life, Microsoft and Adobe made my day with mobile versions of two of my most-used PC/Mac programs -- Office and Lightroom. Not long after Microsoft revealed an iPad version of Office, Adobe followed up with a tablet-friendly version of its popular Lightroom photo editor. Like Office for iPad, Lightroom mobile (its official name) is more workflow companion than PC replacement, letting photographers experiment with images from anywhere there's an internet connection before finalizing projects back at home base. With a number of solid photo editors already available for the iPad, though, the free-to-download Lightroom mobile needs to offer some unique advantages if Adobe hopes to lure folks into its subscription-based Creative Cloud service. Is the new app up to the task? I added it to my regular photo-editing workflow to find out.
Weekend App: Handy Photo Free is a capable iOS image editor with a couple of unique features
Ah, another iOS image editor review. There are so many available in the App Store, with lots of overlapping functions. Cropping, filters, frames ... one could get lost. Handy Photo Free has all these features, but it's the unique features that make it worthy of note. First and foremost, the Move Me technology designed into the app gives it an edge on competing photo editors. Take a person or an object and move it elsewhere in the photo frame, and the background fills itself in automatically. Filters can be applied to all or just parts of an image, and there is smart retouching. Like many image editors that use the freemium app pricing model, you can upgrade to a full version that adds smart 'uncropping', full-resolution saves, more filters and RAW support. The full version is available at the reasonable price of US$1.99. In terms of filtering and image manipulation, the free Snapseed app is still superior to anything I have used in iOS but Handy Photo Free adds that very powerful Move Me feature. There are little niceties in the app. For example, when you are drawing the mask on the object you want to move, Handy Photo offsets a magnified view of where you are painting. Most apps stupidly let your finger cover the area you are working in, making it difficult to create an accurate mask. The Move Me technology works well, and on the photos where I tried it, a new natural-looking background was rendered. Handy Photo, in both the free and paid incarnations, is a first-rate editing tool. Help is built in and each feature is described. The GUI is modern and accessible for a first time user. I'm very partial to Snapseed, which can turn an ordinary picture into something memorable, but the special features of Handy Photo are well implemented and worthwhile. Try the free version and see if the features are useful to you. Handy Photo Free requires iOS 4.2 or later, and it is optimized for the iPhone 5. The app is universal.
Google+ for Android learns even more photo editing tricks from Snapseed
Google+ has been taking cues from Snapseed ever since the company snapped up the app, and this refresh for Android is no different. The update introduces tools like crop, rotate and one-touch filters. It also comes with Snapseed-like enhancements, including HDR Scape, which made its debut on the web interface early this month. While the update brings these familiar features onboard, you'll also come across something entirely new: "non-destructive editing in the cloud," which gives you the power to edit photos on one device and pick up where you left off on another. Finally, you can now see every photo you've saved on the device and in the cloud (arranged by date) on the new All tab. Since people upload more than a billion images a week on Google+, this definitely won't be the last photo editor upgrade you'll see. We just hope whatever the social network comes up with in the future is a lot better -- and a lot less cheesy -- than its Valentine's Day stunt.
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 pauses Windows 8 and WP8 development, focuses on iOS and Android for now
We hope folks on WP and Windows 8 are A-OK with Aviary's apps and SDKs as they are, because the company is not currently developing its products for the platforms. An Aviary representative has revealed the news in the firm's forums, citing the "lack of general platform traction" as the reason. We reached out to CEO Tobias Peggs who confirmed that his team isn't working on Aviary's Windows tools this quarter. Apparently, the startup has chosen to focus on its iOS and Android products, following a tremendous growth in userbase on those operating systems. Not all hope is lost, however: according to Peggs, Aviary's currently gathering feedback from Windows developers who've incorporated its image editing SDK into their own apps. Their input will be taken into account when the company makes its 2014 roadmap, which means, the CEO says, "[Aviary] may well jump back in."
Android 4.4 KitKat comes with a deep, non-destructive photo editor (video)
Google revealed many things about Android 4.4 KitKat on the software's launch day, but it glossed over one of the sweetest treats for shutterbugs: a much more advanced photo editor. As the company's Nicolas Roard demonstrates, creatives can now apply effects, filters and adjustments at very precise levels, down to specific color channels and regions. Mobile artists can create presets, and every change is non-destructive -- it takes just a a couple of taps to revert to the original image. The new tool is built into KitKat's Gallery app, so just about any Android device that uses the standard photo browsing interface will reap the rewards.
Turning mugshots into models: We have some fun with Facetune
Facetune is currently one of the most popular purchases on the App Store, due in no small part to its ability to drastically alter your selfies. You can tweak just about every aspect of your portraits, from smoothing skin textures to tweaking tones; you can even go as far as altering the shape of your face. In short, it's a rather powerful tool. Today, I decided to have some fun with a few photos of people at their worst. Where do people look their worst, you ask? In mugshots, of course! I snagged a few shots off of Muggn (which obtains the photos via public records) and loaded them into Facetune. Some required more work than others, and I'm not claiming to be a digital wizard when it comes to photo manipulation, but I think we can all agree that the app did a rather respectable job cleaning up many of the scars, teary eyes, tattoos and wrinkles that marred the original photos. Fabulous, aren't they?
Aviary gets an iOS 7 redesign and a new shop, comes in more languages
With the release of iOS 7 comes a parade of app refreshes, and one of the participants is Photo Editor by Aviary. Unlike past updates that only add extra features to the mix, this one includes a full interface revamp to complement the platform. Its devs also made it easier to blow money on filters and stickers in one go by collating everything you can buy in-app in the new supply shop. Add that to the fact that the app's been translated to more languages (Arabic, Turkish, Thai and Bahasa Indonesia) and now comes with a simpler sharing tool, and you'll see why it could reach new audiences and make some cash in the process. You'll automatically get Aviary's update with iOS 7, but hit the source link below if you've yet to give the app a whirl.
Google+ brings Snapseed-powered photo editing tools to desktop Chrome (video)
Google added Snapseed photo editing to its Google+ apps on Android and iOS back in March, and now it's bringing them to the desktop. The new tools include Auto Enhance, selective adjust editing, and filters, all powered by the Chrome browser's Native Client tech. Not familiar with how that works? Google brought Native Client to Chrome back in 2011, and it allows developers to port code written in languages like C and C++ so it runs in the browser. Vic Gundotra said on Google+ that this is the Snapseed app built for Chrome, so we'll see if more mobile apps and features follow it over. If you're not using Chrome you'll have to live with basic crop and rotate editing tools on Google+, but even those have been shifted around to make them easier to find. Once the new options are available on your account (as usual, they're rolling out slowly over the next few weeks) all you'll need to do is select one of your photos in Chrome and hit "edit" to see them. Until then, check out the video demo embedded after the break.
Flickr for iOS update brings new filters, camera features and editing tools
Given the stiff competition from other photo editing apps, Yahoo is approaching its Flickr renaissance with steely determination. Today's update to the iOS app introduces a slew of new features designed to give it a fighting chance in a crowded market. Love 'em or hate 'em, filters remain all the rage, and Flickr is rolling out a handful of new ones with suitably hip names to please the masses. Now, users will also have the ability to see a live preview of the filter before they apply it to their photo. Also included in the update are several beefed up -- and free -- editing features, like color balance settings, level adjustments and a sharpening tool. Lastly, the camera function is getting a minor overhaul as well. You can now pinch to zoom, compose a shot with the handy dandy grid and lock your exposure and focus points. To get your hands on the update, head on over to the source link below.
Composite lighting technique lets amateurs produce well-lit photos in minutes (video)
Hobbyist photographers don't often have the luxury of elaborate lighting rigs. However, Adobe and Cornell University have developed a new software technique that could bring pro-grade illumination to a wider audience. Known as computational lighting design, the solution simplifies a familiar trick that combines shots taken with a camera's external flash placed in different positions. The software uses multiple sample photos to create composite images that emphasize color, edge lighting and fill lighting; editors just have to balance those three light values to get the desired effect. While the code is still unpolished, it's good enough that even beginners can produce well-lit masterpieces in less than 15 minutes. Adobe believes that the technique could reach future versions of apps like Lightroom or Photoshop, so don't be surprised if still-life photography catches on in the near future.
Aviary for iOS update adds Instagram and email sharing options, extra magic
Aviary has certainly been busy over the past couple of months, having recently overhauled its photo-editing app for Android, as well as launching on Windows Phone 8. Fortunately, the industrious company has also found time to work on its iOS app, which has just been updated to allow picture sharing via Instagram and good old-fashioned email. The sharing menu now features two new buttons that'll push the selected image into Instagram's own app, or launch Mail and add it to the body of an email. According to the update changelog, the new version also has "a bonus extra dose of magic added." We asked the folks at Aviary exactly how they implemented this exciting feature, but frustratingly, they wouldn't tell us.
Aviary lands on Windows Phone 8, paid content made free for a limited time
Aviary has come a long way from its humble origins as a Flickr plugin -- over the last year it's graduated to a standalone app, been given a makeover and has even been ported to Windows 8. Today the popular photo-editing software lands on yet another platform: Windows Phone 8. As on iOS and Android, the app itself is free and comes with a bunch of filters and stickers. Extra packs can usually be purchased for two bucks a pop, but WP8 users can get them for free for a limited time -- not bad for a digital lizard sombrero. Follow the source link below to check out the (temporarily) gratis photo editor yourself.
