Not everyone wants to post unedited photos online to their social networks. Then again, not many of us want to wait until we have time to edit them on our computers, either. It kind of defeats the purpose of being able to take photos and upload them instantly. Here are four apps to help you edit your photos right on your phone:
Photoshop Express
Photoshop Express is an absolutely essential app, free to both iPhone and Android users.
What the developers say: “Adobe Photoshop Express software lets you use simple gestures to quickly edit and share photos from your mobile device. Enjoy having your photo and video library right in your hand—without wasting your device’s valuable storage space.”
What the people say: This is a super light, free version of Photoshop. It’s great for beginners and does all the basic adjustments like Curves, Levels, and Saturation. Unlike the full desktop version of Photoshop, it doesn’t use layers and there aren’t any brush capabilities. It is a neat way to do basic adjustments to your photographs, however.
PhotoForge
PhotoForge is available for $0.99 in the App Store.
What the developers say: “PhotoForge is a highly optimized editing and painting application designed for the iPhone and iPod touch. It can be used for image manipulation, retouching, effects, and color correction, as well as a painter’s tool. It is indispensable for creating original artwork or editing photos on your mobile device”
What the people say: This is really an ideal tool for any graphic designer on the go. This has many more features than Photoshop Express, including more adjustments, as well as more control over filters. This application also has eight different brushes to experiment with, as well as a clone stamp. This is actually probably much closer to the desktop version of Photoshop than most applications. Worth every penny.
And apparently there is a PhotoForge 2, available for $1.99, that has full layer support.
Photogene
Photogene is compatible with the iPhone 4 as well as the iPad 2 for $1.99.
What the developers say: “Photogene is the ultimate editing tool for your iPhone photos. It allows you to:
Enhance photos with multiple color adjustment options and a sharpen filter.
Crop and straighten.
Add fun effects like text balloons, frames or special filters.”
What the people say: This application is a good medium between Photoshop Express and PhotoForger. There are a lot of things that can be customized, like your adjustments, and there are preset filters for photographs. The interface isn’t that great—it’s actually lacking aesthetically—but fortunately that doesn’t take away from the great functionality of this app. Photogene also allows you to add text “bubbles”…which I’d probably recommend skipping.
Magic Hour
MagicHour is available for both the iPhone and Android phones for $1.99.
What the developers say: “Magic Hour is an app that can transform your ordinary photos to extraordinary ones. It will give you a fun experience you’ve never had. “
What the people say: This is mainly just a photo editing application, but its power comes in its ability to create filters by adjusting curves, textures, saturation, and much more. There are preset filters that come with the app and there’s the capability for you to create your own custom filters and edit them later. There’s also a filter market, where you can download unlimited filters created by other users. A very nice app for photo retouching.
Photoshop Express
Photoshop Express is an absolutely essential app, free to both iPhone and Android users.
What the developers say: “Adobe Photoshop Express software lets you use simple gestures to quickly edit and share photos from your mobile device. Enjoy having your photo and video library right in your hand—without wasting your device’s valuable storage space.”
What the people say: This is a super light, free version of Photoshop. It’s great for beginners and does all the basic adjustments like Curves, Levels, and Saturation. Unlike the full desktop version of Photoshop, it doesn’t use layers and there aren’t any brush capabilities. It is a neat way to do basic adjustments to your photographs, however.
PhotoForge
PhotoForge is available for $0.99 in the App Store.
What the developers say: “PhotoForge is a highly optimized editing and painting application designed for the iPhone and iPod touch. It can be used for image manipulation, retouching, effects, and color correction, as well as a painter’s tool. It is indispensable for creating original artwork or editing photos on your mobile device”
What the people say: This is really an ideal tool for any graphic designer on the go. This has many more features than Photoshop Express, including more adjustments, as well as more control over filters. This application also has eight different brushes to experiment with, as well as a clone stamp. This is actually probably much closer to the desktop version of Photoshop than most applications. Worth every penny.
And apparently there is a PhotoForge 2, available for $1.99, that has full layer support.
Photogene
Photogene is compatible with the iPhone 4 as well as the iPad 2 for $1.99.
What the developers say: “Photogene is the ultimate editing tool for your iPhone photos. It allows you to:
Enhance photos with multiple color adjustment options and a sharpen filter.
Crop and straighten.
Add fun effects like text balloons, frames or special filters.”
What the people say: This application is a good medium between Photoshop Express and PhotoForger. There are a lot of things that can be customized, like your adjustments, and there are preset filters for photographs. The interface isn’t that great—it’s actually lacking aesthetically—but fortunately that doesn’t take away from the great functionality of this app. Photogene also allows you to add text “bubbles”…which I’d probably recommend skipping.
Magic Hour
MagicHour is available for both the iPhone and Android phones for $1.99.
What the developers say: “Magic Hour is an app that can transform your ordinary photos to extraordinary ones. It will give you a fun experience you’ve never had. “
What the people say: This is mainly just a photo editing application, but its power comes in its ability to create filters by adjusting curves, textures, saturation, and much more. There are preset filters that come with the app and there’s the capability for you to create your own custom filters and edit them later. There’s also a filter market, where you can download unlimited filters created by other users. A very nice app for photo retouching.
