We're super happy to have another post from our guest contributor, Photoshop Guru Eric Renno, aka Tip Squirrel. Over to you Eric!
You may have noticed that my recent articles here at Fotolia have centered on mobile editing, we’ve had a look at the fabulous apps Snapseed and Kuler. The popularity of apps and editing on the go has led to an extensive upgrade to the photo-editing app shipped with iOS 8. For a detailed workflow example take a look at the video at the end of this piece, but for now let’s have a broad overview:
Levels of Adjustments
What iOS 8 does well with this update is to put the one-touch editing within easy reach but make the more detailed edits accessible to those who wish to use them.
When first opened the editing app presents the user with just 4 icons. The top 3 are pretty standard with the first being a one-touch enhancement, the second a crop tool and the third some Instagram type filters.
The bottom icon that resembles a dial is where the true power lies however. A tap on this will reveal a second set of icons; Light, Color and B&W. Tapping one of these reveals a slider that can be adjusted up or down to gain the required effect. While this works well there’s some among us that might want to drill down further…
The App That Just Keeps Giving
Beneath each of the sliders is a menu type icon. Tapping this opens up yet another set of controls. In the case of light this reveals six individual controls. Those familiar with photo editing software like Adobe Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw will recognize the various controls here.
OK, so there isn’t the range that you get with fully-fledged image editors, but there’s still some power here. If you’re looking for a few tweaks it’ll do just fine.
Tapping a menu item allows the user to access a ‘dial’ to more accurately control the tone and color of the image and to really fine tune it. The app helpfully puts a dot on the center point so you can always return to where it started.
The Verdict
This is a great addition to iOS but for all it’s tweaking ability it still lacks some features that stop it becoming a ‘go to’ app. While the ability to change luminance values is great all the changes are global ones, there’s no masking or selection.
For quick edits this is a great update, but for those wanting to seriously get into luminance values and Black and White conversions there’s better apps out there.
[youtube_sc url="http://youtu.be/pCdcT3HIA04?list=PLl9dnNcYgljHCmqI5F43k9H-PxoqS0j_O"]
Thanks so much to Eric for his super informative guide. For more videos and tutorials you can check out his website, YouTube and Facebook page and follow him on Twitter.