Editing Photos on the iPad: A Photographer's Guide

Apr 16, 2012

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Jeff Carlson shares some common photo adjustments using a handful of representative apps — namely, Snapseed and Photogene — on the iPad. He also includes a few specialized apps, such as piRAWnha for editing raw files directly and TouchRetouch HD for removing blemishes or objects from a scene.

This chapter is from the book 

iPad for Photographers, The: Master the Newest Tool in Your Camera Bag

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So far, I’ve focused mostly on moving photos around—importing them into the iPad, organizing them, and getting them onto your computer. And if the iPad were nothing more than a glorified picture frame, that would be fine. But, of course, it’s a powerful image editor, too. A rich array of apps can manipulate pixels in all sorts of ways: apply premade filters to simulate other cameras or eras, correct color and tone, retouch to fix blemishes and other oddities, and much more. Image editing tools on the iPad are especially helpful when you want to share photos soon after importing them, before you’re back at a desktop computer.

In this chapter, I focus on common photo adjustments using a handful of representative apps. In practice, I use Snapseed and Photogene interchangeably depending on how I want an image to appear, so I walk through making edits in those apps. If you already have a favorite alternative, you’ll find similar controls for accomplishing the tasks I mention. I also include a few specialized apps, such as piRAWnha for editing raw files directly and TouchRetouch HD for removing blemishes or objects from a scene.

Make Photo Adjustments

In an ideal world, every photo I capture would be perfect in-camera, but that’s just not the case. (It’s a worthy goal to strive for, however—the less work you have to do to an image later, the better.) Most pictures can benefit from a little tinkering in a few areas. Here are the typical areas I focus on when I want to edit an image. Some of these won’t apply in all cases, or may not be needed at all, depending on the image.

Recompose. I’m pulling a few concepts under this heading because they each change the boundary of a photo. Cropping is often done to exclude distracting elements at the edges of the frame or to “zoom in” on a subject, but it’s also often used to move a subject away from the center of the image for better visual interest.
Adjust tone. Several tools affect a photo’s tone: exposure, brightness, contrast, levels, curves, and more, depending on the software. Adjusting tone can usually restore detail to underexposed areas or add definition to a photo that’s a bit washed out.
Adjust color. Color usually gets edited when adjusting tone, but color-specific adjustments exist that can help photos. Changing the white balance (color temperature) can remove color casts or bring warmth to cloudy scenes, while saturation controls boost or reduce overall color intensity. Some apps also offer a vibrance control, which affects saturation but preserves skin tones (no sense kicking up the saturation if the people in your photo end up looking like Oompa Loompas).
Make specific fixes. Some photos need isolated adjustments: fixing red-eye, spot-retouching, sharpening, and the like.
Apply creative presets. Most adjustment apps include preset filters that approximate the looks of other cameras, add borders or “grunge” effects, or evoke aged film stock.

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