Photoshop for iPhone: A Free, Simplistic, and Feature-Packed App
By: Hillel Fuld
Adobe made some noise last week with the release of their new Photoshop for iPhone. Now before I discuss this app, let me tell you that I am a complete photography newbie, I do not use the desktop version, and photo editing for me was always a headache. I was hesitant to open Photoshop for iPhone thinking it was probably designed for those professional photo editors, and I would not know where to start. I could not have been more wrong.
Photoshop for iPhone follows in the footsteps of the best iPhone apps out there in terms of its simplicity. Big icons, obvious and friendly user interface, and useful features are some of the advantages of Photoshop for iPhone. After using this app, and testing out all the features, it would not be an exaggeration to say that it is more useful to me than any desktop photo editing software I have used. Now, let me say this up front, this app will probably not be sufficient for the average photography enthusiast and obviously offers a lot less features than the desktop Photoshop, but it is enough for me.
As for the app, when you open it, you are presented with a Select Photo screen, that has a few icons on the bottom. Most of those icons, when clicked will ask you to register online for Photoshop.com. This will enable you to easily upload your iPhone’s pictures to a 2GB free storage account. The initial screen also has a Settings icon from which you can choose to view tips in the app’s interface or hide them, read the About section, or sign up for the online account. Nothing too fancy…
Once you select a photo, you are presented with a nice looking screen with four icons along the top and four along the bottom. Each icon on the top, when clicked opens a drop down menu with three or four options. The first icon enables you to crop, rotate, or flip your picture, the 2nd one lets you play with the photo’s exposure, saturation, tint, or color. Moving on, the 3rd and 4th icons along the top are for setting the focus and effects of the picture, as well as the ability to turn the picture into a sketch-like image. The coolest thing about all of these options are that the levels are adjusted based on your finger’s gestures. So for example, to rotate the photo, simply click the first icon, then click Rotate, and using two fingers begin to rotate your picture to the desired angle, then click Save. When saving a photo, you can either save and upload it to your online account, or save and exit the app.
The four icons along the bottom of the app are to cancel the project and start again, undo or redo your last action, or the save option I discussed above. There you have it folks, that is the whole app, simple, functional, and useful. Obviously, I can think of one or two things they could have added, like sharing the picture on various platforms, or maybe marking up an image, but then again, the more features they would have added, the less simple it would be to use.
Photoshop for iPhone is a definite keeper, and Adobe did a great job designing it in my opinion. Like I said, not for the heaviest photographers but for basic photo editing, this is the app to use. For more advanced editing, turn on your computer people, the iPhone is still just a mobile phone, did you forget that?
Our Rating: 5/5
Developer: Adobe
