There may be a thousand photo editing apps today, but I still have a nostalgic fondness for Adobe’s Photoshop. So when I heard the Photoshop mobile app had been updated for the iPad, I had to give it a whirl.
Now dubbed Photoshop Express, the new iPad app is both simple and, unfortunately, simplistic. It’s hard not to love the iPad as a photo editing platform because the display is beautifully large and there’s room to really work with your images. However, the Photoshop app doesn’t give you a whole lot to play with. There are no sophisticated tools like layers, Dodge and Burn, or the Clone Stamp. Instead, Photoshop Express sticks with the basics like color tinting, borders, contrast adjustment, and image cropping. It’s also missing a red-eye-removal tool,which, as far as I’m concerned, should be in every photo editing software.
The nice thing about Photoshop Express is that it does make basic editing very easy. Want to create a quick digital album of your latest vacation? No problem. The Photoshop app has handy hints that pop up, and it utilizes the touch-screen interface well. For example, with most of the tools you can adjust your effects by swiping a finger across the screen. Swipe left for less effect, and right for more. It doesn’t get any easier than that.
Bottom line: Photoshop Express is good for quick and dirty image edits, and as a free app, you certainly can’t beat the price. However, I’m looking forward to a premium iOS version of Photoshop some day. Adobe may have a bone to pick with Apple over Flash, but the iPad could be a playground for Adobe’s much-loved photo editing software.
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