With modern photo editing tech, there is no limit to the effects that you can bring about in a single picture. For instance, you can make an event come alive with colors. Or, touch up your old photos and enhance their print. You can even fix your damaged, old, pictures.
Thanks to impressive advancements in mobile technology, editing raw pictures is now pretty simple. It’s only a game of few taps on the screen and voila! Your photo is ready to stun the audience, once and for all.
While we can go on and on about how fine photo editing is mandatory to get attention, it’s vital to discuss the basics. Like, why you should edit the picture in the first place?
Some of us are only looking for appreciation, while others want to impress their business clientele. It also comes in handy for upgrading a commercial shoot or making memories on special occasions.
Given the increasing inclination of the public towards photo editing, it is important to discuss the options available for doing it. We have all heard about the popular Photoshop software by Adobe. However, there are other image editors in the market. These options can be equally powerful and produce highly professional results. The best part is, they are all available as apps.
Below, we have rounded up six image editing apps that run almost parallel to Photoshop:
- Snapseed
Snapseed is a free image editing app. It comes loaded with simple image manipulation tools and presets. The fact that Google supports this app increases its reputation. Also, it has an intuitive interface.
When it comes to the features, Snapseed has some aspects that stand out from others in the market. Like, you can design your filters from scratch. Then there is Precision Masking and Selective Adjust tool. The former allows you to focus on the foreground. And the Selective Adjust helps to edit specific points on the image. It also has some classic tools like cropping, frames, text, and sharpening.
Unlike many other photo editing apps, there are no in-app purchase options in Snapseed.
- VSCO
VSCO is not only about editing, but it also connects you to an online community. So far, the number of downloads of this app have crossed 960,000 on Google Play. The numbers on iOS are even higher.
Its vast collection of filters can add a touch of class to your photos. It allows you to adjust the strength of these filters and tunes up their exposure. Also, there are standard editing tools like vignettes, cropping, and frames. In case you want to adjust the exposure, temperature, or skin tones of the image; you can easily do that in VSCO.
By the time you finish editing, you can share the picture with the VSCO community. Or share it on any other social media platform, like Instagram.
- Pixlr
Pixlr is fast, easy, and provides an ample of options for editing photos. The layout and operation of many options in Pixlr are similar to Photoshop. It has 600 effects, borders, and overlays, in particular.
Additionally, there is an Express Tool that allows you to make changes with a single click. It is fast, fun, and the best option for beginners. Basic tools like cropping and size adjustment are also a part of this app.
And lastly, the interface of this app is user-friendly turning the editing process into fun and learning.
- GIMP
GIMP is an open-source image editor that is free of cost. The image enhancing tools in this app are similar to premium software. Plus, the app upgrades with more tools every day. It features masks, layers, curves, and multiple levels. You can also cut down the flaws by healing tools and clone stamps.
This app stands out from the crowd for its advanced features. You can apply changes to isolated points and make perspective transitions. Its developers have crafted a huge range of plugins that extend its utility. Most of these are already in the app, and there are some you have to download from the glossary. According to Flathub, this program has over 214,000 downloads since its launch in 2017.
- Fotor
Fotor is one of the simplest apps available in the stores. You will not find an advanced set of tools nor any option to edit images for a video. If you are looking for the latter, read The Best Video Editing App for iOS and Android to know more.
Nonetheless, this app has hundreds of millions of users across the globe. It contains a stack of high-end filters that can polish your pictures. Then there is a tilt-shift tool. Also, you can tweak up the colors with its clever menu system. Not to forget, manual altering of the levels and curves is quite easy to conduct in this app.
One feature that singles this app is its batch processing tool. Feed a pile of pictures and process the entire lot in one go. It’s perfect for a stack of photos from an occasion when you’re looking to cover up the blurry ends of all snaps.
- Canva
Canva has an exciting growth story. According to Techcrunch, the developers aim to increase users to 3.2 billion.
This app runs in the browser. You can easily turn your pictures into postcards and social media posts. This makes it a highly functional app for ecommerce website development.
Canva has two versions – paid and free. The free version is perfect for small uses. It gives you 1GB cloud storage, 8000 design templates, and a couple of folders for organizing your work. But if you are looking for professional quality editing, you must get the paid version.
Apart from this, the toolkit includes brightness adjustment options, sharpening, saturation, contrast, tints, etc. The text tools in this app are better than many others out there. You can also add graphics for enhancing the design.
Final Verdict
Living in a time where the average attention span has shrunk to eight seconds, we need to focus more on visuals. You can tell a story with one picture. To do that, it’s imperative to polish it up with special apps and software.
We hope this list has helped you spot the app you were looking for. If that’s true, let us know this in the comments section along with sharing your thoughts.
Author Bio:
Evie harrisonis a blogger by choice. She loves to discover the world around her. She likes to share her discoveries, experiences and express herself through her blogs. Find her on Twitter:@iamevieharrison