Thursday, April 7, 2011

Editing on the iPad

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While I certainly don't intend to turn this into an iPad blog, I'm just so taken with this device that I have to share.

Every day I find new things that I never imagined I could do on the iPad. And sometimes, I find myself wishing for a comparable product on my computer.

What a huge surprise.

I've spoken before about how beautifully the iPad displays photographs. Just today, I discovered two applications that let me actually manipulate photos on the iPad. This was a real surprise, as I had been led to believe that the iPad would be more of a passive device rather than a working computer.

The first is called Camera+ and is actually an ap for the iPhone. Just to be clear, any ap that works on an iPhone will work on an iPad, but it may not be iPad "native". This means that while it will run on the iPad, it wont take advantage of the larger screen of the iPad. That's the case with Camera+, but it has such an incredible tweak that it's well worth using ion the iPad.

The tweak is called "clarity" and with the mere touch of the screen, it brightens and sharpens your photo. This can be done with other photo manipulation software, but this one works exceptionally well, and very easily.

Often, sharpening software, especially ones that operate with one touch, have a tendency to over sharpen, which gives a harsh look. But Camera+ and its' clarify button work really well. The first photo is my original shot. (Well, it's not really my original, but it's the one I was happy with after a bit of digital manipulation). I pulled this shot from my time at Capitol Reef last fall.

To appreciate the full effect of these tools,
click each image to enlarge.


And here's the photo
after using the clarify tool in Camera+.
Not great for every shot,
but a really nice effect.
Camera+ costs just $.99.


The next ap is the one that really blew my skirt up. Everyone knows that in digital photography, you can remove items. This sounds really easy, but they rarely mention that it is a whole lot of work to remove artifacts. And remember, when you remove something, you have to put something back in its' place.

But now, along comes
TouchReTouch HD, which is also just $.99.

This ap is like magic, it really is.
Here's the original shot


Now, I loved the face on this mannequin, but what is all that going on over to the far right? Distracting, but I didn't originally bother to remove it. And I really didn't want to crop it out, so I just used the photo as it was.

But look what happened with TouchReTouch HD.


This literally took me about twenty seconds. With this little ap, you tap a paintbrush, then move your finger over what you want to remove, then hit the apply button. No cloning, no filling in, it just works.

I really like these two aps and wanted to share.
I'm loving my iPad.

2 comments:

Sue Malone said...

Wow! that removal tool sounds pretty amazing. I have tried to use Picasa's but it's so much work, and I rarely even open Photoshop any more. Too many toys, although it might be a long time before I manage an iPad, you are making it look like fun.

Donna K said...

Those are handy little apps. I like the editing part almost as much as the actual photography. Looks like you're having a good time with your iPad.