Snapseed review

Update: On September 17th Google acquired the Nik Software, the parent company behind Snapseed.

Snapseed is an iPhone app from Nik Software Inc. that can improve the quality of your photography. I have five sons, and it is virtually impossible to get a decent picture of them all. The light is always off on one, or I’ve taken a lopsided shot in the middle of yelling at them to stand still. The Snapseed app gives me many more tools than I’ll ever need to improve and enhance my photography on the iPhone. It has the components of popular photography apps like Hipstamatic and Instagram, and it is in many ways easier to use.

You have the option of choosing a photo from the library, or you can shoot a new photo within Snapseed. The photo is a “regular” photo that can be adjusted for contrast and brightness, as well as cropped and straightened. One of the features I appreciate most is the ability to pinpoint an area in the photo, mark the size, and adjust for brightness and contrast. And, you can do that in multiple areas of a photo. I used the feature on a photo of my five sons. The light was inconsistent, and my youngest son was shadowed. I was able to pinpoint him, and I made his light like the rest of the photo. You simply move your finger left and right across the screen to increase and decrease the brightness.

The precision with which you can make adjustments to the photos is a credit to the responsive touch controls. I was able to straighten and crop a photo quickly and precisely. You make adjustments by moving your finger left and right or up and down. Directions are clear and easily accessed within the app. On an iPhone, you simply shake the device to erase the most recent adjustment.

Snapseed also provides black and white, vintage, drama, and grunge filters, as well as frames. Snapseed takes the filters to a higher level than other popular photography apps. Within each filter, Snapseed offers additional complimentary features to enhance the filter. For example, in black and white, you can adjust brightness, contrast, and grain. Interestingly, I used the gritty grunge filter to transform a simple flower arrangement to a steampunk locket photo. Snapseed allows you to choose from different frame widths and treatments to finish the photo as well. The filters do not have pre-determined frames. You have the control to enhance the photo, and that feature alone makes Snapseed appealing.

Snapseed does allow convenient sharing to most platforms, but it does not have the online community Instagram creates. I would recommend the Snapseed app to anyone who wants a simple, yet highly functional app to take his or her photographs to an interesting, sophisticated level. Snapseed is a great value for the options and tools it provides. Best of all the Snapseed app comes as a universal binary and works great on the iPad as well as the iPhone and iPod touch.