It has been talked about for some time, but Adobe Photoshop Touch for iPad 2 is finally released today.
Adobe have worked hard to create a stunning looking application that is both powerful and easy to use through the touch interface. I’ve only had a small amount of time to use the app, but what I can say is that it is very easy to use, pick up and is very powerful. Photo professionals will really like the power that this app gives the iPad and enthusiasts will find the app very accessible and easy to use. The app gives you the toolbox to manipulate, edit and create stunning images.
I can image photographers taking this tool on the road with their cameras enabling them to both edit the images in the field, but then send those photographs on via 3G.
The app has been designed for both new users to Photoshop and those use to the existing application on the desktop platform. It comes with a series of useful tutorials and these explain how to achieve certain effects and the way in which different tools work.
These are interactive tutorials and really give you an insight into how many of the different tools and effects change your photographs.
You can start with a blank canvas, an existing photograph from your photos or take one with the iPad camera. You can also access images from your Facebook account, and I did like the way that it allows you to access images from a Google search and the default is CC licensed images for reuse.
Once you have selected or taken your image you then have a wide range of tools and effects that can be applied to your image.
Unlike many iPad photo editing apps, this one allows you to use layers and these can be added, hidden as and when needed.
The toolbars can be easily “docked” and made visible when you need to use the whole iPad screenspace.
As you would expect with an app like this there are various adjustment filters allowing you to very easily change aspects of your image such as colour balance or levels.
There are also a wide selection of image effects covering four different areas, basic, stylize, artistic and photo.
It was very easy to not only apply the effect, but also adjust the intensity of the effect. I did like for example how the combination of Sunny Afternoon and Old Sepia worked well together to created an aged photograph look.
The app also has the different editing tools required, allowing you to crop, add text, etc.
It is very easy to share the resulting images through Facebook,e-mail or upload to the Adobe Creative Cloud.
There are some limitations, as you might expect, it will only work with a maximum 1600×1600 image resolution and it doesn’t have all the tools you find in the desktop app. Likewise you can’t add external third party filters or effects.
This 50MB app costs £6.99 which though “expensive” for an iOS app is considerably cheaper than the £605 for the PC version! Of course the iPad version, though very powerful for an iPad app is not in the same league as the desktop version. Also the app requires iPad 2 and iOS 5. It isn’t available for the first generation iPad.
Very annoying that it’s iPad 2 + only. I assume it’s a processing power issue? But then I did the same with iMovie and then a 3rd party developer released similar that works on iPad 1.
*sigh* time for the upgrade soon anyway 🙂
Bless Adobe
i agree, they’re doing themselves out of a lot of £6.99s from the iPad 1 crowd. As if the only way of getting photos onto the iPad is through a 2mp camera. #salefail