Mini meme
SUMMER
SNAP
SAVIOURS
Go on holiday... take thousands of
photos with poor exposure, wonkyhorizons and awkward cropping...
get these apps to fix them... and relaxODarkroom
This one feels properly classy and
premium. The dark backgrounds
and sleek interface elements
scream Apple – although this
is better for mobile editing
than anything that’s come
out of Cupertino. The cropping,
perspective and adjustment
tools are all superb, enabling
you to rapidly make subtle but
meaningfully effective changes
to snaps. Grab the IAP for more
filters and pro-level tools.
£free or £9.99 / iOS
OPixelmator Pro
With a machine-learning
algorithm reportedly trained
on over 20 million professional
photos, Pixelmator Pro in theory
fixes your snaps with one tap.
Mostly, it nails white balance,
exposure, shadows and colour
issues to a degree that’s part
nifty tech, part black magic. Even
when it doesn’t, you can delve
into a sidebar of sliders, making
speedy tweaks until you achieve
photographic perfection.
£4.99 / iPad
OSnapseed
Whatever you need to do with
a pic, chances are Snapseed
has a tool to help. There’s tuning,
with automation or individual
property adjustments by way
of a brilliantly conceived swipey
interface, and a perspective tool
makes short work of issues with
architecture shots. Beyond that,
you can dig into filters, crafting
your own layered edit that can
subsequently be applied to other
images with a tap.
£free / Android, iOSOTouchRetouch
We’ve all taken a picture that
would have been wonderful if
not for something inconveniently
ruining it – a telephone wire,
a badly timed pigeon, a friend
making one silly face too many.
TouchRetouch focuses on ridding
snaps of such unwanted items.
You can tap to remove blemishes,
or paint objects out. Then there’s
the line removal tool, to delete
those wires cutting across your
otherwise award-winning shot.
£1.99 / Android, iPhone, iPadOPhoto Mate R3
It’s fair to say Photo Mate R3
won’t be winning any awards
for polish – it feels a bit ungainly
next to the likes of Darkroom. But
stick with it and you’ll find this is
an excellent app for fine-tuning
snaps on your Android blower.
Although it is able to automate
corrections with a degree of
success, you can also dig down
into slider heaven, making swift
changes to exposure, contrast
and everything else.
£free or £8.99 / AndroidOMextures
If you think digital photography
needs fixing by mucking it up (in
an entirely tasteful and arty way,
of course), get Mextures. Using
unlimited layers, you can add all
kinds of grit, grain and textures
to any snap. And if that all
sounds like too much work,
prod a preset, then later have
friends marvel at your ability to
merge the best of old and new
photographic techniques. You
massive cheat, you.
£1.99 / iOSTESTED APPS