Mobile cameras are getting better and better. They have larger sensors, have very interesting focal lengths, larger apertures and, in some cases, use higher quality lenses. Add to that, there are times when manufacturers use quite aggressive processes, but the good news is that more and more mobiles have RAW modes. Therefore, installing a good photo editor if you love photography is basic.
There are many paid and free photo editors which have great quality but in the free cases we have ads which are annoying and in some cases like Photoshop Express or Lightroom they are a hybrid between free and premium app that you have your best options behind the paywall. The good news is that Google still has the best free photo editor: Snapseed.
Snapseed is basic, but with a powerful tool to reveal RAW
The history of Snapseed is curious. Nik Software released the iPad app in 2011, with a later iPhone release and the 2011 iPad App of the Year “Award” in Apple’s Commendations. A desktop version for Windows was released soon after, but Google has taken action by buying the company
In fact, Nik Software had other products, all related to photo editing, and Google abandoned them, proving that what really interested them was Snapseed. But why?
Well, really the explanation is simple as soon as you take a look at the app. We are going to open a JPG and we are going to see what this application offers.
The first thing we see when we open a photo is a carousel of filters at the bottom. I am not a lover of this type of filtersbut I recognize that ‘Morning’ gives a lot of artistic play to certain photographs.
You have the option to save presets to use later as if it were another filter, as well as a “Last changes” option to apply the settings and settings you used last time
At the bottom, you will see three options: “Layouts” (the filters), “Tools” and “Export”. If you select tools, lots of options are displayed starting from the most basic ones (like “Enhance Photo” or “Details”) even some more advanced, such as the possibility of giving brightness, contrast or saturation by “drawing” with the finger, the stain remover to remove objects, dust or dirt by cloning the texture, the different grain filters and the artistic colors. There’s even an option to improve the perspective of a building, for example.
Anyway, you have many settings that you can apply manually, little by little, but also automatically. I’m not too fond of how the auto-editor works, but I think that’s a result of the app not being updated in three years and computer editing having evolved a lot during this period.
And something interesting is that you can also edit RAW in the same way. Simply, one step is added: when you open a RAW file, the application shows you different development options and, when you already have the photo, the palette of options detailed above opens.
Be careful, over time we may not need external applications to edit photos on the phone. Google has Google Photos, widely known for both its basic editing tools and the “Magic Eraser”.
Vivo on your X80 Pro also has a beautiful editor that integrates Google One and therefore the magic eraser from Googe. Xiaomi with the Xiaomi 13 has also done a good job with its editing suite and Samsung’s is also very interesting, with options to “remaster” photos that may have low resolution.
We’ll see what the future holds for each builder’s editing toolsbut it is clear that photography is an area that is becoming increasingly important in the presentation of mobile phones and goes hand in hand with editing applications.
If you want to try Snapseed, you can download it through this link.
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