Post-processing is an important part of photography, and it becomes even more important with smartphone photos that may lack depth of color and and dynamic range. With the advent of Instagram and its imitators, filters have come to rule the day for most casual photogs, but many of us demand more control. Here are five great tools for making your photos sing to your very own tune.
     |
Back in 2012, Google acquired Nik Software, the developer behind the popular iOS photo editing app Snapseed. Google reassured Snapseed users that they would not be killing off the software, and released a version for Android as well. Now it looks like Google’s acquisition has started to creep into other Google products as well, and the latest is Google+ where users of the social network will be able to upload their photos as per normal, but will also be able to tweak and edit them using Snapseed’s photo editing features.
For Google+ users, you can check this out by hitting the “Edit” button over your image and you will be presented with photo editing options as pictured in the screenshot above. If you have ever used Snapseed before, the interface and the features should not be foreign to you, but for those using it for the first time, it is pretty straightforward and simple to use. It has been reported that the feature is gradually rolling out to users on Google+, so you might not have access to it yet, but presumably it won’t be too long before you are able to try it out. What do you guys think? Is this a great idea, and should Facebook be thinking about something similar as well?
Google+ Gets Snapseed Photo Editing Features original content from Ubergizmo. 
| |
Google added Snapseed photo editing to its Google+ apps on Android and iOS back in March, and now it’s bringing them to the desktop. The new tools include Auto Enhance, selective adjust editing, and filters, all powered by the Chrome browser’s Native Client tech. Not familiar with how that works? Google brought Native Client to Chrome back in 2011, and it allows developers to port code written in languages like C and C++ so it runs in the browser. Vic Gundotra said on Google+ that this is the Snapseed app built for Chrome, so we’ll see if more mobile apps and features follow it over.
If you’re not using Chrome you’ll have to live with basic crop and rotate editing tools on Google+, but even those have been shifted around to make them easier to find. Once the new options are available on your account (as usual, they’re rolling out slowly over the next few weeks) all you’ll need to do is select one of your photos in Chrome and hit “edit” to see them. Until then, check out the video demo embedded after the break.
Source: Josh Haftel (Google+)
Snapseed quickly took on Google+ integration after it was acquired by Google. It’s now Snapseed’s time to return the favor. An update to the Google+ apps is introducing basic image editing (currently for iOS only) and, yes, those seemingly inescapable retro filters to get just the right effect before an image goes into a post. The pseudo-Instagram layer is far from the only addition, however. Android and desktop users can optionally tell Google+ to always share their closest available location in their profile; posts in the stream now include more text and make it easier to see photos and videos; Community participants can also invite people, share posts and manage activity away from their computers. If you’ve ever wanted to fix a Google+ photo — or break it, some would argue — the Android and iOS updates are rolling out today.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Internet, Mobile, Google
Via: Google+
Source: App Store, Google Play
Google+ is the internet search giant’s foray in to the online social network niche, largely dominated by the likes of Facebook and Twitter. The company has been putting a lot of work in to it, which clearly shows. Today the Google+ apps for both iPhone and Android have been refreshed. In the not so distant future, Google acquired Snapseed. They’re now bringing over their amazing photo enhancements for the Google+ iPhone app. Filters such as Drama and Retrolux can be added apart from having the ability to perform simple edits such as crop and rotate. Users can adjust contrast, brightness and saturation by sliding their fingers up and down and then left and right. Edited photos can be compared with the originals by doing a single tap at any time.
The Android Google+ app comes with a number of visual improvements, particularly for the content stream. Vital functions such as reshare, comment and +1 are now featured more prominently in each post. The posts now include more text upfront. Users can now display their current location on their Google+ profiles, or not if they don’t want to. Managing communities from the apps is now easier due to some minor improvements. The Google+ Android and iPhone app is now available for download from iTunes App Store and Google Play.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: HTC One Firmware Update Helps It Shoot Better Photos, Sony Xperia Z Falls Victim To Lockscreen Flaw, 
Considering your smartphone shutter is likely pretty decent at this point, you probably tend to do at least a little basic photo editing. If you’re an Android user you now have one more great option for that with Snapseed. More »
While this shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, today Google put to rest any lingering doubts about keeping Snapseed alive and well. After acquiring Nik Software last September, Google’s just launched Snapseed for Android and refreshed the existing iOS app. The Android version features seamless Google+ integration (complete with support for Instant Upload) and the iOS version gains a few additional filters. Better yet, the app is now completely free on both platforms (it was $4.99 in the App Store).
If you’re not familiar with Snapseed, it’s an incredibly powerful yet easy-to-use photo editor based on Nik Software’s award-winning professional-grade imaging tools. The app provides a super-intuitive gesture-based UI to capture, tweak, enhance and share pictures. As such, it’s more advanced than Instagram, but far simpler than Photoshop Touch. It’s available for phones, tablets, Macs and PCs (no word from Google on whether the desktop version was also updated).
We spent some time with Snapseed for Android yesterday and it looks and feels pretty much identical to the iOS version — the user experience is just as polished and responsive. In the main screen, you’ll find a new button which lets you post an image directly to Google+ via the same UI as the the Google+ app. There’s a separate button to save pictures to the gallery (this also sends photos to Google+ if you’ve enabled Instant Upload in the Google+ app). Want more info? Peek at our IRL post and the galleries below.
Gallery: Snapseed for Android
Gallery: Snapseed for iOS
Gallery: Snapseed sample shots
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Google
Source: Snapseed, iTunes (App Store), Google Play
When Google announced that they would be acquiring Nik Software, developer of popular photography software and apps such as Snapseed, we’re sure that many iOS users panicked for a moment as they were worried that Google might put an end to Snapseed for iOS and make it an Android exclusive. Google of course reassured users that nothing of that sort will happen, and as far as Android users are concerned, it seems that Snapseed could be headed your way. While it was not mentioned explicitly, a recent photo uploaded by Google’s Senior Engineering VP, Vic Gundotra, has suggested that Snapseed for Android could be in the works.
The photo was uploaded onto his Google+ page and as you can see in the screenshot above, it was done so via Snapseed. For those wondering, Snapseed is an iOS-exclusive app that lets users edit photos on their mobile devices. It is safe to presume that with the acquisition of Nik Software, an Android port would be inevitable and hopefully this is proof of that happening. Either way for Android photography enthusiasts out there, this is very good news and hopefully we will see the app materialize in the near future.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: TomTom for Android makes its way into the Google Play store, Fruity Loops Studio for Android is still in the works,
When Google bought Nik Software, there was some worry that Snapseed would go the proverbial dodo’s route and fade into obscurity as part of a larger Google app. We won’t see that ignominious end anytime soon if Senior Engineering VP Vic Gundotra’s photography is as valid a clue as it looks. On an evening flight to Baltimore, Gundotra posted a view of the setting sun to Google+ using Snapseed — a rather unique achievement given that the existing, iOS-only app doesn’t know the social network exists. Knowing the executive’s usual choice of smartphone, the public use could be the hint of the already planned Android port getting close to launch, even if there’s no way to know exactly when and how the image editing app could arrive. Let’s hope that Gundotra’s post is more than just a fleeting glimpse of a product that gets shelved later on.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Google
Vic Gundotra post hints Snapseed for Android may be close, bring Google+ integration originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Oct 2012 23:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink 
GooglePlusUpdate (Google+), TechCrunch | 
Vic Gundotra (Google+) | Email this | Comments
Not too long ago, Google announced that they will be acquiring Nik Software, the developer behind popular photography software for the computer and apps for mobile devices, more notably Snapseed which is available on iOS. Now we’re sure that many iOS users were a bit worried when Google announced the acquisition given the whole iOS versus Android debate going on, plus with Apple giving Android manufacturers a hard time, perhaps Google might want to “punish” iOS users by taking away certain popular apps. (more…)
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Google for Entrepreneurs launched to support startups, 5-inch Google Nexus smartphone by HTC on its way [Rumor],
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
