Introduction to Snapseed 2.0 Mobile Application

Why Snapseed?

Snapseed is one such mobile photo-editing application which lets you edit mobile photos like a pro. It’s been almost 3 years that i have been editing photos on my mobile phone using multiple apps such as PicsArt, Pixlr, VSCO Cam, Adobe Lightroom and Snapseed. Trust me, Snapseed has always impressed me with the professional yet easy-to-use tools because of which I have stopped transferring my mobile clicks onto the computer to edit.

From cropping to rotating the image and from adjusting the saturation to removing objects from the image, there are various tools which make editing very easy and lets you produce professional results. Moreover, when you save the image after editing, Snapseed does not compress the file size, thus giving you a high-resolution image.

The AdobeLlightroom app is yet again a great photo-editing application, but the freedom that you get using the tools in Snapseed is incomparable.

Basic tools in Snapseed

Tune Image tools

This is the first tool icon you will see once you select an image to be edited on Snapseed. Once you click on the ‘tune image’ icon, you would be able to access 7 tools which can be used to color correct your images. These tools are: Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Ambiance, Highlights, Shadows and Warmth (temperature). With the help of these tools, you can easily color correct your mobile click by adjusting the intensity of required tools.

Crop tool

The crop tool in this app lets you select from the pre-defined aspect ratios such as square, 3:2, 16:9, etc. You also have the freedom to crop the image as you wish to by selecting the ‘free’ option. If you are a die-hard Instagrammer and like to post square images only, you can simply select the ‘square’ option and move the square box to crop the image as per your desire.

Rotate tool

What i love about this too is that as you click on the icon, it auto-adjusts the angle of your image to make it straight as per its algorithm. By mobile your finger left or right, you can manually adjust the angle and Snapseed also gives the option of rotating the image 90 degrees towards the left or right.

Transform tool

The transform tool allows you to adjust the perspective of the image captured using the mobile camera. Snapseed lets you adjust the perspective vertically as well as horizontally. This tool can be useful to edit images of buildings which appear distorted in the image.

Advanced tools in Snapseed

Details tool

This tool lets you adjust the structure (clarity) and sharpness to make your photo pop-out.

Brush tool

This is one of my favourite tools in Snapseed as it lets you add the dodge and burn effect, and increase or decrease the exposure, temperature and saturation to selected parts of the image. Though this is not that easy to master, as you need to understand when and how to make the adjustments.

Selective tool

Using the selective tool, you can select the area and size where you want to make the adjustments, which are brightness, contrast and saturation. The benefit of this tool is that the selection is made on the basis of matching pixels, thus giving precise adjustment effects.

Healing tool

Using this ‘magical wand’ tool you can remove unwanted elements from your photo with just a touch.

Vignette tool

The vignetting effect is the darkening of the image along the corners, thus putting more focus on the center part of the image. Using this tool, you can increase/decrease the inner as well as the outer brightness. The size of the effect can also be adjusted by pinching in/out.

Filters in Snapseed

Lens blur

If you love blurring out the background in your portraits and keep only the subject in focus, this filter is the best way you can do that. It lets you adjust the blur strength and the area of transition.

HDR scape

I personally love adding this filter in some of my images to boost up the overall dynamic range. Adding strong filter can make your photos look worse, so be careful.

Glamour glow

If you are a selfie addict, glamour glow is a perfect filter for you as it softens the photo, thus giving your skin that dreamy look.

Others

To name some other filters available in Snapseed, Tonal contrast, Drama, Grunge, Grainy film, Vintage, Retrolux, Noir, Black & white and Frames let you add some really cool and amazing filter effects.

Snapseed app has a lot to offer to a mobile photographer, you just need to identify the right tool to be used for the right kind of effect you are looking to give to your image.

Download Android version of Snapseed

Download iOS version of Snapseed

NOTE: I am coming up with a workshop where you can get to learn how to use this tool in depth and master the art of mobile phone editing, the workshop is named ‘Mobile Photography and Editing’. To know more, head to this link: bit.ly/Mobile_Workshop