With such a huge variety of image editing apps available, how can anyone know which are most suitable for their needs? While many are familiar with Snapseed and VSCO Cam for their specialized editing functions and synchronization with social media, recently, two other apps have made huge waves in the world of mobile photo and image editing, Fotor and Polarr. With updated versions of the features found in Snapseed and VSCO Cam, these two new apps are worthy contenders for the digital imaging throne. With this in mind, the following review will help you understand the main differences between the platforms, examining each apps strengths and weaknesses.
VSCO Cam, the utility oriented, professional editing app is renowned for its ‘filter oriented’ platform, with a wide range of editing effects. Providing the user the greatest degree of editing control, VSCO stands out in its role as a utility app, which is made apparent the moment it’s opened. Allowing the user to ‘tone’ and enhance, adding different filters and layers, this app holds a special place for the mobile photographer. Of the 4 apps in review, however, VSCO Cam’s features are the fewest. While excelling as a utility photo editor, it has a steep learning curve, not helped by its unnecessarily complicated UI. Similarly, while the included ‘free’ filters are great, they are few compared to the ‘premium’ filters, whose price is not cheap. Aside from these issues, VSCO Cam is a solid mobile solution for the roaming photographer.
Perhaps the most dynamic of the apps reviewed, Fotor is a rapidly growing app, whose new version supports a number of unique features while retaining its original utility functionality. Entering the photo app scene as a user friendly editor, Fotor now supports a great deal of interesting content and functions, including a designer and community platform. On the technical side, the inclusion of an RGB and ‘Focus’ (bokeh) will appeal to the more hardcore photographers, while the inclusion of a unique HDR algorithm give you a number of new features to play with. IOS Android
With a neat, clean interface, Snapseed has some brilliant editing functions, yet lacks in ‘community’ features. Clearly designed to give greater editing control than its competitors, Snapseed sports a ‘localized editor’, allowing you to edit specific areas of a captured image with a range of different effects. While many of these effects are standard for this type of app, the customizability of the Snapseed platform are admirable. Like VSCO Cam, however, the pitfall of Snapseed lies in its steep learning curve and lack of community functions. iOS Android
The last app of our review is Polarr, perhaps the most comprehensive of the ‘utility focused’ apps. Taking image editing to a new level of detail, there are few elements out of control when using this software. With highly precise, color balancing and changing functions, coupled with the app’s numerical and physical input options, Polarr is focused on the professional photographic market. Like many of the apps reviewed in this article, the learning curve is steep – only Polarr takes ‘steep learning curve’ to the next level. Complex to the point of being inaccessible to all but the most dedicated photographers, Polarr also lacks any community function, striving to reach perfection in photo enhancing and imaging. Polarr is available on several app stores by visiting their website
Credit Featured Image: Sebastian and Matthew from Techgenie / Blogbrotherz
DPNHTECH Archives 