Google+'s Snapseed

A number of months ago Google announced that it had acquired Nik Software.  One of my favorite apps is Nik's Snapseed and it was nice to see that they announced today the release of this app for Android devices (visit https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.niksoftware.snapseed to download it).  It is still available in iTunes and is now free to use.  This is also another great development and even though I paid $4.99 for it I think that having it available for phone camera artists is wonderful.

Now I have been using this app for so long I have become very familiar with it and so I was happy to hear that they had also added a few new features to it's already powerful post production options.  The one I was looking most forward to was additions to the frames options.  However I must say that I am slightly disappointed in what they have done.  While they have offered more choices they have taken away one of the strongest features which was a way to adjust the size and area covered by the frame.  You can get some variety on each frame if you tap the frame number and it will give you a variety of options.  Some are noticeable while others are vary subtle. Another of the options is the new colorization which I have not been able to figure out.  You have the choice of black or white frames and when the colorization is on it does give a cream color but there are no sliders to pick or adjust the colors to what you feel might work with the image.  If it is there, the info button does not give you the instructions to tell you how to access it.

The other new feature they added was a filter dubbed Retrolux with 13 styles that are suppose to mimic a variety of film styles.  It looks interesting, but at this time I don't see any look that really jumps out at me that fits my style and vision.  This may change down the road and as I have always said, you must choose filters that suit the image you are working on and should I have one that this feature works with I might use them.

I used Snapseed for my Photo of the Day which was taken at Confederation Park of the annual Christmas Light display.  It was a fairly mild night at about -4 C when I took my walk along the lights snapping a variety of images.  This one turned out to be my favorite and I brought it in to the new Snapseed but did minimal post processing on it.  The main thing I did was the frame and I picked this one today.