There is a new player in the photo-morphosis game and it’s called Artifact. The app allows iPhone and iPad users to alter their photos fairly quickly as the clone stamp tool works extremely well with iOS. This is a much welcomed app since its cost of $2.99 is dwarfed by Adobe Photoshops CS5′s $699 price tag. Ok, there is a bit of a features difference between the two, but the app is a powerful tool for those photo fans who enjoy adorning their dog Skippy with a magnificent mustache or their darling newborn with a pair of angel wings.

Artifact features two useable layers, one for the original image and the other for the image the user will be taking from. As soon as the image has been pinched into place, the user simply pants the image from the second image onto the first image for a new, unique photo. The app also allows a video frame to be used, multi-touch painting support, different brush shapes and painting modes and masking tape to block off and protect parts of the image from painting. And with the latest update, the user can undo multiple times, uses less RAM, takes images from Facebook and the opacity can be customized.

$1.99

$2.99

Artifact

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2011-11-30 :: Category: Photography

Adobe has announced some new Photoshop apps for the iPad that are designed as tools for Photoshop CS5, to help extend the functionality of the computer program by using your iPad for a variety of different functions.

Adobe Eazel is a painting app, designed to let users paint on the entire iPad screen, using their fingers or a stylus to paint on there. I say the word paint specifically, as it is designed to simulate painting on an actual canvas, as the lines you paint dry on the screen, and you can paint over previous strokes, and watch as the paint bleeds and the colors mix. The app comes with a five finger user interface that is designed to let you access all the app’s features without any kind of traditional menu access. As the interface’s creator, Dan Marcolina, puts it: “We put the most commonly used tools on your most usable fingers. So you control color with your index finger, brush size with your middle finger, and opacity with your ring finger. You access settings with your pinky finger. Your thumb flicks to undo or redo, and it slides to erase.” The app allows you to export your work to Photoshop CS5 directly, or to share your work via email.

Adobe Nav is a tool for Photoshop CS5 that lets you access tools and interact with Photoshop directly from your iPad, wirelessly connected to your computer. You get an editable screen with up to 16 icons, that you can select on the iPad to then use on your computer’s version of Photoshop. You can also view and select your open documents from Adobe Nav,

Adobe Color Lava is designed for simulated color paint mixing, allowing you to mix around paint to create interesting colors in a realistic way. You can then get and modify the RGB or HSB values of he color you’ve created. Featuring wifi connectivity similar to the other 2 apps, you can use the app to change the color in your version of Photoshop CS5. As well, the app works as a dashboard of various colors, that you can use and switch to on demand.

While it’s unknown what, if any, relation this has to the app that was shown off recently at Photoshop World, these tools should help make the iPad a better tool for Photoshop users. No release date or price has been announced for the apps, although Adobe has a link to let you be notified when the apps are available from their mobile products page.

At the Photoshop World conference on March 30th, 2011, Adobe demonstrated a new version of an iPad Photoshop app that features layers support, layering being one of the key features of advanced image editors like Photoshop. This would allow for advanced image editing on the go, as complex, layered images could be created, as well as with the new features like dragging and rotating of image objects, and a new color mixer tool. Adobe has yet to announce any details on when or how this would be released – Photoshop Express already exists for the iPad (as well as the iPhone and iPod touch as a universal app), but the features in this app Adobe demoed would be far beyond what we’ve seen from the current Photoshop Express app. A more advanced image editing app could be a major selling point on the iPad for image editors, especially with the iPad being such a portable, lightweight device. This app is a potentially major announcement, and it will be interesting to see what Adobe reveals next about this potential Photoshop app for the iPad.

Source: Photography Bay (via electronista)

iOS has brought users a great all-in-one stop shop for taking photos, manipulating them, posting them online, and composing a whole blog post over that spectacular shot. In fact, because the iPad and iPhone have such great apps, there are some pros that don’t even carry a laptop with them onto photo shoots. Everything they need for quickly getting photos to the world can easily be handled right on these magical devices. Let’s look at just a few tools that make this possible.

Shooting The Photo
The first major change is just how the iPhone takes photos. Long gone are boring, under/over exposed, bland photos. Now we have HDR embedded right in the included camera app. If this is not powerful enough for you, apps like TrueHDR and Pro HDR can take your HDR photos to higher levels than what is already available.

Maybe you like adding a bit of flair to your photos — this is where wonderful apps like Hipstamatic come into play. I use this app all the time when I am shooting fun setups with all my Lego People. The various lenses and films all add up for some fun, and unique shots that I have thought of recreating with my DSLR and Photoshop.

Processing Without Photoshop
The next part of any good shot is the post-processing step, and yes, just about any photo worth its weight in metallic paper is photoshopped in some form or another. This may be as simple as removing dust particles or increasing saturation levels, to full-blown photo manipulations in layers that a slice of Tiramisu would be jealous of.

Apps like Filterstorm, or Photoshop Express, allow for some basic photo-editing while away from your computer. Filterstorm even allows you to make adjustments in that all too familiar layer workflow so many of us are comfortable with. Are these apps going to allow you to completely avoid using Photoshop on a laptop? Of course not. However, what you do have is the ability to post process while sipping on a beer at the local pup without all the worry of dropping a pint on your precious laptop.

Uploading Those Shots
Uploading photos does have a few gotchas, as there is not one single great app to handle the huge number of uploading services. There are apps to handle some of the most popular sharing services like Facebook, Smugmug, Flickr, Twitter, and Picasa, however. Worst-case scenario is you have to email your photo to a client or a photo sharing service. This is undoubtedly one of the bigger downfalls of doing photography with the iOS devices, rather than a laptop.

Composing A Photo Blog Post
Once your photo is captured, processed, and uploaded, you just might want to quickly write up a small blog post about the photo. There are apps to allow you to do just that as well, but again, this will be limited to your choice of blog host. Some services may even support one iOS device over another device, as is the case with SquareSpace only supporting the iPhone at this time. There are applications like BlogPress and WordPress that can be used to update blogs, too. A tip here: if you can’t post from an app, type it up, email it to someone you trust, and have them add the blog posting. We all know that content is the key to keeping your viewers coming back.

iOS is not perfect, but it is getting better with every release. More companies are releasing apps that easily allow photo manipulation, sharing, and blogging for those who are constantly on the go. How has your iDevice changed your workflows while travelling? Are you one of those few who now leave your laptop at home in exchange for the lighter iOS devices?

Apps Discussed In This Post:

Continue reading iPhotographer: Photo Posting For The Photog On The Go »

Some apps need to be seen to be believed and CaPix is certainly one of them. This image retouching tool for iPhone has just gone live on the App Store and makes light work of any elements you don’t want included in your pictures. Simply drag your finger over the area you want removed and CaPix will extract it as if it were never there. Whether it’s a random stranger in the background of your family photo, unwanted lens flare or, as in the picture above, a can getting in the way of your lovely shot of… well, grass, CaPix can cut it out. It’s as if the app understands your pictures.

This kind of cloning tool and the algorithms behind it are not far from the powerful features found in Adobe’s Photoshop software, except Photoshop will set you back several hundred dollars. For $1.99, CaPix offers incredible results that could save an image or perfect one of your favorites.

If you don’t believe us, check out the video below.

$1.99

CaPix

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2010-05-22 :: Category: Photography