Pic Ninja Review

Developer: TapMode
Price: $2.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Device Reviewed On: iPhone 5

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There’s been a steady growth of apps aimed at those who want to manipulate their own photos, but with the convenience of a simple user interface. That’s clearly the inspiration behind Pic Ninja. It’s simple to use but effective enough when it comes to creating individual looks, rather than restricting you to ‘one-size-fits-all’ style solutions.

The key difference between Pic Ninja and other photo filtering apps is it allows you to focus on specific areas of the photo. Using radial, graduated, and reflected options, you can select a certain part of an image to manipulate. Radial works best for faces, while graduated is great for scenery, and reflected let you manipulate two areas at once. There, you can adjust the white balance, exposure, contrast, saturation, and so forth.

The results can be quite remarkable, easily transforming your photo drastically. I managed to turn a sunny afternoon at the beach into a night time scene, all within a few moments and a few taps of the screen. It looked appropriate too, and far from overblown like with some filtering apps.

As you manipulate things, you can always hold your finger to a compare button to see what differences have been implemented. As well as that, you can save custom filters for future reference, thereby giving you a simple way to reuse such an effect elsewhere. That’s a feature that’s particularly convenient when you’re in a rush, or found just the right set of filters.

Include the fact that Pic Ninja is quick to load and use, and it’s a tempting package. No longer do you have to suffer the same filters used over and over again. Instead, you have some control over what happens. It’s likely to stick around on your iOS device for a while, and for good reason.