Photo Editing Software and Applications

The internet allows us to share information with the world. If you have created an online gallery or blog about your photography then you will probably know that one drawback is sharing multiple networks., which takes time. If your work is shared by others then that's great, but if not then there are a few tricks and tools you can use to automate things and make your life a bit easier.

A good place to start when settin up a gallery or blog is WordPress (like FPR). As the most popular blogging platform in the world, there are millions of resources online for advice and additional functionality for your site.

Once you have a site set up, and your adding your images and thoughts about photography on a regular basis, you can start to think about streamlining your sharing processes. Below are a few of the automated tools that I use to share to various social networks.

Jetpack plugin for WordPress.

Jetpack has built in functionality to share your work to a number of networks automatically, these are:

Facebook, Twitter, Linkedln, Tumblr and Path.

This collective week has brought out the worst in Photoshop, that is a few reason as to why you should be getting better at the program. With that in mind, how about attempting the Blend If feature where you can simply take a background and basically make it more grand, than it was to begin with. And those lucky music lovers on the go, now have Spotify for iPhone and iPad users, that is subscription free, with shuffle only limitations.

We know there are reasons to improve our skills when it comes to photoshop. 77 photoshop fails seems to be enough, don't you think? Well to refresh your mind of those terrible blunders, take a look through the gallery of some unfortunate individuals. Maybe this will bring into prospect what you need to know about using the Photoshop program and when things should well enough be left alone.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/12/12/photoshop-fails-2013_n_4431293.html

A quick tip on the Blend If Feature used in Photoshop. This tool is a quick fix, if I ever did see one. But if you are not familiar with this, and say you need to fix the background (maybe it's a sky) and you don't know what to do. You can blend two layers, to bring out a more prominent outcome.

http://digital-photography-school.com/photoshop-tips-blend-if-feature

The Spotify app for iOS now have access, without having a subscriptions. So I can't stress enough, for those music lovers on the go, this app will be the star to the top of your Christmas tree. Also you can listen to your friend's playlist in the shuffle mode.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/12/11/spotify-for-iphone-ipad-goes-subscription-free-with-shuffle-only-limitation

With Photoshop in the spotlight about it's users, who need a bit more practice. About Blend If, which can take a background and make it better. Then Spotify for those iOS users, and for free. If this week didn't put a bit of a smile on your face, then tune in next week.

There are three articles you need to know about this week. Simply four ways about how you can improve your landscape photogray. Not by looking through your camera lens but with using Photoshop. How editing with ATNX Digital that will make you feel like the boss of your own business. And how Bokeh is the open book journal, you would want to share with friends and family.

One of the young companies here has created ATNX Digital, as a stand alone, it offers a bundle of Photoshop Actions. With four distinct sections, primary, mono, color and special. There is an organization that feels out a quality, unlike the traditional folders just piled with titles. An the article itself, you see the comparison between the same image after each correlation.

http://weeder.org/rLHXdhr

Ah, Bokeh. This Mobile Lifeblogging adventure will have you set your sights high and adventures even higher. We may keep private journals, but this acts as a sharing companion. Maybe you travel extensively but you can't bring your friends and family along with you. It may seem like bragging but with some proper wording and gratitude, you'll be showing people what they need to get up and see. Plus maybe this app will invoke the explorer in you.

http://petapixel.com/2013/12/03/introducing-bokeh-mobile-lifeblogging-app-saving-sharing-moments/

While shooting some landscapes, instead of re-shooting just take them t your nearest Photoshop...like the pun there. Four simple ways, will led to an image that may lead you to being the next Ansel Adams. And one of the major tips is photo filters. You know why, filters can enhance contrast, brighten the daylight or bring out a color that may not have stood a chance before. Choose what will make your landscape stand out!

http://petapixel.com/2013/12/03/introducing-bokeh-mobile-lifeblogging-app-saving-sharing-moments/

So as we wrap this up, how about trying out some landscape imagery on your ATNX Digital? Combine the two and review the outcome for us to share on here. While Bokeh may be the inventive dream of a natural born explorer, we welcome any gallery that showcases a life full of color and history. Come back for more, later next week!

Style, creative and full of color has been this weeks adventure. With that in mind, Pixel Studios has released a very cool program in conjunction with Final Cut Pro. You don't need a paint brush...at least according to Steve Jobs, he knew that you were already born with 10 fingers that could do the job, but some apps do function better with a stylus. Then the app that will give suggestions to your friends, so you won't have to look at another food shot again.

Pixel Studios, the minds behind such fantastic films that make our hearts flutter. Lucky those of you who are familiar with Final Cut Pro...this will be right up your alley. ProPop seems to be the anwser to this ages' modern day Andy Warhol. Who would have thought that mixed media and popart would be making a come back...but in digital form.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013-11/final-cut-pro-x-effects/prweb11364563.htm

Painting with a stylus is like painting with a brush...but without the bristles. So this means you won't have to smudge your fingers about the screen. In this article you have the choise of three, high quality apps that will bring out your inner Monet or Léon-Matthieu Cochereau either way, you will be making art.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2013/11/25/painting-with-stylus-despite-what-steve-jobs-said/ho79WnxdTTtqecYYJbKCPO/story.html

Ok Do This, comes to you in the form of revealing all of our dire frustrations with the same old photos. Here you can get your friends involved, all you have to do is give out a suggestion for a photograph. And your friends have to follow through with something that connects to the theme. Sounds easy, so why hasn't this been thought up before? Check out the new popular, favorited app amongst photographers.

http://fstoppers.com/popular-new-app-launches-for-photographers

As we close out for this week, and the holiday has come and gone. These apps will keep you entertained until the next rush of holidays comes along. If you want to paint, need a suggestion or want to create some popart. These items will be to your advantage, keep coming back for more fo the weekly round up!

This week we have rounded up a selection of great apps and a bundle that will make every photographer dream in filters. With an app called LoryStripes that has hit a universal market, to Gloup a wonderful storytelling adventure. And as well as Adobe's Creative Cloud that has a new offer for everyone and not just it's members.

Adobe has announced that the Creative Cloud that they had come out with sometime before, has now another limited release. But it's not just for the previous members of Photoshop CS3. Again for a limited time it will be available to everyone. And if you are wondering about an catch, if you wanted to try it out just for the month...you'll instead have to pay for the whole year. Would you still try out Photoshop CC?

http://petapixel.com/2013/11/20/adobe-opens-cc-photography-program-everyone-limited-time/

Storytelling is a pastime, that has now been transferred into an App. Gloup is for sharing with family members or friends, where you can tell short video stories because of co-founders Andres Duran and Daniel Correa. These second long clips, do not require any editing, which will be a nice "time off" from the usual Instagram varitey. And to add an "silent film era" quality...the Gloup videos are muted so you can focus primarily on the visuals.

http://www.consumerelectronicsnet.com/article/Gloup-the-New-Storytelling-Video-App-Lets-Users-Capture-Moving-Pictures-of-Everyday-Life-and-Swap-Them-with-Friends-2929514

With this last article, LoryStripes has gained recognition for it's unique photo editing. Now with the support of both iPhone and iPad, where you can add stripes and ribbons to any image. A cool addition is that when it comes to an object, these ribbons can be wrapped around the subject or woven through. Using the masking feature you can make them 3D but all the more, you'll have a realistic feel instead of it just looking as if someone had drawn a line with a pen.

http://appadvice.com/appnn/2013/11/lorystripes-photo-editing-app-goes-universal-with-native-ipad-support

For this bundle of articles, it goes to show that as apps come out more and more, the improvement of quality is outstanding. Combining a fun time with silent montages of events. To making Photoshop ready for virtually anyone that wants to grab ahold of the technology. Last but not least, inviting stripes in to your image for an everlasting effect. This round up certainly has the creative side up pass the bar. What might you accomplish with these ideas.

Common, common mistakes happen to us all. Especially when Photoshop is involved. What can we do to make sure we don't fall into that routine of over editing or a big one...not saving your results. Surprisingly enough this is one of the most common happenstances. But understanding the CMYK is vital, this is for industrial printing, so stick with your traditional RGB. Be careful with how carried away you can get, and also short cuts are wonderful but figuring out the whole mechanics of Photoshop...will be a successful venture.

Blue enough? Really, to gain the 'likes' for your Instagram photos, you should focus on the tint of them. And in this case, it should be a blue tint. Also check on your cropping, apparently people are looking at how spacious or close cropped each image is. I think it goes to show just how critical people's standards are. But even though you may not want to tint everything blue, having a dominant color is beneficial. Oh and one more, no one wants to look at a photo that doesn't have some brightness to it.

Camera Awesome has arrived! And that means that after 20 months of correcting the glitches and mess ups, it is now in app form. Crazy enough this one ended up being more complicated than the iOS. But only the most popular versions will work with this program. So this faster camera, with high-quality filters.

Create your own world. That's what the 30 Best Photoshop Tutorials of 2013 whats you to know. I said that this would be best for inventing magazine covers, especially this model with the Union Jack flag as her lipstick. Taking artwork and placing it in a place that normally you wouldn't see it. I can see this roundup of 30 could easily be used for zines or pamphlets that helped you bring your cartoon or ideas to life. It also has some text effects that has been showing up a freguently lately.

Finding out about Camerarrific, has to be one of those articles that makes you stop and really take in what is being described. Besides what the common sense challenges would be, like why should you even bother with this camera app...since hundreds already exist. The clarity is suppose to be outstanding to the point that you can take a picture of your lawn and actually see the small specks of dirt. That's saying something since usually the pixels just blur together. So be on the look out for features that could sell themselves.

Well the reviews are in and it will be an iPad Christmas. That is as iPad Air Christmas. The substantial upgrade has caused praise from all around the table. Ironically the word 'lighter' means little in the tech world, since it's used for virtually everything. But you can actually feel the difference in the new iPad. With the bigger screen being more on the kid side of handeling and playing games, the pixel resoultion is of the highest clarity.

The recent Photoshop video that has been making it's rounds around the internet, created by GlobalDemocracy.com. Has people up in arms about what Photoshop has contorted the female  and male image. The video titled 'Body Evolution.' How far has airbrushing gone? I mean we've heard about celebrities suing magazines and the before and after photos that make us shake our heads in disgust. When do we know the fine line between what is natural and what looks good?

PicsArt has come out with their very own monthly magazine! This is exciting because PicsArt has a dedicated community of photographers and creators that lend a hand in our own inspiration. You can read the magazine for free on the site, giving you tutorials of the photographers biggest secrets, along with exclusive interviews from the masters themselves. Also you need to check this out because your own art may have made it inside of PicsArt Monthly.

Google+ has updated it's photo editing features along with a handful of others. It'll make video calling, messaging and editing easier on you. Generously, google+ has added backups and background syncs to all iOS app devices. Reorganzing them so you can find whichever photo you've been looking for, so much easier. Instead of going through each photo, you now can now search them from sunsets to snowmen. But my favorite has to be the new Auto Awesome video tool. Where you have control of three different action styles, one being a strobe light effect that can make anything seem creepy or staring in a horror film.

The new iPad Air is 72 times faster than the origianl, thinner and weighs exactly a pound. If Apple condenses their technology any more, we all will be wearing app watches...wait that exists as well. Now that this is even more easily able to be carried from place to place, perfect for the 'go-getter' in your family. For $399 this will be available starting Novemeber 1st. Will you wait for the reviews to come in before purchasing the new tablet or will you be one of many standing in line the day it comes out?

The Nokia Lumia...never seem to fail. After coming out with an endless supply of apps and now an International Mobile Photography Day...what will be the next step? Well an app by Nokia has just been introduced as the Nokia Refocus Lens. Which acts as a Lytro-like camera. This is a stand alone app, althought details are basically non-existent. The app will take anywhere from two images to several just to combine the perfect in focus image, you wish to have.

Is Instagram the best app out there, for sharing and editing photos? Majority of the signs point to yes but there are one or two apps that can help better your instagram experience. How about the Squaready Pro, which acts as the cropping tool in Instagram...but it's used as your viewfinder so you don't have to crop anything out to being with. Then with Flipagram you can have your very own 15 second slide show. Finding apps that better your Instagram experience is a blessing in disguise, what will they come up with next.