- Nik Software has released Snapseed Desktop for Windows. Snapseed is an image editing and sharing application originally designed for the Apple iPad. “Bringing the Snapseed experience to customers on their computer was an overwhelming top request from our mobile app users,” said Michael J. Slater, President and CEO of Nik Software.
- This software for Mac OS X was originally produced by Nik Software. Commonly, this application's installer has the following filename: snapseed_full_mac_all_1.2.1.dmg. The program lies within Design & Photo Tools, more precisely Viewers & Editors.
With the recent addition of inexpensive photo enhancement apps Nik Software’s Snapseed and Nevercenter’s CameraBag 2 for Mac OS, we’ve been given quite a powerful set of creative tools. There’s been a good bit of excitement about both apps and Snapseed’s new feature allowing to be selected as an external editor for Aperture makes it even more attractive. Before I continue, I have to explain my philosophy on post processing. I believe in a light touch.
I’m a photojournalist and I could literally get fired for manipulating an image beyond the tolerance of my editors, which is closely aligned with the Not only do I proceed with a light touch to due to ethics, it’s also an aesthetic decision. My default preference is to see an image, and appreciate it for the content, light, color and composition. Too many times, I look at a photo with heavy manipulation and and only see the manipulation. The post-processing gets in the way of the photo. Too many times, heavy handed post-processing is intended to make a mediocre image betterand it never does. Having said that, I do have fun experimenting with different presets, filters and apps that take a photo in a completely different directions. I mostly experiment with portraits and other non-newspaper work.
Now reading: Nik Software makes Snapseed for Mac and 'Tegra' Android tablets 3 comments. 3 Nik Software makes Snapseed for Mac and 'Tegra' Android tablets. Published Jan 10, 2012. Nik Software Brings Snapseed to the Mac.
Nik Software Makes Snapseed For Mac
Embarrassingly, I’ve spent hours messing about, sometimes only to abandon the whole idea and stay with the straight image. I don’t mind using my time experimenting because, when I finally decide to go with something, I feel good about it.
This is how I exported the image out of Aperture This photo of my son, Cole, was processed in Snapseed. The Tilt/Shift adjustment is applied. The same photo processed in CameraBag 2. I want to note this is not a direct comparison. My take on Snapseed There’s a on the Snapseed website you may want to check out. Just remember that for Aperture users, you can set Snapseed as an external editor, so you don’t have to drag-and-drop photos in as the guide suggests.
The Snapseed user interface Pros It’s very easy to figure out and fast to get where you want to go. The possibilities seem endless. It’s easy to dial back and fine tune the intensity of the filters. I particularly like the Tilt-Shift creative adjustment. Aperture doesn’t have it, and either does CameraBag 2. It has a nice user interface and looks almost real. Experimenting is fast with the Shuffle Button that quickly cycles through the different options with each Creative Adjustment.
The Style slider in some of the Creative Adjustments makes it fun and easy to get a tremendous amount of different looks by just sliding the control back and forth. Snapseed has the ability to use Nik Software’s effective Control Points for localized brightness, contrast, and saturation adjustments, much like we’ve seen in their Viveza plug-in. This is a huge feature. The new ability to round-trip from Aperture makes Snapseed much more attractive. Snapseed has the ability to take an image to the next level if used cautiously and for the price, there’s no reason not to buy it. Cons This is a big one: It’s impossible to know what you’ve done to an image after you’ve done it.
I was working on an image and stepped away to work on something else and when I came back I had no idea how I got to the point I was at. I can make some guesses about it, but I didn’t know for sure. I also don’t like how once I apply something I have to revert before moving on to another adjustment if don’t like it. As far as I can tell there’s no way go backwards step by step. If I make three adjustments, say Tilt/Shift, Vintage, and Saturation, I can only revert all three to get back to the original.
I can’t just revert the Tilt/Shift, for instance. Curiously, if a frame is applied, it’s possible to go back and change the frame but it’s not possible to revert back to no frame. To get rid of the frame would mean reverting all changes to original. It’s not even possible to crop it out.
There is a nice “Compare” button feature toggling between the original so you can see how far you’ve taken it. I don’t like the way you have to Apply an adjustment if you like it and Cancel if you don’t.
You can’t move to another adjustment until you do one of those things. I don’t feel like there should be more filter options than just Drama, Grunge and Vintage. I hope they offer more of these in the future. I wouldn’t have a problem paying for extras I could download and install. Granted, there are other adjustment tools, but I prefer to use Aperture to do that.
One thing really drives me crazy. When you open up a Creative Adjustment, particularly in Grunge, the Texture is turned on. I don’t care for Textures at all. I think these should be sticky so I can leave them off.
For users who like it, they can leave it on. I’m an Aperture user, so seeing a progress bar appear when I push the Apply button seems slow, obsolete and unnecessary. I don’t like progress bars.
I understand this is the first version so I’m willing to cut them some slack because I can see the potential. Don’t get me wrong though, Snapseed is cool and if you have any interest at all in photography you should buy it. CameraBag 2 Check out the CameraBag 2 trailer from Nevercenter: The CameraBag 2 user interface Pros Where do I start? This thing is all pro and very little con. First off, it’s very easy to add a Style or a combination of Styles and Adjustments called Favorites.
You can create and name your own combinations and have them show up in the Favorites tab. Stepping back off an adjustment is very much like Aperture in that you simply “power off” the brick you don’t like or cancel it completely, it couldn’t be easier.
These also serve as a history of your changes so you always know how you got there. It’s possible to download (or upload) more Favorites from their website. The possibilities seem truly endless. If you are having a hard time deciding where to take an image just click the Quicklook button and thumbnails will appear with all the looks. Just click the one you like.
You can also mouse over the Styles, Adjust, Borders and Favorites and see what they do. The CameraBag 2 Quicklook feature of the Favorites.
(click to view larger) CameraBag 2 is fast not only to apply an adjustment, it’s just as fast to get out due to it’s non-destructive architecture. There are some surprising adjustments like Dye, Colorize, Grain, and Split Tone I just didn’t expect to see. Of course, all the usual adjustments are there too. This is a really well thought-out app and, like Snapseed, the price is hard to pass up. Cons There is no way to do localized adjustments like Snapseed.
I would like to see some more sophisticated Styles. Some of the Styles available are a bit over the top and I just don’t see myself using them. I find myself going back to a few that I like and ignoring the majority of them. If they added some more useful Styles, I could see more pros getting into this software. Tips Using Photo Enhancement Software 1. Go slow and tread lightly.
What seems like a good idea at the time might seem totally over-the-top a few days later. If you can, step away from the image before saving and then come back with fresh eyes. Don’t be afraid to make several copies and evaluate them together later. I like the idea of taking an important image and sending it to both apps to see what happens. I think the results can be dramatically different.
Less is more when it comes to photo enhancement. Just because there are textures doesn’t mean you have to use them. Go easy and then back it off. Have fun and get in the zone, but know when to stop. It really easy to go overboard not only in what you do to the image, but how much time you can spend on working and reworking an image. When it feels right, share it and move on.
Both apps have a slider that changes the adjustment in a seemingly random way. If you use this, which I recommend you do because it’s fun, you will have a very difficult time replicating your results. So, if you have a series of images and you want them all to have the same effect, be aware that you will need to take note of the sliders position for the next image. It would be almost impossible to match it any other way. Over-the-Top: I threw down some Grunge and Vintage and sent the textures and sharpness and detail to the max.
It’s definitely not my taste, but I wanted to show how far these apps can take a photo. I threw the kitchen sink at this one in Snapseed and it’s not something I like. App: Platform: Author:. or to post comments. Graham, Snapseed’s integration with Aperture is simply as an external editor, like Photoshop. Just choose it in the Aperture preferences, “open in Snapseed” from Aperture, and it creates a TIF and opens in Snapseed.
When you save and return to Aperture, your edits are there, baked into the TIF. You can do the same with CameraBag 2, however I don’t believe it has a straight “save” option, meaning you have to “save as” then reimport into Aperture. There is a post on how to automate that process though, here:.
Snapseed For Pc
In Present day, there is absolutely no need to search for a Photoshop expert to add stylish effects to your photos, as the smartphones apps makes it simple and a lot more easier than that done in Photoshop and other similar applications. There are tons of photo editing apps available for smartphones and comparably, Android has more than that of any other mobile OS.
One such app is SnapSeed. It was initially launched for iOS and as Android’s market grew larger, it was developed for Android too. It is a simple image editor with loads of stunning effects which can be applied at a single touch. It is freely available in the Google Play Store, although if you’re an iOS user you have to pay for using this app. We are damm sure that majority of you are using SnapSeed in your Smartphone. But if you’re not, here is a quick glimpse of what SnapSeed is actually. What is SnapSeed?
SnapSeed was developed by Nik software, which is now a part of Google as it was acquired by Google last September. SnapSeed is a lazy’s man way of editing images in best way, as it is very simple to use. Its interface is quite intuitive and easy to use, just go as you like. In spite of the app being available for both iOS and Android, there is a considerable difference in the interfaces, and this is the only distinction between both as all of the other plugins and filters are same. In case of a first time user, a guide to use SnapSeed is also provided in the app. This can be accessed from the upper right hand corner of the screen, indicated by a question mark. Must Read: Talking about the features, there are a hierarchy of features that comes packed with this spectacular image editor.
Basically, it has simple tools such as brightness adjustments, contrast controls and color correction, also with image cropping and resizing of the image. Apart from these, there are many other smart advanced features such as Sharpener Pro 3.0 which is a borrowed Photoshop plugin that lets you adjust strength of the sharpness to make appear hidden textures. It has a Selective Adjust and Selective Focus function, which allows users to do selective adjust colors and focus of different parts of the image. This is done by selecting the pin points at the image and moving the slider to adjust to a respective value. Pinch zoom capability is also added in the app to have a closer view of image.
Snap Seed’s drama tool is the most unique features of the app which lets you completely make over the image. It also includes Grunge which has over 1500 styles to be tried.
Nik Software Makes Snapseed For Mac Mac
All of these styles have certain degree of distinction on the basis of facing, color and other similar characteristics. There are several other features such as tilt shift, elliptical or rectangular blur and many others. So, in short It’s the one stop best solution for great Image editing needs, without being a Photoshop professional. And yes, did I forget to mention that you can take this awesome application to your big screen of your PC? Yes, you pretty much can!
How to Run SnapSeed on PC? SnapSeed is an iOS and Android app and as usual, it has not been officially available for Windows yet.
Need not to worry, as it still can be made to run on your PC’s. This is done using an emulator application BlueStacks, which acts as an interface for running Android Apps on your Windows or Mac PC.
Must Read: Here we will be using Bluestacks to run SnapSeed on PC as it most reliable among the same apps and is freely available too. For installing SnapSeed on PC using Bluestacks, there are certain steps to be followed. Get Bluestacks for PC. Download from!. Install Bluestacks on PC. Open Bluestacks and search for ‘SnapSeed’ in the 1mobile market available in the Bluestacks.
Once found download and install SnapSeed on your PC. Open SnapSeed from the app list of Bluestacks and enjoy stylizing your photos! Must Read: Bluestacks is recommended to be used as it is most stable Android emulator and available free of cost, also you can also use the same procedure if you are a Mac user as BlueStacks is also available for Mac. In case you’ve APK of SnapSeed, you don’t need to download it again using BlueStacks. Just locate APK file through BlueStacks using file manager like ES File Manager or any other and it will get installed automatically.
However, if you face any issues in running SnapSeed for PC, drop your comments below!