The Best... Better Than All the Rest

Im a photo-edit junkie. I like something that allows me the ability to edit a photo so that I can make it look like what my eyes see. Obviously, the iPhone cameras cant always capture that (basically, they never do... at no fault of them). I dont want to over-edit anything; I want enough control to easily make my photo natural. Make my photo accurate to reality. And I dont want to sit there and mess with curves. Im not a professional photographer, nor am I a professional editor. Ive not taken the time in my life to learn the deep roots of editing, including (but not limited to) curves. While I appreciate an editing app with that ability and that power, at the current time I dont understand all of those bells & whistles. Im an amateur. And Im not ashamed of it.

What I do understand are the basics: shadows, highlights, contrast, brightness, etc. There are many apps with these abilities. MANY. I guarantee Ive tried at least 90% of them. Ive used the developers apps since the time of TouchRetouch, when it was just a brand new little baby. Ive never been disappointed, and Ive owned Handy Photo since the day of its release.

I dont use many filters. Again, I aim for natural results. I sometimes use the Glow filter, adjusted to maybe 20%, to reduce some grain in lower-light images (post-sunset or pre-sunrise). Im known for my "signature" transparent frames, courtesy of HandyPhoto; I mostly use the white or black at 20% size. But I have played around with the filters just to see what they can do. I love the control over them, being able to adjust the contributing effects. I wish I could pick my own colors for the transparent frames, though (*cough* developers take note *cough*), because sometimes I want a very dark blue frame for my sunsets on the bay. But Im stuck with black or gray (oh heyyy rhyme).

The feature that makes this app so amazing comes from their initial release, TouchRetouch. I use it seldom, actually, but it always works great. For the bigger projects, I use it on my iPad Pro. I take nautical-life photography, mostly beach shots. I remove people, or objects, that get in the way of the central focus. Sometimes I have shots that I need to remove power lines from (thats when I get to the iPad). Sometimes its really easy, and sometimes its more time-consuming. But every time, the result is amazing. Take any panoramic shots where you can see a line in the sky from the difference in exposure? Sometimes I get those even though my camera is set to lock the exposure. Sure, Ill re-take the shot. But maybe in the first shot theres a seagull carrying a crab in its mouth... definitely the better shot, but it has that darn line in the sky. I can use the Retouch mode in HandyPhoto, usually takes 2-3 go rounds to really smooth out the sky... and tada! Perfection.

Cant love this app enough. Its my one-stop shop for everything, and has been for a very long time. I went back to another app for a couple months, about a year ago, and still dont know why because there is such a difference in my photos from that time. Sometimes Ill still pop into another app to add a little somethin special, but I ALWAYS do my magic in HandyPhoto first.

I visualize what I have in mind, and HandyPhoto delivers it perfectly.

spectaculaur about Handy Photo, v2.3.3