Pixelmator Photo for iPad REVIEW

The Best Way to Edit Your Photos on an iPad

Even though I lean towards photography with a full-frame DSLR these days, I can’t discount how far mobile photography has come. The cameras included on the newest mobile phones and even some tablets, rival the point-n-shoot camera we can buy in retail stores. And since the best camera is the one you have with you, I’m glad to see such improvements made on those types of cameras. The one thing that has been lacking for a while is a user-friendly professional-grade photo editing app for mobile devices. Fortunately, as of today, Pixelmator Photo is available for the iPad and it’s the best way to edit photos on the iPad.

DETAILS

Pixelmator Photo is a pro-level photo editor for iPad that features a collection of nondestructive, desktop-class photo editing tools. With it, users can take advantage of full RAW support to edit high-resolution RAW photos that are stored within iCloud Drive. The app uses groundbreaking machine learning (ML) to automatically enhance photos, adjust lighting, white balance, apply presets, and even improve the composition of photos so that they are the best they can be. When a user is done editing, they can share photos back to the Photos library or export to a range of different formats so send it out to others.

USER EXPERIENCE

I’ve been impressed Pixelmator for Mac. I feel like it gives you the professional tools of an app like Photoshop without the complications. Its user interface is very friendly and within a couple of hours, even beginners can master the basics of the app. Pixelmator for iOS has also been a godsend at times when I wanted to edit graphics on the go, but having something that was specifically dedicated to the intricacies of photos was what I really wanted at this point of my career and Pixelmator Photo delivers that for the iPad.

The app is fast and easily handles most photo edits no matter how complicated. Pixelmator Photo is designed from the ground up for iPad — it’s not a clone of the iPhone version of Pixelmator. It truly is its own app. The arrangement of the tools on the screen is extremely useable and very intuitive. Most of the display is dedicated to being able to view the content and doesn’t just cover the screen with tools scattered to the wind. As you open different controls, they slide into frame, but don’t take over. The entire editing experience is very fluid and very much like some desktop apps.

In recent days, I’ve moved my photo editing experience on my Mac over to Lightroom. And one of the features that I like about Lightroom is the included here in Pixelmator Photo. It’s non-destructive. No matter how many edits you make, you can always revert back to the original. Pixelmator refers to this set of features as “desktop-class, nondestructive photo editing tools.” I just love that it feels like it does in Lightroom — I can always start over with my edit if I don’t like the details I’ve attempted to pull out of a photo.

Pixelmator Photo works with photos stored within iCloud Drive including RAW files, which the app will edit in their native form. I like to keep things simple. And being able to store photo files in iCloud Drive and have them read to edit from either my MacBook Pro or iPad is really a great option for me.

One of the biggest features of Pixelmator Photo is the machine learning (ML) enhanced options that are available. I was most impressed with the ML Crop, which automatically crops the subject of a photo so that it’s front and center. All of the machine learning developments within Pixelmator Photo were included so that users always get the best visual from their photos.

CONCLUSION

I’ve wanted a solid photo editing app for the iPad for a long, long time. I’ve tried others, but haven’t ever been wowed by the features of an app the way the Pixelmator Photo does. I believe this is worth every bit of the $4.99 it costs in the App Store. It’s a one-time purchase and you get the same types of tools you do with Photoshop, which calls for a subscription. The UI is hard to beat and the ML-enhanced options are incredible. I believe if you own an iPad and like taking pictures, you should definitely download Pixelmator Photo.

For more information, visit pixelmator.com/photo
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