Apps for Artists - Top Photo Editing Apps - Top 10 +1

Creative Apps for Visual Artists

There are many very good photo editing apps. These are the big editing suites that do many things and have many functions, including basics and filters. I tend to use the ones that have the most artistic and painterly effects, and that do the basics very well. High resolution is a big plus. This is not an exhaustive list, but here are five of my top ten favorites.

iColorama screen shot

Adobe Photoshop Express (PS Express)

Adobe Photoshop Touch (PS Touch)

Laminar Pro screen shot

Perfect Image screen shot

iColorama ... This is the one I use most often, although it seems to be under appreciated. I like it because there are lots of creative effects, many useful presets, and very good controls in applying the effects. It has a couple of ways to apply masks, can use the camera, and has an iPhone version. It has no undo, which is usually not a problem since you have to choose to apply the edits, and it has no layers, although it can combine two different images in various ways.
Very strong distortion options and texture effects.

Photoshop Express (PS Express) ... This is not a big editor, but it has all the basics, is easy to use, very stable, and it's free. I use this one most if I'm just adjusting colors or cropping or other simple operations. It does have some filters.

Photoshop Touch (PS Touch) ... Now that the output resolution is larger, (max size 4000 X 3000, one of the best,) this is a very good app. Also one of the most expensive, but at $9.99, it is still a huge bargain compared to the desktop version. It has most of the core features that I use, and a good amount of filters and special effects. The layers and selection tools are very strong. There are tutorials included, (and many more online,) as well as Google image search and camera functions. No iPhone app.

Laminar Pro ... Excellent color and lighting controls, including dodge and burn brushes, very useful. Can open from clipboard, which is very handy. Strong layer functions, good masking, provides size info. Very strong control of color information, including levels, curves and channels.

Perfect Image ... This one is geared more toward scrapbooking and such. It has very easy intuitive collage functions and loads of stamps and borders and text options. It can do basic functions such as crop and color adjustment, and provides size info under the crop function. It has camera functions and an iPhone version. No layers.