TouchUp for iPad is a photo editing application that lets you make complete and area specific photo edits with the brush of your finger. It’s easy to use, more adult than photo editing apps like PhotoPal, and seamlessly integrated into personal social media outlets.
The app starts with a wood backed gallery of sample images meant to give you an overall feel of the app. Clicking on the big question mark in the right hand side of the app gives you access to help menus that include extremely informative effects tutorials, a contact button, credits, and the opportunity to purchase add on effects.
When it’s time to start editing photos of your own you can click on the stack of images on the upper left hand corner of the app. This gives you access to your iPad’s photo library and Flickr streams. TouchUp also works with the camera connection kit.
When you pick an actual picture to edit, it swoops to cover the full screen in a smooth animation and then gives you control of effects in the upper menu. Clicking on the center button gives you access to effects like black and white, sepia, blur, contrast, brightness, temperature, saturation, tin, hue shift, color paint brush, and tint paint brush. From there you can click on either “draw” or “erase” to apply and reverse the effects of brushed effects.
Those who need a wider library of effects can purchase a Dodge and Burn Effect Pact through the home screen’s main menu for $1.99. While it’s always nice to have the option for additional in app purchases, I felt like the existing features were pretty robust.
Four different brushes create variety in photos and the ability to layer effects allows for the creation of some pretty radical effects. Like any good art app, TouchUp has undo buttons and the opportunity to restore your image back to its original form.
When it comes time to save your masterpieces you can email them through your iPad email, share photos on Twitter or Facebook, copy images to your clipboard, and save images to your shared items folder with the the share button in the upper right hand corner of the photo editing page.
I would have liked to have seen the ability to create and share actual albums all at once, but this is by no means a deal breaker and this is a great app for photo editing. After all, there’s something captivating about literally touching a picture and watching it transform like paint on canvass. TouchUp may be onto something. That something is touch, and it’s probably the next generation of photo editing.
Bottom Line: TouchUp is a clean and easy to use photo editing app that makes photo editing fun and seamless.
