Software Workshop: Use Your Tablet to Edit Photos on the Go

As a serious photographer, you’d never consider doing major photo editing on your tablet—or would you? While we still edit our most important shots on a computer with a calibrated display, for sharing snapshots and images quickly, our fondness for tablet-based editing is growing.

Both the Snapseed app, from Nik (Free) and Perfectly Clear 3, from Athentech ($2.99 for iOS; $1.99 for Android) allow you to do high-quality edits quickly. Snapseed excels at creative filters and targeted adjustments for bigger files, while Perfectly Clear is aces for photos snapped with a phone or tablet. Both make good use of touch gestures and offer the added bonus of allowing you to edit from the couch, the plane on your way home from vacation, or wherever you happen to be.

There are limitations, of course. Getting images shot onto your tablet without using Wi-Fi can be a pain. And, especially with Perfectly Clear, file size limitations prevent you from outputting high-resolution images (Snapseed tops out at 20.25MP if you have the latest iPad, and can even edit RAW files). Here are some cool ways you can use both these inexpensive tools on an iPad.