Snapseed vs…

So is the Workaround worth it? For some things, maybe… but it’s really just another image toy.

So here’s the Original.Snapseed Workaround|2|©JamesECockroft-20150417And here’s the Snapseed edit.Snapseed Workaround|1|©JamesECockroft-20150417Compare that to a similar edit from Enlight. Compare to Enlight|2|©JamesECockroft-20150417Pretty similar…

Except for the Glow filter in Snapseed (which I quite like), and all the borders and artistic filters and whatnot in Enlight (which I don’t much use), the apps have similar capabilities.

To tell the truth, Enlight is far more powerful, but it’s also $4. Snapseed is free. The Workaround might be worth it.

Continue reading “Snapseed vs…”

Maybe it’s not Snapseed’s problem…

Last night while I slept, Jorge sent me an email with a workaround to the Snapseed image saving problem: “The best way I ahve found is to import your photos using AirDrop. Your edits will all be intact and it works a lot faster than uploading to DropBox…”

Thanks, Jorge!

After reading Jorges email, curious about why this might be, I did a bit of searching around and read up a bit on Snapseed’s new ‘Stacks’ feature, which Google uses to add a ‘non-destructive workflow’ enhancement to Snapseed.

With Stacks, edits are stored in a metadata file, and you can go back and modify adjustments or remove them entirely at any time.

When you save a file, all you really save is this metadata file. And when you save a copy, Snapseed copies the original image, adds a new file name, and associates a new metadata file with that image.

As I surmised, it’s a feature and not a bug, and it comes via Apple: this is the exact same behavior you find with the Edit options in the Camera Roll.

Still sounds buggy, but at least it’s on purpose, and not entirely Google’s fault (though they could easily add a ‘Save as…” option that baked in the edits and make this easy on us).

In researching and finding the source of the problem, I came across another workaround and a description of how the whole process works.

It would be nice if Google modified the Save as Copy to save the image with edits baked in, or if they implemented another save option that saved the image with edits in place, but until then, we have two workarounds.

Sad thing is, Enlight is as good and needs no workaround; VSCO is as good and needs no workaround; there are likely other apps that provide similar options and don’t require a workaround. Don’t believe me? I’ll post some compare/contrast later tonight, InshaAllah.

Here in a bit, I’ll post screenshots of the workaround. I was going to post them here, but this post has gotten long enough already.

 

Did 2.0.1 fix the problem with Snapseed?

So I noticed that Snapseed had a bug-fix update after work today, and eagerly installed it.

Did 2.0.1 squash the bug?

Before I get to that, I thought of something I forgot to check earlier… the newfangled Photos app I won’t be using…Photos app doesn't see edits either|1|©JamesECockroft-20150416

Sadly, it doesn’t see the edits either. (This was likely a silly test, as it seems probable that it uses Image Capture to import, but was worth a check anyway.)

Maybe this too was fixed in the update? I hate it when other people do this, but… you’ll have to read on to find out. Continue reading “Did 2.0.1 fix the problem with Snapseed?”

Snapseed 2 has a problem…

Like the title says, the new Snapseed has a problem.

A big problem.

As mentioned previously, Google updated their Snapseed app not long ago. It’s a big update to a good app, but it has a fatal flaw.

As it’s readily available from the lock screen, I most often shoot with the iPhone’s built-in camera app. This means that I tend to import photos into apps and edit them, rather than shoot from the app itself.

Also, I’ve recently-ish been playing with editing film camera photos on the iPhone. These have been fledgling attempts and I’ve only shared one thusfar, but more are in the pipeline, perhaps.

If I want to use Snapseed for this—and why not? it’s a decent editing app—I’ve got a problem:

Here’s the picture I imported to Snapseed:Snapseed Fail|1|©JamesECockroft-20150409It was shot down in the Hill Country back in December with the Nikon FG and 50mm f/1.8 E Series on Agfa Vista Plus 200 film.

I exported an edited photo from Lightroom to a sync folder, and put it on the phone via iTunes.

I opened this in Snapseed 2.0 and gave it an edit. I was happy with the results and saved my work. Later that day, I imported the edited photo into Lightroom, or thought I did.

The edits weren’t there, so opened up Snapseed and saved the photo again. Here’s what that looked like in the iPhone’s Camera Roll:Snapseed Fail|4|©JamesECockroft-20150416Two edited photos? Wha?

Here’s what that looks like in Lightroom:

Why can’t Lightroom see the edits?

I tried with Image Capture…Image Capture Import Screen|©JamesECockroft-20150415No edits there either.

How can I get this from the phone to my computer? Well, like most apps, Snapseed will let you export to other apps, including email…email to self works|©JamesECockroft-20150415So email to self works, but you lose any exif data Snapseed might save in the process.

Continue reading “Snapseed 2 has a problem…”