My Workflow In Snapseed

Snapseed is a very wonderful photo editing app that I use in my iPad. I can work fast in it with just a few swipes. And the Ambiance control is just amazing! I may compare it to Shadows of Lightroom but it does more than just recover details in the shadows, it gives oomph as well to color. It is astonishing to watch as shadow details are brought out and colors unravel in seeming layers as I pull the control slider to the right. My workflow in Snapseed is actually centered on Ambiance and it is the primary reason I use Snapseed.

There are two ways to open a photo in Snapseed. Tapping on the upper left corner of the screen, I can either open a photo from the library or paste an image I preselected from the library. I prefer using the latter. I usually browse photos from the Photos app from where I can enlarge and examine well a photo and determine if it is worth editing.

I classify my photos into two when using Snapseed - first is portrait, those having relatively large image of person as subject, and second is landscape, those generally having inanimate subjects, like nature or mountain views, buildings and structures, sunsets, still life, etc. My workflow takes into consideration these two classifications in regard to using Saturation and White Balance in the Tune Image, and also Auto Correct, Drama, and Details. When editing "portrait" type, I am restrained in using the aforementioned controls; I cannot be liberal with them because I have to take primary consideration of the skin tone and overall look of the person in my photo. Saturation and White Balance are capable of badly altering the skin tone of a person in a photo while Auto Correct, Drama, and Details can take away the "soft" look which is ideal for portraits. These controls are better suited for "landscape" type of photos. 

Snapseed applies all changes universally to a photo. Adjusting a parameter may look great for the landscape background in a photo but if may ruin the look of the person in the foreground. In such a case I take precedence in protecting the human image in the photo. Landscapes can be altered wildly but portraits cannot. 

After opening a photo, I examine the need for adjustment in its composition. If yes, I go Straighten & Rotate control and/or Crop control. With Crop, I try to keep the composition focused only on the things I want to show in the photo. I may also use it to alter the composition and make it conform to the Rule of Thirds.

While inside the any of the adjustment control sets in Snapseed, there is a fantastic square button named Preview at the lower left of the screen, which I use to see the before and after of the photo. This is a great feature which enables me to compare anytime and see how much change I have applied already to a photo. The before image is the same photo as when I entered a particular control. But if I want to compare my overall adjustment with the original photo, I leave the adjustment controls and go to the default screen and then tap the Compare button below the photo.  

The first adjustment set I select is to Auto Correct. For me this is just a quick stop and can be easily bypassed especially if the photo is a portrait type, where the Contrast Correction can be awful. Portraits demand a “soft” look so accentuating shadows and textures is not a good idea. It is most useful for landscape type photos or when editing a blown out photo. Most of the time, I can usually be liberal with the Color Correction but not much with Contrast Correction.

After Auto Correct, I go to what I consider the heart of Snapseed - the Tune Image. Tune Image has five adjustment controls, namely Brightness, Ambiance, Contrast, Saturation, and White Balance. The Contrast adjustment here is different from the Contrast Correction in Auto Correct if observed keenly. My first stop in the Tune Image is Ambiance and this is where magic in Snapseed happens. I usually get amazed as Ambiance brings out details and colors when I pull the slider to the right. I just stop the slider when the color turns to something I don't like. When increased, Ambiance tends to brighten the details and colors it uncovers. This brightening effect is the reason why color may turn to something unrealistic, say, a green leaf turning to bright light green. 

There are two important factors that determine how much detail can be uncovered from a photo - if the photo is shot in RAW, and if it is not blown out and preferably a little underexposed. Unfortunately, these considerations have to be taken in before taking the shot.

After Ambiance, I go to Contrast. With portraits, there is usually not much to adjust in Contrast. With landscapes, it tends to bring out blacks and add some sort of drama to the photo. Then I adjust the Saturation. In portraits, the thing to watch out for when adjusting Saturation is the skin tone of the subject person, especially if it is of considerable size in the photo. After this I adjust the White Balance. Pulling the slider to the right tends to add warmth to the photo, pulling it to the other side makes the photo cooler.

With portraits, there is usually little to adjust with Saturation and White Balance but with landscapes, I can use my imagination to my liking so I can freely adjust both sliders far to suit the way I want to present the photo. After these adjustments, I check the photo if it is still dark, then I go to my last stop in Tune Image which is the Brightness control. This adjustment plays a secondary role to Ambiance. I use this only to correct overall darkness of a photo.

As adjustments in Snapseed are universal, there are instances when I want to bring out certain spots in the photo but I can't because it would spoil the rest of the photo, thus they are left dark. To correct this, I go to Selective Adjust. Here I select Add and then tap on the spot I want to bring out. A pin defines the point I selected. I can adjust the diameter of the circle where the adjustments will apply by pinching. With each active pin, there are three choices for controls - Brightness, Contrast, and Saturation. I normally adjust brightness first and then see if there is a need to adjust the other controls. I can add more adjustment pins if I opt to.

If I am working on a landscape photo, I then go to Details. The Structure slider gives definition to the texture and shadows of a surface so this adjustment is most useful in emphasizing the lines in between blocks and tiles of a building, the texture and lines that define metal structures, the texture of rocks, mountains, and concrete, the shadows among the leaves of a tree, etc. When adjusting Sharpening, I sometimes use the Loupe view to see how much sharpening I have already applied to a certain spot of interest. 

With a landscape photo, I also go to Drama. For me drama is similar in way to Structure but in an exaggerated way. It also makes colors flat and dull so I use this sparingly, only if it suits the way I want to present a photo. The first thing I do when I open Drama is to correct Saturation and pull the slider to about 50-55%. I may check out the different drama presets by tapping Style. After Saturation, I go to Filter Strength. With the slider at leftmost, no filtering is applied. I adjust the slider to the right mindful of the how of the outcome I want with the photo. 

The next adjustment I use is Center Focus. For the (shallow) way I use my photos, which is posting them in Facebook and other social media of my choice, this control one of the more important in Snapseed. In Center Focus, I am given a pin. I can move this pin to where I want to provide the focus on and adjust the diameter of the circle where the scope of adjustments will apply. There is a default preset called Portrait 1. If I tap Presets, I can change this and choose among the six presets. I normally use either Portrait 1 or Vignette. With each preset selected, I am given three controls - Blur Strength, Outer Brightness and Inner Brightness. Usually I increase only the Inner Brightness and I am done. This can be a final adjustment unless I want to add blur to my photo, in which this case I go to Tilt-Shift. 

A blur can add focus to the subject of my photo by obscuring the other (insignificant) parts of the image. In Tilt-Shift, I tap on the Styles button and choose between Linear and Elliptical. Here, there is also an adjustment pin which I can drag anywhere in the photo. There are five adjustment controls - Transition, Blur Strength, Brightness, Saturation, and Contrast, which go largely unused. I just adjust be pinching the border and transition lines and I’m done except maybe if I want to mess with the Transition and Blur.

This is the final adjustment. I am not a fan of the other features of Snapseed like Vintage Films, Grunge, Retrolux and Frames. I may use Black & White occasionally but most of the time I prefer to present my photos in color.