Title: Color Splash
Cost: $0.99
Platform: iOS
Apps for mobile devices make it easy to achieve impressive visual effects that used to require expensive equipment with an app. Color Splash is an excellent example of this. The app, which works with both iPhones and iPads, lets you remove color from your photo and then selectively add it to only specific sections of your image or objects within it.
Colored areas marked in red.
The first time you open the app, you will be presented with a brief animated tutorial that walks you through the process, but even without this help, the app’s functions are very intuitive. You can load photos that are saved to your device or those that are on your Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, Google+ or Dropbox accounts. When the image first loads, it will appear in color and then fade to gray so you have a chance to see what color you want to restore to the image. You can then simply tap the “Color†button and start swiping your finger over the areas of the image that you would like to appear in color. If you accidentally add color to the wrong part of the image, you can tap on the “Gray†button and swipe your finger over the section to remove the color from it. There is also a “Pan + Zoom†button that allows you to zoom in for greater control. To make it easier to see whether or not a pale area is in color, there is a button that will make the colored in areas appear red. You can also adjust how bright the color you add to the image is as well as the overall brightness, contrast, saturation, color temp, hue shift, and grey tinting of the image. There is also an undo button if you inadvertently swipe the wrong area.
Finished image.
Finished images can have the gray and color sections inverted with a single click, meaning that if you change your mind at the last moment, it is quick to completely change its look. Once you are happy with your photo, you can save it to your device, post it to Twitter or Facebook, upload it to Flickr, Google+, or Dropbox or email it. If you have your device hooked to a printer, you can also print it from within the app. This is a fun photo editing app that gives fairly professional effects if you take the time to zoom in and do the detailed work necessary to color specific areas of the image.
For more app recommendations visit the YALSA App of the Week Archive. If you have an app you think we should review, let us know!
