What in your opinion is the best photo editing app for GoPro? Most people nowadays have smartphones,  they are an essential part of our daily life. Over the years, the smartphone have combined many devices in only one device. Many people don’t even bother to buy computers since they could do everything from their phone.

They can make calls, send texts, chat, browse the web, send emails, take photos and videos and use a lot of apps. So what about a free app that can help you edit your GoPro photos directly from your phone? I’m sure you have heard of Snapseed, if not then you might want to continue reading 🙂

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Snapseed

 

What Is Snapseed?

Snapseed is a very powerful and revolutionary photo editing app that was created back in 2011 and was only available for iPad. Now, Snapseed is Snapseed 2.0 and it’s available for iOS and Android users who can download this app for free using the App store and Google store. Snapseed is famous for its very well designed layout, user interface and awesome effects, filters and HDR scape. I discovered it through a friend I met during my trip in Srilanka who was posting incredible GoPro photos on his Instagram account. I asked him how he’s doing it so he then introduced me to Snapseed and I was hooked on it since then.

 

 

Why Snapseed?

Snapseed 2.0 is a totally free app available for Apple and Android users. It can only be used on mobile devices, no desktop version is available at the moment. Snapseed was made by Nik Software, a company that was established in 1995 but was later acquired by Google in 2012.  This in my opinion make it makes a trust worthy and reliable app (no glitches, always up-to-date, better layout, etc..).

 

 

Why Is Snapseed Free?

Well, it wasn’t. It costed $4.99 on iTunes back in 2011. But since the acquisition in 2012, Google decided to make Snapseed totally Free for download for IOS and Android which makes it the most powerful free mobile photo editing app. You cannot even compare it to other paid apps. I hope that Google will keep it free since many GoPro and non GoPro users are enjoying it (me included).

 

How Does It Look Like?

When you open Snapseed, you will be prompt to choose the photo that you want to edit from your device. Once this is done, you’ll see the TOOLS section with all its options, scroll down and you’ll see FILTERS section with its different digital filters options from Vintage to HDR to Retroflux. This is what it looks like on your phone:

 

Best Photo Editing App For GoPro         Snapseed2

 

As you can see, Snapseed has many different features and functionalities. I will be showing some basic editing I use on my GoPro photos using my phone. But of course, this is only basic editing, I may create a full tutorial some time soon on how to use Snapseed the best photo editing app for GoPro 🙂

 

 

Essential Editing Tools I Mostly Use

 

Straighten the photo

A useful tool that enables me to rotate the photo so that I can straighten the horizon or whatever I see fit in the photo. To do this I swipe my finger left or right till I get the desired effect.

 

Crop

Crop unwanted space from the photo, useful if you need to crop out someone or something from the photo. Keep in mind the aspect ratio when using the crop tool as it may affect the size if you are willing to print out the photo.

 

Tune up

Tune up

This is where editing starts, every photo can use some tune up like brightness, contrast, saturation, etc.. See what best works for you and don’t over do it. Because it will affect our use of filters or other tools later on.

 

Details

 

You have two options here Structure and Sharpening. These tools can add nice details to the photo, I use them all the time. They can bring out more details especially if there is a sky, clouds or sea in the photo.

 

Selective

Selective

Another useful tool that enables you to select a small area of your photo where you can change the brightness, saturation and contrast. You can select as many areas as you want. I always use it if I want to bring out more brightness for a dark area of the photo.

 

Healing

Screenshot_2016-04-01-13-29-58 Screenshot_2016-04-01-13-32-54

This is where the power of Snapseed really shows. Healing is a very powerful tool that helps you remove unwanted objects or distractions from the photo. You just need to select the unwanted object/area and the tool will cover this object with the same surrounding area. Keep in mind that if the unwanted object is a busy surrounding then the healing might not work. Did you notice any changes in this photo? Yep, I removed my girlfriends’ legs 😛

 

HDR Scape

HDR Scape

HDR scape is one of the most used filters among GoPro users. HDR (High Dynamic Range) brings an awesome look to your photo by creating an effect of multiple exposures. It brings out too much details which really makes the photo look stunning. But to get the best out of this filter, one needs to use it with care. The more HDR strength you apply on the photo, the more likely you’ll increase the digital noise which makes the photo look grainy.

 

Final Result?

Before

 Sunset in Srilanka

After

Sunset in Srilanka edited with Snapseed

Save

A very important step after all the changes you did on your photo, SAVE.  To do so, just click on “Save” at the top of the screen. I’m sure no one wants to lose their precious work. You will see three options, Save, Save A Copy and Export. Save will overwrite your original photo. Save A Copy will create a new copy of your edited photo and will leave your original photo intact in your photo album. Export should be used only if you wish to transfer your photo to your computer later on. Because if you try to transfer the edited copy that you saved using the other two save options then you might end up with only the original photo without the edits. That is the difference between the three save options.

 

Share

A nice feature offered by Snapseed is the share button. It gives you the ability to share your edited photo directly to social networks like Facebook and Instagram.

 

 

Experiment With Snapseed

So these are the basic tools I use every time I need to edit a GoPro photo from my phone. Each photo is unique,so some tools may not work for some of your photos. The best is to experiment and see what works for you and what doesn’t. There is a lot more filters and tools that can be used to more enhance photos but they need a dedicated and more detailed article that I will create in the near future.

 

 

To Conclude

Snapseed is a really powerful app when compared to other photo editing apps. I highly recommend it, whether you are a beginner or experienced at photo editing. Beginners might not use all the features in Snapseed but it will help you edit your GoPro photos like a PRO.

Snapseed is a very versatile app. Whether you want basic adjustments to color and exposure or apply dramatic changes to your photos, this app is the one you need, and it’s really for anyone who wants to transform their photos.

And the best of all that it’s FREE! Download it now from the App Store and Google store.

Do you want to know how to edit GoPro videos like a Pro? Check my article here.

 

I hope you enjoyed my best photo editing app for GoPro. Are you familiar with Snapseed or is it the first you hear about it? Let me know by leaving a comment in the comments section below 🙂