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Desktop alternative to Snapseed ....

R

Rorque

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 12, 2013
17
0
I've only just started to use snapseed on my iPad and I'm really liking some of the results I'm getting using some of its effects and filters, such as the grunge, ambience, sharpening/structure and lots of others.
I'm not looking here at pro photography software, I of course realize that; but I am also not just looking to 'play around' either - I genuinely appreciate how quickly and easily I am able to sometimes get interesting results with this app.
I'm only just getting into working with images on my Mac and will be looking at things like Aperture, Lightroom etc soon and as snapseed was killed off on the desktop I'd really like to be able to have similar tools at my disposal but don't know which is the best or most similar way to go.
Is it the Nik software suite? Or something else.
Any help would be hugely appreciated. Thanks for reading.
 
Rorque said:
I've only just started to use snapseed on my iPad and I'm really liking some of the results I'm getting using some of its effects and filters, such as the grunge, ambience, sharpening/structure and lots of others.
I'm not looking here at pro photography software, I of course realize that; but I am also not just looking to 'play around' either - I genuinely appreciate how quickly and easily I am able to sometimes get interesting results with this app.
I'm only just getting into working with images on my Mac and will be looking at things like Aperture, Lightroom etc soon and as snapseed was killed off on the desktop I'd really like to be able to have similar tools at my disposal but don't know which is the best or most similar way to go.
Is it the Nik software suite? Or something else.
Any help would be hugely appreciated. Thanks for reading.
Click to expand...

Nik Software Suite is really a remarkable set of filters. I also have "SnapSeed for Mac"... but I pretty much never use it. I would say that the full suite can far surpass what you can do with Snapseed... yet still uses the UPoint technology that you see with Snapseed.

I personally use it primarily with Aperture3.

/Jim
 
Appreciate you taking the time to respond with those thoughts Jim. I'll look into the Nik software suite as a first alternative then.
I suppose I should also examine whether I want/need to think about Aperture or Lightroom at the same time!
.
Have to say though that I really, really like Snapseed on the iPad. I've been also getting to grips with digital painting in a fabulous app called Procreate and taking some initial sketches into Snapseed and it has been giving me some wonderfully interesting and effective results ...
Thanks again for your thoughts.
Be well.
 
Rorque said:
Appreciate you taking the time to respond with those thoughts Jim. I'll look into the Nik software suite as a first alternative then.
I suppose I should also examine whether I want/need to think about Aperture or Lightroom at the same time!
.
Have to say though that I really, really like Snapseed on the iPad. I've been also getting to grips with digital painting in a fabulous app called Procreate and taking some initial sketches into Snapseed and it has been giving me some wonderfully interesting and effective results ...
Thanks again for your thoughts.
Be well.
Click to expand...

The Nik Suite is NOT a standalone application. It is a set of filters that are an extension to either Aperture, Lightroom, or Photoshop.

I think that having a good digital asset manager is the important first step in photography. You will see strong opinions on both sides for both Aperture and Lightroom. Once you decide... then Nik Software can work with either of them.

There are a ton of educational videos on the Nik site. They are generally performed by pro photographers sharing their experience with the tools. I find them fascinating to watch... and they give me lots of good ideas.

/Jim
 
Hi,

have a look at Pixelmator, available for 15$ in the Mac App Store. It has really amazing features for that price. It also has a lot of filters.
 
I use LR 4 and have the beta for LR 5. I highly recommend LR 5 (when it goes live later this year) and the Nik suite of plugins. Between them you can do most anything nondestructively to a photo. There are also good plugins at Topaz Labs and OnOneSoftware.
 
Many thanks for the further responses; I'll have a look at Pixelmator and also read up a little into Aperture and Lightroom and see how they both feel to me.
 
Rorque said:
Many thanks for the further responses; I'll have a look at Pixelmator and also read up a little into Aperture and Lightroom and see how they both feel to me.
Click to expand...

Definitely look at Pixelmator. I like Aperture for workflow, but Pixelmator is pretty great.
 
I have pixelmator and Aperture. Use Aperture mostly.

Has Snapseed for desktop be canned then? Can't say i've used it in a while :confused:
 
Yeah, Google killed off desktop Snapseed a couple of months ago I think.

As I said, I only just became aware of snapseed on the iPad this past week when watching a few folks demonstrating their workflow on youtube videos, and immediatly downloaded it. After getting to grips with some of the subtleties of its interface I wondered if their wasn't a desktop version that perhaps(amongst other things)wouldn't constrain me to only being able to save into jpg.

Went to look, found it had recently been killed off. However, from what I've read, even though some folks did use desktop Snapseed and like it, it appears that for a lot who really like the mobile version, the desktop for whatever reason wasn't as roundly admired.

One of the things that I like about it is how when using a particular effect or filter, one can tap on shuffle and cycle through tons of different ways of applying it to the photo, as well as tone down(and up)things in real-time and see the image change accordingly, as in the ambience feature. Hoping that the Nik suite might have something similar.
Thanks again for all the responses.
 
I have Pixelmator set up to work as an editor from within iPhoto. I assume the same can be done with Aperture, so you don't have to give up your main program's workflow.
 
You can use the Nik Collection apps standalone, but you have to either drag an image onto one of the apps or use Command-click and "Open With..." in Finder.

The styles you get in Color Efex are similar to the ones in Snapseed, but there's more control (and therefore slightly less easier to use). There's a 15 day trial of the Nik Suite, why not download it and give it a try?
 
logista said:
There's a 15 day trial of the Nik Suite, why not download it and give it a try?
Click to expand...

Because it's not stand alone, so the op can't use it.

If you want to try out some free (trial) standalone photo editing software, before committing to either Aperture or Lightroom give OnOne a look. I've been using it standalone for a while now with good results (for me!). It will also work as a plug in when/if you decide to buy the pro stuff.

http://www.ononesoftware.com/products/suite7/?gclid=COL85c3YyLcCFYjLtAodtygA-g

Be sure to watch the video's for tips on youtube etc.
 
Check out the various apps from JixiPix and I also use Funtastic Photos (its sharpening algorithm often works better than other editors) a lot. Both of them allow you to create your own presets. I use Photoshop Elements as my main photo editor and use iPhoto for library purposes.
 
Many thanks to all of you for continuing to share your thoughts and suggestions; it's really very much appreciated.
I've got quite a few different things to look into right now.

Incidentally, I got hold of a copy of Snapseed for the Mac last night, and it's quite interesting to use coming from using it on the iPad.
Interesting because it's very similar indeed to the mobile version, yet somehow nowhere near as nice to use. It also feels not quite as finished or as polished in appearance as the iPad version. Looks a bit rough around the edges and just feels a touch clumsy to use.

Only had a quick look into it, and nevertheless quickly got some very interesting results but it did feel as though it wasn't as fluid or flawless in its execution/usability as the iPad version, this being in some part due of course to the fact that the mobile version really works beautifully with the touch interface.

I think it's a shame it was canned however, as I reckon given further time and development it could have been every bit as satisfying as the iPad Snapseed to use, which is so, so captivating and such a pleasure to use.
One can only hope and trust(?!)that Google treat the Nik software suite with the respect and consideration that it deserves ...

So, onto pixelmator and then a few of the other suggestions!

Be well, all of you.
 
Apple fanboy said:
Because it's not stand alone, so the op can't use it.
Click to expand...

Perhaps I should have included all the caveats:
1. Since it's not intended to be standalone, it doesn't act quite the same way as a standard Mac program
2. You should WORK ON A COPY of your image
3. It doesn't work on RAW files

But to play with it before deciding to spend $150 (plus whatever for LR or Aperture) it's enough to figure out if you like how it does things.
 
As I own a copy of the Complete Nik Collection, but don't have Aperture or Lightroom, I would not consider it to be a standalone product. As others have mentioned there are work arounds, but that's not quite the same thing. The OnOne suit is designed as a plugin or Standalone, I find the user experience much better.
Having said that the Nik suit is good (especially since Google dropped the price), but don't expect to much future development.
 
A bit of both. The European side of Nik got closed down last year. I knew a couple of people who worked there. The story goes Google only bought it for snapseed and aren't going to develop the pro side which is a shame.
 
Pixelmator plus

Pixelmator is a great beginner's platform, and there are a slew of helpful video's available online ( and in the app store for a few $) to get you started. I love using Snapseed on my iPad, but it saves the files in a very compressed format, where Pixelmator will let you set the file size.
 
Yeah, the desktop Snapseed does let you save as a tif, but isn't the iPad version only saving as a jpg a result of constraints in place due to iOS?

However, even though it saves as a jpg and thus compresses the file size, the resolution stays the same(with limits depending on which iPad)as the original so I'm wondering - even though the file size is compressed , can one notice this compression in the actual image?
Is the quality, looking at the saved image, degraded at all?
 
I tried snapseed on the iphone and fell in love with the drama filter.
Been playing with it during the summer vacation and decided I really like the look.

But for my DSLR pics I don't want to importexportreimport from aperture to other apps so I'm looking for an aperture plugin and it was suggested here I try the Nik Bundle.

Can you guys tell me, how to use this Nik stuff to get my Drama effect?
I'm not good at experimenting with thousands of knobs and dials :)
I don't even know what all these plugins do :-/
 
I was looking for a Snapseed alternative as well, a bit late to reply, but someone might benefit from it. There are two alternatives now Analog from Rapidweaver and Camera bag 2.
 
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