AMITIAE - Sunday 11 May 2014
Excellent but Subtle Image Work on iOS Devices with Litely |
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By Graham K. Rogers
As with like apps, the user has the choice between input from the photo library and the camera. I tried the library first, just as a check, then input from the camera. With each method, the image is imported into a panel that allows future access. It makes sense, that if there is a good image, we might want to work on it again and experiment with other output. Tapping on the image thumbnail makes it available for editing.
In this form, just over half the screen is taken up by a the list of filters. A maximum of 6 can be seen, with Normal at the top. Scrolling down reveals the others. As the app arrives in its free state, there are 9 filters available. There are also three more filter sets (with 12 presets each), priced at $1.99. I experimented by downloading the set named Venice and later added to this with the 12 monochrome presets in Cinder. These reminded me slightly of the filters available in Nik Software's Silver Efex Pro.
I found it best to pay attention to a particular part of a photograph - the green of a leaf, the red of hanging clothes, the blue of a sun shade - so that I could produce the most satisfying output. I was particularly pleased with the monochrome filters, although the subtlety made it quite hard to settle on the best output in the short time I had.
Image from iPhone Camera
Export of a finished image on my installation was possible to to Message, Mail, Twitter or Facebook. We may also save the image in the photo library, assign to a contact, copy or print. Email allowed several size options up to a maximum marked "Actual size": a respectable 3.7 MB. I edited a photo I had taken with the camera feature in the app and then cropped square. It was transfered to the Mac via PhotoStream and was 3.68 MB in Aperture. An export gave me a 16-bit file of 57.6 MB which I opened in Graphic Converter as an image of 43" x 43"
Library Image Edited on the iPhone When I tried it on the Retina display iPad I have, I found that working on the images was easy with the screen size, although the iPad (not the most recent) lagged a little when loading an image or applying effects. Nonetheless, the output was certainly acceptable. Like the iPhone, Litely only works in portrait mode on the iPad. While I usually prefer to work on the iPhone with photographic apps, Litely does have certain advantage when used on the iPad.
Library Images Edited on the iPad
Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand where he is also Assistant Dean. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs. He is now continuing that in the Bangkok Post supplement, Life. |
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