Every image is a poem. Every scene has a kind of structure. The capture of a place, for instance, involves decisions of narrative perspective (where to look, from what position); of cadence (beats, breaks, a line beneath the sky); of tone. And just like a poem, the effective image compresses emotional experience into a single, small expression.

Of longing.

Of beauty.

Of what it is to be. On that day. At that time. In all of my humanity.

And it is poetry.

But I’ve learned from experience that a poem – no matter how beautiful – gains even more power when set to music. Every image is a poem. In the edit, I add the music.

Snapseed

Recently purchased by Google, Snapseed now has full Chrome and Google + integration, not to mention that it is simply the quickest and dirtiest of quick and dirty editing apps. Open a photo in Snapseed.  Click on Automatic. Click on Retrolux. Save. Upload. Done.

Granted, there are millions of other permutations. Play around. Create a process. Create another. And another. And another. And another.

When I’m editing with Snapseed, I always create at least a dozen different edits of a single image. It’s that fast. Then, when I’m ready to upload to Instagram, I can carefully compare those pieces side by side, choosing whichever seems the best fit for the photo, the right tune, the real music.

Picsplay Pro

Back in the day, all the cool editing apps were available for iPhone only. With one exception. An all-purpose editing app from Jelly Bus – PicsPlay Pro. And as far as editing apps go, this one just works.

It has a simple control panel that pulls you through a natural process as you move from left to right. Load a photo. Rotate, straighten, and crop. Try out the filters, or use the fine-tuning controls (including curves and histogram). Add texture, bits of paint, some text. Save your final product.

Not interested? You should be.

• Although most editing apps restrict photo size, PicsPlay Pro allows for some of the largest images around – up to 2560 pixels across. That’s the kind of difference that results in a quality image.
• There are 200 effects – all with scroll bars – and the app is built for layers. An undo/redo control in the top right corner of your screen gives you the power to undo up to your last nine steps or to redo up to your last nine undos, a user-friendly approach that makes it easy to experiment.

When I’m editing with PicsPlay Pro, I’ll frequently go through upwards of two dozen steps in order to bring out the image that’s been hiding inside my original capture. It’s just one tune rather than a dozen. But the harmonies are out of this world.

PIXLR EXPRESS

Autodesk is the creator of the hit mobile editor, pixlr-o-matic. Pixlr-o-matic is a super-easy-to-use bottom-loaded scroll bar with side-by-side effects. It’s playful. It’s fast. But its ease of use means it doesn’t offer many tools. Lots of effects, and that’s pretty much it.

Pixlr Express is the lesser-known, better-equipped cousin. It’s a full-featured editor with six basic work spaces: 1) Adjustment, 2) Effect, 3) Overlay, 4) Border, 5) Text, and 6) Sticker.

Adjustment gives you the expected controls for colour, contrast, crop, rotate, blur, and sharpen. Effect is a seven-category collection of filters, most of which come straight out of Pixlr-o-matic.

But the real fun of this editor is in the overlays, which I use for textured effects. Choose one of the 14 tie dye, diamond patterns at 10 to 15 percent opaque, and you create a rough, lightly-textured centre of light that draws the eye without detracting from the image. Select one of the 9 canvas settings at 15 to 20 percent opaque to set a soft matte finish. Experiment with the space overlays to create dots of light and layers of shadow.

The final piece of music won’t have the same classic lines or simple beauty you find in other editors. Because that’s not the kind of tune this app can sing. Pixlr Express is for complexly textured images, and it’s beautiful.

By Eric Muhr