Smartphones come equipped with the best sensors especially flagships available from Apple, Samsung, LG, Sony etc. All these high end smartphones whether using iOS or Android are more than capable shooters for casual as well as professional photographers. The popularity of smartphone cameras can be gauged from the fact that the most uploaded photographs on the photo sharing platform, Flickr, come from the iPhone! In order to edit our photos, there are editing apps available for both iOS and Android to get the job done, which are listed below:

Snapseed (iOS & Android)

While other apps in this list will be paid ones, Snapseed for iOS and Android is completely free and a very popular app to edit photos. It houses features available only in flagship professional photo editing software, at the touch of a fingertip. Be it the ability to retouch, tweaking with the perspective, or re-edit the photo it has it all. The ability to adjust any part of an image, adding filters or tinkering with the focus, Snapseed allows all that. With the latest update, Snapseed has the ability to export RAW format images, read and edit them on the fly, which is a welcome for professional photographers who may be in need of it. For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/snapseed/id439438619?mt=8 & Android: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/snapseed/id439438619?mt=8

Photo Editor by Aviary (Android)

This app by Aviary provides simplistic but packed with powerful editing features for photos on your Android smartphone. It offers the ability to auto enhance your photos, fix redeye, remove blemishes, colour balance, gorgeous photo effects, adjust brightness, contrast, colour temperature, saturation and so much more with just one tap. It is available for free on Google Play Store with some features unlockable by in-app purchases. For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aviary.android.feather

Filters (iOS)

Filters is a paid app ($1.99) offering a multitude of filters to transform your existing photos. Five hundred fully adjustable filters and over 300 hand textured overlays are available for the user to tinker with. The standard image tinkering tools for saturation, brightness, contrast, colour temperature and exposure are available within this app. For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/filters-for-iphone/id972426013?mt=8

Autodesk Pixlr (Android)

Autodesk Pixlr offers stunning features like two million combinations of free effects, overlays, and filters to make your photos look stunning. Pixlr caters to the needs of the novice as well as the pro users. Whether the user wants to create a photo collage, balance out colour with Auto Fix, or layer multiple photos and combine them together using Double Exposure. Images can be stylised to look a pencil drawing, an ink sketch and much more. Images can be masked with captions or by overlaying it with text, there are a tons of other features to experiment within the app. For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pixlr.express

Facetune (iOS)

Facetune is a must have paid app ($3.99) for the selfie obsessed and portrait photographer. Want to get rid of facial blemishes, widen or refine your smile, reshape your facial structure or remove stuff like gray hair this app does it all. Features like photo enhancements for your portraits or selfies can be a bane with customised filters, adding improved lightning or special effects to them is a no brainer with Facetune. For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/facetune/id606310581?mt=8

The writer, is a freelance columnist associated with Digital Rights Foundation as a Team Member. He tweets @MohammadFarooq_

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, December 6th, 2015