iPad Photo Editing in 2021
It looks like many have been disappointed with the recent iPad updates. Not necessarily with the hardware, especially now that iPad Pro has the same M1 chip as the new iMac. But more that the software doesn’t unlock it’s potential.
I’m not so sure. I think it will always be a different experience to a laptop. Create a more effective laptop-type experience and you compromise the touch experience. The Surface Pro is an excellent laptop experience in a tablet, but with a much-compromised tablet experience.
To me, there are three important elements for photo management and editing on iPad, the Photos app, the Files app and the editing apps themselves.
The Photos app is pretty good. It does everything I need, even though it would be great to be able to flag images other than the ‘favorites’ designation. I’d love too to be able to get a few stats from the photo library, such as which cameras/phones and lenses I’ve used most.
Good multitasking matters too and it looks like Apple are gradually making improvements. My biggest frustration though is the way other apps access the Photos library. Maybe the app developers have too many options but it’s very inconsistent. Some seem to show the folder structure and others just list all albums, sometimes not even in alphabetical order. Some show the ‘Recents’ album, others don’t.
The Files app is ok, at best. It mostly works although I get occasional errors copying from an SD card to our NAS drive. Copying files also gives no indication of progress, so copying a large number gives you no indication of how many have completed or how long it will take to finish. Frustrating, especially when copying into the Photos app gives a little status indicator and marker on each image. Inconsistent again.
There also isn’t an editing app that is ideal for my workflow yet, not quite.
Pixelmator Photo is my favorite but can’t do localized editing such as dodge and burn. I probably can’t batch edit with it as fast as on a laptop, but it’s not far off.
Affinity Photo is packed with features but I don’t find it so intuitive to use, and it has a few bugs.
Lightroom is subscription-only ($5 per month for just the mobile versions and 20Gb storage) which is frustrating but seems to provide the best balance of power and convenience at the moment. I’ve only just re-started using it and probably overlooked it for too long.
It’s interesting to see too that Capture One are now working on an iPad app too. I’m sure that will take time though, just like Photoshop is still very limited compared to the desktop version (and Affinity Photo).
I use an iPad for most photo editing at the moment. Of course it’s not the most powerful tool, and the screen is small compared to even most laptops. But in some ways it’s often the best tool for the job, simply because of it’s convenience. I don’t need to sit at a desk. It’s easy to grab, it’s always on, I always have my images available. And I get to edit with an excellent stylus, directly onto the screen. That still, to me, makes it a great experience that’s only getting better as the apps improve.
