New iPhone Photo App: TOUCHUP STUDIO

Description from the AppStore: TOUCHUP lets you work with images in a new and fun way. By selecting an effect, you can apply it by either smudging or shaking it into your image. Be creative!

• Boost the contrast
• Create cool montages
• Add textures
• Change the colors
• Lighten or darken areas
• Make selective desaturations
• Create blur
• Age your photo and much more...

Editing by smudging:

• If you’d like more detailed control over the effects you're applying, use your fingers! Smudge the image where you'd like the effect to show.
• Editing by shaking:

To make an effect over a larger piece of the photo use the shake function. Just tilt your device in the direction you'd like the effect to appear and start shaking. To apply the effect on the entire photo, hold your device in a horizontal position and shake.

F E A T U R E S:

• Take a new photo or open one from your library
• Save and share your edited photos
• Settings, change brush size and effect strength
• Zoom and Pan for more detailed work
• Undo function
• In-program help

E F F E C T S

EXPOSURE:

• Contrast
• Lighten
• Darken
• Negative
• Posterize
• Aged
• Blur
• Sharpen
• Quake
• X-Ray
• Emboss
• Contour

COLOR:

• Mix your own color to use in your photo
• Set the colors appearance to Opaque or Transparent
• Choose default options Black & White or Sepia

TEXTURES:

• Choose between 12 textures
• Create your own texture by taking a new photo or loading one from your library

MONTAGE

• The Montage button turns the textures opaque which lets you create cool montages (see screen shot)

AppStore Link: TOUCHUP STUDIO - Price £1.19/$1.99

Editors comments: This is an interesting app that has similarities to apps like ColorSplash and Juxtaposer, whereby you use your finger and wipe away areas of your photo to either apply or reveal various effects.

TOUCHUP STUDIO has a wide range of effects that you can apply to your photos, from patterns to transparent/solid colours, although my favourite effects are those from the exposure category. For me the most useful of the exposure effects are contrast, lighten and darken, which combined allows me to almost create a dodge and burn effect, as per the below sample.

Above: Original photo with no effects appliedAbove: The same photo, but here I used the contrast, darken and lighten effect to produce this quick dodge and burn effect.Also if you use the contrast effect alone, with the right photo you can create a polarized effect as my photo below with the sky shows.

Above: Original photo with no effects appliedAbove: The same photo, but here I just applied increased contrast to the sky to give it that polorized filter look.Overall this is a nice app, although it does have the following bugs/annoyances that I would like to see resolved.

1. Wrong orientation when saving landscape photos, so you will need to use an app to correct the orientation
2. The apps pinch to zoom feature is a bit sluggish
3. You have to use 2 fingers rather than just 1 to drag the photo around the screen when you have zoomed in to make finer edits
4. It would be nice if the undo actually undid the last action, rather than require you to wipe the area to undo (this is just a personal thing, as other may like this feature)

Apart from the above this is a promising looking app, that gets a big thumbs up from me.

The good news is I have 3x promo codes [US iTunes accounts holders only] for TOUCHUP STUDIO, so if you would like the chance of getting one, then please add you name to the comments section of this post and I will pick 3 lucky winners over the next couple of days.

I have also started a discussion thread on this app here.

Comments

[Darryl]

Looks nice, would like to be in with a chance of a promo code

[Matthew]

Looks cool, I have both ColorSplash and Juxtaposer- they're awesome!

[Dan]

Looks like a neat app. I don't know if you've used/seen Vihgo, for some reason nobody I talk to knows about it. They also have a paint-masking technique and it's what I use for a lot of my effects. Would love a shot at a promo code. Thanks for a great blog!

[Karin]

I would very much like to try it too!
Thank you and have a great New years eve

[Tomba]

me :-)

... and a happy new year!

[Albert]

Looks very interesting. I like what you did with the sky. I would love to try this.

[jdb]

sounds cool. would love to get the promo code and give it a try. thanks. happy new year.

[Neville black]

Looks like a promising app. I like the dodge burn possibilities. Would love a code to give er a test drive.

[Makoto]

I would love to try a copy.Thanks!

[gia]

I would love to use this app.

Wishing you the best of the best in 2010!

[christyxcore]

I've been looking at this app for the last few days. Would like to win a copy :-)

[jangel]

yes I would like a code

[Adam]

I would love a promo code for this! Thanks for all the reviews and tweets about new apps. My phone is filling up with camera apps!

[AReality]

I'd love to have a copy of this fun app.

Thanks.

[KayBee]

I appreciate this chance for a promo code. Thanks for the review!

[Robert Barr]

WOW there is allready 15 posts for that code. I guess I can put my name in.

[Cherie S.]

Looks like a cool app. I'd definitely be interested!

[dannyg]

Always on the hunt for a good photo editing tool.

[wizzard]

Looks great. This is what PS for the iPhone should do.

[Kris]

As a photographer I'd love to try this app. So if I can get a free code - great. If not, I'll pay for it in a few days.
Thanks for the giveaway.