New iPhone Photo App: TouchRetouch
Wednesday, June 9, 2010 at 9:58PM | Glyn Evans 
Description from the AppStore: TouchRetouch is a revolutionary application that lets you remove unwanted content or objects from your photos, using just your finger and iPhone or iPod Touch. Mark the items you want taken out of the snapshot and hit ‘Go’. That’s all there is to it. Retouching photographs has never been so quick, easy and convenient. Click “…More” to learn why you should download this App today!
You recently got married on a beautiful Caribbean beach. Everything was so perfect. Luckily, you have a lot of memorable snapshots of the crystalline water and white sand backdrop of the ceremony, you and your new spouse silhouetted in the sunset, your guests under a palm tree, that nude sunbather that somehow got included in a shot taken during the exchanging of vows. Yikes!
Before showing your mom those photos, take a minute to remove that accidental guest from an otherwise great picture. Open your TouchRetouch app. Using your finger, select the Brush or Lasso tool to mark what you don’t want in the shot, then hit the ‘Go’ button. Okay, you’re done and it’s now safe to share your picture-perfect memories with everybody.
TouchRetouch isn’t just for exotic or wedding photo touch-ups, of course. Use this easy yet ingenious application on any photo, newly snapped on your iDevice or taken from your gallery. Remove those wires that are in the way of an otherwise wonderful view, take banners off of buildings, get rid of people, eliminate spots and other imperfections. All without distorting the final image.
You can even have a little fun with TouchRetouch. Take away the bicycle from under your brother and it looks like he’s cycling in mid-air. You can make it look like people are flying, jumping or posed oddly, by removing whatever was supporting them.
Do everything mentioned here and more, in mere seconds without any special equipment.
Check out some of the things that you can do with TouchRetouch:
- Remove spots from sky or other backgrounds
- Remove wires from your picture
- Remove banners from the buildings
- Remove human-made objects from nature views (bridges, buildings, tents, ships etc.)
- Remove your shadow from self-made picture
- Remove people from the photo
- Remove ghosts and flare
- Remove surface breaks
- Smoothen and retouch the face
- Create funny pictures: for example, remove parachute and leave the guy flying in the sky
This app is just so versatile! It comes loaded with great features and functions that you’re going to love using and appreciate having, especially in an easy-to-use, portable medium that goes everywhere you do.
AppStore Link: TouchRetouch - Price: £0.59/$0.99
Editors comments: Many of you have already been discussing this app, but ever since I announced it back on the 25th May, I have been patiently waiting for its release, and today that time finally came, but is it as magical as I first thought?
The App
The app itself has straight forward interface with the main toolbar across the bottom and a secondary toolbar across the top.
The Toolbars
Across the top of the screen (left to right) you have the open, undo, redo and info (where you will find 2 tutorial videos).
Across the bottom you have Lasso, Brush, Eraser, Move, Go! and Save.
Of the options in this lower toolbar you will mainly use Brush, Move, Go! and Save, although you may use Eraser if you make any mistakes.
How to make an object disappear!
This app is very easy to use, simply open a photo and using Move you can pinch and zoom to enlarge the object or objects you want to remove from the photo. Then using the brush tool and your finger, highlight the object you want to remove and then hit Go! and watch as the object magically disappears before your eyes. If needed repeat this process to remove other objects or areas that have not worked as expected, and then when done hit save, and that's it.
So what do I think of TouchRetouch?
Right, lets get the best bits out of the way. It is easy to use, in fact it's very easy to use, and it does a very good job of removing unwanted objects from a photo, where the object is against a large same colour area like sky, sea, grass etc.
So that's the best bits of the app, but what is wrong with it? On my 3G I found that app could be slow at times, stuttering and staling whilst trying to pinch and zoom and paint areas with the Brush. It's not that intelligent on complicated detailed areas, as it uses a cloning algorithm which can get things badly wrong. Finally, and this will be the deal breaker for many, the output size is just 640x480, making all the clever stuff this app does go to waste, but wait I may have some news on this ;)
Above: A before and after shot of Big Ben in London
What next?
I contacted the developer about the poor screen res issue, and he has assured me that the next release will support a user selectable full-res option, and support the iPhone 4.
Also, currently in review with Apple, and due in a few days, is TouchRetouch for the iPad, however sadly this first release will only support 1024x768, but just like the iPhone version will support a higher resolution in its second release.
Final thoughts
This is a very clever app, and is currently the best object removal app available for the iPhone, and despite its poor output size, it beats all those other slice and splice apps in the AppStore. This app is definitely one to watch, and despite its current low-res output and some limitations I am going to give it 3 stars, as the developer was quick to respond to my emails and plans to update to full-res as soon as possible, and for just £0.59/$0.99, I think it's well worth the money.
Glyn Evans
TouchRetouch HD for the iPad has been released, and whilst you would expect this to look more impressive on the larger screen, what it does show, is how bad this app can be.
As noted with the iPhone version, this app only really works where the subject is set against a flat background, like sky or grass.
Whilst I gave the iPhone app 3 stars, I'm only going to give the iPad version 2 stars, and in fact would probably downgrade the iPhone version to 2 stars as well, as the iPad version really shows the apps imperfections, which I may have missed the first time around.
AppStore Link: TouchRetouch HD - Price: £0.59/$0.99
Reader Comments (6)
After reading some of the other reviews on iTunes about how involved this developer is on their website, I'd say your review of this app is very fair. I hate the low output, but I can't deny that the app does an AMAZING job!! I'm keeping it on my phone & will keep my fingers crossed for that update to full res!
Yeah...I purchased the app yesterday then ran into the reviews of its low-res output and have refused to open it at all.
Good to hear that the developer is actively involved with this one, would've been a waste of yet another low-res output splicing app.
What's the developer's definition of "As soon as possible"?
@Leon. I wasn't given a time frame, but I expect when they make it iOS 4 compatible, which I would expect to be in the next few weeks
I lot must have happened with the app since this review because it works great today. I just did a piece on it and have the pictures on the site to show the results. The app is $0.99 and there are far worst apps that are 5 times as much. You have to play with objects that are close to the subject that you want to keep, but with a patience you can accomplish some incredible this with this app.
Read my Review with Pictures at www dot iamthereforeipad dot com
@Carl. I still stand by my comments, and after looking at you sample, it shows the same imperfections that I was referring to. Check out the rock area when you have removed the person. Whilst the sea and sky area is OK, the rocks are definitely not. You can tell the rock is a poor clone of the surrounding rocks, and the sea area where the legs were have a smudged look about it, along with the area where the deck chairs were.
I agree the app is worth the asking price, if you want to remove objects quickly from a flat coloured area, but if you want something better, then you will still need to resort to a computer and an app like Photoshop.
I decided to try it out by trying to get rid of a wire right in the middle of my photo. The wire mingled with clouds and trees.
I have to say, it did a pretty good job. I don't really see any awkward displacement in the cloud area.
(also changed the exposure/contrast in perfectly clear, for those wondering about those differences)
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4049/4705420470_e5d80f3b32_b.jpg