iPad style Apps come to Photoshop – At last!
If you envy your friends their iPhone Instagram app and their iPad grunge photo editing apps then PSKiss has the solution. PSKiss recently released its PSKiss Photogram which is the first ever (at least as far as I’m aware) app like extension for Photoshop. It has all the coolness of an iPad app and it works on the desktop.
PSKiss Photogram is an extension so it installs like any extension and, when running, you see an iPad style interface with Instagram like features all running in a panel inside Photoshop.
You can download the extension from pskiss.com and right now the starter price is $9.90 which is comparable with many iPad apps. The extension is called Photogram and it has a distinctly retro look – it’s tag line is “Bringing the 70’s into Photoshop”.
Once you’ve downloaded the zip file, unzip it, fire up your Adobe Extension Manager and install the ZPG file. If you are using Windows 7 or Vista you may need to run the Extension Manager as an Administrator to install the extension in the correct location. To do this, right click the Adobe Extension Manager in your Start menu and choose Run as Administrator.
Once installed, close Photoshop if it’s open and then re-launch it. Start by opening an image that you want to work with. I grabbed an image of some graffiti I shot this morning with a view to using it with this extension.
Run the extension by choosing Window > Extensions > PSKiss Photogram. The panel opens showing a series of image effects including Holga, Expired Polaroid, PolaroidPZ, Wrong Velvia and others. They are a mix of faux retro camera effects which are guaranteed to give your photos a very different look.
In addition to applying effects you can also crop your image to one of a number of crop ratios including No Crop, 1:1, 4:3, 2:3 and 16:9.
The app also lets you add light leaks by turning on the Light Leaks switch and add a date stamp which is set using the image metadata.
To apply an effect to an image, set the crop ratio, set the date stamp and light leaks switches then click an effect. You can wind back the processing using the History palette so click on Open in History to revert to the original image. If you choose a different effect it replaces the one you just applied and isn’t added to it so you don’t need to wind back your changes if you want to experiment with different effects.
The light leaks are random so they move around each time you click to add an effect.
If you want the same effect but a different crop, select a different crop and then reapply that same effect to it. You can tell which effect is in use as it has a glow around it and the title bar of the image indicates which effect is in use.
When you’re done, you can save the image as you would any regular image.
13 Responses to “iPad style Apps come to Photoshop – At last!” - Add Yours
March 9th, 2012 at 3:26 am
I don’t understand why anyone would be envious of over processed and noisy images from apps such as Instagram? An extension for Photoshop? all this thing basically does is apply actions, if you want images that look exactly alike, why not just download actions from any Photoshop tutorial website?
March 9th, 2012 at 2:50 pm
There is also: http://pixlr.com/o-matic/
similar effects, no download or iPhone required and it’s free.
March 10th, 2012 at 3:13 am
@nady I love pixlr’s range of tools and you are right, it is available online and also as a free download to a PC and a free download for the iPad. The Pixlr.com online editor is also a great tool for photo editing with layers and masks and a blindingly fast interface.
I’ll put a post on these apps on my to do list.. thank you for making the comment..
Helen
March 10th, 2012 at 11:07 am
Yay for creativity…
March 12th, 2012 at 10:59 am
Zaman, the invention of the toaster made toasting bread easier. Why not do it the hard way, you ask? Seems self explanatory. You are, of course, free to do things however you like, but it’s also about supply and demand. People want grungy filters.
March 13th, 2012 at 2:05 am
Only problem is it doesn’t work with CS4.
March 13th, 2012 at 12:15 pm
if you own photoshop, the least you should know is how to do this without any app.
March 13th, 2012 at 12:17 pm
if you own photoshop, AT LEAST you should know how to do this without any app.
March 16th, 2012 at 4:00 am
Kristen, i understand what you are saying but, would you rather not have a fresh loaf of bread vs heated up toast? Photoshop gives you a whole lot more control than this plus you can also set your own actions if you don’t want all the control.Using actions is definitely not doing it any harder, you simply hit Run action… Its simpler and costs virtually no extra money. Of course it doesn’t have all the flashing lights, bells and whistles but i would rather drive around in a real car than a power wheel.
March 21st, 2012 at 8:44 am
I don’t like toasters. Just saying.
March 21st, 2012 at 10:59 pm
Other options for people who don’t have Photoshop are 2 programs that have been developed for desktops following successful Apps: Snapseed & Camera Bag 2.
Both of these can produce just the same style, and it would appear even more styles, of retro camera effects with quite a degree of customization too. They both work with RAW files as well (at least they do on my iMac).
And they’re not very expensive, which is nice.
Then if you’re a bit more adventurous, Lensbaby.
March 26th, 2012 at 4:18 am
It’s a start, surely, but it’s nowhere near versatile nor customizable enough to be a viable professional photography tool. But it is a start, and I’m curious to see where it goes in the future!
April 9th, 2012 at 12:56 am
This reminds me a bit on the new Software Smart Photo Editor (http://www.smartphotoeditor.com/). It goes a bit the way of Snapseed – so not really a photoshop plugin. But a very simple basic app which supports raw and allows some basic controls as well as tons of tilters. The difference is there a big community behind the filters and a little integrated tool to make your own filters and share them with other users of the app.
For people who like this kind of app it might be nice – there’s also a free trial I personally still prefer to do little controls myself instead of running preset filters over them.
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