The other day I received an email from friend and former guest muse, Leslie Adams she was singing the praises of her new favorite app, PicTapGo and wondered if we had any plans of reviewing the app. I quickly responded, YES!! I was just about to review it and by the way would you like to chime in on what you love about this new app? I know how much you all enjoyed Leslie’s previous post so I asked her to share with us some of her highlights about PicTapGo along with a few of mine.

Leslie: When I first heard about the new mobile photography app, PicTapGo from Totally Rad!, I thought, “Hey, that’s cool. I love their Photoshop plug-ins; I’ll bet the app will be great, too!” And then I promptly told myself I didn’t need another app for editing photos—my phone is filled with apps and I already have my favorites that I use on a daily basis.

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Fast-forward to a mini photo walk I took last weekend with a couple of photographer friends. We were out exploring new parts of town and having a blast, and I couldn’t wait to get home to edit some shots. When my friend Kelly posted a shot of me with my Polaroid camera, edited with Pic*Tap*Go, I suddenly decided I needed that app! I happily paid the $1.99 asking price, downloaded the app, and spent the next couple of hours experimenting with the array of filters and options the app provides.

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What I love about this app is that it allows you to layer effects quickly and easily on top of one another. Filters range from very basic tweaks such as increasing or decreasing light, contrast, shadows and highlights, to more dramatic effects that mimic cross-processing, vintage camera looks, super-saturated or very faded results. You can choose to use as many or as few of the filters as you like, and it’s easy to step back if you’ve added a filter and then changed your mind.

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Another fun feature is the way the app allows you to save your editing process so you can use it again. Once you’ve made your edits and have a look you like, you can save it as a “recipe” and then apply it again to photos you edit in the future. If you use the Totally Rad plug-ins for Photoshop, you’ll already be familiar with this process. It can be a time-saver if you have lots of photos to edit!

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So even though I thought I didn’t “need” this app, you can see I’ve become a convert. I hope you’ll give it a whirl and let us know what you think!

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Lindsey: For me, as soon as I saw the announcement from Totally Rad! that they had developed an app I was already trying to buy it. I saw people on Instagram using the hashtag #pictapgo and wondered if this was going to be my next “go to” app. Chances were good that I would absolutely love it after all I am a big fan of Rad Labs. As soon as I downloaded it I immediately knew this was just like Rad Labs, a series of actions to enhance and edit with a customized touch (via sliders).

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When you first load the app for the first time, you will get pop up screens that walk you through the simple editing process. You can download the app on your iPad but there is no iPad specific app yet. I have a much easier time editing on the iPad because (as of this version 1.0.1) you can not zoom in. Chose a photo from your album, photostream or copied from a clipboard.

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Tap on the Filters tab and see real-time previews before you apply the filter! After you choose a filter, use the slider to control the level, I tend to back off 25% on every filter (the same goes for their actions in RadLab too, I don’t know why but I like to dial them down.) To stack filters (using more than one filter on the same photo) hold your finger ON THE PHOTO and swipe upwards with your finger tip. The menu of filters will appear from the bottom, lift your finger to select a filter or scroll down to see more. Continue the same gesture every time you want to add another filtered layer. When you are done, tap the Go! button.

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Save your stacked filters as a Recipe! Name it and its yours to keep and apply on your next photo. You can even use the sliders on your “recipe” to control how much effect you want and you can share recipes (check back with me I’m still trying to find out the details, but I know you can make them downloadable to others, pretty cool!) Forgot all the filters you applied and how much? No problem, click on the Recipes Tab and it will show you the history of filters applied to the photo. Also, after you have used the app a few times it will begin to categorize filters based on how often you use them, they identify these as your “style” think of them as your starred filter list. You can go in and change the order of this list at anytime, read more how to customize your app here.

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Because you can’t crop within the app yet (soon in the next update you will have the ability to crop, rotate and straighten images) you can either crop before you edit or on export to Instagram you can chose to crop square (centered) or you can use full size and the app will create solid borders to fill depending on orientation. You can also open in other photo editing/sharing apps, save to camera roll or upload to FaceBook.

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And just like that with a few taps you can have a clean edit, share and done! If you are one of those people who get’s overwhelmed or bogged down in the minutia of micro editing on a tiny screen take our recommendation. Leslie and I know you will love how this simplifies the process without over simplifying the photo. I know for me its just what I needed to help me with the challenge of staying interested long past the edit process.

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See if it doesn’t free you up and allow you to work without spending hours editing! We would love to see your PicTapGo photos, you can tag them #mortalmuses along with #pictapgo on Instagram or upload to our Mobile/iPhone Pool on Flickr. You may even be featured on the PicTapGo blog or right here on Mortal Muses.

-Lindsey/modchik & Leslie/ leslieradams