Apple showed off new features in the iOS 8 Photos app at WWDC 2014 on June 2, 2014, which includes new functionalities such as improved editing options and a closer connection with iCloud.
For the most part, the improvements are minor, but they will certainly make it a lot easier to share and edit all your photos on all of your iOS devices. The Photos app will be linked very closely with iCloud: Not only do all of your photos automatically sync up in the cloud, but they travel between your iOS devices, even while you are in the process of making edits – similar to what Adobe is doing with its Creative Cloud platform. This makes it easier to work with your photos on any device you want. Apple will give all users 5GB of free iCloud storage and offer 20GB for just $0.99 and 200GB for $3.99.
Apple said that it is also working on a new Photos app for OS X Yosemite. In the brief preview, it looked like it would give users the same editing and sharing options as the iOS app.
The new iOS app also gives you a lot more control over the editing of your photos. While the app can’t exactly take over where your favorite photo editor app left off, it is an improvement over the options in iOS 7. Here are a few of the things you can adjust:
- Brightness
- Contrast
- Color
- Lighting
When you adjust the lighting settings on your photo, the app automatically adjusts all the pertinent levels, such as contrast, brightness, highlights, and shadows. That way, the photo doesn’t look overexposed or washed out, just because you tweaked the lighting settings. The app automatically adjusts each aspect of the photo to optimize the image’s beauty. You can look through all the different levels of adjustment, simply by swiping along until you see the look you want. The same thing happens when you go to change the color settings, except this time, you can decide to emphasize specific areas of color, such as the blue sky or the photo subject’s sun-kissed skin.
Now that Apple has added APIs, you can even use select third-party apps right inside the the Photos app. Any alterations you make will be saved automatically to your Photo Stream and iCloud, so it’s available on all your iOS devices. The new APIs will also let you share photos directly on approved platforms through their apps.
