Definition on Snapseed vs Lightroom
Snapseed is one of the most popular mobile applications for editing photos. It was developed by Nik Software in 2011 and was available for the iPad. It was then expanded to iPhones and Android devices in the year 2012. It is now owned by Google and is available for free on the Google Store and App Store has more than 100 million downloads.
Lightroom was initially developed by Adobe as an additional function to the existing application ‘Photoshop’. In 2007, it got separated from Adobe and emerged as an individual program. It is growing its roots day by day as many new features and tools are being added in it. It is available for both Mobile and desktop platforms. It is available on a monthly subscription basis for using its premium tools.
Head to Head Comparison between Snapseed vs Lightroom (Infographics)
Below are the top 7 comparisons between Snapseed vs Lightroom:
Comparison Table of Snapseed vs Lightroom
Below given is the comparison table showing the head to head comparison between Snapseed and Lightroom:
|
Snapseed |
Lightroom |
|
| In terms of User Interface (UI), Snapseed is easy to use and has minimal UI so even a beginner can start using it without any confusion. | Lightroom has a comparatively less interactive UI which is somewhat difficult to use for the beginner. If not familiar to Adobe, one needs to struggle sometimes to find where to start. | |
| Snapseed has an amazing feature for its users like one can view all the edits in terms of layers. Users can edit the specific layer according to the requirements. | Lightroom on the other hand lacks the feature of a layer as they want the users to use it as a photoshop. | |
| Snapseed is free to use as it has been acquired by Google. | Basic features of Lightroom are also available for free to the people. But to use its advanced features like Selective Masking, Healing, Geometry, etc users need to pay for it. | |
| In terms of features, Snapseed provides a lot of amazing and excellent features to the users which are comparatively better than Lightroom. | Though Lightroom also provides a nice set of features to the users for editing the pictures less than that of Snapseed. | |
| When it comes to the final edited image, one can output the image in Snapseed in .jpg format. | Lightroom can deliver the output image to the user in various formats apart from the just .jpeg. | |
| In terms of the availability of tools and filters, Snapseed provides around 29 filters and tools including the basics like contrast, brightness, etc. | Even under non- non-destructive environment, Lightroom provides more tools and filters than Snapseed with the advantage of easy-to-use sliders to make editing more quick. | |
| In terms of Learning, Snapseed has more than 20 tutorials uploaded on the internet explaining each tool and filter for editing the application. | Lightroom also has a lot of tutorials on the main website and the new tutorials are uploaded regularly on the websites for the users. |
Key Differences of Snapseed vs Lightroom
Some of the key differences between Snapseed and Lightroom photo editors are given below:
Features like Crop, rotate, flip, etc are available separately in the Snapseed in the tools tab whereas these features are available all together as a single tool in Lightroom.
Talking about the interface, both the Snapseed and Lightroom have completely different User Interface as the Snapseed has separate sections for the tools, style, and export available at the bottom whereas Lightroom comes in the dark theme with all the tools present at the bottom.
Snapseed has a minimal interface so it is comparatively easy to use for beginners and experts as well. The user just needs to click on ‘+’ icon on the screen to import the image. As soon as the image is uploaded the 3 tabs, i.e. ‘Style’, ‘Export’ and ‘Tools’ will be displayed to the user whereas in Lightroom, users can import the image to the application by clicking on the ‘add picture’ button present at the bottom floating bar. It has a comparatively less interactive UI which is at times difficult for beginners to start with.
In terms of the Image Output, Lightroom can output the image in various formats like jpg, png, PFM, PPM, TIFF, etc. Users can download the image according to the specific requirement of the size and image quality whereas in Snapseed the user is limited to output the edited image is JPG.
As far as the platforms are concerned, initially both Snapseed and Lightroom worked for the mobile environment for both android and iOS. But Lightroom is a winner in this field as it provides support for desktop use also.
When it comes to dealing with RAW images both the apps follow a different process and Lightroom is better as compared to Snapseed especially in editing the highlights. One can even edit the RAW images from the DSLR and mirrorless cameras.
Snapseed is a freeware software so it is available for free to download and use. One needs to simply download it and load in the photos and can start editing them but one needs to make the monthly payment in order to use the Lightroom application for both the mobile and desktop devices. Cloud storage of 1 TB is also provided with the monthly subscription of Lightroom.
Snapseed follows the very simple workflow for the editing of photos whereas Lightroom follows the standard and systematic way for the same. One other advantage provided by Lightroom is the automation while sending the images to another printer or uploading a series of them on a website with the help of plugins which makes the process super fast and easy too. In terms of workflow speed, Lightroom wins the race.
Conclusion
The above description clearly explains what the Snapseed and Lightroom Photo editors are and the major differences between the two. It depends on the requirements of the editor to choose any one of them. If a user wants it for mobile-only with some quick editing features, Snapseed is the right option for it. On the other hand, Lightroom is the complete package and is best for the professions who need both desktop and mobile variants with some advanced features.
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