A few months back I blogged about a new application from Adobe which was designed for tablet users. The application was called Photoshop Touch and it included some very cool photo editing features. Unfortunately, it was only compatible with tablets running the Android operating system, although there was the promise of a version for the Apple iPad. For some this seemed like a strange choice and a few commentators openly questioned Adobe’s commitment to developing serious apps for the iPad. Others, myself included, knew different but weren’t able to say so. Well that’s all changed now, Adobe have shipped Photoshop Touch for the iPad 2.

So what is Photoshop Touch and what makes it different to other photo editing applications for tablets?  Essentially, Photoshop Touch gives users the ability to combine multiple photos into layered images, make edits and apply professional effects, touch up photos, paint, lay out ideas and much more. The Scribble Selection Tool allows you to easily extract objects in an image by simply scribbling on what to keep, and then what to remove. With Refine Edge technology from Photoshop, even hard-to-select areas with soft edges are easily captured when making selections. Photoshop Touch also helps users quickly find images and share creations through integration with Facebook and Google Image Search.

Curves Adjustment Tool

You can work with images on your tablet, then transfer them into Photoshop on your PC or Mac via the Adobe Creative Cloud. This includes the ability to open layered files from Adobe Photoshop Touch in Photoshop Cs5 or CS5.1. This feature requires a plugin which can be downloaded from the Creative Cloud website.

Album in Creative Cloud

Above highlights some of the features available in Photoshop Touch but there are a couple of limitations. For example, the maximum image size is 1600 by 1600 pixels, which pretty much rules out creating images for print. Also, the application can become unstable after a adding a few layers. In both cases the underlying problem is the lack of user memory. Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot that Adobe can do about either. Photoshop Touch is a fun app which is capable of producing some very creative images. However, it isn’t and doesn’t pretend to be Photoshop. You can read more of my thoughts on Photoshop Touch in my earlier blog entry.