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The iPhone has a big advantage over its point-n-shoot counterparts. It can take a photo, edit it, and share it without leaving the phone. The big component to this process involves editing the photo.

There are many photo editors in the App Store. With so many editors, it is hard to decide which one to get. This article will answer that question by picking the top three photo editors for the iPhone.

For those looking for an all-in-one photo application, Camera+ is the best choice. It offers quick fix filters that are easy to understand. The following applications are for those who want to do more than just quick fixes. With these applications, one can adjust exposure, contrast, temperature, shadows, highlights, and curves.

The top editors need a good, easy to use interface. This can be different on such a small screen, but two of the three pull it off nicely. These editors also need have the right tools to edit the photos. Now, let’s look at the top three photo editors and their strengths and weaknesses.

1. Filterstorm $3.99: Filterstorm is the best stand alone editor for the iPhone. It may have not have Snapseed’s superior editing tools and interface or PhotoWizard’s quantity of tools, but it makes up for it with a good interface and the right mix of tools. The key strength and weaknesses are:

• Photos can be exported to flickr, dropbox, email, and the photo library, but not to Facebook and Twitter. Adding Facebook and Twitter would make it a complete export tool. Yet, it is still easy to share with Facebook and Twitter from the library.
• The interface is clean and maximizes the iPhone screen real estate well. It may take a bit of learning to remember what all the icons mean, but those icons allows users to see the image instead of the interface.
• Filterstorm can add IPTC data like keywords and captions, which the others don’t. This can be a real advantage when saving images or posting to Flickr.
• Many of the editing tools can be automated. This can save lots of time for those who edit their photos regularly.
• Edits can be layered and masked for maximum flexibility. Masking an edit allows users to select where they want the edit to take place on the photo. For example, users can darken only the upper half of the photo with the masking tool. The masking tool creates masks by painting, vignettes, gradients, opacity, and color range.
• A photo can also be combined with other photos with the double exposure option.
• Photos can be cropped, scaled, straightened, and given borders.

Filterstorm should be the first purchase for any iPhone user who really wants to edit their photos.

2. Snapseed $3.99: Snapseed is an almost must-have photo editor for the iPhone. It is from Nik Software, the developers of plugins for Aperture and Photoshop. They produce some of the best photo editing plugins for the Mac and PC. Their U Point technology allows users to selectively edit photos by picking a point on the photo and the software figures out what to change based on similar parameters. Nik Software has put together a great set of photo tools based on their experience with their plugins. The applications offer one of the best interfaces with very innovative tools. Yet, the application does not include many core photo management tools found in Filterstorm. The advantages and disadvantages are:

• It does not have any sharing or meta-data editing features. This prevents it from being the best stand alone editor.
• The editing interface is one of the best on the iPhone. It is easy to learn and maximizes the screen real estate. The interface uses gestures and multi-touch to create a fun interface to use.
• Some of the filters and adjustment tools can only be found in Snapseed and are normally in high end photo editing applications.

Snapseed is a must-have second purchase for anyone who takes lot of photos on the iPhone. The results are excellent and the process is actually fun. If Nik Software were to add some of the basic tools, it would become the best photo editor for the iPhone.

3. PhotoWizard $0.99: Photowizard brings an impressive set of tools to the iPhone. It makes up for the poor interface with a huge amount of filters, effects, and editing tools. While not the best editor, it still should be seriously looked at for any iPhone user who wants to edit their photos. The strengths and weaknesses are:

• Photos can be share with Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, email, photo library, and Tumblr. It would be great to add Dropbox, which is the best place to store files that are synced with the Mac.
• It does not have any IPTC editing tools for keywords or captions. It is just a photo editor.
• The editing tools overlays controls over the photos which makes it hard to actually see the edits. The developers need to figure out a better editing method. Nik Software figured it out with Snapseed, so these developers need to figure it out with PhotoWizard. This can be a deal breaker for many people.
• The adjustments, filters, effects and tools are just too numerous to list. It has the most editing tools out from any applications I have tested.
• The masking tool, which allows for selective edits, also has the most options out of any application.
• Photowizard has the best blurring tools with gaussian, radial and motion. These tools are not found in any other applications I tested.

Photowizard has the most features out of any editor in the App Store. Yet, the interface prevents it from being the best. The developers need to really work on the interface to bring it to the top.

Filterstorm is the best editor on the iPhone, with its strong core feature set and great user interface. Yet, it can’t remain still as others are providing stiff competition. Nik Software’s Snapseed provides the coolest set of tools and is a must-have for any photo enthusiast. Photowizard has the most features out of any iPhone photo editor, but it’s interface is a major drawback. These are the top editors on the iPhone. For nine dollars, users can have the best set of photo editing tools for the iPhone.

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