BlackBerry 10 Photo Editor

With BlackBerry 10 being built from the ground up, there are plenty of new things to explore and find within the OS. One thing RIM added that might sound rather trivial to some but could be thought of as a much needed feature to others is the built-in photo editing function.

Rather than searching out an app to help with cropping photos, red eye reduction, adjusting contrast or even adding filters and borders, it can all be done with the photo editing app. If you're new to BlackBerry 10 and need some help with learning just how to use the editing function, jump below for our full guide and walkthrough. 


Getting Started With Photo Editor

Getting started with the photo editor is no doubt simple. First, you'll want to fire up your device and go take some awesome pictures. Now that you have some images captured, you'll be able to access them all from your 'Pictures' library.

Getting Started With Photo Editor

Once you have  picked out an image that you want to edit, just simply tap on it and view that single image. From there, you'll want to go ahead and tap on the 'Edit' icon, which will then launch the full blown photo editor.

Editing Your Photos

Editing Your Photos

Now that you have your photo picked out and the editor launched, you'll see a whole slew of options to choose from that will make your already great photo even better. BlackBerry 10 has included plenty of basic functionality while also adding a lot of advanced options. Lets have a look at what all has been included:

  • Transform -  Allows you to rotate your images left or right, Free Transform, Crop to a square, Crop to 16:9, Crop to 4:3, Flip Vertically, Flip Horizontally.
  • Enhance - Allows you to Auto enhance, Red Eye Reduction, Brightness, White Balance, Contrast, Sharpness, Saturation, Noise Reduction.
  • Artistic - Allows for adding filters to your images. The options available are: Black and White, Lomo, Antique, Sepia, Whiteboard, Watercolor, Negative and Sketch.
  • Styles - Are similar to Artistic in that it adds a filter to image but in addition to that, it also adds 'borders'. Available options are: Smooth Face, Sixties, Grain, Age Photo, Filmstrip, Halftone, Cartoon and Big Eyes.

So now that you know what all is included, it's pretty straightforward when it comes to making adjustments and adding filters or borders to your images. Just tapping on any of the choices will further reveal more options to choose from and from there you can select the level of optimization for each.

Plus, when it comes to the Artistic and Style edits, they can be combined to create some pretty neat looking images. All a matter of taste though, as I'm sure some folks don't really need all the filters and borders offered but rather just want basic editing options.

Live Preview Of Photo Edits

Perhaps the coolest feature added to the photo editor is the live preview option. For any artistic filters or styles that you add to your images, you're able to get a live preview just by sliding the arrows you see above each choice onto the photo. That way, you never really have to commit to a change without knowing what it will look like beforehand. 

Undo Photo Edits

That said though, should you ever wish to undo a change it's easy to get back to your original photo state as well. You can tap the three overflow dots to the right hand side and a new menu will be revealed. From there, you can remove your last edit or go all the way back to the orignal base photo before any edits at all. In addition, this is also another spot where you can save your photo if you wish, but there is another more preferred option for that.

Saving Your Edited Photos

Exporting A Final Edit

Once you've settled on all your photo revisions, it's time to save your photo. Saving photos is as easy as editing them; just head on up to the top right hand corner and tap on done. Once that's completed, you'll be presented with a menu confirming your choice.

Saving Your Edited Photo

To save your photo, click on save and the photo will then start exporting to your photo album. You'll likely be wondering if it overwrote your original image considering it never asked you to name the photo but no need to worry. The edited photos are renamed as they are exported ensuring that your original photo remains intact. If you wish, you can use the file manager to rename it or simply rename it within the photo app itself.

The Final Result

Final Edited Photo

With your photo edits finalized and the image exported, you'll find the photo added to your photo library and from there, you can do as you wish with it. You can check out the sharing options available below plus any apps that use the sharing framework will show up in here as well.

Sharing

And there you have it, that's a wrap. Now you know how to edit photos using the photo editing app on BlackBerry 10. Overall, it's a pretty great feature to have baked into BlackBerry 10. Indeed, some may never use it but should you decide to, it's nice to know that it's there to make use of. If you have any questions, comments or tips for use, feel free to drop them below in the comments.

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