Photoshop in Mac vs iPad

I’m sure many, many of you have heard/read this debate, and already know the answer: there is NO way that Photoshop in iPad – which is not even really Photoshop but rather, Photoshop Touch – can match for the version in Mac (or Windows). It is not even possible to compare Photoshop Elements with Photoshop Touch because Photoshop Elements – while it is not a full Photoshop – still has more features and benefits that Photoshop Touch cannot imagine to beat.

Having said that, take a guess as to whether the image below was edited by Photoshop in Mac or Photoshop Touch in iPad.

So, this photo was done by Photoshop in Mac. Now, for the sake of simplicity, I haven’t done any complicated editing – merely adding effects to the photo. The more complicated feature you mention, the easier to say that Photoshop Touch in iPad falls behind the desktop version.

Now, take a look at the photo below.

As you can guess, this one was done by Photoshop Touch on iPad. The two photos – while completely different in their appearances – were shot on the same day near similar location with same tool (iPhone 4S). Of course, there are no complicated effects to this photo, so it’s more of just adding effects on top of another like saturation and color curves.

There are two important points worthy mentioning though:

1) For many amateur users who are not interested in intense Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, Photoshop Touch adds enough image revisions that are up to the par with full desktop version. Of course, this means only for limited and simple editing, but for many users, this is all it sometimes takes.

2) Another issue is with the price range. Photoshop is not cheap, and it often puts heavy burdens on the computer — that’s why Photoshop Touch is a good replacement for basic usages.

As I said before, this is for basic usage, so do not think Photoshop in Mac is equivalent to the Photoshop Touch in iPad.

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