I have reviewed a number of simple editing apps in this column, many of which are effects-based. But suppose you don’t want to make your picture look like a badly exposed polaroid, yet still would like the simple operation that apps like CameraBag 2 have? Today’s app is cf/x photo, which aims to fit just this description – but will it fill the niche?
I hadn’t heard of this app, or its makers – cf/x software – before stumbling upon photo in the Mac App Store. On initial inspection, photo seems to follow the trend of sleek and simple effects/edit apps. Unlike the standard formula in this genre, however, photo is not about messing around with your pictures (even though a few basic effects filters are included). The aim of this app is summed-up nicely by its makers: “CROP. TWEAK. ENJOY.” As a result, the focus in photo is practical functions, like cropping and watermarking. You can also create classy frames of any colour you desire, and put text onto the image as well.
The crop function includes a number of aspect ratios, as well as the ability to crop at an angle. Given that you have a Mac (on which photo runs), you automatically have iPhoto, which can perform these crop functions itself. The need for such a cropping function in photo, then, is somewhat lacking.
Text can be added in one of three segments of the image – top, middle and bottom – although the text actually sits somewhere near the top of each of these segments. The placing of these is strange, and makes this tool useless in comparison to the Mac’s inbuilt app, Preview, in terms of annotation.
Perhaps the only feature that is truly a success in photo is the watermarking tool. This allows the placing of either a logo image or copyright text anywhere on the image, via drag and drop placing. Both text and logos can be added at the same time if you so desire, and both can be adjusted in terms of scale and opacity.
The final tool photo provides is transparency. This allows you to adjust the opacity of the whole image or part of the image, or you can use a gradient of transparency (based on the preset selected), where one edge of the image is completely transparent, whilst the image becomes more and more opaque towards the opposite edge. Why I’d want to make some of an image transparent for anything other than web design reasons is not apparent to me, and I doubt many photographers will find a use for it either.
The unfortunate truth about photo is that it fails to deliver a truly useful experience. Whilst it operates smoothly, looks good, and has a genuinely well-built watermarking tool, none of these can disguise photo’s sheer lack of features, and in particular, those that aren’t found for free elsewhere. And whilst photo isn’t as expensive as CameraBag 2 (£16.99/$23.99) or FX Photo Studio Pro (£27.99/$39.99), I would urge you to spend a little extra on one of these apps rather than purchase photo, as they perform nearly all the same functions as photo, and many more.
You can download a demo of cf/x photo from cf/x software’s website, or purchase photo from the Mac App Store for £13.99/$19.99.
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Mark Myerson loves photography, and in particular, hanging around waterfalls! Landscapes and nature have always been his staple, but he relishes any opportunity to take pictures. He also works closely with many local charities, regularly providing photographic coverage of fundraising events.
Mark is also a self-confessed tech-head and OSX lover – Apple is his favourite fruit!
Mark is the owner of Mark Myerson Photography, a Devon-based business that provides a large variety of photographic services to the local community and beyond. Whilst Mark Myerson Photography specialises in event, commercial and pet photography, almost every type of photographic assignment has been covered by the company.
If you have any photography or OSX-related questions, you can contact Mark via the links given below.