Difference between Lightroom and Snapseed

Lightroom OR Snapseed? Which is the Best in 2024?

To be honest with you, I mostly use Adobe Lightroom but whenever I need to edit quickly and don’t have enough time to upload a story on Instagram I prefer Snapseed. Lightroom demands in- depth editing and takes a lot of time while editing due to its advanced features in comparison to Snapseed. Moreover, a beginner or a newbie will find Lightroom to be complex and Snapseed to be easier and user-friendly. Likewise, you can find all things about Capture One as well as Rawtherapee when they are compared with Lightroom.

But I have to say this too that the best feature I admire about Snapseed is that it has its tutorials in the app so that if anybody gets stuck somewhere or wants to learn or gets the problem solved, he/she can go to its tutorial videos. Its videos guide in so detail that anybody can learn editing in this app easily. I have never seen such a feature in any other app that renders such a kind and learning gesture towards its users. but lets dig deeper about Lightroom vs Snapseed:

Let’s Explore Them

Lightroom

Lightroom right now stands out as the only editing app which gives such advanced features and gives a tough competition to Google as well. One(Lightroom) coming out of Adobe and the other(Snapseed) coming out of Google. Such amazing rivalries coming in front of each other. What it comes down to is Lightroom has been designed especially for the professionals and for advanced features users. Adding to that Lightroom premium apk is also changing the world with its premium features for free in order to give the world an easy way to get the paid tools for free and learn what’s new in Lightroom to get the most of editing in Lightroom.

Color Grading

Highlights, Shadows and Midtones are available Individually which are applied on the whole image. There is no color boundary but there is a circle of all the colors you can imagine of. That gives a taste of diversity on both ends. The editor enjoys the freedom of choosing from a collection of myriads of colors whereas the other end, the image, gets diverse shades of colors.

HSL Tool

It actually stands for Hue, Saturation, Luminance. In lightroom there are 8 primary colors which you can edit in your picture. These 8 colors are adjusted by the Hue, Saturation and Luminance. If, in your picture, there is a green grass, you can specifically brighten that green grass by selecting the green color out of those 8 colors. It’s all because of AI which detects the color in the picture and just edits that specific object alluding to that selected color.

Dehaze Tool

It’s the opposite of the word “haze” which means unclear or difficult to see through. Dehaze tool is embedded to make something clear. If anything in your picture is vague or unclear, you can use this tool to give your picture a clarity which makes this tool or feature unique as it boosts the colors as well. I personally like this tool too but beware not to exaggerate this tool. I know you will like it too but use it a little.

Before

After

Selective Editing

This tool is paid, but does magic to the picture and changes the outlook of the picture altogether. This can not be availed by all the people but for those who can afford, do try this feature. By using Radial feature, adjustment brush or Graduated filter you can make adjustment in your picture selectively, which comes in Snapseed with some limitations.

Before

Selective Editing in Lightroom and Snapseed

After

Sharpening and Masking Tool

In lightroom, Sharpening is there but with the blend of Masking tool sharpens the outline of the picture or the defined area of the picture. It makes that specific or defined area of the picture more focused and blurs the other objects in the picture.

Snapseed

Snapseed is used and referred to all those people who are not interested in complexities and would rather go with the simple interface and ease in navigating the tools and exploration of the features. It’s mostly recommended to those people who are laymen and don’t want to get into the technicalities. Snapseed also supports RAW files whereas earlier it used not to. But now it does.

Selective Editing

As far as Selective Editing in Snapseed is concerned, you tap in your desired area or object and then you can change the brightness, contrast, Sharpness, and Saturation of the specific area or object. Although there are limited controls in Snapseed for this feature, it’s still worth using rather than spending money for the paid (premium) version of Lightroom.

Step 1

Step 2

Expand Tool

This tool is useful for all those people who tend to add white borders around the picture to post on Instagram, Facebook or Whatsapp DP. Moreover, if you want to expand any area in the picture, you can also do that, which is done in such a fine way that makes this tool so amazing.

Text Tool

This is such an amazing tool and makes Snapseed more unique. What it does is, the text you write appears behind the image and appears in front as well.

Step 1

Portrait & Head Pose

Although all the features of Snapseed are so amazing, this feature is one I like the most. This feature actually lets you brighten or smooth your face features specifically. You can drag the focus of the brightness to your face or clarity to your eyes; Face Spotlight, Skin Smoothing, Eye Clarity are the options you see to get the most of these features.

These tools are processed with the help of AI which can not be found in Lightroom or any other app. In other editing apps, it takes a lot of hard work to make it happen, but Snapseed makes it a piece of cake.

In Head Pose, you can make adjustments to the features of your face, and you can surprisingly make changes to your smile or size of your eyes; Pupil Size, Smile, Focal Length are the options you see to get the most of these features.

The features the Snapseed is lacking in:

Advanced editing

Professional Editing and Users

Desktop/PC/Windows Editing

Myriads of Presets/Filters

Synchronization with other devices

A little bit less freedom in Snapseed that if you are editing a picture and want to put that picture aside for a while to open another image, the changes applied to the former image will be lost.

The features the Lightroom is lacking in:

Synchronization with other devices

Need to buy space, if limit is exceeded

Ease of use comparatively

Conclusion

Conclusively, In Lightroom vs Snapseed, both are recommended and great at their own places. As far as being better than the other app is concerned, it varies situation to situation. As earlier discussed, for quick editing and tweaking, Snapseed takes the lead whereas for professional editing as well as editing in detail to give a touch of finesse artwork, Lightroom takes the lead. So in both cases it’s a win-win situation and you can get the best of both worlds. In addition to that, you need look at Soft Proofing too to have a good experience of editing in Lightroom.

Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs)

Yes, it is totally free to use and enjoy.

No, this is the quality that makes snapseed quite unique in the world of editing that it is designed for beginners or newbies.

Yes, its interface and tools are designed in such a manner that a novice can easily understand the app and learn editing. So it’s basically a user-friendly editing app.

Unfortunately, Snapseed is only available in mobile phones or tabs; Android and iOS.

For professional and advanced editing usage, Lightroom APK is recommended but for simple and quick editing, Snapseed is recommended.

Yes, it’s totally safe to use Snapseed.

Lightroom OR Snapseed? Which is the Best in 2024?