Color Strokes HD Review: Make Your Photos Pop With This Affordable App

Color Strokes HD takes an excellent iPhone photo editing app from MacPhun’s and gives it native iPad compatibility. It’s not a universal app, however, so it requires a second purchase. Use it to turn images into black and white, or sepia photos, while allowing a single object or section of the photo to remain in color. Color Strokes HD makes it easy to create this striking effect.

The first screen of the app offers to import photos from the iPad camera, photos on the iPad or from a user’s Facebook account. Once the app opens the photo, the user will see a black and white version of it.

Check out this video demo of the app:

The first button shows the mask the user paints over the image to add back the color. It also lets the user clear the mask to start over.

In the center of the bottom toolbar the app shows three buttons (see below). The Greyscale options button in the center lets the user choose the color tone of the image. The default option is Black and White. The others are Sepia and Bluetone.

The third button lets the user add color. Pick from the menu of color options and then paint over an object in the photo to change the color of that image. Want a green sky? This button will do it. Combine the color paint option with an opaque brush and get a neat effect.

The brush options include four presets. Two hard-edged brushes help the user paint objects with a hard edge. Softer brushes helps the user paint over less defined edges, like the tie in the same images above and below. The user can pick the opacity, size and softness. A more opaque brush will add back less color.

The Adjust screen changes the color options and the FX button offers a few preset effects to give the image special looks.

Here’s a sample image below that shows what Color Stroke HD can do with an image.

Once the user finishes their masterpiece, Color Strokes HD will export the image to one of a number of services or sharing choices. Just tap on the Done button and the screen below shows up.

The user can save the photo to the iPad camera roll, send it as a physical postcard for a small fee, post it to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or Flicker, email it to another person or print it using the iOS AirPrint feature.

We recommend this app for simple color manipulation for only $1.99 in the app store. It’s easy to use and creates a nice effect. The FX section doesn’t work as well, but the other tools make up for it, making it worth the price.