Adobe Photoshop Express now available for Windows 8 and RT

Adobe has released Photoshop Express for Windows 8 and Windows RT. If you've been around digital photography for any amount of time, Adobe Photoshop should be a familiar term. The Photoshop editing software has dominated the digital photography market for years.

It's nice to see a Photoshop editor land for Windows RT and 8, especially for the tablet devices. Photoshop Express could be the answer to a lot of photographers who are looking for a mobile solution or an entry level editor for Windows 8/RT.

Photoshop Express supports Adobe Revel (cloud service) and key editing features includes:

• Basic Edits: Crop, straighten, rotate, flip and remove red-eye.
• Auto-Fix: One touch adjustment for brightness, exposure and shadows.
• Color: Controls for exposure, contrast, clarity, vibrance, white balance.
• Filters: Fifteen color filters.

You also have two in-app purchases to add a "Looks Pack" that adds twenty additional creative filters ($2.99) and a "Noise Reduction Pack" that is a very nice noise filter ($4.99). The noise filter eliminates the grain that high ISO images can produce.  Both packs are reasonably priced, especially when you consider the main app is free.

We've only had our hands on Photoshop Express for a short time and our initial impressions are good. Photoshop Express may not have all the bells and whistles as...say...Photoshop Elements or Photoshop CS but it's a nice option for mobile, on-the-go editing. I could also see Photoshop Express being a nice entry level editor as well.

The one feature missing is RAW image file support. The RAW format is used by many and lacks the in-camera processing JPEG files have. It gives the photographer more control over the image by handling the processing manually. It's not a deal breaker and hopefully this will be a feature added with future updates or maybe as another add-on pack (hint, hint).

Photoshop Express is a free app for your Windows 8 and RT device. You can find Photoshop Express here in the Windows Store.

Thanks, everyone, for the tip!