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Adobe Carousel was renamed this week, but the new Adobe Revel is the same great photo storage and editing application that’s become popular with people looking for a simple, all-encompassing photo storage option.
The service is $5.99 per month which is more expensive than other photo sharing options like Flickr, but for what you get, the cost is worth it, especially if you’re looking for a simple and streamlined photography experience.
Adobe Revel incorporates Adobe’s powerful Photoshop Lightroom editing software, which is used by many professional photographers and comes with a price tag upwards of $200. Revel has many of the same features that the software uses, in a simple, easy to use package that’s perfect for both individuals and families looking to share and improve their photos.
To use the program, you will need to install it on your computer (assuming you use one – this can be used on mobile devices alone as well), your iPad, and/or your iPhone. From there, you can upload photos from any of these devices. I store my photos in Aperture on my computer, so I transferred them to the program. I didn’t need to spend time uploading iPad or iPhone photos because the app gave me the option to add them automatically. All of your photos that are added to Revel are uploaded to the cloud and will be available on all devices with the app.

Once you’ve got photos in Adobe Revel, they’re systematically organized by the date they were taken. Photos from each date can be scrolled through up and down and left to right on the touchscreen. I was impressed with how quickly Revel imported my photos and the responsiveness of the UI.
You can tap on any photo to view it in a larger screen, which will give you the option to add it to your favorites, to “develop” it, or to share it. Developing is where the Lightroom functionality comes in, and choosing to develop one of your digital photos will give you a wide range of photo editing tools.
Exposure, white balance, and contrast can be edited at will, or you can improve your photos with a single tap using auto correct. This automatically detects the correct settings for the photo, and will generally make your photos look better. You will notice that these adjustments can take a bit of time to load, which is normal.
In addition to changing the base settings of your photos, you can also crop them, rotate them, flip them, and straighten them, which are standard corrections available in Lightroom. These options work with typical touch screen controls and sliders, making them extremely easy to use, even if you don’t normally do any photo editing.
I’ve gone through the standard editing tools, but there are also some fun ones, which allow you to add various “looks” to photos. Looks include options like silvered (black and white), dream (softened), superpunch (high sharpness), misty (low saturation), and plenty more. To be honest, this was one part of the app that I was disappointed in. These looks are not comparable to the filter effects that are found in other apps like Snapseed and Photogene, which can add some great artistic flair to photos. Instead, Revel’s one-tap photo effects are plain and overly simplistic, which isn’t good enough for a mobile photo editing platform.
When you’ve finished editing your photos, you can save them to the camera roll, or share them through email, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Flickr. You can also delete photos, which will remove them from all devices.
Of course, that’s not the only way that you can share photos. Each Adobe Revel account allows you five different carousels, which can then be shared with five people. You can add people via email, and then they can view and upload their own photos. This is really the best feature that Revel has to offer, because it makes it so easy to share and exchange photos with friends and family members.
Adobe Revel is a great photo sharing option because it’s an all-in-one service. It takes all the hassle out of uploading photos, editing them, and sharing them using several different programs and websites, making it perfect for casual photographers who want to share moments with family and friends.
What I liked: Adobe Revel is a smart solution for people who want a simplified photo sharing experience. I think it’s fantastic for small groups of friends and family who want to continually share photos with one another, and I have to say, it is unbelievably easy to use compared to other photo editing and sharing websites, programs, and apps.
What I didn’t like: The price, obviously, is a major drawback to the service. At $5.99/month or $59.99 per year, it’s not a simple investment to make. There are so many other photo sharing options available for free that I find myself wondering if this is priced competitively. While I liked the Lightroom additions, I found Revel’s filters to be lacking in inventiveness and quality. I hope to see improvements in this area in future updates, since a lot of the appeal of this system is ease of use, including one-tap photo improvements.
To buy or not to buy: Adobe offers a free 30-day trial of Revel, and I would highly suggest that any person who often feels overwhelmed by photo sharing, or who takes photos that don’t often get shared, should try this app.

• App Name: Adobe Revel
• Version Reviewed: 1.1
• Category: Photo & Video
• Developer:Adobe Systems
• Price: Free/$5.99 per month
• Score:  
• Via:Padgadget