FAQ

Camera & Editing

How do I take a photo?

Tap on the Camera in the middle at the bottom, this opens the camera, now shoot!

I want Tadaa to start in Camera mode – how do I do that?
  • Go to "Profile"
  • Go to the settings gear in the top right corner
  • Switch on "Start with Camera"
How can I use existing photos from my Photo Library?

There are 3 ways to access your Photo Library:

  • Hold down the camera button
  • Swipe the camera button to the top
  • Open the camera, now tap on the small photo in the bottom right, this opens your camera
How can I take multiple shots with Tadaa and edit them later?

There are two ways to switch on continous shooting:

  • Go to Profile > Settings and activate "Continuous Shooting"
  • Open the camera and activate the continuous shooting button on top. It's the button in the middle.
Can I share my edited photo directly to Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr??

Yes, just hit and activate the Facebook/Twitter/Tumblr button after saving. It will ask you for your permission.

Tools

How can I change the order of tools?

This is how you manage your tools:

  • Open a photo
  • Swipe all the way to the left and select "Manage"
  • Drag and drop the tools
Focus
What is Mask and how do I use it?

Masking helps you to expose your object. You mask what you want sharp and in focus, Tadaa blurs the rest. Mask with your finger by painting the object. Edge Detection helps you with that. You can also zoom in with two fingers for details and precise masking.

How does Edge Detection work?

Roughly paint the edges of your object in the masking tool. A thin line shows you what is inside the masking border.

I masked too much, how do I undo it?

Just switch to the "Erase" tool when masking, it is in the bottom left.

I want my masking brush more feathered, how can I change it?

Open the "3D Editor" tool and disable Edge Detection. Now tapping the mask button multiple times lets you choose between Soft Edge and Hard Edge brush.

What is Blur & Bokeh?

In Blur & Bokeh you can define what you want your blur to look like.
Bokeh is a japanese word describing the aesthetic quality of blur. While actually everybody wants crystal sharp photos, you do not always want to have everything sharp. A portrait looks much better if only the face is sharp, and highlights in the woods or on the water can make beautiful "bokeh discs". All Tilt-Shift apps on the market just apply a cheap "gaussian blur", which looks like opal glass, not like actual blur. Tadaa simulates the real, optical blur (and bokeh) of a complex, optical lens. Well THAT is unique!

What are these lines that show when I open the Focus tool?

These lines help you define which parts you want sharp and which parts you want blurry.
The two inner lines mark the area that's completely sharp. The outer lines mark the blending between sharp and blurry.
You can move these lines up and down and you can also pinch it to broaden the sharp area or turn it around. You can also move the inner lines only.
If you mask an area, these lines help you to give your photo a more realistic look. Choose Circular or Linear and place it right beneath your masked object. This will give it some ground to stand on.

  • All: Blurs everything except your masked area.
  • Circular: Defines a sharp round shaped area.
  • Linear: Defines a sharp straight shaped area.
  • Off: Switches off the blur.

What is Aperture?

In Aperture you can define the intensity of your blur. Do you want it all just out of focus or really blurry?

What is Range?

Often you might want to have a smooth blending from the masked object to the blurry background. Use "Range" to adjust how much diffusion you would like.

What is Gloss and Highlights?

If you have highlights in your photo, you will see round bokeh disks in your blur. Photos which contain lots of hightlights are for example blurry trees or streetlights at night, just experiment a little to find out what works best.
In Highlights and Gloss you can change the intensity of these Bokeh disks.

What are these shapes for (e.g. stars, heart, butterfly, flower...)?

You can choose which shape you want for your bokeh! Snap a photo with highlights, mask and then choose your shape.

Filter
How can I apply Filters?

You can apply filters by pressing the "Filters" button – you can also reduce the intensity of the filter. You can also swipe left and right to change the filters.

How can I change the order of my filters?

This is how you manage your filters:

  • Open the Filter Tool
  • Swipe all the way to the left and select "Manage"
  • Select the filters you want to disable/enable
Adjust
What is Brightness, Contrast and Saturation?

Brightness is to lighten or darken your photo.
Contrast adds or takes contrast.
Saturation increases or decreases the colors of your photo.

Crop
I only want a part of my photo or change the format – how do I use crop?

Select "Crop". Here you can choose your photo format. To crop the photo pinch the photo with two fingers.

I want to flip my photo, how can I do that?

Select "Crop", then press the "Rotate" button in the bottom right.

How can I straighten my photo?

Select "Crop", then press the round button at the bottom of your photo and move it left or right. Lines will appear to help you with that.

Perspective
What does the Perspective Tool do to my photo?

With Perspective you can correct your architecture shots or anything that needs some tweaking. It is a Scheimpflig-Simulation and it works as if you could move your camera after taking a shot – and change the Perspective.
Use your finger to strech and align the perspective. Each part can be tweaked differently. To see the before-after effect just hold down your finger on the photo.

Grading
What does the Grading Tool do to my photo?

Exposure: Exposure helps you to correct a wrong lighting of your photo. You can make it brighter or darker.
Tint & Temperature: These sliders help you to manage the color shades of your photo.

Repair
How does Repair work?

Repair brightens shadows and rescues highlights, use all the foot- and headroom you have. Great for night shots and over-contrasty photos.

HDR
What does the HDR Tool do to my photo?

Add a HDR/Tonemapping effect to your photos with one simple slider. Works best in combination with the Clarity Tool.

Vignette
What does the Vignette Tool do to my photo?

Vignette lets you lighten or darken the edges of your photo. You can also change the center of the vignette, just use your finger to move it.
Intensity: Move the slider left to darken, move it to the right, to lighten the edges.
Range: Defines the blending level. Smooth on the right, hard on the right.

Clarity
What does the Clarity Tool do to my photo?

Clarity sharpens your photo. Use the slider to choose the perfect sharpness for your photo, subtle on the left, extreme on the right. Remember: Sometimes less is more.
Is often used in combination with the HDR Tool.

Frame
I want a frame around my photo – where do I find it?

Add a frame to your photo, by selecting one in your Frame Tool.
This is how you manage your frames:

  • Open the Frame Tool
  • Swipe all the way to the left and select "Manage"
  • Select the frames you want to disable/enable
Colorshift
What does the Colorshift Tool do to my photo?

Add and repair chromatic abberation to your photos for spacy pinhole effects.

Distort
What does the Distort Tool do to my photo?

Correct and add pincushion- or barrel-distortions to your photos. Also known as the fisheye-effect.

Snapshot
How does the Snapshot Tool work?

With Snapshot you can preserve your photo and the editing history at any stage of editing. Just hit "Add Version" and continue editing with hitting the "Use" button.
Add as many filters and adjustments to your photo as you want – without losing the history!
Save different versions of your photo right from the Snapshot tool.
Edit older versions at any time by selecting the snapshot from your Photo Library. The snapshots are linked to your original, you will notice the snapshot symbol.
Please note though: Your snapshots are gone in case you re-install Tadaa. Please make sure you saved all the stages you want before re-installing Tadaa!

Reset
What does the Reset Tool do?

Reset discards all edits and changes you made to your photo, starting all new.

How can I check the edit changes I did and see a before-after?

To see the before-after effect you simply have to long-tap on your photo. Hold down your finger to see the original. Works in the editor and in all tools.

How can I save my photo to my Photo Library?

When you finished editing, just hit the "Save" button in the top right corner.
Please make sure that you allow Tadaa to access your Photo Library in the Apple Privacy Settings.
All your edits will stick to your original, in case you want to re-edit it slightly different, just open your original again and continue.

Tadaa no longer saves photos to my Photo Library! Help!

This is happening due to Privacy Settings in iOS. It is easy to fix though:

  • Open the Settings App (the one from Apple, with the gears in the Icon)
  • Tap Privacy -> Photos
  • Scroll to "Tadaa" and enable the switch again.

    • This allows the App to write photos to your Photo Library again.

Why are the photos saved "only" in 2048x2048 pixels?

The reason why Tadaa only saves 2048px long side is the OpenGL Buffer Size of your iPhone. To create the effects Tadaa is known for, it uses the graphics processing unit (GPU) of the devices, otherwise it wouldn't be able to render it so fast (even big computers need longer for these effects). The pixel size of your images also depend on which iPhone you are using and if you cropped while editing.
Plus – we never blow up a photo and make it bigger than it is -- since that only adds weight, but no quality. The size of the file is not most decisive for the image quality. We use a saving method that keeps the quality high and at the same time reduces the size so it doesn't waste space on your phone.

What does the "High Quality" switch in my settings do?

If you switch on High Quality, Tadaa will save your photo effectivly without any loss of quality. Switch it off to save space on your phone – your photos will be more compressed after saving.

Store

How many filters are included in a Filter Pack?

Filter Packs usually include three different filters. You can also buy Bundles of Filter Packs and Tools.

How can I restore my in-app purchases?

Go to Settings and select "Restore Purchases"

More

It is crashing – what can I do?

We are sorry about that and constantly working on stability!
A reboot of your iPhone helps in 90% of the cases. Just hold the Lock button and the Home button simultaneously until the screen goes black, then turn the phone back on.
By the way – if Tadaa was crashing while editing a photo, it's most possible that the edits are still there, just open the exact photo from your Photo Library again.

Is Tadaa localized?

Tadaa speaks English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Russian and Chinese.

Is there an iPad version of Tadaa?

Not yet. We absolutely want that too and love the iPad — but we are a tiny tiny team only and can only do three things at a time. It is on our list of things to do though. In the meantime, we made sure that at least the full-screen photos as well as the maps are rendered in high resolution.

Is there an Android version of Tadaa?

Not yet. The Android platform unfortunately brings a lot of fragmentation, which makes developing and especially testing very resource intensive. We absolutely want to support Tadaa on Android as well, so it is just a matter of time when we will get this done.

Is there a version of Tadaa for Symbian, Blackberry, Windows Phone?

Nope, unfortunately not yet. Maybe this changes one day — we actually want to see Tadaa everywhere. We even want your digital SLR to have a Tadaa button one day. Imagine how cool that would be!

Is there a Tadaa version for Windows/Max/Linux?

Not at this point. While our API would make this pretty simple, we do want to be a platform mostly for mobile photos. We do not have anything against edited photos or photos you took with your DSLR, but we do not want to become an all-purpose image hoster. We'll see what the future brings.

Do you guys have a public API?

Not yet. While our API is really simple and yet powerful, we have not opened it up at yet to the public. If you have a compelling plan what you would want to do with it, let us know at info@tadaa.net . Maybe you convince us? :)


My question is not listed here, help?

Send us an email to info@tadaa.net and we will help you.