Along with the launch of the new Apple iPad, complete with its superb Retina Display and faster graphics processor to make striking visual effects possible, came a slew of apps upgraded to suit the high-resolution screen.

Chief among these was iPhoto, a powerful and gorgeous image manipulation app which is easy to use but sophisticated in its features. Like most apps, it’s highly affordable – it costs £2.99. Buy it once and it’ll work on your iPhone as well. It is just as speedy and effective on the iPad 2, though it looks sumptuous on the latest iPad’s much higher-resolution Retina Display.

And since the new iPad has a vastly improved camera – 5 megapixels as opposed to the iPad 2’s video-optimised sensor, which struggled with stills – you can even take a photograph and edit it all on the iPad.

There are helpful touches throughout the app, such as the use of image-matching technology to help you find similar photographs as you browse, making it easier to choose the best one and delete others.

Editing isn’t just limited to changing colours, cropping images or straightening horizons with a two-finger twist of the screen. You can also adjust the white balance, add effects, change skin tones, contrast, sharpness and more.

It’s all done with your fingers – painting adjustments onto the photos with subtle strokes. If your finger is too big to brush accurately, just zoom in on the photo – it’s a clever piece of reverse psychology.

But there’s a lot to this app, so if it sounds complex, that’s because it is. And this is one of few Apple programs that comes with a help file built in. Although much is straightforward, it’s worth familiarising yourself with this first as it’s easy to go wrong when you’re unsure what you’re doing. It’s always possible to undo effects or return to the original image, but when something is new, it’s easy to panic. Thankfully there’s a one-tap shortcut that places helpful captions on every button.

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