January 10, 2007
Digital Image Editing Tools: Best of 2006
Photo-sharing tools and web services that you can make use entirely from your browser exploded across the web last year. Among the online presentation possibilities that have opened up, the ability to quickly edit, arrange, store and share images has grown exponentially.
Whether you want to edit your images online, just as you would from your desktop, to share professionally laid out image collections, or track down great looking, royalty free photographs to bring your designs and presentations to life, there is a service out there for you.
Photo credit: Rafael Angel Irusta Machin & Randy McKown
Here is my hand-picked selection of the very best digital image editing tools, drawn from the over 560 mini-reviews brought to you in 2006 through our weekly Sharewood Picnics feature. If you're looking for free, powerful tools to satisfy all of your visual communication, presentation and image editing needs, you came to the right place.
Photo-sharing tools and web services
Browser-based toolbar to download rich-media from any web page: PimpFish
PimpFish is a powerful browser toolbar that enables you to save pics, movies and more in your computer, from any webpage. PimpFish provides an advanced download manager that offers several features such as a mini thumbnail viewer, live statistics, gallery shortcuts and SLAPfiles integration. SLAPfiles is a shared collection of URLs, all gathered in one place, that you can also comment. PimpFish is able to save Flash, Quicktime, Windows Media and other embedded videos; moreover, it offers password management when grabbing file from protected websites and bulletin boards. Free download. For Windows/Internet Explorer (Firefox beta version available).
http://www.pimpfish.com/
Favicons creator: FavIcon from Pics
FavIcon from Pics is a free online service that converts any digital image into a Favicon (aka a Web page icon). The service is extremely easy to use, as you only need to input your selected image file URL or location on your hard disk and FavIcon from Pics immediately returns a 32x32 pixels icon version of the same. Free to use.
http://www.html-kit.com/favicon/...
Online free poster creator enlarges digital images to up to 20 meters: The Rasterbator
The Rasterbator is a web service which creates huge, rasterized (rasterbation is the process of taking an image, blowing it up, pixelating it, and printing it onto numerous pieces of paper) images from any picture. The rasterized images can be printed and assembled into extremely cool looking posters up to 20 meters in size. The Rasterbator is very easy to use. You can either upload a file from your computer or use any file that is publicly available on the Internet. After you have cropped the image and selected a desired enlargement size, the resized digital image will be sent to you as a PDF file. You will need to have Macromedia Flash Player 7 and Adobe Reader (or other pdf viewer) to use The Rasterbator. Free.
http://homokaasu.org/rasterbator/
Web-based free image editor for non-technical users: Online image editor
The Online Image Editor is a free online image editor hosted by Easy2upload.net which allows you to do basic digital image editing from any computer without the need to install any commercial software. edit images. The online image editor is completely web-based and it allows you to upload, re-size or crop any digital image, and to save it in your preferred file format for personal use. Free.
http://easy2upload.net/editor/
Suite of cool image tools to enhance your Flickr-based image collection: fd's Flickr Toys
Flickr Toys is a collection of truly great web-based services that extend, enhance and augment in many interesting and useful ways the image hosting and sharing service provided by Yahoo/Flickr. Flickr Toys include among many other:
A must-visit destination for Sharewood friends. All free to use.
http://flagrantdisregard.com/flickr/
Online free image editor and uploader - optional customizable and brandable version: Pxn8
Pxn8 is a free online image editor with a user interface developed with standard web technologies. No software needs to be downloaded or installed to use Pxn8. The image editing software allows you to upload any digital image and to zoom, resize, crop, rotate and adjust colors and image tones. Pxn8 has a red eye removal feature as well as one to whiten teeth. From Pxn8 your edited images can be saved on disk or can be even uploaded directly into your Flickr account. Pxn8 interface can also be fully customized via CSS and re-branded to reflect the look and feel of your site. The upload to Flickr feature can be for example replaced with an upload facility taking images submitted by users to your own custom gallery or photo showcase. The hosted version is completely free while a license for installing Pxn8 on your own private/corporate web server costs $749.
http://www.pxn8.com/
Video tutorials to learn how to make effective photographs: Just Show Me How To
If you want to learn how to make great photographs as well as learning from professional photographers tips and tricks about the difficult art of capturing quality images, Just Show Me How To offers short video tutorials that show you instantly how to attack or resolve a certain issue. Learn The Basics, Photograph Animals, Photograph People, Take Auction Photos, Take Travel Shots, are some of the many titles available. Prices start at $1.99 per video.
http://www.justshowmehowto.com/
Web-based image editor: Pixoh
Pixoh is an excellent online image editing tool, which allows non-technical people to open, resize, crop, rotate and alter image adjustments like brightness or contrast with extreme ease of use and at no cost whatsoever. Pixoh requires no time to learn and you can immediately start editing images sitting on your hard disk or available online at a specific URL. Pixoh also allows automatic import of digital images from any web site, including Flickr, allows the exporting and saving of any image to GIF, JPG, PDF, PNG, PDF, or TIF, sports a powerful unlimited undo and redo function and it is adding week by week new and more powerful features. Still in beta, free to use. Recommended.
http://www.pixoh.com/
International photo sharing social community: Zooomr
Zooomr is a multi-language socially-aware application for sharing digital images. Still in Beta but launched back at the end of October 2005, Zooomr is a photo-sharing and tagging community which was born to explore the information inside of photos and the people inside and behind those very images. Zooomr in fact aims not to be just another photo sharing service, but a free service that helps connect people together through images. Zooomr is available in over 15 languages and growing. Some of the characterizing traits for Zooomr include the ability to put your photos directly on the map, to add sound to them and to define who's inside a photo. Zooomr Accepts .jpg, .png, .pdf, small .psd's, and small .tiff's. The email upload feature only accepts .png and .jpg. Zooomr supports RSS feeds and tagging. All beta accounts on Zooomr feature a 50 megabyte upload capacity and unlimited storage. For every person that you refer to Zooomr your upload capacity limit is extended. More info and news at the Zooomr Blog. Basic accounts are free.
http://beta.zooomr.com/home
Capture, share, store digital images and more via yor mobile: ClickToScan
Clicktoscan allows individuals with camera phones or digital cameras to capture, share and store information that is important, wherever they are. Images taken with the camera are simply sent by MMS or email or uploaded in the Clicktoscan server, processed and stored. Clicktoscan is based on a technology capable of producing high quality images. If you specify an email address or a fax number in your MMS or email, Clicktoscan will automatically send the scanned document to your contact. One account of 50 Mb is granted per email address, and mobile phone number. Free trial sign up.
http://www.clicktoscan.com
Photo channels creation software allows album creation and online sharing: Slide
Slide is a desktop program that indexes photos on the user's hard drive, automatically groups them into channels, and plays them back via an always-on ticker interface. Slide provides an innovative scrolling "photo playback" model, users can rediscover and enjoy images they would rarely see otherwise. Users can choose to share any photo or invite both registered and unregistered friends and family to subscribe to entire channels of photos. You can also put Slide on any website or blog so others can watch, too. Slide requires download and it's free for Windows and Mac.
http://www.slide.com/
Browser-based image editor enables users to edit images online with no need for plugin: nexImage
nexImage is a fully functional browser-based image editor that integrates current image processing tools directly in your web application without the need for plugins, ActiveX or a Java VM. nexImage provides word processing tools and the integrated file manager allows image files from a pre-defined server drive to be opened for processing. The server drive access can also take place via FTP connection. nexImage also allows image files to be uploaded from an URL or a local drive.
Free to use.
http://www.neximage.com
Automatic generator of image-phrases (see Robin Good image above) takes in your text input and gives it back to you as a collage of letters photographed in different scenarios: Spell with Flickr
Spell with Flickr is a web-based tiny program that requests users to type in whatever they want to, then matches each letter of that word with letter pictures grabbed from Flickr (you can see an example by looking at the key image of this Sharewood Picnic). If you don’t like the images that come back, just click on each individual image to change it. Free to use.
http://metaatem.net/words/
Create online photo books and add music and animations to them: Funtigo
Funtigo provides a photo sharing service where members can create a customized online photo album and share it as a website. With Funtigo you can create your online photo scrapbook and design each album or web page the way you want it: feel free to add text, music, backgrounds, cliparts, or animated text balloons; you can move or resize your pictures right on the page. Funtigo is completely free to use.
http://funtigo.com/
Online photo editor enables you to edit and add special effects to your images within your browser: ImageEditor
ImageEditor is a web-based photo editor with a very easy to use interface. ImageEditor allows you to resize and crop images, apply several filters and add special effects. ImageEditor works only with Internet Explorer and similiar browsers such as Maxthon and AvantBrowser. Completely free to use.
http://imageeditor.net/
Create a 360 degrees navigable image with your digital photos and post it on your website: Picture Cloud
Picture Cloud enables you to replace your photo with one that spins and pans up to 360 degrees. You can take several images around an object or scene, upload them to Picture Cloud and create your 360 degrees image or even a moving image sequence. What Picture Cloud does in essence is to transparently stitch multiple digital images together as to provide the ability to see them as a kind of movie sequence. Picture Cloud can host your clouds for you, or you can download your cloud and upload it to your own server. Picture Cloud images can be embedded in any web sites that enable you to show Flash items. No software required. Free to use.
http://www.picturecloud.com
Search engine for images enables you to find similar photos within Flickr database: Tiltomo
Tiltomo is a content-based visual image search system that enables you to search for similar images within Flickr's database. To get started you can search for a specific tag or click random. When you find an image you like, simply click one of the "Find Similar" links under the image and decide whether you want to search for similiar images by theme or by color/texture. Tiltomo will automatically find all those images that resemble to the one you selected according to your criteria. Free to use.
http://www.tiltomo.com
Share your photos, edit them and create online slideshows with music: FotoFlix
FotoFlix is a service that provides photo sharing features and allows you to edit your images and create online slideshows with music. FotoFlix provides a free account with 10 MB storage; paid plans start with $2.39/month (with an one time charge of $28.68), offering 200 MB storage. Each referral that signs up through you gives you an extra 10 MB storage. No system requirements.
http://www.fotoflix.com
Web-based images editor enables you to edit pictures online and upload them to popular photo sharing sites: Phixr
Phixr is a web-based images editor that you can access from any computer. You simply need to upload your pictures and make all the changes you want. After editing your images, Phixr enables you to directly upload them to Flickr, Fotopic, Livejournal, Photobucket, Fotolog.com, Buzznet and Dropshots. Phixr requires registration and is completely free to use.
http://www.phixr.com
Take screen captures and upload them directly to your Flickr account: Flickr & Webimager
Flickr & Webimager is a service that enables you to take screen captures and upload them directly to your Flickr account. You can capture a section of your screen, rotate and resize and insert a cursor on the image with Flickr & WebImager. Once you are done editing, click on the upload arrow and the image will be sent to your Flickr account. Flickr & WebImager requires download and works with Windows 95 or later. Free to use.
http://phpspot.net/php/flickr
Create photo slideshows and greeting cards and personalize them by adding text, designs and music: Smilebox
Smilebox is a service that enables you to create photo slideshows, scrapbooks, photobooks, postcards and greeting cards. You can choose from hundreds of multimedia designs and easily customize them with your photos, music, words, and style and then share them via email or print. Free to use.
http://www.smilebox.com
Web-based photo search and facial recognition system: Riya
Riya is a web-based photo search and facial recognition system. Tell Riya who a person is in one of your photos and it will automatically recognize that person in all of your other photos and tag them appropriately. Riya also recognizes text in photos, and lets you select any area of a photo and tag that as well. Riya is completely free to use.
http://www.riya.com/
Picasa's new feature allows you to create photo albums and store them online: Picasa Web Albums
Picasa Web Albums is Picasa’s newest feature, designed to help users post and share their photos quickly and easily on the web. Picasa Web Albums offers one-click web upload using Picasa’s new “Web Album” button, free storage space to post and share approximately 1000 photos, with the option to upgrade to more space. End-to-end photo management makes it easy to download uploaded photos back to your computer. Picasa Web Albums is available by invitation, along with the latest downloadable version of Picasa. Free to use.
http://picasaweb.google.com/
Online tool allows you to edit your pictures online: Picture2Life
Picture2Life is an online tool that allows you to edit your pictures online. There are several methods that you can use to upload or import your pictures: you can either enter the URL of the pictures or upload them. You can edit pictures directly from your internet browser and import your pictures from photo sharing websites like Flickr, Photobucket, ImageShack, and much more. Free to use.
http://www.picture2life.com/
Flickr-based search engine lets you view hundreds of thumbnails at once: Flickr Grab
Flickr Grab is a Flickr-based search engine that lets you view hundreds of thumbnails from Flickr at once, by user or other criteria. You can create links to a thumbnail page like today's most interesting or a user's pictures and display all photos for a search query and all photos tagged with a keyword. Free to use.
http://flickr.trulyamazing.de/
Create color schemes for your digital artwork and your web site: Colr
Colr is a service that enables you to create color schemes for your digital artwork and your web site. You can also load pictures you like and get color codes and schemes from them. Users create their own color schemes and tag them, so that other people can search them by tags. Free to use.
http://www.colr.org/
Online photo manager that allows you to save, easily edit, and efficiently organize your images: Snapmania
Snapmania is a web-based photo manager that allows you to save, easily edit, and efficiently organize your images with no limitation from where they can be accessed or when. Once you subscribe you will get a free account with 100MB storage. Premium accounts start with $4.90 per month and offer 2GB storage. Check out the complete price list.
http://www.snapmania.com/
Create your own photoblog and upload pictures via email and mobile phones: Fotopages
Fotopages is a website that allows you to create your own photoblog. You are enabled to create entries via email, from a mobile phone equipped with a camera or any email program. Each Fotopage has its own subdomain: http://username.fotopages.com and viewers can post comments to your entries. Free to use.
http://www.fotopages.com
Upload, edit and share your images and videos on the Internet: PicturePush
PicturePush is a web site that allows easy uploading of images and movies. You can make albums public, private or just for friends. PicturePush enables you to scale, crop and rotate images online, along with adding tags to your images and movies. Once you have stored your data on PicturePush you can easily publish them on web sites and forums. Users are allowed to comment on pictures and videos. Free to use.
http://www.picturepush.com/
Web site offers a marketplace for royalty free stock images: Fotolia
Fotolia is an online marketplace for royalty free stock images, allowing individuals and professionals to legally buy and share stock images and illustrations. Fotolia offers one of the largest image bank of free and affordable royalty free photos and illustrations suitable for any medium, web or print. Photographers and designers receive commission from each photo sold and revenue from advertising on the free section. Free sign up.
http://www.fotolia.com/
Online service that takes screenshots of any web site and enables you to embed them into web sites: WebShotsPro
WebShotsPro is an online service that takes screenshots of any web site. The service automatically generates thumbnails for every screenshot and allows you to display them anywhere in the web. You can include them in your blog postings, on a forum post, or next to your search engine results. Check out an example. WebShotsPro works better with Firefox and Internet Explorer 6.0. Free to use during beta period.
http://www.webshotspro.com/
Service that allows you to upload unlimited images and create online photo albums: Webshots
Webshots is a service that allows you to upload unlimited images and create online photo albums.
Furthermore, by downloading Webshots Desktop you can upload files directly from digital cameras to your online photo albums. Besides, a desktop notification just above the system tray alerts you when new professional photos are available in the Webshots Gallery to be purchased, and when favorite members have uploaded and shared new images. Free to use.
http://www.webshots.com/
Web-based tool that enables you to resize your pictures within your browser: ResizR
ResizR is a little web-based tool that enables you to resize your pictures. Once you have uploaded your image, you can set the width in pixels by dragging the slider or entering a value into the text field below the slider. When you are ready, click "ResizR" to start the resizing process. With ResizR you can also resize any images from the web: you simply have to click the "From Web" tab and paste the URL of the image. All uploaded images are deleted once per day to protect users’ privacy. Currently only jpg images can be resized. Free to use.
http://resizr.lord-lance.com/
Edit your digital photos and mix music, videos, and games in 2D and 3D environments: iBloks
iBloks is a service that enables you to edit your digital photos and mix music, videos, and games in 2D and 3D environments. You can share your personalized mix with friends, play iBloks from others, and remix content along the way. In order to mix your files, you can either use the 2D online iBloks mixer or a downloadable 3D Beta version of iBloks (Windows only). Free to use.
http://www.ibloks.com/
Upload images, resize them, and convert them into another format: ImageSquash
ImageSquash is a web-based tool that allows you to upload images, resize them, and change their format. When your image is uploaded, just select your options to the left panel and click the convert button. Once you are done, right click the image to save the newly transformed file. ImageSquash is completely free to use.
http://www.imagesquash.com/
Browser-based tool that enables you to edit big pictures up to 10MB: SnipShot
SnipShot is a browser-based tool that enables you to edit big pictures (up to 10 MB, or 5000x5000 pixels). You can also edit pictures from any web site (including Flickr) with our bookmarklet and export them to Flickr, or save them as as .gif, .jpg, .pdf, .png, or .tif. You can also import pdf (first page only) and .eps files. You will be provided with basic editing tools like crop, rotate, resize, basic image adjustments. Free to use.
http://snipshot.com/
Share your photos and videos directly from your camera phone: PixSense
PixSense is a web-based service that lets you share your photos and videos with your friends and family directly from your camera phone, from the web, via email or SMS. You can publish photos and videos from your phone for public viewing. Once your pictures are uploaded, viewers can see them in slideshows. Free to use.
http://beta.pixsense.com/main.ps
Service that enables photographers to showcase their photos and publishers to use them for free by linking them to each other: PlinkMe
PlinkMe is an online service that enables photographers to upload and get their pictures used across the internet with links back to their site, enabling them to check how their photos are being used. In the meantime, publishers can pick free photos and get a link to their pages from the PlinkMe users gallery. This way, both photographers and publishers can help each other for free. Joining PlinkMe is completely free.
http://plinkme.com
Photo slideshow maker that you can use to create presentations of your digital pictures: Slideroll
Slideroll is a photo slideshow maker that you can use to create slide shows with your digital pictures. You can upload your photos to Slideroll and publish slide shows either on Slideroll sito or on your own website. You can also make special slideshows to embed on your MySpace pages. Slideroll also has a large selection of music tracks for you to add to your slideshows. Basic members are limited to uploading 100 photos and creating up to 10 slide shows. Slideroll Pro costs $3.75 per month and allows you to upload up to 5000 photos and create unlimited slideshows. Free sign up.
http://www.slideroll.com/
Multimedia scrapbooks creator allows you to publish albums with photos, videos and audio: Scrapblog
Scrapblog is a service that lets you create multimedia scrapbooks featuring your photos, videos, audio and other elements. You can share your scrapblog online with friends and let others add notes and comments. Once you upload your multimedia files, you can turn them into high-quality photo books and DVDs. Scrapblog is free to use and requires no download.
http://www.scrapblog.com/
Photo albums creator enables you to set up online albums with pictures and video clips too: Phanfare
Phanfare is a site that enables you to create photo albums online. With your account, you get a destination web site for your album collection. Your Phanfare website will be at http://yourusername.phanfare.com. You can set a password to protect all your web albums, or leave some albums open and protect others. You can import short video clips into Phanfare for inclusion in your albums. Each clip can be up to 10 minutes long and there is no limit to the number of clips you can store. An account costs $6.95 per month or $54.95 per year (a life membership is also available at $299.95) and offers unlimited storage.
http://www.phanfare.com/
Online image editor that lets you resize and edit your pictures within a web browser: PicResize
PicResize is a online tool that enables you to resize and edit pictures within your web browser. You are allowed to resize multiple pictures at once and then save the result in .gif, .jpg and .png formats. On the website of PicResize you will find a useful video tutorial showing you how you can use this tool with ease. Free to use.
http://www.picresize.com/
Screenshots capture tool lets you create thumbnails of any sites and display preview bubbles on links: WebSnapr
WebSnapr is a service that lets you capture screenshots of (almost) any web page. Let your visitors to instantly visualize any web page before clicking. In order to use WebSnapr from your site you simply need to insert the url of the site you want to picture in the proper box available on the homepage of WebSnapr. It might take a few seconds before the thumbnail is captured. If so, you'll see a "Snapshot currently in queue" message. This will be gone as soon as your thumbnail is generated. Also, check out the WebSnapr Preview Bubble, which is a is a javascript code you can use to display a preview bubble on your links. Free to use.
http://www.websnapr.com/
Online photo album creator enables you to upload your photos and organize them in albums : Tabblo
Tabblo is a service that lets you upload your photos and create albums that you can share with other people. The site provides you with many templates, among which you can chose the one that suits you better. You can add captions, titles and full paragraphs thanks to a fully integrated text editor. Pictures can be resized as you please and it is possible to decide who can download them and who can't. Free to use.
http://www.tabblo.com/
Photo slideshow creator lets you add music, effects and captions to your pictures: PhotoShow
PhotoShow is a photo sharing service that allows you to upload pictures (even from URLs) and create slideshows. With PhotoShow you can quickly transform your digital photos and video clips into entertainment to enjoy and share on the screen of your choice - whether a PC, a TV or a handheld device. If you buy PhotoShow Deluxe 4 you will also be able to add your own music and many other special effects to your slideshows. Additionally, PhotoShow Deluxe 4 allows you to edit videoclips. PhotoShow is completely free, while PhotoShow Deluxe costs $39.99 and requires download.
http://beta.photoshow.com/home
Animated gif creator lets you create animated gifs with your pictures and also with photos on Flickr: Gickr
Gickr is a web tool that enables you to create animated gifs with whatever picture, even on Flickr. You simply need to upload the images you need from your hard disk (or search for pictures on Flickr). Note that the sequence you uploaded them in will be your frame sequence. You can’t upload files bigger than 1MB each and, also, you can’t upload more than 10MB files at once - your browser may hang. Supported files are .png, .gif and .jpeg.
http://gickr.com/
Free stock photos directory provides users with images released under a free content license: Open Stock Photography
Open Stock Photography is a site that helps designers find free stock photography (or public domain photography). All images listed at Open Stock Photography come from Wikimedia Commons and as such "can be used by anyone, for any purpose. Wikimedia Commons contains about 450,000 files uploaded by nearly 30,000 registered users. Each of these files is available under a free content license or in the public domain; there are no restrictions of use beyond those relating to use of official insignia. Licenses which limit commercial use are considered non-free. Free to use.
http://www.openstockphotography.org/
Photo slideshow creator allows you to create videos with your pictures and add music to them: Fliptrack
Fliptrack is a service that allows you to easily create photo slideshows and add effects and popular music to them. Fliptrack technology allows you to match images to the beats or lyrics of songs, so you can create a real soundtrack for your photos. Your creations can be easily shared with other people. Music is included with the software. A full catalog of music is available once you start using the Fliptrack software. Fliptrack is Windows only and completely free to use.
http://www.fliptrack.com/
Photo album creator helps you organize your pictures with the use of tags: Pikeo
Pikeo is a photo album creator that helps you organize your pictures based on tags that you select. Pikeo offers you 1 GB storage for all your pictures and you can send photos from your camera phone. You can decide which of your pictures you want to share with your family and friends. Pikeo is completely free to use.
http://www.pikeo.com/
Pictures showcase creation tool for Flickr enables users to display their images in a interactive box: PhotoShakr
PhotoShakr is a service that allows you to showcase your pictures on Flickr in a box that displays random thumbnails of them. You simply need to enter your Flickr email and PhotoShakr will automatically generate a interactive box displaying your pictures, which can be embedded into any websites or blog. PhotoShakr is completely free to use.
http://photoshakr.com/home
Photo hosting service that allows you to upload pictures, graphics and link to them from any sites: Pic2US
Pic2US is a service that hosts your pictures, graphics, or other images on the Internet. Files must be under 1000 Kb in size, they must be of a jpeg, gif, or png file format. When you upload an image, you will be given an actual URL to the actual image file. You may link to the image from any site on the Internet. Free to use.
http://www.pic2.us/
Photo sharing service gives you up to 2GB storage for your pictures: YouRep
YouRep is a site that allows upload, store and organize your photos. You can decide whether to make your images public or show them to designated members. Free accounts get 2GB of storage space on YouRep server. 25% (0.5GB) of these 2GB may be used for pictures marked as private or friends only. There is no file transfer limit. YouRep is completely free to use.
http://www.yourep.com/
posted by
Michael Pick
on Wednesday, January 10 2007
Tuesday, January 15 2008
URL of this article:
http://masterview.ikonosnewmedia.com/2007/01/10/digital_image_editing_tools_best.htm
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