06 september 2011

Solutions For Digital Photo Editing

If you are a web designer, a photographer, a graphic designer, involved in arts or you just want to enhance your profile picture, one thing is for sure, you cannot go without digital photo editing!

A lot of people ask, do I really need Photoshop? I would say yes 😉 Photoshop is great; it really gives you all the freedom you need to make graphic designs or touch up your holiday photographs.

I do realize that Photoshop is quite costly and it takes some practicing time to find your way around, so not to worry! There is plenty of graphic software out there that is cheap and easy to use. But why bother spending any money while you get slapped around the ears with free online and downloadable photo editing software.

They usually come with a user friendly interface and can perform most basic photo editing actions.

Below listed are some of the finest free digital photo editing tools on the web.

Contents of this article:

Free downloadable photo editing software

PhotoScape

PhotoScape is free photo editing software for Windows which has a multitude of features. It comes with a wide range of tools like a photo editor, a slide show creator, a screen capture program and lots more like the cool tool for creating animated GIFs.

The interface is totally different than you are normally used to, but it remains user friendly and there is a good help function included. Mac users are recommended to download Seashore although as Windows user I have no experience with this software.

IrfanView

IrfanView is a very small (1,7MB) downloadable software that lets you easily convert between file formats, resize files and has some of the basic manipulation features as crop, flip, color correct, sharpen, red eye fix and a few special effects. It is so easy to use although the interface has a slightly outdated look.

Free online photo editing software

Pixlr

Pixlr is an online editing software with a Photoshop feel that is great for low- to moderate-level photo editing. You can start with a picture from your hard disc or from URL. If you are quite handy with Photoshop, you’ll get this software in a second. If not I would recommend to watch some tutorials on YouTube to get you started.

FotoFlexer

FotoFlexer is an online editing software that lets you start editing right away. You can choose to upload from hard disc or from one of the many social network sites.

It has some really cool effects and you can make collages with different photos. It also let you create some funky glitter text, if you’re into that…

Lunapic

Lunapic is very little compared to other online photo editors but it makes up with its loony animations and effects. Let’s get creative with this one!

Picnik

Picnik is definitely my favorite online photo editor. It comes with a lovely user interface which is simple to use. All the basic editing tools are available so is a huge gamma of effects and touch up tools. Although there is a charge for using some of the more advanced options, the feature-rich free version is all you want from an online photo editor.

Make sure to check that one out!

Update: Picnik doesn’t exist anymore, but the same guys created something similar : http://www.picmonkey.com/

Create a reflection under your picture

A reflection under your picture always looks classy on your website or brochures.

An easy tool to make this happen is reflectionmaker. You cannot do anything else here. Just create a reflection. Nice and easy.

Photo sharing

These websites let you upload your pictures, create an album and share with your friends.

(Picasa is a downloadable software with some cool features to organize pictures on your PC.)

Last but not least, have a look at Photofunia. Photofunia is an online application that adds instant effects on to your photographs. You can display your own picture in a museum, get your brand logo out on Times Square or be superman 🙂 fun for all!!!

If you want to take your photo editing a step further, I would suggest learning Photoshop. I can recommend you this manual for straightforward, easy to follow Photoshop lessons -> CLICK HERE

If you are dutch speaking than I would recommend this fantastic Photoshop course -> CLICK HERE

Rebekka Deforce is the owner of magicmediaforce.com. Working over 18 years in the audiovisual sector and developed a great passion for internet marketing, she now helps on- and offline businesses to get magnificent conversion results through video marketing and social media marketing. She also loves to help people with the technical aspect of the video production process.