Gallery: 5 online photo editors that can help with simple tweaks on the fly

​Adobe Photoshop Express

What you do get is several basic Photoshop tools like dodge, burn, cropping, exposure correction, and things you normally find in the tools dock. There's also a bunch of Decorate options that allow you to drop in clipart and text, which probably won't be much use to anyone doing professional editing.

Photoshop Express limits you to only JPGs, so tough luck if you need to edit a PSD.

Depending on your needs, you may still want to check out Adobe Photoshop Express. You can do so here.

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​Pixlr

Pixlr gives you two apps to choose from: Express and Editor. Both have their place, but if you need to do serious photo editing you should go with Editor.

Pixlr Editor is incredibly full featured--it's what I imagined a cloud-based version of Photoshop to look and feel like. While there still isn't a Photoshop-level number of options there's a lot present in Pixlr editor, and most simple photo editing and touch up can be done using it.

Add and edit layers, make smart selections, cut/paste--all the things you would expect.

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​Pixlr

Pixlr Express is the basic adjust-and-filter photo app you can find on mobile devices. You can tweak colors and saturation and make a picture look like it escaped from Instagram using Express. There's not a lot of value in it, unless you need to crop, resize, or tweak the saturation of a photo in a pinch--or unless filters are your thing.

You can try out both editors at Pixlr's website.

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PicMonkey

PicMonkey is a photo tweaker's dream, as long as you don't want to do anything aside from manipulate the basic photo. There aren't any layers, cutting/pasting, or detailed edits available, but there are a bunch of neat tools that are presented in plain language--the tools are the same but with friendlier names for a wider audience.

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PicMonkey

The biggest problem with PicMonkey is that it has premium features. A lot of the best brushes, edit tools, and features are locked behind a paywall. You can use them to see what they do, but there's no saving them unless you pay $4.99/month (after a seven-day trial).

You can give it a try and see what it's capable of at the PicMonkey site.

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​iPiccy

iPiccy offers some advanced features that make trying it out worthwhile, but it has one big problem: it's hard to navigate.

If you want to access layers you have to open a separate tab, which takes a few seconds to load. If you want to switch to filters it's off to another tab. Getting back to basic items requires--you guessed it--navigating to a completely different tab.

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​iPiccy

iPiccy can do a lot of the same cool tricks that PicMonkey can, which makes iPiccy's clumsy interface even more unfortunate. It can do advanced photo editing (for a web app), but without properly placed buttons, easy-to-understand features, and a smarter setup it's just tough to use.

Give it a try if you don't mind a learning curve. It's available at iPiccy's website.

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​Photopea

Photopea has the advanced features of Pixlr Editor, but with one twist that makes it stand out: In addition to standard formats, like JPG and PNG, it can open PSD and XCF files. If you need to make tweaks to a Photoshop or GIMP file you can actually do it with Photopea, making it a site to keep in the back of your mind.

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​Photopea

The layout is essentially the same as GIMP and some of the older versions of Photoshop, so it should be familiar to anyone who has been editing photos for a while. Not all of the features are there, but simple adjustments should be possible, and practical, to make.

You can check out Photopea on its website.

Image: TechRepublic/Brandon Vigliarolo