Gallery: 5 online photo editors that can help with simple tweaks on the fly
Image 1 of 8
Adobe Photoshop Express
Adobe Photoshop Express
Graphic designers invariably head for Adobe Photoshop to make changes to images, and there’s a good reason for it: no other software on the market can compare to it. Not everyone needs Photoshop, or even GIMP, though–there are plenty of simple changes to be made to photos that don’t require that level of sophistication.
If you’ve ever found yourself in that position then these five online photo editors are worth taking a look at, starting with Adobe Photoshop Express.
You would assume that Adobe’s online editing app would have plenty of features: layers, cutting and pasting, filters … all the stuff you expect from Photoshop. Unfortunately, it doesn’t.
Adobe Photoshop Express
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.
Pixlr
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.
PicMonkey
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.
iPiccy
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.
iPiccy
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.
Photopea
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.
Photopea
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.
