Free Online Image Editing Tools

By Hitesh Raj Bhagat

All you need is a PC and a stable broadband internet connection? And you can have a world of image editing tools available in an instant.

Sure, they may not offer the complete advanced set of features that an expensive image editor like Adobe Photoshop offers, but for most common tasks, they do very nicely!

Aviary.com

Aviary's mission is to make image editing and creation software accessible to everyone. Phoenix is the name given to Aviary's image editor, and it is an expansive, intuitive image editor with many of the features that you would find in an expensive paid application like Photoshop.
Aviary also offers various other tools like a colour editor (Toucan), effects editor (Peacock), vector editor (Raven), audio editor (Myna) and an image markup tool (Falcon).
No registration is required to start using the tools, and the only slight catch is that Aviary retains a license to display any works you make/upload to the public or in any external publication in a way that promotes Aviary.

Pixlr.com

Another full-featured photo editor, Pixlr is available in 23 languages and is built using Flash. The biggest advantage of Pixlr is speed: it starts up fast and images are loaded instantly. This is because images are opened locally in the browser and not uploaded to Pixlr at all.
This means that the images don't leave your computer and it specifically benefits those working with larger images and those with limited or slow internet connections. Pixlr.com also offers Pixlr Express, a quick editor for those only looking to make cursory changes and Pixlr Grabber, a free Firefox and Chrome extension that makes it easier to open photos in Pixlr.

Splashup.com

Splashup offers a nice full-screen mode and an interface that looks like an advanced image editor. But its built using Adobe Flash, so there are a few limitations (can't close effects windows, and they take up space). But the good bit is that no registration or waiting is needed.
When you start Splashup, it opens in a separate window and when you click on 'Open File', it gives you the option to load files from your computer or the various online properties. This is similar to others, but the interface is nicer. Images open up really fast since they don't have to be uploaded to Splashup (even a 6MB file opens in a couple of seconds).
Like Pixlr, Splashup also offers a basic version called Splashup Light, which offers a more casual editing experience.

 

Citrify.com

Citrify is Flash-based, loads up really fast in a pop-up window and provides some basic image editing tools and effects. Specifically for people portraits, Citrify can remove extra shine on faces, remove blemishes, reduce wrinkles automatically or whiten teeth.
It also has other one-click effects like sketch, brightness, hue/saturation and watercolour . If you like, you can also pretend to be the incredible Hulk; it takes a person's photo and turns skin colour into a powerful 'Hulkgreen' . What's more amazing is that Citrify is only a two-member team, completely self-funded and the focus of the image editor is to 'keep it simple, and make it fun'.

Picnik.com

Picnic offers simple, one-click effects and alterations for your photos. It also has a lot of stickers, frames, artistic effects and scrapbooking tools like greeting card formats, automatic collage generation and photo slideshows.
Apart from images stored on your computer, you can also link Picnic directly to your Facebook , Picasa, Flickr, Photobucket or MySpace accounts to import photos directly from there.
Picnik premium services (About $25 a year) offers more of everything (more tools and effects, more frames, options and so on), a completely ad-free editor and fullscreen editing.

 

Sumopaint.com

Unlike the others, registration is required before you start using Sumopaint, but the process is quick (only username, password and email ID needed), and registration gives you secure storage space for your files (accessible from anywhere). The Pro version (about Rs 1,200) gives you a local version of Sumopaint which you can use even when offline.
The offline version of Sumo Paint is built using Adobe Air, which means that it works perfectly on Windows, Mac and Linux (you just have to download and install Adobe Air first, which you may already have if you have other Adobe Air applications like TweetDeck).

 

FotoFlexer.com

FotoFlexer is one of the oldest online tools around and like Picnik, it offers the ability to link to your Facebook, Picasa, Flickr, Photobucket or MySpace accounts to import photos ? but it also adds SmugMug and Phanfare into the mix. It has all the advanced effects you would need, including working in layers, various colour effects, morphing and doodling.
No registration is required but the complete photograph must be uploaded to their servers, so a large file does take time to upload depending on your internet connection.

 

Phixr.com

Phixr is a little slower than the others because it requires uploading of the image to Phixr servers. Even each effect is individually loaded when you click on it, and it has the tendency to freeze up if your internet connection is slow or intermittent.
But it's really simple to use, has nice colourful icons and a lot of effects that the others don't have, like Polaroid photo, customisable greeting cards, speech bubbles, camera lens effects and the Warhol effect (your photo arranged into four small differently coloured squares).

 

Bighugelabs.com

Some are weird, some are funny? But they're all entertaining . When you get tired of all the cropping and resizing, head to bighugelabs.com to have a bit of fun with your photographs.
You can do all sorts of stuff like make your own motivational poster, create a jigsaw puzzle, put your face on a magazine cover or movie poster and create a mosaic or pop art poster. If you like, you can even order something you have created through the gift shop (they ship worldwide).

 

Photo505.com

At photo505.com, there are new effects everyday: simply upload your photo and you can see yourself in Times Square, New York for example. Or you could have your photo put up at the Kodak Theatre (the home of the Academy Awards), or see how you would look as Iron Man or his enemy, Whiplash.
Photo505 uses face detection technology, which can accurately cut out your face and paste it somewhere else.

 

Photofunia.com

Photofunia.com is similar to Photo505; they also offer hundreds of funny (and sometimes stupid) effects. The added attraction here is putting your face on animated GIFs, like into a burning photo, on a dancer's body or inside a TV screen.
Finally, at taaz.com, those interested in the beauty business can perform a complete virtual makeover on themselves with realistic-looking makeup.

 

Photoshop.com

Photoshop's Express Editor is a free online image editing tool brought to you by the pro's. Unfortunately, it only supports editing of JPEG files. But it does offer a very slick, polished, no-nonsense interface.