Photoshopped Obama

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Pixlr: The New and Hot Online Image Editor

Free online image editors are nothing new. They are extremely useful for those of us who need simple photo editing, and can't (or don't feel like) opening Photoshop, GIMP or any other image editing software.

I've been using Pixoh (AKA Snipshot) for a long time now, and it's quite fun and useful. There's also Picnik, which is rather popular, FotoFlexer and many many more (see list at the bottom of the post).

And now comes storming the very cool, sleek and fast online image editor, named Pixlr. With such an annoying Web 2.0 name, I didn't really expect much of it. But Pixlr is surprisingly good.



The first thing you might notice is how extremely fast Pixlr is. It loaded in 2 seconds, maybe even less. The interface is very comfortable to anyone who has used any kind of image editing software. The toolbars on the left and on the right are reminiscent of Photoshop's toolbar - only they are a lot simpler and with fewer functions.

I tested Pixlr, which is Flash-based, in Firefox and encountered no errors or problems. The features are rather impressive for a free online image editor. You can even work with layers, if you know how.

A serious flaw is the absence of a Text tool. I mean, the application is very impressive and efficient, with many features - a text tool is really mandatory. Another limitation - you can only save your files as JPEG or PNG.

All in all - Pixlr is a wonderful free online image editor, and it's definitely going on my favorites list. I hope it improves and at the same time stays quick and easy to use. Well done, guys!

A list of free online image editors:

• Snipshot
• Picnik
• FotoFlexer
• Pixer.us
• Pixlr
• Phixr
• WebPicTool
• Splashup
• Resizr
  
• Photoshop Express
• Imageeditor.net

An Amazing Collection of Photoshop Video Tutorials

You probably won't be able to use these techniques with the new and free Photoshop Express, but it's still a very good collection.

A myriad of videos, demonstrating different Photoshop tutorials, performed by people who really know their stuff. From Speed Painting to Retouching and Effects. Very useful and interesting!

When Photoshopping goes Too Far

It's really hard to convey the power of Photoshop to the average Joe. I mean, we want to believe that all those models are slim, trim and with perfect skin. We base a lot of our lives on that assumption, because a lot of us WANT to look like the hotties on a magazine cover.

You can do practically anything with Photoshop - remove extra weight, make the skin appear glamorous, change length of body parts, change eye and hair color, and much more. The tutorials are out there. You don't even have to be a professional graphics designer.

Sometimes, however, things go wrong when you use Photoshop carelessly. This is what THIS blog (Photoshop Disasters) is all about. A series of photos shows you what happens when you overdo it with the retouching. Freaky things happen - people lose their belly-button, limbs appear alien-like, heads disappear and much more. Amusing and a bit scary. There isn't reality anymore. Just a show.

Flickr Enables Online Photo Editing

Flickr, the photo-sharing site, has announced a partnership with Picnik, an online photo editing service.

Above your photos, you can see an "Edit" icon. Clicking on it will lead to a screen with some basic photo-editing options - crop, resize, sharpen, red-eye removal etc. Every option has an automatic setting, so even if you don't know much about editing digital pictures, this service might try and fix the common problems for you.

After you are done with editing, you can move to the "Create" tab and add text, shapes and special effects to your photo.

The service is running smoothly and working well. It supports Firefox, which is not an obvious these days. For those of us who regularly use Photoshop, or other editing software, this online service might not be necessary. It's not designed for bulk editing, either. Also, there are many free online picture editors (Like Snipshot). Still, for those minor fixes and fun, it's a neat solution. Picnik has partnerships with Facebook, Picasa, Photobucket and Webshots.

3 Useful Photoshop Links

Seems like everybody is using Photoshop these days. Although there are plenty of open-source replacements, it looks like Adobe still reigns supreme. Thus, the net is filled with articles, tutorials and tools for Photoshop.

Here are 3 good links I recently found:

• 100 Awesome High Resolution Photoshop Brushes
• psdtuts - Spoon fed Photoshop Tutorials
• Photoshop Tips from Photoshop Lab