Edit Your Images Online – for FREE

I’ve been noticing more and more that a lot of free online image editors are popping up across the web. Some are good, some maybe aren’t so great. Many are free, a couple are “pay per use” or subscription. Some of the free ones also offer a premium paid option.

Some of the free ones have a limit to how large an image you can upload, and some offer free storage or display space. Be careful with these – be sure you read the “terms of service” and “privacy” pages on any of these free online editors.

Here’s a listing, in no particular order, of places you can go online to edit your photos without having to download or buy software.

 

Adobe Photoshop Express

 

Flauntr

 

Aviary

 

 

MyImager

SplashUp (previously Fauxto)

 

PicniK

 

Fan Studio

 

Picture2Life

 

PixlR

 

Pixenate

 

Pixer.us

 

FotoFlexer

 

Snipshot

 

Sumo Paint

 

That’s more than a baker’s dozen of online editors to try. If you really don’t want to (or can’t) download software but need to make some quick edits, you might give some of these a try. I can’t recommend any on a personal level since I haven’t used any, but since they’re free they might be pretty handy for sizing or cropping an image for your blog.

Besides those listed above, there are number of other online  art, graphics or image editors/creators, and some are just plain fun. Here’s a partial list of those I’ve found, and some I’ve used.  I particularly like ArtPad and Bomomo, simply for fun. These are great for kids and adults alike, and I tried Meez, but I’m not really into that sort of community (but it could be fun for those who are).

 

ArtPad (from Art.com)

 

Bomomo

 

OffType

 

FotoTrix

 

LunaPic

 

BlingEasy

 

GifWorks

 

Meez

I created a meez to check it out – have a look, this is me (minus a few bulges and wrinkles)

 

VectorMagic

 

The last couple are slightly different – one for creating some funky text to use in your blogs and websites, and one that’s a download tool – but heads up on the download one…it’s only for mac at the moment. Maybe eventually, they’ll come up with a windows version.

The download tool for mac is currently in beta, but it’s FREE, so get it while you can if you’re a mac user.

Skitch (for Mac)

 

CoolText

 

FlamingText

 

 

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Making a Screencapture with Software

 

I’ve had a request to make a tutorial for doing screencaptures. The first one will be using a software to capture the screen. The software I am using for screencapture is “CaptureIt”, but you can download a very similar program called “Easy-Capture” for free from this link.

The steps are pretty simple – open  your screencapture software and minimize it to your tray (unless it is already sitting in the tray – that bar along the bottom of your computer screen).

Next, go to the page you want a screenshot of.

Maximize your screencapture software and select the option for the area you want to capture (some allow you to capture an entire screen, or just a selected area, some have options for scrolling screens etc.). The tutorial shows capturing a specific area of the screen. When you select this option you get a cursor – either cross hairs or some other design which you use to create a selection (usually a square) around the area you want to save.

Once you’ve selected the area and release the mouse button, the software “captures” the area you outlined. From there, you can select where you want to save it on your computer, give it a name, and select the type of image you want (a jpg, a bmp, a gif, etc.)

Watch the video:

Once it’s on your computer you can open it any image editing software (either MSPaint, Photoshop, Gimp, Irfanview, etc.) and crop it or resize it as desired.

 

Using PrintScreen to Capture

The second method involves using only the “print screen” button on your keyboard and an image editing software.

1. Go to the page you want to save.

2. On your keyboard hit the “print screen” button. NOTE: many keyboards require you to hold down the “shift” key at the same time as you hit the “print screen” button.

3. Immediately open your editing software (irfanview is a good and simple choice if you don’t have one)

4. In your editing software select “edit” from the menu and look for an option that says “paste” – click “paste” and the page you were on when you hit the print screen button will appear in the image editing software.

5. Edit and save the image (give it a name) as a .jpg file.

Photosynth

I just tried out Microsoft's Photosynth slideshow thingy...at the moment, it's free, but anything you upload there is "public" in terms of viewing, although you can apply licensing to your images - anything from Creative Commons to All Rights Reserved. The downside, at this moment, is that the "synth" can only be hosted on their site. There is an embed code available for using on blogs and websites, and a link code for emails and forums.

It seems lately my poor photography blog is being used for testing instead of writing tutorials.

Circle of Light

Here's another promo, this time for a book. A very good book...one that I have read multiple times, and probably will read again and again.

The author is one Emily Roesly, who (to my knowledge) has written 3 books. I've read two of them, enjoyed them both immensely, and am eagerly awaiting the arrival of the third book.

Her books are available at bookstores across the internet, as well as on Amazon. Very much worth the purchase price.



I had initially planned to include a piece of video in this - a very close closeup of the the circle of light on the bookcover, backing away from it slowly til the entire cover was in focus, but sometime between my last clip shoot (36 seconds of the snow in our front yard) and the day I went to shoot the cover, my video cam died.

Guess I might need a new one.

A World of Freedom

Okay, here's a second try with the YT video using a different converter - at least this time the sound file is intact, though the image quality doesn't seem any better.