Rethinking image editing

Digital workflow includes through handling of photographic images by means of specialized software: just shooting pictures with your camera is not enough.
As we mentioned in our page about free resources for picture editing, photographic retouching and image manipulation, there is not just Photoshop for you to play with.
Indeed, a lot of alternatives are available, which come for free and deliver excellent results for the average user. We have selected for you a valuable list of photo retouching software you can download and use for free.

But there is more: 8 times out of 10 you do not have to download and install anything into your machine: all you need is already available online, at zero cost, just two seconds away from now.
We are going to show you how to.
Read on!

Our pick of the best 11 free online tools

No more hassle: just go to one of the websites below and start improving your pictures right away. Here they are, in random order:

1. FotoFlexer
2. Pixlr
3. DrPic
4. Picnik
5. Splashup
6. BeFunky
7. Lunapic
8. Sumo Paint
9. Aviary Phoenix
10. Adobe Photoshop Express
11. PsykoPaint

They are particularly suitable for beginners because most of them are easy and straightforward to use.

Give them all a test and let us know your feedback in the comments.
Which of them do you prefer? How do you use them?
Feel free to post you works!

FotoFlexer

FotoFlexer is an easy to use online image editing tool, instantly available from any browser, on any operative system (Mac, Windows, and Linux and more). No software download is required, and there is nothing to install. Though, as with any other online web service, privacy concerns are not a small part of the game. This is particularly true if you do not take your time and read terms-of-service agreement through. It is a safe behavior to read TOS anytime you seriously interact with online services, and this is particularly true as you upload your personal images on their servers. When in doubt, avoid using the service.
Back to the web-based image editor itself, it is worth a try, indeed. Smart scissors and smart cutout work pretty well for cutting/masking out objects from photographs, and layers are also supported. Another interesting feature is smart resizing.

©Read here FotoFlexer advanced soft focus settings

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Pixlr

Pixlr is an online photo editor which enable you to retouch images directly on your browser. It features history, layers, filters, full-screen mode and a lot of other useful tools. It works just fine, and the whole tool comes in more than 20 languages: noteworthy indeed.

©Read here Pixlr image editing screenshot

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DrPic

DrPic is the last name of PicResize 3.0, which has transformed from a small college project to a large full-fledged web application.
DrPic is now a free to use service based on HTML, AJAX, and JavaScript technology with absolutely no Flash involved. It features resize, crop, rotate, brightness, contrast, auto-fix, blur, sharpen, brushes, grayscale, text, frame and other most used tools and effects. It also has a batch resize feature which might come handy to many users.

©Read here DrPic screenshot

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Picnik

Picnik is a fast, fun, easy to use and powerful set of photo editing tools for editing, sharing and printing images using any internet browser on any computer platform. Acquired by Google, Picnik is integrated with a wide variety of websites like Picasa Web Albums, Facebook, Flickr, Yahoo! Mail and Photobucket.
With Picnik, you can edit your photos wherever they are from wherever you are: crop, resize, rotate, sharpen, red-eye fix, exposure, vignetting, tinting, selective focus and a lot of other tools are available in real-time.
Picnik is astonishingly easy and effective to use.

Update: Picnik is winding down; it will be closing on April 19, 2012 while most of its features will be available on Google+ (which we do not like that much).

©Read here Picnik screenshots

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Splashup

Splashup, formerly Fauxto, is a powerful editing tool and photo manager. With the features professionals use and novices want, it’s easy to use, works in real-time and allows you to edit many images at once.
Splashup runs in all browsers, integrates seamlessly with top photo-sharing sites, and even has its own file format so you can save your work in progress.
It appears to be a bit buggy at times, otherwise it it a good resource. It supports layers, filters, brushes, and a rich array of tools.

©Read here Splashup screenshot

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BeFunky

While the best BeFunky features are not given out for free, still all the image goodies are free (as well as many retouching tools) and this website is a lot of fun for anybody willing to play with photographs and add a very personal touch to them.
Its stunning user interface with Full Screen mode (best on a 27″ iMac), speech bubbles and a lot of gadgets easily attract any sort of users; even adults :-)

©Read here BeFunky

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Lunapic

Lunapic is an easy to use editor with unique features like lens flare, snow effect, water reflections, transitions and more.

©Read here Lunapic lens flare effect

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Sumo Paint

Sumo Paint is one of the internet’s most versatile and featured painting / photo manipulation applications.
Sumo Paint, which works right in about any web browser, can be used in Windows, Macintosh or Linux operating systems. The only requirement is the Flash Player (which usually comes preinstalled in any OS).

©Read here Sumo Paint curves control

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Aviary Phoenix

Phoenix is a free web-based graphical application capable of complex effects. Phoenix image editor is part of the Aviary suite of tools, which greatly expands Phoenix possibilities: vector editor, images capture, markup and resize tools, color palettes and other creative tools.

©Read here Aviary Phoenix screenshot

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Adobe Photoshop Express

Photoshop Express is a free service provided by Adobe as a web-based online picture editing platform. You have to register but then you can use it at no cost.
Do not be fooled by its name: it has nothing to do with the real Photoshop retouching software. Indeed, we would have expected a more comprehensive and powerful tool right from the Photoshop people. Yet the fuctions made available work reliably and the interface is really easy to understand. A good choice for beginners.

Adobe Photoshop Express is also available as a free application for Apple’s iPad, iPod and iPhone.

©Read here Adobe Photoshop Express screenshot