There are plenty of online image editors out there, but it can be tough to find the right one. If you're looking for a few filters, a bit of layer support, and a decent range of tools, Pixlr might be the one you want. You'll be familiar with its tools from using desktop apps like Photoshop and The Gimp, but it's rare to see so many advances options in a web app.

Some of the Pixlr perks that surprised me: opacity sliders! Layers and transparency! The collection of filters includes halftones, scanlines and pixelation. Common (but useful) features like hue/saturation, resizing, and brightness/contrast are also intact. Next time you find yourself on a computer without Photoshop, you might also find you don't need it.

Development toward the 2.6 release of GIMP continues, and devoted users can now head over to the FTP server and grab a copy of the new (and unstable) 2.5.4 release.

Several UI annoyances have been fixed. Docks and toolboxes can now be easily recovered from an accidental close via the window menu. You can also lock your tabs to a dock to keep yourself from dragging them out by mistake, and presets can be saved in all GIMP's color tools.

A blank, placeholder window has been added (pictured), which allows files to be dragged-and-dropped for editing.

The help system has been improved, and now supports online browsing. If you don't have the entire set of docs installed, GIMP will simply open the requested page in your web browser.

Full release notes are available here.

If you need a quick way to round the corners of an image but hate messing with a full-blown image editor, then make sure you bookmark RoundMyCorners. Similar to other apps like this we've covered before, it's a very basic online tool but it works exactly as promised.

Simply select an image from your computer then choose your options. Corners can be rounded from 1 to 10 pixels and customized with just about any color you can think of. Decide if you want a reflection included, what format you want the image saved as (PNG, JPEG, or GIF), then let RoundMyCorners do its thing. The final image will download automatically to your desktop, with "rounded" thoughtfully provided in the file name.

This is a fantastically handy tool, but there are a couple of small improvements I'd like to see. A preview function would be terrific, as would the ability to name the file before it's downloaded. The developer says additional functionality is on the way, so let's hope these are two features that make the cut.

There's nothing flashy or fancy about this Web site, but RoundMyCorners a great tool to get the job done.

I understand that Photoshop is a great program. I'm willing to concede that there's really no comparable software for the professional user. What I just don't get is why the average user thinks 1) they need Photoshop and 2) they need to pirate it.

A few years ago, no one came in and asked me "Can you put Photoshop on my computer?" Most users hadn't even heard of the program. Now the perception from the public seems to be that if you want to edit photos at all, you've got to have Photoshop to do it - and that you might as well just steal it.

But why? Most users don't need even half of the functionality in Photoshop, and there are plenty of great editors that are easy to use, less hard on computer resources, and completely free.

Clear your conscience and try one of these alternatives!

Do you ever end up with a really good picture of yourself, except for maybe too much shine on your face from the flash? Or your face looks a bit more red than you would like? Of course. We all have those photos. Portrait Professional can help you touch up those little imperfections.

Anthropics Technology has recently release Version 8 of the software, which now supports Intel Macs as well as PCs. The software is relatively easy to use for basic touch-ups. You simply click five points on the face (with guided instructions) and let the software do the rest of the work.

The software works best with straight on photos of someones face. Side views are more difficult to work with and more likely to come out looking a bit off. There are special settings such as glamour, drama, face slimming and improve complexion which you can use with one click. The only thing that appeared to happen with the glamour setting was a rather awkward elongating of the neck on the photos we tried though.

It was fun to play with and change eye colors, lighten hair and turn photos to sepia tones. If you photo subject has a tendency to squint when smiling their eyes may come out looking rather like an alien but, for straight on, wide open eyed photos, the little touch-ups did improve the look.

The only complaint is that, once altered, the photos seem a little more flat. Maybe it was just the photos we used but the people looked a little more Stepford-ish in a way. They all had really good skin though!

[Thanks Christina for the photo]

The Photoshop Express public beta launched about six weeks ago and other than some early concerns about the ToS, we continue to be impressed with the service. Today, Adobe has added a number of new features to the service, including support for Flickr.

At the conference call in March, we asked Adobe about their plans for integrating Photoshop Express with other web services and they assured us Flickr support was on the way. It's available now and we think it adds a lot of value to both services. Now you can download your Flickr photos directly into Photoshop Express for cropping, color correction, digital effects, etc. Photos edited with Photoshop Express can be immediately re-exported/uploaded to Flickr all in one seamless step.

Additionally, Adobe has added a new "Save As" feature so that you can save multiple versions of a photo in addition to the original image. Adobe has also introduced a new embeddable media player for photo slideshows that can be used with Facebook, MySpace and other social media sites.

Adobe Photoshop Express is free and available now.

Photo management software for Windows makes us weep. For most people, photo management consists of loading the software (and drivers) that came from the camera manufacturer. So you've got a Nikon camera, and the photo management software is really different from your significant other's Kodak software.

It looks different. It acts different. It's easier to set up some ways, or more inflexible in others. It might even be installing extraneous applications on your machine you weren't expecting.

Linux, as you've probably guessed, handles cameras a little differently. Camera drivers -- many different camera drivers -- are handled by gphoto2 and its libraries. Your pictures are downloaded and organized through photo management software, which runs on top of the gphoto2 drivers. (As a side note, gphoto2 can also be used to download pictures from the command line.)

Your Nikon, your mom's Kodak, and your brother's Sony will all use the same photo management program on your Linux machine. Now that's a little less complicated.

Today we're taking a look at the F-Spot photo manager.

Aviary is an ambitious suite of web based image editing apps created to enable collaboration among artists of all genres and to provide artists a direct distribution channel to the marketplace. If you're already discounting online flash applications as a plausible alternative to desktop apps like Adobe Illustrator, Gimp, Photoshop, etc., Aviary agrees with you to a certain extent.

What Aviary is offering, make that "soon to offer" is a score of online tools that integrate with one another in one package. The idea is to provide online collaboration capabilities to artists, especially hobbyists and budding artists. The tools are especially useful for quick collaboration, mock ups, and initial team feedback, in ways where file sharing from desktop apps just aren't. And that's Aviary's niche.

Aviary's tools aren't your typical crop, resize, take out red eye kind of tools. Think 3D modeler, vector editor, Flex based pattern generator, color swatch generator, video and sound editors, desktop publishing, and the list goes on and on.

It turns out that Madonna had it wrong: instead of living in a material world, we are increasingly moving to a digital one. One arena in which that is particularly true is photography: digital cameras have slowly replaced traditional cameras, digital images replaced real prints, and digital manipulation has replaced traditional editing means.

Today we're going to look at six programs for the Mac, all designed to help you edit and manipulate your digital images. These programs vary widely in price, skill level, and features. Know this: whether you simply want to remove red-eye without having to pull out that felt-tip pen (we're not the only ones who did that, right?), or would like to insert Bigfoot into a picture of scenery, we've got you covered.

It's been a quiet week in Lake Woebegon, out here on the edge of the prairie. Oh, wait, that's Garrison Keillor, not us. Regardless, here's some stuff that happened this week on Download Squad.

Open Web Awards

The Open Web Awards voting rounds kicked off this week. If you missed the first three categories, there's still time to cast your vote.

Veto Beacon with Freakin Beacon Firefox extension

Has Facebook's Beacon caused your blood pressure to rise as your level of web privacy has fallen to a new low? Fear not. Dolores Parker shows us how to block that pesky Beacon and take back your life.

Flickr gains photo editing with Piknik

We love Flickr but, until now it's been strictly info-in, info-out. Editing your photos was something you did before you uploaded to Flickr, not after. Flickr's new partnership with Picnik means now you can crop, resize, adjust exposure, contract, color saturation and other aspects of your images with just a few clicks. Sweet!

If you ever find yourself working on a computer where you don't have the world's number one professional photo editing software, Photoshop, or just don't feel like spending the pile of cash that it demands, smaller online solutions might be for you. In my quest to locate a great photo editing tool that makes editing photos easy for everyone, I have come across Picnik. Picnik has powerful online photo editing tools that you can use through your browser. Registration is free, and pictures can be uploaded from Flickr, your computer, directly from a website link, Yahoo search, Flickr search, or from a webcam. Picnik's list of editing tools include auto fix, rotate, crop, exposure, colors, sharpen, and red-eye reduction. There are five special creative tools one can use, but only one is currently active. This is the special effect set, where users can easily change photos to black & white, sepia, boost colors, matte picture with soft edges, vignette, and soften. When photo editing is complete, photos can than be uploaded to your Flickr account, email the photo directly to an email address in small, medium, large, or full mode, save it to your computer, or create a Flickr slideshow. Users can also choose to email photos to websites including Photobucket, Costco, Snapfish, Kodak and Photolog where they can be printed and ordered online. There is also another option where you can print photos directly from Picnik onto your home printer if you choose. The interface is easy to navigate, and it's a joy to use. If you prefer to work full screen with no browser borders, simply click on the Picnik logo.

More screenshots after the jump...

[Via Emily Chang]

Corel has decided to give away some of its software as free and instantly downloadable. The software package available is Corel Snapfire, a photo organizing tool that shares, edits, prints, and creates slide shows and montages. Corel does offer an upgraded to Snapfire called Snapfire Plus, for $39.99. Snapfire Plus adds more movie effect and editing tools into the mix. Snapfire is similar to Google's photo organization tool Picasa.

[via cnet]

You're on vacation, you snap some pics of a nice monument and building, and some snaps of your family in front of the monument and building. When you arrive home to download the pics, you notice to your dismay that there are a bunch of people in your picture. Just standing beside your family. What do you do?

Get SnapMedia's Tourist Remover, that's what you do! The trick is: you are required to take a bunch of pictures of the background location of where you are shooting. The less going on in the picture the better. So try to get it with as few people as possible. Try to keep the lighting the same as well. All you have to get started is sign up, and upload your images. SnapMedia's system will handle the image manipulation.

I have yet to try this app out, but it sounds pretty cool if it really says what it does. If anyone has any experience with SnapMedia's Tourist Remover, drop a line in the comments and let us know if it really works.

[Thanks Mike]