online editing?

[clanthar]

Aviary

surprised no one here mentioned it. not sure if you can do masks on it but it is all browser based. sometimes it can be a bit of a CPU hog. so it will slow down randomly but it will be fine for what you need.


//edit//
it DOES have layer masking. and it is free.

That's a new one for me. I just took a quick look at it and it does indeed edit in multiple layers and provides layer masks. I ran a quick test and discovered one unfortunate problem. It is entirely icc profile unaware. In fact it strips any icc profiles out of uploaded images effectively destroying every photo it touches.

Joe

What is the ICC profile? How does not having that destroy a photo?

When your camera creates and then saves a photo it's an RGB image; R = red, G = green and B = blue. Each pixel in your photo has three numbers assigned to identify its color. For example a pixel in a nice sunny day blue sky might have the values R = 140, G = 200, B = 250 (sRGB). In order for those numbers to actually identify a color it was necessary for me to add (sRGB) -- the color space. RGB numbers alone do not define specific colors. They are only meaningful when a color space is referenced. In different color spaces (there are many) the same RGB numbers identify different colors. Look at the illustration below. By the numbers, those squares are the exact same color. Do you see two squares that are the exact same color? Note that the RGB numbers are the same.

So when your camera saves a photo and assigns RGB values to every pixel it also embeds an ICC profile in the photo that identifies the referenced color space so that the RGB values can be decoded to specific colors. If you remove that ICC profile as Aviary does then all the numbers that identify the colors in your photo become instantly meaningless -- i.e. photo destroyed. Is R = 130, G = 45, B = 60 the color on the left above or is it the color on the right or is it some other color?

So, destroyed is a pretty hefty word there. In fact the internal relationship between colors in your photo will stay intact and so it is possible, if you know what you're doing, to load the photo into a program like GIMP and look at it with various color spaces assigned until you find one you like (maybe the right one). In the photo business right now we tend to work with 3 or 4 different color spaces and your camera at best has options for 3. So you can justly accuse me of exaggeration with my word choice (destroy), but it really is unforgivable for software that edits photographs to do something as sloppy and damaging as strip out the ICC profile or fail to recognize it and use it correctly.

Joe

 

[Tulsa]

If you are serious about photo editing, you need to stick with Gimp, if you want free, then upgrade to photoshop. As for the long delay with Gimp, thats your computer. I had the same issue, got a computer properly built, and Gimp is just as fast at CS5.

 

[brownieapple]

hmm i never looked into the ICC thing with the Aviary tool set. thanks for that bit of info. just wondering would there be so way to reintroduce an ICC?

 

[Blake.Oney]

I googled this. It seems that it does layers. Photo editor online - Pixlr.com edit image

 

[clanthar]

I googled this. It seems that it does layers. Photo editor online - Pixlr.com edit image

It does layers, masks and then some. It's the most impressive online photo editor I've seen so far. And it's surprisingly fast. It's a FLASH app and it edits photos directly from your computer (a security concern). I opened a JPEG file from a 10 megapixel camera and it handled it nicely -- slows down in some of the processes like sharpening.

Unfortunately it's just like Aviary (mentioned above) in that it trashes every photo by stripping out the ICC profile. Still it's an impressive offering.

Here's a visual example of what software like this does. I used Pixlr to open this photo of the Hardin lift bridge. It ignored the ICC profile in the file and decoded the colors incorrectly producing the trashed bottom version of the photo. Software like this is one reason most of the photos on the Internet look like cr*p.

Joe

 

[stephras07]

So if I used that, could I go back in on my computer and re-boost the color? Or would I just be better off getting Photoshop?

And knowing this will start a whole new discussion.... Which version of photoshop? I don't have a lot of money to invest, but I know that I don't want elements because it is limiting (from what I've been told anyway). I looked into the plug in for Aperture that would let me do masks, but the plug in alone is $250! No way I can talk the hubby into that at this point lol.