Phixr: another Web-based photo editing app
Phixr is a free, Web-based photo editing tool that celebrates its one-year anniversary tomorrow. If you're interested in tweaking a few of your photos (local or hosted), Phixr connects with nearly every popular Web service out there, and has some powerful tools to make your photos look better without your having to spend a dime on editing software.
Phixr gives users photo editing foundations like cropping, brightness, rotation controls, and red-eye removal. There are also some more advanced tools like pixel-noise removal and 14 Photoshop-like filters for adding artistic alterations to your shots. The pixel-noise remover takes a while to work its magic, but I got excellent results on some particularly grainy indoor photos.
Anytime you upload a photo either from your hard drive or popular Web services like Flickr, Photobucket, or Picasa, Phixr will store your shot on its servers for three hours. You can log out, come back a few hours later, and continue editing. When you're done, you can re-upload your photo to a dozen different services like Costco Photos, ImageShack, and LiveJournal. There are also options to export it as JPEG, PNG, GIF, or PDF.
One big downside of Phixr is its speed. Every time you make an edit, the page needs to refresh. It's aggravating, actually. If you intend on working with more than one photo it's just not worth your time. While there are before and after previews for any edit, it's all done in small thumbnails, which doesn't show enough detail to do the job. By comparison, Picnik, a Web-based photo service we checked out recently, shows edits in real time, and has a much more user-friendly interface for beginners. More screens after the jump.
Related: Adobe to offer Web-based Photoshop
Choosing one of 14 various photo effects, similar to 'filters' in Photoshop
(Credit: CNET Networks)
The noise removal tool is a little slow, but good at getting rid of 'grain' in shots.
(Credit: CNET Networks)
The caption tool lets you add captions to any photo. In this case it's the SpotDJ mascot.
(Credit: CNET Networks)
To select an online service to grab your photos, just pick one. You'll be able to choose which photo you want by its thumbnail.
(Credit: CNET Networks)
Josh Lowensohn is an associate editor for Webware.com, CNET's blog about cool and otherwise useful Web applications and services. If you've found a site you'd like profiled, shoot him an e-mail. E-mail Josh.
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Also, there's no way to get in close to work on a specific area. To make quality edits on phixr will be next to impossible in it's present state.
I'm guessing this is a fine service for someone who has no need to make tough edits in a hurry. For someone casually playing with vacation pictures I'm sure it's ok, but for professional use it's useless.
You should have noticed Phixr's target market by the "speech bubble" and "instant photo" tools ;)