Sharing Digital Photographs

In the preceding chapter, we discussed sites you can use to store and share all types of computer files. One particular type of file-sharing site, however, warrants coverage in its own chapter. I’m talking photo-sharing sites—those web-based sites that let you store and share your digital photographs with friends and families. Beyond simple photo sharing, however, are sites that let you edit your digital photos.
Although these sites will never equal the editing power of a high-end software program such as Adobe Photoshop CS, an online photo-editing site might be all you need to perform simple editing tasks, such
as lightening or darkening a photo, cropping the frame, and so on. So read on to learn what you can find in the cloud to help you fix and share your favorite digital photos.


Exploring Online Photo-Editing Applications

Let’s start with those web-based applications you can use to edit your digital photos. After all, not every picture you take is perfect; sometimes a quick fix can turn a bad photo into an acceptable one. What can you do with an online photo-editing program? While you don’t have quite the number of options you do with most desktop photo editing software, you do get all the basics. You can crop and rotate your photos, color
correct them, fix the red-eye problem, adjust contrast and brightness, and even combine multiple photos into a photo collage. Most of these cloud applications work by having you upload your photo to the editing site first. You then make the edits you want, often by clicking a “quick fix” button of some sort. Your edited photo is then downloaded back to your computer for archiving.


Adobe Photoshop Express

The first web-based photo-editing application we’ll discuss is also arguably the best. Adobe Photoshop Express (www.photoshop.com/express/) has a stellar lineage, coming from the same company that brings you Photoshop CS, the number-one photo-editing program for serious photographers. As the name implies, Photoshop Express is kind of a quick-and-dirty version of the fullfeatured Photoshop CS, with all the basic editing controls you need to fix the most common photo problems. Best of all, it’s completely free. You start using Photoshop Express by uploading those photos you want to

• edit. Your uploaded photos appear in the online library shown in Figure 16.1. To edit a photo, double-click that photo in the library. The Photoshop Express editing window, shown in Figure 16.2, offers a variety of different editing options, grouped as follows:  Basics. Crop, rotate, auto correct, exposure, red-eye removal, touchup (a blur effect to remove scratches and blemishes), and color saturation control

•  Tuning. White balance, highlight, fill light, sharpen, and soft focus

•  Effects. Pop color, change hue, black & white, tint, sketch, and distort

This is far and away the largest collection of editing and enhancement options of any online photo editor. Suffice to say, just about anything that’s wrong with a photo, you can fix online with Photoshop Express.

Sumber : Cloud Computing - Web Based Applications That Change the Way You Work and Collaborate Online, Michael Miller