There's a whole host of online photo editing tools. I recently ran across a review of the most popular and useful apps on TechCrunch, where I stumbled upon Picnik, which got TechCrunch's approval. In fact, the folks at TC like it best out of all the online photo editing applications.
Picnik uses Flash. It is fast. The UI is very intuitive. It has a limited number of tools, but for quick edits, especially if you're "on the go," you cannot beat the utility of this tool. It's best thought of as an online version of Google's Picasa.
There are two especially neat things about Picnik. First, you don't have to upload any photos to their servers. You simply browse your hard drive for the photo(s) you wish to edit and -- voila -- use the tool.
The second really cool thing is Picnik's integration with Flickr. You can use the tool and then automatically have the edited versions of your pics posted on Flickr.
Really nice job, Picnik!
Friday, February 09, 2007
Online photo editing with Picnik
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Alternative to using the flash
When taking photographs, especially of people, and especially indoors, it is quite natural to use the built-in flash on your camera.
Don't do it.
The flash generally leaves a "shine" to your subject that makes it look like an amateur took the photo, which most likely is the case. But you can make your photos look great without using the flash and creating that "snapshotty shine."
Bump up the ISO. Most new cameras have a manual adjustment for the ISO setting. The ISO setting in a digital camera mimics the ISO of film in a film camera. Rather than having to change film, however, the digital solution is much cheaper and easier.
Generally speaking, you should always shoot at the lowest ISO setting possible that renders the best image. Usually, this is ISO 100. Shooting at an ISO of 100, versus at 800, for example, introduces comparatively less noise. But today's digital cameras are very good at the higher ISO settings. My Canon Digital Rebel XT shoots very good pictures at its highest ISO setting, 1600.
Here are two pictures. One was shot at ISO 100 with the camera's built-in flash, the other at ISO 1600 with no flash. See how the picture with the non-flash, higher-ISO setting looks more natural? By the way, there has been no manipulation of either image; the output of the camera was not altered in any way.
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