Pixlr Editor 101: The Best Online Photo Editor and Photoshop Alternative
We are indeed in the digital age. Whether you have a website or blog, you need to make sure the visual content on your site is not only eye-catching but also of the highest quality possible. At the same time, you will also want to make sure you customize images and visual content on your site to match your brand and fit the intentions of your audience. All of this can be done through handy online editors, which are not only free, they are also 100% browser-based at the same time.
Everyone knows that you can take great photos with nothing more than your mobile phone, but if you have some excellent mobile editing software, it can make a big difference in the quality of your pictures. What about editors? If you don’t have a good digital photo editor, your competition may outshine your photos with enhancements that you can only achieve through photo editing.
If you do digital photography with your mobile phone, this post should give you some tips on how to enhance and edit your best mobile photos. We’ll review at least five well-known editors and show you how they can help you improve the quality of your images at next to nothing in cost.
Pixlr Editor
Pixlr is a company that knows its digital photo software. They have created some tools that help the digital photographer to edit photos “on the go” that they took with their mobile phones. Tools like Pixlr Editor allow you to import the photos you take with your mobile device and edit them quickly before posting to social media or sharing with others.
But they also have another cool tool that allows you to edit full-sized photos from scratch by pulling your photos into this free online editor. The only requirement to use it is that you must have Flash installed to use it. If you don’t have it, you can download it here.
As far as the editor itself, Pixlr Editor is free and does not require you to download any software. Just bring in your photos into the editor online and edit them in any way you want, adding text, textures, special effects, and more.
Some of the best features we noticed in Pixlr Editor include:
- Image filters
- Layering
- Erase tools
- Hand tools
- Eye drop tools
- Various fonts
In addition to all of this, you can adjust your image by controlling or increasing the brightness levels, as well as several other features and controls.
If you are interested in the online Pixlr Editor, check it out.
Pixlr Express
Pixlr Express is a convenient, online photo editor that allows you to edit your photos online anytime. You can bring your photos in via their convenient online editor. Import your photos one at a time to edit them and then save them to your social media or photo albums. Do whatever you want with the finished images once you edit them.
When you first go to the editor, you’ll see four options:
- Browse
- Open URL
- Webcam
- Collage
Choose the “browse” option if you want to pull in images from your computer. This will allow you to edit any photos that you have on your hard drive to your specifications. Add text, special effects, or anything else you want. Use the brightness and other controls to adjust the quality, then export it to different locations.
The Pixlr Express editor also allows you to open a unique URL where an image resides to pull into the editor, as well as to change the images from the URL. You can create unique images from other images this way or import any image you want using this technique. Just make sure and check with the URL that you’re pulling the image from and make sure it agrees with their regulations. Images that have a Creative Commons license are generally fine to use, even for commercial use. Just read the individual license of each image before posting.
Online Photo Editor
If you are looking for a robust online photo editor, Pixlr Editor, and Pixlr Express are both great tools. Whether you are an online digital photographer or just have some good photos that you want to enhance and share, you’ll find these tools to be very valuable to your photo editing tool collection.
Advantages of Online Photo Editors
If you are looking for a way to enhance your photos without having to use a standalone photo editor, you can try Pixlr Editor or Pixlr Editor Express as a solution. There is an increasing trend that involves using online photo editors instead of standalone software solutions. The reason for this is that you can save a lot of money in software by using free online software instead.
Another advantage to using online photo editor solutions is that you can access the software from anywhere. Unlike standalone editors that require you to be at home on the computer where you have it installed, online photo editors let you use it from any browser. Imagine the convenience if you are off on vacation or at a remote location working on photo editing. You can bring your photos at any time in these online photo editors and spruce up your photos “on the go” from any computer.
Online PhotoShop
It’s interesting to note that even big digital photo editing companies such as Adobe are now offering their products online. Rather than paying the high price of their full-blown version of Photoshop, Adobe now offers an online solution called Adobe Creative Cloud. This unique tool will allow you to access all of your favorite tools from Adobe in one place through “the cloud.” It’s a premium plan for $49.99 if you want all of the apps that include Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Adobe Spark, plus many new creative digital photo tools that you can use at no extra charge.
There is also a free trial before you start your subscription if you want to try it out first.
If you’re looking for a free online Photoshop application, try the Adobe Creative Cloud option out free and then buy the package you want after you have taken it for a test drive.
Free vs. Paid Programs
When you are looking for online photo editing solutions, remember that the best programs may not be the free ones. We did find the Pixlr Editor and Pixlr Editor Express to be great programs if you want to do some quick editing and touch-ups with your photos without using a premium editor. But for a more robust plan, you may want to try the premium packages such as Adobe Creative Cloud, which offers more features and there are no limits to your access to all of the creative apps.
You can purchase a program as low as $9.99 per month for Photoshop and Lightroom which is similar to the Pixlr Express program that is free.
It helps to shop around and see which program meets your needs and try them out online. It’s easy and free to give any of these programs a trial run. Then you can choose which one works best for you.
Best Ways to Optimize Photos for your Blog or Social Media
Once you find an online photo solution that works for you, you will want to work on optimizing your photos for the web. Whether you plan to use the photos on your website, blog, or social media platforms, you need to do a little research to make sure you are following the correct specifications for various platforms. Blog platforms such as WordPress and Blogger automatically optimize them for their platforms. But if you’re placing images on social media, there are specs you need to follow to get the best quality for these platforms. Find out more on the Hubspot site to check your images for compliance.
Hubspot is an excellent site to bookmark for this information as the image specifications are updated annually.
How Google Indexes Images
As you are editing your digital photos, also remember that they will be indexed individually by Google. This means that they will be searchable by people who may be looking for your brand or your products. So if your images are product or brand-related, you will want to use specific keywords and meta tags that will help customers find you.
Don’t forget about Instagram and Pinterest
One social media platform that many business owners forget is Instagram. It is often overlooked as a tool for online businesses because they are often used by homemakers or women who are posting things about weddings or decorative items. But this is just one area that you’ll find on these platforms. When you post photos about your business or brand on these platforms, you are placing them on the best platforms available for digital photos.
Check into both Pinterest and Instagram to see how they might be able to help you maximize your reach regarding your products or online business promotions.
Blog often using photos that shine
Once you decide on a photo editor, experiment with some tools that help you to get your message across. Make your photos the best quality possible using one of these free or paid editors. Blog often to attract the highest number of people. Remember that photos appeal to people visually in a way that text alone cannot do. When you use these platforms to show off your editing photos, you’ll be on your way to making a bigger impact with your potential buyers and online audience.