Adobe Photoshop is the gold standard of photo editing software, the favorite tool for many professional and non-professional graphic designers and photographers. But many of the complex functions that once could only be done if you were a master of Photoshop, can now be achieved using free programs that can be downloaded to your computer or used directly via the web app.
So if you want to quickly apply one or two effects or make complex changes without having to become a Photoshop or Corel Draw guru, we have found and tested some online alternatives that are simple to use photo editing applications, with professional results .
1) HDR effect
The HDR (High Dyamic Range) effect is a technique used to create photographs with perfect colors so that both the light and dark parts seem to be photographed with the right exposure to light.
This technique is accomplished by combining multiple shots of the same image.
The newest digital cameras and many smartphones have integrated the HDR function, in which the device automatically takes multiple photos and processes them.
In the absence of an HDR camera, you can still manually create this effect through Photoshop or any other photo editing software, although this can take a long time.
The easiest way to create an HDR effect is to use Fotor, a free, Flash-based online program that has HDR image creation among its functions.
Fotor, an advanced photo editing app requires you to upload at least three photos of a scene with different exposures.
Fotor can also realign objects and reduce any movement that may have occurred from one shot to another.
In addition to Fotor there are also other web apps to correct photos that are too light or too dark (HDR images)
2) Background removal
Removing the background from a photograph is one of the most difficult jobs to do with Photoshop.
Many professional graphic designers also need to work hard and be patient to do this.
For those who want to do something fast, there is Clipping Magic, an easy and effective online tool.
To use it, upload a photo, mark the areas you want to keep in green and mark the background to be removed in red.
Automatic cropping will do all the work.
The great thing about this software is that there is no need to be too precise in marking areas and the tool is very smart.
If you don't like it, we have seen that there are also other web apps to remove the background from a photo .
3) Remove objects from a photo
If you take a beautiful ruined photograph perhaps because a stranger entered the frame or because you see a garbage can, you can remove it.
Still without using Photoshop and with a technique similar to that of Clipping Magic, you can use Rszr, a tool that does many things and that also allows you to delete an element from the photo without damaging it.
The beauty is that even by removing that element, the background of the photo becomes uniform making it seem that that object has never been there.
In another article, the guide to delete objects from a photo by removing elements and people from the image .
4) Photo collage
If you want to create a collection of images of the holiday or wedding, you can use a program that resizes the photos and puts them all together on a single page.
This time we can use Ribbet, another site with a free web application that allows you to upload photos or use those in Google+, Flickr and Facebook.
The photos are displayed in a collection at the bottom of the page and you can drag them into the collage in various configurations.
You can adjust the spacing, the proportions, and the roundness or even put them at random.
Most users will appreciate the simplicity of ribbet, but if you want to put more than four photos on the card or access some of the premium options, you will have to pay.
For this reason, to make more powerful colleagues, we can use Fotor once again (see point 1) or other programs to create photo collages.
5) Filters and effects
Photo filters have become a bit of a trademark for applications such as Instagram that have made them immediate to be applied on photos taken via iPhone or Android phones.
In another article many Web Apps have been listed with filters and effects for photos similar to Instagram among which we can remember Pixlr-o-matic, one of the easiest and most fun.
You can select an image from your computer or take a new one with the webcam, and then choose from a large variety of filters and effects that can be previewed live.
6) Reflect Photos
The Picreflect web app is the one to be used to create a mirror reflection effect of a photo.
Picreflect isn't the most beautiful site, but it's an easy-to-use tool that works.
Just upload a photo, make some changes to orientation and size, press the " create reflection " button and immediately receive the new mirrored photo.
Another similar web app for the mirror effect is Mirror Effect .
7) Resizing the images
Perhaps the most-used feature in any photo editing program is to resize the images.
There is no need to use Photoshop to do this, just upload the photo to the Pic Resize website and you can make the image 25, 50 or 75 percent smaller or set a custom size (never bigger).
You can also crop and rotate the image before resizing it.
Personally, for cropping and resizing I prefer programs like Irfanview.
8) Write on the photos
To write messages or various writings on the photos, you don't need Photoshop or Corel Draw, just upload the photo on a web application such as Canva .
In another article the best tools to write memes on photos .
9) Draw on the photos
For those who really want to indulge their imagination, there is Psykopaint, the web app that allows you to draw on photos and transform each image into a painting.
10) Crazy effects and fun photomontages
PhotoFunia is the famous web application for creating funny photos.
It is one of the apps to make photomontages of the face in different scenarios, backgrounds and bodies.
You can place a photo of your family on a city billboard, create magazine covers or an art gallery.
PhotoFunia takes the uploaded photo and automatically inserts it into a predefined image.
Another fun web app worth pointing out is BeFunky, to apply a cartoon effect on a photo, write on photos, use special effects and frames.
In addition to these tools, you must also take into account the new Google+ Editing tool that exploits the power of Google Snapseed, an exceptional tool that allows you to edit photos with many of these effects.
