In the Mirror

Last night I had dinner at the Lumber Baron Inn, a bed and breakfast in an old mansion on the west side of Denver. The entire place was decked out in the macabre, skulls and other ghostly attire, draped just about everywhere as many places are this time of year.

In the upstairs men's room, above the urinal, this skull stared back at those of us relieving ourselves. Naturally, I snapped a photo.

There was some glare and reflection in the image so I had to use some creative editing to reduce those impurities before deeming the image shareable.

Here it is, my final product, edited solely with Snapseed for Android.

Does it scare you?

Google+'s New Photo Editing Features

Google decided to roll out new old features to their cloud photo editing options. To be honest, I'm not sure if they retired PicNik or just buried it somewhere else, but the new features are desktop (well, Chrome-top) versions of their popular on-the-go Android app, Snapseed. Why Chrome-top? Apparently the feature is not available unless you're using the Chrome web browser, or presumably the ChromeOS.

 Maybe the Picnik features are still available to other browser users? I'll have to check and update this post.

To find this feature, using Chrome, log into your Google+ account. On the left hand side, choose Photos and then a photo. Once the individual image is open in the lightbox, there should be an Edit option on the top row above the picture. Then edit away... just like Snapseed.

Here's the first image I decided to test this feature on and below I'll post the image from when I edited this with Snapseed on the go many, many, many moons ago:

Originally, I edited this image using the Snapseed app on my Note II.

And here's the unedited original Android shot:

Editing Pictures is Hard Work

Lists! Lists are great, aren't they? There are lists just about everywhere, for just about everything. There are lists of psychological disorders, lists of comic book characters and lists of yellow flowers.

Right now we're going to list photo-editing software that aren't Photoshop. Why? Because I saw an article recently that listed photograph editing software that wasn't Photoshop and there seemed to be a few missing.

So, without further adieu:

Free Options, because who doesn't like free?

• GIMP, primarily Linux distros, but can work on Windows and Mac OS
• Paint.NET, Microsoft Windows
• Pixlr, browser based, Flash required. Plus mobile apps
• PicMonkey, browser based
• Picasa, Windows and Mac
• Creative Kit, browser based editor encased within Picasaweb.google.com and Google+ photos
• Pics.io, not released yet
• Darktable, Mac and Linux distros. Not available for Windows users
• Photopos, Windows
• CinePaint, an offshoot of GIMP, Mac, Linux, Windows
• PaintStar, Windows
• Inkscape, Windows, Ubuntu, Mac
• Artweaver, free and paid, Windows
• Splashup, browser based
• RawTherapee, Linux, Mac and Windows
• SumoPaint, browser based, free and paid
• Fotoflexer, browser based
• Picfull, browser based, more like Instagram with filters than a true photo editing service
• Fotor, browser based, similar to PicMonkey and CreativeKit.
• Seashore, open-source Mac
• Image Tricks, also for Mac. Comes in free and Pro versions.
• Streamzoo, web or mobile (Android/iPhone) based. A bunch of filters and basic editing.

Paid Options, because you just need a little more than free can provide.

• OnOne, price varies depending on product
• Nik Software, $150 (more of an add-on to Photoshop, Lightroom and Aperature)
• Corel Photo Editor, $59
• DxO, price varies depending on product
• Pixelmator, $15 in the Mac Store
• Capture One, price varies depending on product 
• ACD, $59 as of this blog's posting

There are hordes of more paid options out there, including the software that came with your camera, software sold at the check-out lane in box stores and many more options. Aside from the free category, I tried to keep this list to options prosumers or semi-professionals and more might use.

I should also note, Adobe is moving their suite of services to a subscription soon, leaving the buy once and done model behind. They're calling this new service Creative Cloud. Adobe Revel is also cloud-based, but downloads of their apps are for Apple products only at this time, it seems.

Mobile Options, because you're always on the go.

I'm not going to sit here and list all the great mobile apps, because well, frankly, I don't know all the mobile apps and since mobile photo editing is still an incredibly open market, there are gazillions of them out there, most of which I haven't tried. However, +Colby Brown has cataloged a bunch of them HERE and HERE on his website.

Personally, I have used Snapseed, Streamzoo, Pixlr Express, Camera360, The Photographer's Ephemeris and can attest to all of them being worth their while.

From the Denver Art Museum

Oh, and here's a pretty picture for your troubles: