Digital Imaging - Multimedia

In the realm of digital image editing there are numerous applications one can choose to use. With the advent of web 2.0, it seems this realm expands everyday and we are forced to choose a particular application.

Photoshop CS3 is basically the industry standard. It has several features and functions that can alter or enhance an image. The downfall - the cost. This application is far to expensive for novice use. We have it in schools, but some students don't cannot afford a computer let alone a $600 application. None the less, if you can get it, it's generally accepted as industry standard.

So what is the answer to Photoshop, I will highlight a few. And, yes, they are free but are soliciting special accounts that would cost a small fee. First, for the beginner I recommend Picnik. This application is very user friendly. One can alter any image once it is uploaded from your computer. You can then save the image to your Facebook account, My Space account or computer's picture folder. They have a few new updates - one is a puzzle effect the makes your image look like a 24 piece puzzle. I recommend this for the weekend photo afficianado; the person who likes to take photos on their digital camera that is mainly concerned with removing red eye or sharpening the image. Get your account now.

Second is Aviary. Aviary is a Brand New application that was developed by some great people at Worth 1000. Aviary is free, but solicits you to get an account and donate. Aviary refers to birds, and the cool thing is their applications are birds' names. I plan to do this because this site is basically a digital media playground. The image editing tool is aptly named "Pheonix." Pheonix is basically Photoshop, the interface is identical. Being new, there are some kinks that need to be worked out. Avairy applications are web-based, meaning that users may have to wait for the feature or function to take effect for a few seconds or minutes. The length of time you wait seems to depend on how detailed your altering is.

Avairy is expanding too. Soon Avairy will be a host site for many other applications such as video editor, audio editor, etc. Add this one to your Delicious bookmark account now!

Now, I mention Worth 1000. This site is where the best of the best learn and particpate in photoshop contests and tutorials. If you have ever gotten any emails with funny billboards or crazy pictures, they were photoshoped and likely cam from this website. Check out the Galleries too. Another website with photoshop is Planet Photoshop.com. This site has video tutorials that allow you learn and give you more ideas.

So you all the above - you will quickly go from a novie image editor to well versed. The main thing is now we don't have to be expert photographers to achieve an expert looking photo. We have great tools that do that job for us!