7 Free Ways to Edit Images Online

Most of us have a need to edit images at some point in our day to day work life, but it’s simply not always feasible for small businesses to shell out the money it takes to buy image editing software and train employees on how to use it.

Whether it’s for adding pictures to a presentation, creating marketing materials, tweaking images for blog posts or just general use, business users can now go to the web to accomplish all of these image editing tasks - completely free of charge! 

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1. For Minor TweaksSometimes all you need to do is tweak a single element or two of an image to make it work perfectly for your professional needs.When it comes to rounding edges, a simple little tool called RoundPic could be a huge time saver. Simply upload your image or specify an image URL, and click to round it. You can then download the final product and be on your merry way. Should you need a few more features, you can also adjust the size, add a shadow or border, and save as html.

In the same light is Web Resizer, a super simple and lightweight image editing tool just for resizing, cropping, and optimizing photos.

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2. Use Anyone-Can-Edit ToolsIf all you need is a few quick fixes to spruce up your company’s images for presentations or web content, then you've got a lot of solid options to choose from.

If usability is key, then Picnik is an excellent choice for online image editing. It’s also the image editor for all Flickr images, and it can pull in most of your photos from across the web – Facebook, MySpace, Photobucket and the like.

A free Picnik account includes editing features, sans the complications of Photoshop-like tools, for correcting exposure, adjusting colors, sharpening images, fixing red-eye, resizing, and rotation. You can also add some basic effects and frames, but the really good stuff will cost you $24.95 a year.

Dr.Pic doesn’t have the same fluid interface as Picnik, or support social site photo import, but it is a completely free utility with a variety of editing tools that anyone can use. You can resize, crop, rotate, adjust brightness, auto-fix, sharpen, add text, and apply a few effects. When you’re done, just opt to save the creation to your desktop or to the web.

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3. Advanced Online Editing Options
The web is also a great place to find and use sophisticated online editing tools that are on par with the likes of Adobe’s software giant Photoshop, which we should note also offers a free online express version.

Splashup is a nifty online image editor that brings the sophistication of Photoshop to the web. Since it mirrors Photoshop functionality with multiple image editing, pixel-level control, layers, filters, and other advanced options, it’s a viable alternative that better fits your budget (it’s free).

Another great free option for more advanced image editing is FotoFlexer. This advanced online image editor supports animation, smart scissors for isolating only the content you want, resizing, smart recoloring, distortion, and image layering.