Dartmouth computer science professor and forensic imaging specialist Hany Farid is convinced that photo manipulation isn't just a 20th century phenomenon as employed in a Polish Microsoft ad last month, but rather something that has existed since at least the 1860's. He cites an image of Lincoln as being a composite of the President and of another politician's body.

Says Farid in a recent issue of the IEEE Spectrum, "Even as experts continue to develop techniques for exposing photographic frauds, new techniques for creating better and harder-to-detect fakes are also evolving. As in the battle against spam and computer viruses, it seems inevitable that the arms race between the forger and the forensic analyst will continue to escalate, with no clear victor."

Farid points to abnormalities in quantization (or image compression) and multiple points of light as telltale signs of image tampering. As services like Picnik and Fotoflexer continue to power the editing features in common photo sharing sites like Flickr, Photobucket and Picasa, it will be interesting to see how many forgeries are actually detected should the law pass.

Photo Credit: Art Comments (Lead Image), Hany Farid's "Photo Tampering Through History" (Inset)

1. Photofiltre is a desktop app with a UI reminiscent of Photoshop and a pared-down set of functions. This app eliminates layers and some user controls for certain tools but leaves plenty of room to play with color, saturation, and effects.

The toolbar allows for certain types of painting and selection, but basically, users are limited to making whole-image adjustments.

Has: Levels, lots of color correction and highlight/shadow options, clone stamp

Lacks: Layers, settings and controls for certain tools

If Photoshop Is a Ten: Photofiltre is a 5.

2. Paint.NET is a fascinating desktop app we just found out about through reader recommendations. And our readers were completely right. We found that this app, even though it required a multi-step download process, just might be able to replace Photoshop entirely for many users. We were able to adjust layer blend modes and opacities, create new gradient layers, apply and adjust a bevy of effects and filters, and just about everything an average, non-professional Photoshop user would do.

The toolbar and palettes were familiar, and although some of the breadth and scope of the features felt a little shallow, there's a lot that can be done with this tool.

Has: Layers, full toolbar, levels, curves

Lacks: Sophisticated color correction/alteration, paintbrush, and selection tools; adjustment layers

If Photoshop Is a Ten: Paint.NET is an 8.

3. The GIMP is touted by many as the be-all, end-all of image editing apps. This open-source, desktop-based piece of work has been part of amateur designers' stable of resources for a long time and retains a solid place among Photoshop's free competitors.

All things being equal, there's not a lot we can say to criticize GIMP. As an open source app, it is subject to continuous rounds of improvement; there is no free app that will duplicate the Photoshop experience as well as GIMP will.

Has: Lighting effects, a full paintbrush tool set, pen tool path selection, layer masks

Lacks: Adjustment layers, some effects previews, layer effects

If Photoshop Is a Ten: GIMP is an 11, because it gives users 90 percent of Photoshop's functionality at zero percent of its cost.

4. Aviary is the hot new kid on the block when it comes to image editors. The four-app suite is a web-based beauty that allows for separate functions for images, vector graphics, design work, and more. Photos can be imported from Flickr, Picasa, Facebook, and a number of other sites.

And although having separate apps for different levels of control and execution is the perfect way to scale the overall functionality for different user groups, we found having to switch back and forth between, for example, the Peacock effects editor and the Phoenix image editor, was disconcerting. And Peacock itself is a radical departure from current image editing paradigms, confusing in a way that is only rivaled by Yahoo! Pipes and tax documents. Instead of launching themselves and their work right into the UI, users will have to spend some time in tutorials and make an initial investment before they see a payoff in their results.

Has: Mask layers, layer blend modes, toolbar, selection modification, layer filters, keyboard shortcuts

Lacks: Previews of many filters/effects, controls for customizing effects, continuity and integration between apps

If Photoshop Is a Ten: Aviary Phoenix is a 7; with Aviary Peacock, it's a 2-9, just depending on how much time you want to spend on tutorials.

5. Splashup is just about as good as it gets. Although it lacks a few crucial tools, it makes up for it all by delivering a beautiful knockoff of the Photoshop interface. It actually looks - dare we say it? - a lot sexier than Photoshop. The app also allows for easy importing of photos stored on social sites such as Facebook, Flickr, and more.

Without so much as registering an account, users are taken immediately to a pared-down, in-browser PS with an abbreviated but adequate set of capabilities. This is the Photoshop Lite we've all been asking for all these years. The tools presented allow for just enough control and just enough subtlety to create professional-looking results:

Has: Layers with effects and blend mode/opacity options and a full, floating toolbar

Lacks: Curves, levels, vibrance, and a slew of the less-used Photoshop features

If Photoshop Is a Ten: Splashup is an 8.

6. Users must register accounts to use flauntR app suite. This Flash-based, in-browser app is definitely one of the best-looking of the bunch, but it lacks the all-important layers that take the amateurish edge off an edited image. Without layers, the final results will always look just a little bit ham-fisted. Nevertheless, flauntR gives users a quick, effective way to adjust images and apply effects.

Images from Flickr, Facebook, and other sites can be pulled into the editor, as well. In addition to offering print services through the printR app, the mobilR app also allows for creating background images for several mobile devices, a cool and unique offering. The profilR moreover allows for the automatic creation of appropriately dimensioned avatars for various social network profiles.

Our finished product isn't something we're terribly proud of, and we certainly wouldn't call the result "professional," but the app was quick and simple to use:

Has: Curves, a range of photo filters and effects, one-click palette adjustments, and a decent set of color adjustment tools

Lacks: The ability to change settings and strengths of many effects, and, as aforementioned, layers

If Photoshop Is a Ten: flauntR is a 4.

7. FotoFlexer is a convenient, quick, in-browser editor with lots of great features. It's also got an API, which we find fascinating.

While we weren't able to experience the levels of magic we would have liked (we couldn't create new layers not based on existing images, for example), we did get to jerry rig a few cool effects and create an image that looks 'Shopped enough.

Users can register accounts to store their edited images on the site, and they can also pull photos in from Flickr, Facebook, and similar social sites.

Has: Equivalents of Curves, Pen selection, Magic Wand, Layers, Liquify, and a ton of easy-to-use filters

Lacks: Full-featured opacity settings and blend modes, a Paintbrush equivalent

If Photoshop Is a Ten: FotoFlexer is a 5.

There are quite a few apps we left out of this list; which ones are your favorites to use? If we missed anything crucial, please be sure to let us know in the comments.

Unfortunately, the latest addition won't please everyone. However, smartphone users of the Motorola Q9m/h, Samsung Blackjack I/II, and Palm Treo 750w/700w/wx will be thrilled to here that Photoshop.com will be available from their phone's browser and Skyfire won't be necessary. The service will be available as a free download in September. To get started you'll need a Photoshop.com account ID and one of the aforementioned supported Windows Mobile phones.

What'll Be Available for Photoshop Mobile

We're not sure if this application should even be named Photoshop.com. There's hasn't been any hints, aside from the name, that users will be able to edit their photos from their mobile phone. Instead, this will serve more so as a storage center for your photos. Users can upload photos to their account with 5GB of storage. Photoshop Plus members will receive 20GB of storage space. You can share these photos will family and friends, though no word on how yet.

Users will be able to also use Shozu to upload photos to their Photoshop.com accounts and more phone support for other popular cellphones including the iPhone, BlackBerry Pearl, Motorola Razr, Nokia 5310, and Nokia 6301 will also come in September following the launch of Photoshop.com.

A Feeling of Emptiness

While the service may be a step in the right direction for Adobe, we couldn't help but feel a little disappointed and the meager offerings from Adobe. Personally, I feel that users would be better off sticking with Flickr on their mobile devices. The emphasis on the site's title made us think there would at least be an editing option or two. However, we're hoping to see such features in future updates of the application. Until then, stay tuned for more news on Photoshop.com's mobile launch.

The new Adobe Photoshop Express Uploader lets you browse for photos to add to the uploader tool. As you add photos, you can choose to add them to one of your existing albums in Photoshop Express or you have the option to create a new one. In order to use the uploader, you'll need to sign in with your Adobe ID. (Since their launch of the Adobe online office suite available through Acrobat.com, all their apps now recognize a commonly-shared set of credentials: your Adobe ID.)

Other new features now available in Photoshop Express include:

• The ability to get prints of digital photos from Shutterfly
• The ability to add music to slideshows (pick a track from the Settings panel)
• A new resizing tool that lets you pick a preset image size for mobile, web, profile, or email - resize with one click or choose custom to set your own width and height
• Tagging photos is now possible
• The ability to download photos from anyone's public album or straight from a slideshow

One Small Problem: It Doesn't Work

Unfortunately, upon testing the new AIR app, I ran into a problem - it simply did not work. As I attempted to upload some small JPG images, I would receive an error message reading that the files were "unsupported." According to the message, the JPGs needed to be less than 10 MB in size and smaller than 4000x4000. Well, they were. I tried multiple files with the same results, so clearly there is something wrong there. Photoshop Express also only supports JPG photos so I could not attempt to upload any PNGs.

For the casual photographer, it's difficult to see how Photoshop Express can really compete here - especially now that Flickr provides basic photo editing tools, too, courtesy of Picnik. The niche they've carved out for Photoshop Express is very small: either you're deeply embedded with the Adobe line of products or you need better tools than Picnik and don't want to pay for either Photoshop Elements or Photoshop itself. That isn't a whole lot of people just now.

Adobe would be better off figuring out how to integrate the program into their suite of online office products. Imagine the value in being able to insert photos into Buzzword from Photoshop Express, and, after editing, having Buzzword automatically update itself with the revised photo. Now that would be something! Instead, we have an isolated app and a broken AIR uploader. We know Adobe can do better than this, so we're still optimistic that they will do so soon.

The Makings of Adobe's Online Suite

The first thing that caught my attention when I saw Photoshop Express, not being too much into photography myself, weren't the options available for editing photos (cropping, red eye removal, white balancing, sharpening, auto retouching, distortions, hue and saturation filters, to name a few), but how similar its UI looked other Adobe online offerings, like Adobe Share and Buzzword. Instead of delving into Photoshop Express's features, I instead began to wonder if and how all of Adobe's online offerings would be tied together at some point. 

To that end, I looked at what Adobe has so far. This included the following:

Storage Library and Embedding: Adobe Share (our coverage) is the online document storage platform launched back in September, 2007. The service lets you upload files from your computer into the online library, where they can then be shared with others or embedded onto a web site, similar to what Scribd does.

Share

Document Editor: Also in September, 2007, Adobe acquired Virtual Ubiquity, makers of online document editor, Buzzword (our coverage). This sleek online editor introduced a ribbon menu for accessing controls, but where it really excelled was in its "WYSIWYP," or "what-you-see-is-what-your-print," functionality. Using Flash on the back-end, Buzzword handles page layout in a way that HTML just can't, demonstrating an elegance that makes Google Docs appear clunky in comparison. Buzzword also offers online collaboration capabilities via its sharing feature, which allows you to invite others to read, edit, or comment on your documents in real-time.

Web-Conferencing: Brio, a web-conferencing software currently in beta and available now from Adobe Labs, became available in December, 2007. Brio offers screen-sharing, full multi-party video, VoIP, teleconferencing, whiteboarding, chat, and shared notes all available via your browser. Watching Brio in action, you'll see that it also has the sleek UI like the rest of Adobe's online software. It's also very intuitive to use, without a lot of confusing menus or hidden options.

Brio's back-end also provides the jumping off point for more possibilities, like this Cocomo and Yahoo Maps Mashup, which brings Brio's real-time screen-sharing, collaboration, and whiteboarding to Yahoo Maps.

Brio

Photo Editing and Storage: And now with today's launch of Photoshop Express, Adobe has yet another web-based software tool, and this one with 2 GBs of storage, already trumping Picasa's 1 GB. Combine that with Adobe Share (1 GB) and Buzzword (1 GB), and it's clear that Adobe has been working on building up a pretty robust hosting infrastructure.

Integration and Offline Access

So the question that comes to mind is will these tools be meshed together as one single online suite accessible via a single sign on? That's a very real possibility, confirmed Erik Larson, Director of Product Marketing and Management, Business Productivity Business Unit at Adobe. Although currently some of these tools utilize your Adobe ID to access, others still require you to sign up. However, further down the line, the plan is to have your Adobe ID be the entry point for using all of the online software.

But to make a cohesive online suite, integration would be key, and none of the products currently do that. But today Larson also confirmed that they do still have plans to integrate Buzzword and Share, so you could edit documents, store them online, and embed them on web sites. Even further in the future, he could foresee integration of Photoshop Express with Buzzword.

Imagine that! Having the ability to insert a photo into your document while also being able to change its color or apply filters. Now imagine collaborating in real-time with others on the document, making changes, then embedding it onto your web site. This is what an integrated Adobe online suite could do.

Of course, without offline functionality, Adobe would still lose out to desktop-based suites, so that's where Adobe AIR comes in. Back in September, Adobe said that they would offer an offline version of Buzzword as an Adobe AIR app. While we haven't seen an Buzzword AIR offering yet, one is still definitely in the works. Although they won't confirm its release date, the Buzzword AIR app will bring the much-needed offline capabilities to the document editor, which could make it real competition to desktop software word processors.

What's Next?

The only things that are missing now to create an great online suite are a spreadsheet and slideshow app. Larson wouldn't say for sure, but hinted that the future roadmap for this online platform would include other tools. We would like to suggest SlideRocket, which we just covered today, as a good contender. Also blist (our coverage) would integrate well with the others, filling the spreadsheet/database void that the suite currently has.

However, a glance through the list at Adobe Labs opens up even more possibilities - an online RSS reader? A web-enabled Lightroom? A color theme creator? A Sharepoint/Google Sites competitor?

With these products, Adobe seems to "get it" - they know that software is moving online, but they're betting on the co-existence of both online software with their corresponding offline apps, like those built with Adobe AIR. Like CTO Kevin Lynch said, in an interview with Wired, "I think that AIR and the browser are complimentary. They're going to co-exist....We're very focused on supporting the collaboration between the two environments."

But he also acknowledges what a major undertaking this is, saying, "obviously, that's a big change from the way most companies develop software. For companies like Adobe, it's something we're transitioning to with products like Flex. We're learning."

They certainly are.

Forthcoming tools from Aviary include audio and video editors, a font editor, digital content marketplace service and more. If you'd like an invite to Aviary's services, just visit the site and the first 100 RWW readers will get in right away.

The following is a short video demonstrating the image editor made by its creators. Let's be generous and presume that the choice to demonstrate the tool in transforming a young sex object, driven to psychiatric institutionalization into an old, poor, sickly looking image of womanhood reflects only a lack of maturity on the part of the Aviary staff and is not instead a reflection on the quality of their souls. In other words, leave Britney alone, dudes. Just another day in the male dominated tech world - may the creatives of the future be more creative than this.

Either way, it's a good looking set of tools that I look forward to seeing how our readers put to use.