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.

For more control over the screenshot, you can also invoke Talon from Aviary's web site, where you can manipulate the image quality, set the screen resolution, and decide if you want to capture the entire page or just the part that would be above the fold. In the next version, users will also be able to set which browser and OS to take the screenshot from (which should be great for web designers who want to test their creations).

Some Issues

One problem with the Firefox plugin, however, is that it doesn't capture Flash content, and that, of course, is a deal-breaker in many cases. Using the 'aviary.com' prefix to capture Flash content works, but you can't select a specific moment in a video to show in your screenshot, for example. For this, you still need desktop based tools like Jing or Skitch, which a lot of us here at RWW use. Though they can't capture a complete web page that goes beyond the fold, you can use another desktop tool like Little Snapper, which makes it pretty easy to capture complete web pages at once.

We learned about the un-publicized and experimental plug-in from Brad Linder at Download Squad this afternoon. Check out the screenshots below, then get on over to the Firefox plug-ins directory and give it a try for yourself.

Above, is one set of options that pop-up, on right click, with Talon installed. Below, is a screenshot of the entirely web based editing interface after a screen grab. It would be nice if this plug-in had a Skitch-like ability to upload to Flickr easily, but that's not the point of Aviary. It is significantly faster to use Skitch locally, but the markup options are woefully meager. They are different products and Skitch is Mac only. Anyone using Firefox can use Talon.

I've been looking for a way to get Aviary into my routine and this plug-in makes that very easy.

Aviary's products are stunning and we expect that many people will be very surprised to find new image editing tools now available on their favorite websites.

Aviary is a fascinating company. In addition to offering multiple tools that effectively offer a collaborative version of Photoshop on the web, for free or with a subscription plan, the company just published a book about how to create visual effects using its software.

While other image editing services would form selective partnerships with a handful of big image hosting websites and then issue a big press release, Aviary is different. They've opened a free API, made a blog post, and will likely make a much wider impact than traditional business development methods would probably have allowed.

A new API makes perfect sense in this context and we're excited to see how other sites decide to integrate it.

Like most of its free rivals like FotoFlexer or Picnik, Aviary can import pictures from most of the popular online photo-sharing sites, including Flickr, Facebok, and Picasa. Its features, however, go far beyond the functionality of these free online applications and the Peacock application allows you to experiment with images in ways that no other online application has allowed you to do so far.

Discount Offer

Overall, Aviary is definitely worth a try. You can sign up for a free (but limited) account here, or follow this link to claim your $55 discount if you decide to go for the paid version before November 3rd.