Wipe Out Unwanted Photo Elements With Free PhotoWipe

As an amateur photographer (very amateur), I know how hard it is to get that perfect picture. Countless times, over the years, I’ve ended up with the perfect shot only to have it spoiled by one small detail that if removed, would enhance the photo a great deal.

PhotoShop of course, is a terrific software product for all sorts of photo manipulation, including removing unwanted objects from photos. The downside with PhotoShop is, the learning curve is particularly steep. As well, PhotoShop is definitely at the upper end of the price range for software, and probably out of reach of the average user.

Recently, I came across a great little (1.5MB), free Windows application, PhotoWipe, (last updated March 18, 2010), a basic photo editing tool which makes it easy to get rid of unwanted elements from photos.

The GUI is very simple since it includes just a few basic tools.

Using PhotoWipe doesn’t require that the user learn a complicated process.

All you need to do is:

Open the image to be worked on.

Paint over the parts to be removed black, using one of the brushes which are available in a number of sizes.

If you make a mistake you can use the eraser tool to correct your error.

Use the built in preview viewer to check your work.

Save your new file.

Take a look at the photo below, taken from my Dock a few summers ago, which shows an unsightly TV tower deep in the background.

Using a simple PhotoWipe tool and bingo! No more ugly TV tower.

PhotoWipe does a good job when removing, or repairing, minor elements within a photo, but don’t expect miracles. Even so, it should be part of every amateur photographer’s image editing toolbox.

System Requirements: Windows 7, Windows Me, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Vista, Windows NT, Windows XP

Download at: Download.com

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PhotoWipe – Paint Out Unwanted Details From Your Pics

As an amateur photographer I know how hard it is to get that perfect picture. Countless times, over the years, I’ve ended up with the perfect shot only to have it spoiled by one small detail that if removed, would enhance the photo a great deal.

I’ve not had to remove Uncle Bob (who’s now out of favor with the family), or my ex-girlfriend from any photos, but that may well be because I’ve not had the time, the patience, or the appropriate software that made it easy to do the job.

PhotoShop of course, is a terrific software product for all sorts of photo manipulation, including removing unwanted objects from photos. The downside with PhotoShop is, the learning curve is particularly steep. As well, PhotoShop is definitely at the upper end of the price range for software, and probably out of reach of the average user.

Recently I came across a great little (1.5MB), free Windows application that may just change my mind on getting rid of Uncle Bob. PhotoWipe, developed by Hanov Solutions, is a basic photo editing tool that makes it easy to get rid of unwanted elements from photos.

Using PhotoWipe doesn’t require that the user learn a complicated process.

All you need to do is:

• Open the image to be worked on.
• Paint over the parts to be removed black, (Uncle Bob for example), using one of the brushes which are available in a number of sizes.
• If you make a mistake you can use the eraser tool to correct your error.
• Use the built in preview viewer to check your work.
• Save your new file.

Take a look at the bars in the cage before, and after, applying the removal effect.

PhotoWipe does a good job when removing, or repairing, minor elements within a photo, but don’t expect miracles. Even so, it should be part of every amateur photographer’s image editing toolbox.

System Requirements: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista

Download at: Hanov Solutions

Create Web-Savvy Images with PhotoPlus 6 – Free

SerifSoftware puts an interesting and unusual twist to the usual “try this application for free for 30 days” we are all pretty familiar with. Serif releases older versions of their current software for download at no cost, to entice at least some users to upgrade to current versions of their popular software.

Despite the slightly dated appearance of SerifSoftware’s PhotoPlus 6, this is not an ‘old’ program that’s been revived just for give-away. PhotoPlus is still an amazing photo editing application that enables you to fix and enhance digital photos, create bitmap graphics and in a neat twist, create web animations.

With PhotoPlus, you can easily adjust brightness and contrast, color balance, remove red-eye and make numerous other image editing adjustments and enhancements.

And here’s the “Plus” – You’ll find a large number of tools for creating web-savvy images. As well, a collection of web animation tools will help you import and export GIF files.

You can even let PhotoPlus do all the hard work and create animations for you. Image slicing tools are another web feature that is surprising in a free package. With these tools you can sub-divide an image into invisible segments, each of which can then be given a hyperlink and popup window.

Alternatively, you can add hotspots to your web page. Because of its simple layout, this is an easy program to work with, especially for those with little or no previous experience.

Quick Facts:

Creative Tools – Enhance your images with easy-to-use creative tools, such as paintbrush, airbrush, clone, smudge and erase – adjustable brush settings include size, shape, softness and fade.

Layer Effects – Apply bevels and drop shadows to create sophisticated-looking text and images. Use the layer manager to add to and enhance images without affecting the originals.

Digital Darkroom – Adjust brightness, contrast, sharpness, color hue, saturation, remove red-eye and more. Enhance, repair and tweak your photos for great results.

Deform Tool – The versatile Deform tool lets you rotate, resize, skew, reshape and add perspective to any selection or layer.

Text – Add editable, deformable text to your images and further enhance your text with drop shadows and bevel effects.

Animation – Create your own animated GIFs.

Web Images – Divide images into individual sections that can be clicked on to link to other web pages and websites, just like text hyperlinks. PhotoPlus 6 creates all the HTML code ensuring your images appear properly.

Export Optimizer – Simultaneously view up to four previews that display the relationship between image file size and quality, making it easy to decide how to save and export images for every purpose.

QuickShapes – Add ready-made, customizable QuickShapes to your images. Choose from a range including speech bubbles, starbursts and spirals.

System requirements: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP

Download at: SerifSoftware

Free Photo Commander 5 – Save 40 Bucks!

Ashampoo, a German software company noted for developing top quality, easy to use applications, occasionally makes available free, current versions of their retail products. The last time I recall a similar offer from Ashampoo was this past Xmas when they offered 6 of their programs for free.

This time Ashampoo is offering their outstanding Photo Commander 5, (still available at retail for $39.95), at no cost. I believe this a limited time offer and there is no guarantee the offer will not be withdrawn without notice. So as the hot dog guy at the ball park says, “get em while they’re hot.”

Ashampoo Photo Commander 5 makes managing and organizing even the largest collections of digital photos easy. Its powerful integrated photo editing tools make it a one-stop solution. Instead of switching to a graphics application you can do all your adjustments and enhancements directly in the organizer. Remove red-eye effects, adjust colors, contrast, hue, resize, crop, rotate, and add a wide range of special effects and more.

As well, you get a suite of powerful and easy-to-use creativity tools: You can generate web albums of your photos that you can post to your home page. You can send your photos to friends by email, create collages, calendars and greeting cards, add picture frames and vignettes, insert text bubbles, add text, create slide shows and view them on your computer, or burn them to CD or DVD, complete with a viewer program so that anyone can play them. You can also back up your images to CD or DVD, all without leaving the program.

Quick Overview:

Photos

In addition to viewing and managing your photos you can also edit them, correct red eyes in seconds, adjust the colors, display slide shows or burn them to CD and DVD, create photo albums you can publish on the web and order high-quality prints online. You can also rotate, tilt, flip, resize and print your images and send them to friends by email, create animated images, apply borders, convert your images to other formats and take snapshots of your screen.

Videos

Videos are displayed in the organizer with thumbnail images, just like photos. You can zoom in, play them in full-screen mode, extract screenshots, and create video play lists.

Audio Files

Plays audio tracks just as easily as it can manage your photos

Multimedia

Ashampoo Photo Commander 5 is also a multimedia management tool. It displays videos and plays audio tracks just as easily as it can manage your photos

Batch Processing

The Batch Processing tool doesn’t just convert multiple selected photos to other formats it can also resize the images, adjust brightness and contrast, apply effects like drop shadows and sharpening, and adjust the color depth. If you’ve ever spent hours adjusting hundreds of photos you’ll understand immediately how useful this feature can be.

Supported Formats

Over 60 graphics, video and audio formats are supported. Exclusive: Version 5 now includes full read and write support for transparent JPEGs (.jng files).

Registration is required. After installation go to Internet on the toolbar and register the program online.

Ashampoo loves to remind you of the value of their full software lineup, so if you find it bothersome to receive this type of email, you’d be better off passing. Personally, I find it easier to stay in the loop on new software developments, when I do receive emails soliciting my business for new applications.

Watch a video of the features and benefits of Photo Commander 5 on YouTube.

Download at: Ashampoo

Free Photo Editing "Plus" – SerifSoftware’s PhotoPlus 6

SerifSoftware puts an interesting and unusual twist to the usual “try this application for free for 30 days” we are all pretty familiar with.

Serif releases older versions of their current software for download at no cost, to hopefully entice at least some users to upgrade to current versions of their popular software.

Despite the slightly dated appearance of SerifSoftware’s PhotoPlus 6, this is not an ‘old’ program that’s been revived just for give-away. PhotoPlus is still an amazing photo editing application that enables you to fix and enhance digital photos, create bitmap graphics and even web animations.

With PhotoPlus, you can easily adjust brightness and contrast, color balance, remove red-eye and make numerous other image editing adjustments and enhancements.

And here’s the “Plus” – You’ll find a large number of tools for creating web-savvy images. As well, a collection of web animation tools will help you import and export GIF files. You can even let PhotoPlus do all the hard work and create animations for you.

Image slicing tools are another web feature that are surprising in a free package. With these tools you can sub-divide an image into invisible segments, each of which can then be given a hyperlink and popup window. Alternatively, you can add hotspots to your web page.

Because of its simple layout, this is an easy program to pick up and work with, especially for those with little or no previous experience.

Quick Facts:

Creative Tools – Enhance your images with easy-to-use creative tools, such as paintbrush, airbrush, clone, smudge and erase – adjustable brush settings include size, shape, softness and fade.

Layer Effects – Apply bevels and drop shadows to create sophisticated-looking text and images. Use the layer manager to add to and enhance images without affecting the originals.

Digital Darkroom – Adjust brightness, contrast, sharpness, color hue, saturation, remove red-eye and more. Enhance, repair and tweak your photos for great results.

Deform Tool – The versatile Deform tool lets you rotate, resize, skew, reshape and add perspective to any selection or layer.

Text – Add editable, deformable text to your images and further enhance your text with drop shadows and bevel effects.

Animation – Create your own animated GIFs.

Web Images – Divide images into individual sections that can be clicked on to link to other web pages and websites, just like text hyperlinks. PhotoPlus 6 creates all the HTML code ensuring your images appear properly.

Export Optimizer – Simultaneously view up to four previews that display the relationship between image file size and quality, making it easy to decide how to save and export images for every purpose.

QuickShapes – Add ready-made, customizable QuickShapes to your images. Choose from a range including speech bubbles, starbursts and spirals.

Download at: SerifSoftware

Adobe Photoshop Express Online Beta Launched

Photoshop Express Beta is a new, just launched, free online service from Adobe which combines 2GB of photo storage space with Adobe quality image editing. Since this an online service there is no need for you to download any software to your computer.

According to Doug Mack, vice president of Consumer and Hosted Solutions at Adobe “Photoshop Express is a convenient, single destination where you can store, edit and share photos whether you’re at home, school or on the road.”

I have used Adobe Photoshop in one flavor or another for 10-12 years, with one degree of success or another, and it has long been the tool of choice for professionals and high-end users, but with Photoshop Express Adobe has brought its digital image-editing expertise to the masses.

Although it carries the Adobe tag, Photoshop Express is distinctly unlike Adobe’s other editing software, thank goodness, in that it is simple for beginners to operate.

In keeping with its one-click approach, a range of standard edits can easily be performed such as cropping, resizing, muting background and removing blemishes and red-eye. One of the most attractive features of Photoshop Express is its easy to understand interface, but the real bonus is that 2GB of free storage.

“This is a consumer-oriented product,” said Geoff Baum, director of Express Products at Adobe. “It’s designed to be very easy to use, very self discoverable, so if I’m a new user and I’ve never had experience doing image editing it should be very quick to figure out how to use the tool.”

To begin using the service, you will first need to sign up and create an account.

Go to: Photoshop Express

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Save 40 Bucks – Get Ashampoo Photo Commander 5 Free!

From time to time Ashampoo, a German software company noted for developing top quality, easy to use applications, makes available free, current versions of their retail products. The last time I recall a similar offer from Ashampoo was this past Xmas when they offered 6 of their programs for free.

This time Ashampoo is offering their outstanding Photo Commander 5, (still available at retail for $39.95), at no cost. I believe this a limited time offer and there is no guarantee the offer will not be withdrawn without notice. So as the hot dog guy at the ball park says, “get em while they’re hot.”

Ashampoo Photo Commander 5 makes managing and organizing even the largest collections of digital photos easy. Its powerful integrated photo editing tools make it a one-stop solution. Instead of switching to a graphics application you can do all your adjustments and enhancements directly in the organizer. Remove red-eye effects, adjust colors, contrast, hue, resize, crop, rotate, and add a wide range of special effects and more.

As well, you get a suite of powerful and easy-to-use creativity tools: You can generate web albums of your photos that you can post to your home page. You can send your photos to friends by email, create collages, calendars and greeting cards, add picture frames and vignettes, insert text bubbles, add text, create slide shows and view them on your computer, or burn them to CD or DVD, complete with a viewer program so that anyone can play them. You can also back up your images to CD or DVD, all without leaving the program.

Quick Overview:

Photos

In addition to viewing and managing your photos you can also edit them, correct red eyes in seconds, adjust the colors, display slide shows or burn them to CD and DVD, create photo albums you can publish on the web and order high-quality prints online. You can also rotate, tilt, flip, resize and print your images and send them to friends by email, create animated images, apply borders, convert your images to other formats and take snapshots of your screen.

Videos

Videos are displayed in the organizer with thumbnail images, just like photos. You can zoom in, play them in full-screen mode, extract screenshots, and create video play lists.

Audio Files

Plays audio tracks just as easily as it can manage your photos

Multimedia

Ashampoo Photo Commander 5 is also a multimedia management tool. It displays videos and plays audio tracks just as easily as it can manage your photos

Batch Processing

The Batch Processing tool doesn’t just convert multiple selected photos to other formats it can also resize the images, adjust brightness and contrast, apply effects like drop shadows and sharpening, and adjust the color depth. If you’ve ever spent hours adjusting hundreds of photos you’ll understand immediately how useful this feature can be.

Supported Formats

Over 60 graphics, video and audio formats are supported. Exclusive: Version 5 now includes full read and write support for transparent JPEGs (.jng files).

Registration is required. After installation go to Internet on the toolbar and register the program online.

Watch a video of the features and benefits of Photo Commander 5 on YouTube.

Download at: Ashampoo