It's been three months since Adobe's Photoshop Express left its public beta stage behind and launched as a Web-based image editing application. While the application is free, it has some significant limitations and a few rough edges that will irk users.
Photoshop Express lies at the very back of Adobe's image editing lineup, with Photoshop CS4 aimed at professionals, Photoshop Elements 7 at motivated hobbyists, and Express for the casual snap-shooter or anyone interested in a free image editor. The price can't be beat -- free is a lot less than $699 for CS4 or $99 for Elements.
That being said, the 'Photoshop' brand barely applies to this Web application. I had an opportunity to put Photoshop Express through its paces over the past weeks, and while the program's color tools were outstanding, the app lacked a number of key features even basic image editors require.
I tested out Photoshop Express on a recent trip. Before I left, I picked up a laptop to use from work. Foolishly, I had forgotten to check to see if Photoshop was installed on the Macbook Pro and arrived in Chicago sans my all-important image editor. As working photographer, I definitely am not the target audience for Photoshop Express, but nonetheless, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity for testing the limits of the Web app.
Right off the bat, I noticed something odd was happening after uploading a couple Canon 5D Mark II images. It turns out Express reduces all images to 2 megapixels for editing. This is a step up from the beta stage, where the application simply rejected images over 12 megapixels, but I expected a bit more than 2 megapixels. A reduction of a 22 megapixel file to 2 megapixel is throwing away a lot of data, even for new point-and-shoot cameras which can store over 10 megapixels. Practically speaking, the 2 megapixel reduction means images edited in Photoshop Express will be limited to small prints.
However, you won't have a chance to notice that limitation, since Express doesn't have any print features. There are no direct print options for your at-home setup. Users can't even employ direct uploads to any of the many commercial printers available over the Web. The application's main focus seems to be sharing digital galleries with friends via email invitations. This may be the future of photography, but I'd still like to have an option to print my pictures.
Even if you are focused on Web-only pictures, there are problems. For instance, I wanted to resize a few images for display on a website. Unfortunately, Express's resizing algorithm does not anti-alias images which are enlarged or shrunk. The result is images which are either extremely pixelated or suffering from jagged edges and strange patterns which mar the image. This seems to be an unusual oversight for a key tool in even the most basic photo-editing application.
So, after struggling with resizing and resolution issues, I moved on to color correction. This is where Express shines. Its tools are far better and easier to use than its major competitors, Picnik and Picasa. Saturation spectrums were as pure and rich as its bigger brother, CS4. The sharpening application was clean, producing no bad artifacts. Also, the basic highlight leveling tools allow anyone to make their images really 'pop' even if they weren't perfectly exposed. The touchup tool cleared away dust in a snap, maybe even more quickly than CS4's cumbersome clone tool. A few other small gimmicky filters exist too, as well as a surprisingly accurate black and white converter. However, a contrast tool is missing -- this is a remarkable omission, even for a basic image editor.
So where does this leave Photoshop Express? It's missing some key features that
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