December 4, 2007 5:25 PM PST

Flickr gets Picnik's online photo editing

Picnik's image-editing tools now are available within Flickr.

(Credit: Flickr)

Flickr members now can edit pictures online using Picnik's online tools, a significant change in the ability and focus of the photo-sharing site.

A new "edit this" option on each photo's page takes Flickr members to a "powered by Picnik" screen that permits them to change exposure, colors, sharpness, and other attributes, as well as add text, whiten teeth, fix red-eye, crop, and resize. The features duplicate those already available on Picnik's site.

Flickr and Picnik announced the deal in October, saying at the time it would launch "in coming months." Now the company announced the move on its Flickr blog. Some of fruits of the new option can be seen on the Flickr Picnikers group, including some images edited with Picnik.

Flickr pages now sport an 'edit this' option. Too bad all the options don't fit above the photo anymore.

(Credit: Flickr)

Flickr got its start as a place to post photos, sharing and commenting and joining groups of like-minded photographers, but it's gradually growing beyond its roots. And the addition of the editing option marks a subtle change in how users could perceive the site: not just as the online mirror of a photo collection stored at home, but also a repository of finished images that don't exist elsewhere.

It seems unlikely that serious photographers will consider their Flickr photos to be their canonical collection, but the online editing does reflect a gradual shift of the photographic center of gravity toward the Internet. Along with sharing and editing, online sites offer services for printing, selling, geotagging, and archiving photos. And the sole superpower in the image-editing software world, Adobe Systems, is working on its own online editing tool, Photoshop Express.

Recent posts from Underexposed
Google adds Android app for Flickr photos
Revamped Google Picasa site identifies photo faces
Adobe gets an e-earful, and listens
Microsoft, Nikon sign patent-sharing deal
Canon wises up with 50D sensor and new zoom
Powered by Jive Software
advertisement

Latest tech news headlines

About Underexposed

This blog sheds light on digital photography, science, and open-source software. Shankland joined CNET News in 1998, after a five-year stint as a science writer. He's a lab rat who grew up in Los Alamos, N.M., and graduated from Harvard.

Contact Stephen at Stephen.Shankland@cnet.com

Add this feed to your online news reader

Underexposed topics

Stuff I'm reading

Featured blogs

advertisement

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right
  • News - Business Tech

    Chrome's JavaScript challenge to Silverlight

    The advent of Google's Chrome browser, software pros say, should spur a big speedup for JavaScript, which would raise its standing against Microsoft's Silverlight technology.

  • Gallery

    Photos: Top 10 reviews of the week

    Here are CNET Reviews' 10 favorite items from the past week, including the TiVo HD XL, Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50, and the Dish Network's newest digital TV converter box.

  • News - Apple

    Apple watchers spot 'iPod Nano' photos

    The rumor mill has long been predicting a longer, leaner new version of the iPod Nano, and now it's conjuring up some pictures.

  • Outside the Lines

    EIC Squared: Chrome, iPods, and a Dell-Salesforce union

    On this week's EIC Squared podcast CNET's Dan Farber and ZDNet's Larry Dignan discuss Google's latest rocket launch--the Chrome browser--as well as Apple's iPod event next week and a Dell-Salesforce.com union.

  • Video

    Katie Couric reflects on first Webcast

    The political conventions are over and so are CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric's first series of Webcasts. CNET's Kara Tsuboi sat down with Couric on the final night of the Republican National Convention to discuss what she liked about Webcasting, some of her most memorable guests, and whether TV news will still be around by the next round of conventions.

  • Webware

    Mozilla releases second Firefox 3.1 alpha

    Added features include support for a new video tag element introduced with the HTML 5 standard, along with some speed enhancements.

  • Video

    YouTube plays party politics

    During the presidential campaigning four years ago, YouTube didn't even exist. Now it's a tool candidates must master to get their message across. CNET's Kara Tsuboi stops by the YouTube upload booths at the Democratic and Republican conventions to find out why Google's video site has such a big presence in Denver and St. Paul, Minn.

  • News - Gaming and Culture

    Are Demo and TechCrunch50 fragmenting their audiences?

    With both events scheduled to start Monday, many press, as well as venture capitalists and others are having to choose which one to attend.

  • News - Cutting Edge

    Execs predict next Google-like tech

    On eve of company's 10-year anniversary, researchers and business pundits speculate about what technologies might someday have as much impact as Google.

  • Gallery

    Images: The art of 'Spore' prototypes

    Will Wright and his Maxis team worked on dozens of prototypes to test the elements of their soon-to-be-released evolution game. Here's a sampling.

  • Crave

    This week in Crave-land

    The Xbox 360 finally gets a price cut, and the game world gets ready for the arrival of Spore.

  • Green Tech

    Duke Energy to invest in mini solar power plants

    Can hundreds of rooftop solar panels collectively operate like a central power plant? Duke Energy launches $100 million distributed solar program to find out.