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2017/06/09

The Power of Pixlr

By Phillip Whitt

For those seeking an image editing application with broad capabilities, but don't require “industrial strength” (not to mention the expense), Pixlr Editor editor is the ideal choice.

A huge benefit this program offers is that it's free! There are no discs or downloads to purchase, nor are there any subscriptions that must be purchased month after month (or year after year, for that matter).

Aside from being free to use, Pixlr Editor offers the perfect balance of convenience and power. Because it's browser-based, it's easy to launch from any computer with at least 2 GB of ram and a reliable internet connection. There's nothing to download, so just launch it and you're ready to go. Pixlr Editor is easy to use for minor image editing tasks, yet powerful enough to handle more complex work.

Beginning Pixlr Editor is for anyone with little to no image editing experience seeking a robust application without the high price tag (or an extremely steep learning curve). It's for the family archivist who wants to digitally retouch and restore old family photos. It's for budding digital photographers who want to improve the quality of the images they capture. It's for the small business owner who needs to edit images for digital marketing materials or company publications.

This program could be the perfect solution for visual art teachers (especially at the high school or college level) who’d like to teach entry-level image editing without the expense of Photoshop. The example below is a before and after comparison of one of the lessons you’ll find in Beginning Pixlr Editor. It’s the ideal tool for retouching, restoring damaged photos, removing unwanted objects, and much more.

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Pixlr Editor has a ton of filters and adjustments that can give your images an artistic look. The example below  (one of the lessons in Chapter 9) was created by combining two images and using a combination of filters and adjustments combined with a few other techniques.

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Pixlr Editor can also be used for creating raster-based digital art. The example shown below is a city scape that was created using this program (it’s not one of the lessons, but there are three other lessons you’ll find in Chapter 10).

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For those who are teachers, you’ll find some down loadable instruction aids. You’ll find a guide with practice images to help  students brand new to image editing to get a feel for using the tools. There’s also a guide for new users to using layers in Pixlr Editor. For convenience, there is also a PDF file with chapter tests (and answer key is on a separate PDF).

About the Author

New Content ItemPhillip Whitt has a passion for images, and has been involved with digital image editing and graphic design since the 1990's. As a freelance photo editing/restoration and graphic design professional, he has retouched and restored countless photographs.

Mr. Whitt holds a number of certifications, which include one for Adobe Photoshop CS from Expert Rating, as well as a number of others for demonstrating proficiency in Desktop Publishing, Scribus Basics, GIMP 2.6, and Photo Impact. Mr. Whitt is the author of several Apress titles such as Beginning Photo Retouching and Restoration Using GIMPPro Freeware and Open Source Solutions for Business, and Pro Photo Colorizing With GIMP.

This article is excerpted from Phillip Whitt's book Beginning Pixlr Editor: Learn to Edit Digital Photos Using this Free Web-Based App (ISBN 978-1-4842-2697-1).