Picture This: Adobe’s Photoshop Online

Adobe Systems has announced the public beta of Adobe Photoshop Express, a free, rich Internet application (RIA) version of its flagship image editing application but usable via a Web browser. During the beta process, Adobe will solicit users for feedback on product features and functionality and will update the application with user ideas as well as bug fixes.

You can store up to two gigabytes of images online where you can upload your favorite files, edit them in Photoshop Express, and share them online with other sites, such as social network sites like Facebook.

Photoshop Express won’t be in the same league as the full blown product, but it will let you make simple edits, like resizing, cropping, converting to black and white, removing red eye and other blemishes. There will also be effects like light filters and sharpening, but the numerous third-party filters and plug-ins will not work with it.

“Now, Photoshop Express allows anyone who snaps a digital photo to easily achieve the high-impact results for which Adobe is known,” said Doug Mack, vice president of Consumer and Hosted Solutions at Adobe in a statement.

Adobe’s hosting efforts seem to be aimed squarely at Yahoo’s Flickr photo hosting service. In addition to hosting the files and sharing them with third party sources like social networks, you can create slide shows with animations that make photos float and fly across the screen.

Adobe Photoshop Express requires Windows XP or Vista or Mac OS 10.4, Internet Explorer 6 or 7 for Windows users, Safari 3.0.4 or higher for Mac users or Firefox 2. Also, Adobe Flash 9 must be installed on the client computer.

Photoshop Express is written in Flex, Adobe’s technology for building RIAs. At some point, Adobe plans to offer a desktop version of Express available as well, it said.

Adobe’s Photoshop Express joins Premiere Express, an online video editing and mash-up tool the software company’s made available on partner sites such as MTV and Photobucket.

Like Photoshop Express, Premiere Express offers much of the functionality found in Premiere Elements, the more fully featured desktop version of the video-editing program.

Adapted from Internetnews.com.