Online photo editing has its advantages: you don’t need to download any software, most of them are free (or have a free version), easy to use and intuitive.

There are a lot of tools out there that you can use to enhance your images. But I’d like to recommend you the best three of them: Pixlr, Picnik and Aviary. I’m sure you’ll find one that’s perfect for what you need.

Pixlr

I found it on Twitter; it’s recommended by many people. Pixlr’s interface is very similar to Adobe Photoshop’s, offering you a nice collection of filters, custom effects, contrast & brightness adjustments, hue & saturation etc. For advanced projects, you can even work with layers!

Pixlr, due to its complexity, is both a photo editor and a graphic design tool. So it’s a great solution if you want to design a banner or to draw something.

One word description: easy

Picnik

I played a lot with Picnik; it’s very easy to use, fast and fun. You can open your photos from several places: your computer, Flickr, Photobucket, Facebook, MySpace and others. Besides the basic options like resize, crop, adjust colors and contrast, you can add effects, frames, text, stickers in just a few seconds.

You can even make a nice collage or a scrapbook from your images. And in the end you can share your photos on different social networks.

I also like the fact that Picnik optimizes your images, reducing their file size. This is useful when you share your photos online and want your website, blog or album to load fast.

Flickr integrated Picnik in its platform and that is a great recommendation for this tool.

One word description: fun.

Aviary

Aviary offers multiple tools for web designers and graphic artists, including an image editor, color editor, vector editor, effects editor and even a screen capture tool. Aviary’s interface looks like Adobe Photoshop’s and has a lot of effects and filters, but I found it a bit more difficult to use than the previous two image editors. However if you are a beginner, their collection of  tutorials might help you. One feature that sets Aviary apart is the ability to start a project from a design made by other users.

I think that Aviary is best suited for people who already have some experience in image manipulation.

One word description: professional

Did you try any of these photo editors? Or do you use another one?