Adobe Photoshop Express: All It's Cracked Up to Be?

This is so cool!

The very best thing about Adobe Photoshop Express is that it's free. Free means nothing if it's useless, of course, but Express isn't. Adobe Photoshop Express might not have all the features of Photoshop, but it allows you to do most of the basics: retouch, crop, rotate, take care of red eye, sharpen, etc. It also has some of Photoshop's more popular filters, such as distortions and artistic filters.

Another great thing about Adobe Photoshop Express? It doubles as online photo storage. Your free account gets you up to 2 GBs of storage, and the ability to transfer your photos to social sharing sites like Facebook. For some people, this matters too: Adobe Photoshop Express is pretty. Seriously: it just looks nice, and it provides a user-friendly, functional, and attractive presentation. What's not to like?

Well....

Wait a minute. What'd that say?

If you're looking for free Photoshop, this isn't it. The Express version doesn't have all the features and layers you get with Photoshop. If you're a professional photographer or graphic artist, you won't be impressed. Adobe Photoshop Express appeals to amateurs and enthusiasts who just want to edit their photos.

There are also some limitations to the use: the site doesn't support 12 megapixel cameras, and you can't print from it.

But all of this is small potatoes compared to the terms of service. A lot of people don't even read those things, but in this case, you should. That's because Adobe Photoshop Express has terms of service that give Adobe worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, and irrevocable rights to use, distribute, change, and make money from your photographs. That makes a lot of people very nervous.

Keep in mind that this is a beta site, so nothing in this article is written in stone. However, as things currently stand, you might want to give some careful consideration before you embrace Adobe Photoshop Express.