Manipulate photos using an online editor

If not, you will be prompted to download it when you first load an image editor or you can download it manually. Either way is simple and needs to be done once only, although the program may ask to update itself every now and then.

A good internet connection is important. If you are using dial-up and want to use an online photo editor, now is the time to upgrade to broadband. Dial-up is too slow, whether you are sending an image to the editor (uploading) or trying to use the application itself.

The most well-known online photo editor is Photoshop Express. If you have ever used Photoshop Elements you will be right at home. You get 2GB of space to store your images, with the option of paying $19.99 (about £12) a year for 20GB.

A notice on the site says Photoshop Express is only available in the United States, but this is not quite true. You can still use the service, but you should beware that performance is not always on par with other services.

There are plenty of advantages. Photoshop Express is extremely slick and easy to use. Switch to full-screen mode and you could be forgiven for thinking you were using a desktop application. Photoshop Express is part image catalogue (the Library) and part image editor, so once photos have been uploaded you can browse them at impressive speed in the Library.

You can also import pictures from image-sharing sites such as Flickr, Facebook, Photobucket and Picasa Web Albums. There is a decent range of editing tools on offer, from basics such as saturation (the vibrancy of colours) to more complex settings such as white balance adjustment and even the option to isolate a single colour in your images and turn the rest to black and white.

When you hover the mouse pointer over an option the application shows a preview of how the image will look once applied.

There is one significant drawback: once you start editing an image Photoshop Express resizes it to a maximum resolution of 2,880x2,880 pixels. Most digital cameras can record far more detail, which is needed if you want to print pictures larger than 10x8in.