Simpy download the zip file and extract Photoshop.dll. Place this file into the FileTypes directory inside your Paint.NET install directory. Then, just open up Paint.NET and PSD files can be opened and saved.

The Photoshop Plugin adds an option to save and open PSD files

Not all Photoshop file features are supported however in my testing, this worked quite well as a great lightweight alternative to Photoshop. According to the plugin site, the following features are supported:

• Layers
• Masks (only loading see To do list)
• RAW or RLE compressed files
• The following color modes are supported for loading an image
  • Gray scale
  • Indexed
  • 32 Bit-RGBA
  • CMYK (lossy conversation)
  • Multichannel CMY (lossy conversation)
  • Duotone (as gray scale)
  • Lab (lossy conversation)
• For saving an image only 32-Bit RGBA is supported

Download Paint.NET here (Windows only)

Download the Photoshop plugin for Paint.NET here

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Upon visiting the Photoshop Express site, photoshop.com, you’ll see a user interface similar to this:

Press and hold the pictures on the front page to move them.  Creating an account is easy.  Simply click “Join” and fill in a few small pieces of info.  If you’re thinking, “I don’t need another random password to remember,” then just click on the “Test Drive” button, and see if Photoshop Express is worth it.

Now, playtime! Simply upload a JPEG image (others not supported without a copy of Adobe Photoshop Elements 7), and you can start editing!  In Photoshop Express’s edit screen, you can apply many options to an image, ranging from sharpen to black-and-white and brighten.  In addition, Photoshop Express has a Beta feature named “Decorate”, which allows you to add predefined objects (dinosaurs, borders, text, etc) to the image, much like how normal image editing software do.  Here is the same image as above, but after a Photoshop Express modification:

Adobe Photoshop Express makes editing and sharing photos easy and painless.  In addition, it is possible to import photos from other sites (go search through the interface).  However, as an online application, it does have its speed limitations, and is a lot slower than a computer-based version of Photoshop.  Feel free to look around the Tech Airlines Showcase, including a new Tech Airlines wallpaper (press download somewhere, only for 1024 by 768 resolutions.)

Taking into account that Photoshop Express is a web-based software, here is its review:

Performance: 3.7
Features: 3.8
Ease of Use: 4
Value for Money: 4.2
Appearance: 5

Weighted Average: 4

Learn how we rate the software.

The bottom line is that Adobe Photoshop Express is a handy little web-based software that is perfect for people who want to do some basic editing and sharing of photos.

So, is Adobe Photoshop Express a worth cousin of the Adobe’s signature Photoshop CS (Creative Suite) series?  Or do you need a higher resolution Tech Airlines wallpaper?  Leave your comments below.

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