Yahoo’s Flickr has announced a partnership with Picnik.com to integrate Picnik’s online photo editing tools into Flickr…
“The services are thanks to a newly minted partnership between Yahoo and Picnik, an online start-up that specializes in Internet-based digital photo editing…”
San Francisco — Yahoo Inc. has just added photo-editing capabilities to its popular online photo-sharing service, Flickr, which it acquired in 2005, with free editing tools aimed at the growing number of shutterbugs who want to doctor their digital pictures.
“As the result of a deal announced back in October, the new Web-based toolset from photo-editing software provider Picnik now appears right on top of the Flickr interface.”
The editing software, expected to be introduced late Tuesday in a partnership with Picnik Inc., represents Yahoo’s latest attempt to broaden Flickr’s appeal as the Sunnyvale-based company closes its older Yahoo Photos service.
“We think this is going to be very attractive to mainstream users,” said Kakul Srivastava, Flickr’s senior director of product management.
Picnik’s Web-based photo tools enable shutter bugs to enhance, edit, and print photos on PC, Mac, and Linux platforms in any Web browser. The good news for owners of Wi-Fi-enabled cameras is that photos can be moved directly to the Web and then edited online without having to process them using desktop software.
Although the photo editing tools do not really compete with similar features in professional image editing applications, they will be available for free to all Flickr users, which can be incredibly handy for tweaking photos when users do not have access to a desktop photo editing application.
“Flickr continues to build on its vision to be the “eyes of the world,” and by bringing Picnik’s rich editing tools to Flickr’s global community we are enhancing the sharing and discovery of what people see and experience through photos,” said Srivastava, in a statement.
Accessing Editing Features:
Picnik editing tools are now available in the Edit Photo tab within Flickr; users can edit individual images or whole batches of photos. After editing images, users can add the edited versions of the photos to their collections, or overwrite the original image. The only additional step required is to click on a button to grant Picnik permission to edit and save changes to any photos stored online.
Picnik also offers a “Perfect Memory” feature that enables users to revert back to the original version of an image.
The new photo-editing features now available through Flickr include the ability to rotate, resize, and crop photos, change photo exposure settings, and even remove pesky red-eye. A zoom control is also on tap that allows photo editors to zoom in or out while editing any photo.
“Providing the ability to edit directly within Flickr is an important step in offering our 20 million members around the globe a complete photo experience,” said Srivastava.
Picnik’s tools also include several special effects, such as color boost, black and white, sepia, frames, shapes, text, and soften. Additionally, Flickr members have the option of applying their editing commands to a single photo or an entire batch of pictures.
“The editing software fills a glaring void at Flickr, which has blossomed into one of the Web’s busiest photo-sharing communities.”
Most of Flickr’s rivals, including Shutterfly Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co.’s Snapfish, Kodak Gallery and Google Inc.’s Picasa, already offer free photo-editing tools.
Flickr’s decision to adopt Picnik’s software reflects the rising demand for photo-editing applications now that people regularly post pictures they take with their mobile phones, said Gartner Inc. analyst Michael McGuire. Most phones do not have high-quality cameras so the pictures they produce beg for more touching up.
While Yahoo is rolling out a free version of the Picnik photo-editing tools for Flickr, those Flickr members in need of more advanced capabilities can sign up for a subscription-based Picnik service that is priced at $24.95 per year.
Picnik Premium provides access to higher-end photo-editing tools as well as a ‘perfect memory’ feature that enables photographers to undo or redo any edit or special effect, all the way back to the original version of the picture.
Yahoo purchased Flickr in 2005, and earlier this year announced it would pull the plug on its own Yahoo Photos service.
Since then, even without the allure of photo editing, Flickr has grown to be one of Yahoo’s crown jewels as a popular image hosting site, with Comscore reporting it as the top standalone photo sharing site (excluding integrated sites like Facebook and Myspace).
“Flickr is the most-trafficked U.S. photo-sharing site that does not revolve around a social network.”
Flickr attracted 14.7 million U.S. visitors in October, ranking only behind Facebook Inc.’s photo-sharing service, which had 23.2 million visitors, and Photobucket.com, which had 22.2 million and caters to MySpace.com users. Both Photobucket and MySpace are owned by News Corp.
Picnik, a Seattle-based startup run by an entrepreneur who sold his last venture, software startup PhatBits, to Google for an undisclosed amount in early 2005, is counting on the Flickr connection to help pay the bills now.
Picnik’s software provides more than 20 different applications that handle basic editing jobs, like removing red eyes from photos, and provide special effects that can jazz up photos with richer colors and fanciful borders.
“When they are using Picnik, people get the feeling that they are never more than one click away from being a rock-star photographer,” said Jonathan Sposato, Picnik’s CEO.
Sposato stayed at Google for nearly a year before leaving to take the reins at Picnik.
Neither Sposato nor Flickr’s Srivastava would discuss whether Yahoo explored buying Picnik instead of simply partnering with the startup.
Like the rest of the Flickr site, the new Picnik toolset features photo-editing instructions in seven languages: Chinese, English, French, German, Korean, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
“The offering will no doubt come in handy for Flickr members located in Asia and in Europe, where Yahoo’s photo-sharing service faces stiff competition.”
Yahoo hopes to gain an edge over its photo-sharing competitors abroad as a result of its new photo-sharing agreement with global communications giant Telefonica, which has a particularly strong presence in Europe and Latin America.
With its stock price stuck in a malaise that has lasted two years, Yahoo has been trying to make more money from all its services, including Flickr, which it bought in 2005. The profit push is one reason Yahoo is closing Yahoo Photos, which launched in 2000.
Yahoo is betting the editing tools will encourage more people to pay to show a larger number of pictures on the site. Neither company disclosed the financial terms of the partnership.