Adobe’s Online Photoshop provides some nice Photo Editing Tools but is its photo storage worth it?

Photoshop.com is an online complement to Adobe’s Photoshop software according to Adobe. But if you need some simple editing functions and a place to share your photographs then here is another place that you can do so. What does this product offer:

• free web-based photo-editing tools
• easy photo sharing in online albums and on sites like Facebook, Flickr, Photobucket, and Picasa
• photo and video file backup and storage
• inspirational photographer spotlights, content, and tutorials
• information about Photoshop products
• links to www.adobe.com to try, buy, and learn more about the features of Photoshop products
• access to Photoshop Express Mobile tools for Android devices, and iOS devices (Apple iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch)

Some new things have been added to this product this month and they include:

• Online Tools: Organize, edit, and share your photos with the Photoshop Express online tools: Express Organizer, Express Editor, and Express Slideshow. 
• Products: Discover which image-editing tool is right for you. Download trials or purchase software.
• Learning: Find great tutorials to help you master your Adobe software.
• Spotlight: Get inspiration by seeing how others use the Photoshop family of products.
• My Gallery: Share albums of your choice on the new HTML-based gallery page.

And one thing that Adobe doesn’t mention is that you don’t have to create an account now to use their online tools. So if you want to stay anonymous, you can.To use this web-based application you need the following:

• Internet-connected computer with Windows XP or Vista, or Mac OS 10.4 or later
• a minimum screen resolution of 1024 x 768
• 512 MB of RAM
• Internet Explorer 7 or 8 (Windows), Safari 3.5 or later (Mac OS), or Firefox 3.5 or later (either platform)
• Flash Player 10 (version 10.0.45 or later)

Oops! Flash. So you are not going to be using this on your iPad anytime soon but Adobe does have an application available for you if you want to be able to edit your images on your iPad.

How much does it cost? Well you can sign up for the basic account that gives you the following for free:

• a personal URL to access your account
• online private and public sharing
• tutorials about Photoshop software and services
• online photo management, editing, and interactive photo galleries
• browser-based upload and download, and use of the Photoshop Express Uploader (based on AIR technology)
• access to your backed-up photos and videos from Photoshop Elements 7 or later and Adobe Premiere 7 or later,
• including syncing and backup from your desktop to the web
• mobile access (via a separate downloadable mobile client for selected mobile platforms only)
• 2 GB of online storage space

If you want additional storage there is an annual charge for the additional space. You can add space in the following increments 20, 40, 100, 250 and 500 GB’s fort the cost of 19.99, $39.99, $99.99, $249.99 and $499.99 respectively. Compare that to some of the other Photo Gallery Solutions that provide an all you can store for a fixed fee like Smugmug .com.

There is also a Plus Membership that costs $49.99 annually, includes everything in the Basic membership but offers 20GB’s of online storage, special artwork, album templates, effects, and tutorials and integrates with Photoshop Elements 7 or later or Adobe Premiere Elements 7 or later software.The additional features of Plus membership require the Organizer in these applications. However, even if you don't have either of the Elements products, Plus membership entitles you to the premium slideshow themes, which you can use to customize slideshows of your albums on Photoshop.com. Plus membership is not available outside the U.S.You are not eligible to upgrade your Elements desktop products to a Plus membership if you have an OEM version of Photoshop Elements or Adobe Premiere Elements (that is, a version included with your hardware). If you want additional storage there is an annual charge for the additional space. You can add space in the following increments 40, 100, 250 and 500 GB’s fort the cost of $69.99, $129.99, $279.99 and $529.99 respectively.

So while the editing tools are sort of nice and having a webspace that you can edit and control content to a small degree is nice, unless you only have a few photos you want to pop up and make available I don’t see this site as any real competition for some of the other places you can find on the web. So do I recommend this site? Not really. Of course I am a little biased to my favorite SmugMug. If I am going to pay for a site I like the idea of that site storage being a fixed amount. Compare to Smugmug’s three pricing rates: Standard: $39.95/year  •  Power: $59.95/year  •  Pro: $149.95/year. If you are really serious about photography or you just can’t take your finger off of the shutter button, Here is a great place to store your digital images and create great display galleries to share with family and friends, you just can’t go wrong. And here is my shameless plug, if you want to sign up you can save $5 off of your subscription by using this coupon code when signing up: FkoWZ8IjsnygW