Cropp.me

Cropp.me is a really simple web app that does just what it says...crops photos.  Why open up a full blown image editing suite just to crop out that random guy in the background?  Head over to cropp.me and get it done in a snap.  You can also crop several images at once and download them all as a zip file.  I also liked that cropp.me automatically suggested the best crop before I even dragged the mouse.  You can also crop your image to one of nine predetermined sizes which makes it even easier to upload and go.

Now What?

Cropp.me is an excellent tool to share with your students for all of their cropping needs.  It is free to use and does not require a log in.  Very simple and fast.  If cropp.me doesn't "cut it" then you can check out Croppola.

Jelly Cam

Every time I see a stop motion animation video, I think how cool it looks (Common Craft) and then wish that I was creative enough to do it.  If you are like me, there may be hope for us yet.  Jelly Cam is a simple application built for taking images and making them into a flash animation.  To get started you simply download the picture uploader from Jelly Cam and then upload your images.  Once your images are into the editor, you can add a soundtrack and have some fun.  Unfortunately, Jelly Cam cannot take the photos for you (unless you use your webcam) so that part could take some time but ultimately this is a great way to create a nice flash animation using your own images.  Below is an example of a short video creating using Jelly Cam by an elementary student:




Now What?


Jelly Cam is an excellent site for students who are into video production and this easy to use application would work well with students of all grades.  Time lapse photography is a great way to show change over time (plants, outdoor scene) or explain a concept like Common Craft does with it's series "Plain English".  Another great stop motion animation site to check out is SAM Animation which is a similar download with more features.

iPiccy

iPiccy is a photo editor that reminds me a lot of the now defunct Picnik which I really enjoyed.  Some of the highlights of iPiccy are that it is free and web based.  Also, iPiccy has lots of great tools to use that are all free (unlike Picnik which has premium tools for paid users).  Something unique about iPiccy is that in addition to editing photos you can also use their paint feature or create a collage from lots of photos.  The app also supports layers so you can create a file which has multiple images including text and then merge the layers into one image.  The best part of iPiccy is that it is super easy to use.  Check out the interface below...

Now What?

iPiccy is a great site for all of your basic (and advanced) photo editing needs.  I can definitely see this being used as an introduction for some of the more confusing image editing programs like Photoshop and fireworks.  The fact that it has an image painter tool means that you can have your students even create their own images for their projects and homework.

Picnik

Last year I happened upon a powerful little image editing program online called Picnik and immediately incorporated it into my 8th grade digital photography unit.  It is a Google product that allows you to edit photos in the cloud and use a number of effects and editing tools that you would normally find on a higher end program like Photoshop or Fireworks.  Sadly, I learned this weekend that Picnik would be closing it's doors in April.  This is actually good and bad news.  The good news is that anyone who uses Picnik from now until it shuts down in April will get to use all of the premium tools and features for FREE!!!  Check out Picnik today and see how you can get your students using this great image editing website.

Now What?

You don't need to be a computer teacher to have students editing images online.  Anytime you ask a student to complete a project you can have them change the photos that they are including using Picnik.  They can add effects or simply crop and rotate.   Picnik is limitless and will give your students some experience with photo editing.