14 DAY TRIAL // There are plenty of tools that help you upload images to social network websites, but few of them offer editing possibilities. Picture Dude Image Uploader breaks the pattern and besides providing direct means to upload your pictures to Facebook it also makes available editing tools.
You might such app to come free of charge, but in this case its price has been set to $4.99. However, you can use it free of charge if you limit your activity to uploading the pictures to Facebook. Every other action in the application is available only for paying customers.
Picture Dude Image Uploader comes wrapped in a 4MB installer and the only requirement you need to comply to for it work is to have .NET Framework 4 on the system. Installation process is smooth and uneventful; basically a click-through experience that takes you through standard screens.
The interface is as simple as can be, so anyone can enjoy the benefits of the application with the least effort. You have the main menus in the upper part of the screen, editing and touch-up functions not included because these are available under each loaded photo.
You can load images by dragging and dropping them in the application window or by browsing to their location and selecting them. In case you want to blend multiple images into an album, the program supports adding entire folders, too.
The set of image editing options is quite simple, because it is designed to offer a simple approach to touch-up the items. However, this does not mean that the instruments at your disposal come in a small number. You can name the picture, rotate it by 90 degrees, adjust its gamma, contrast, brightness and saturation as well as drop some effects on it.
You’ll also find in the menu a red eye removal tool as well as picture cropping function and watermarking possibilities. For the latter Picture Dude Image Uploader can apply the stamp either individually for each item in the list or on all of them at once.
Correcting the image brightness, contrast, saturation and gamma is done from a separate window. The feature is reserved for paying customers, but during the evaluation you have the possibility to make the adjustment and preview the result (no saving is allowed). As soon as you drag by the slide bar you’ll notice the modification in the preview screen. We noticed that moving the slider (runs from -100 to 100) from the keyboard makes no change to the image, but using the mouse will get you the adjustment.
In the case of special effects, which are also available in the paid edition of the application, you benefit from a wider variety of options, since they’re organized into six categories: Black and White, Colors, Art Effects, Edges, Blur & Sharpen and Special Effects. Each of them comes with several options, totaling 31 styles you can play with.
These cover color changing the RGB color model, applying sepia, watercolor or glass effect. You can also play with the edges and use embossing, engrave or contour techniques. Under Blur & Sharpen there are the means to smoothen the entire picture or make the elements composing it crisper.
“Special Effects” section also comes with cool option, “Fire” creating one cool result if you combine it with the right type of picture (check the images below).
On the downside, none of the filters in Picture Dude Image Uploader can be applied in a certain amount: you either enable it or you don’t, there are no intermediary levels to work with.
Just like the previous options in the program, red eye removal tool and cropping are not available in the free edition of the application. Also, they are not complex tools and you can work with them easily, especially since their screen come with brief tips explaining exactly how they work.
The same goes for watermarking process, but in this case there is a setback: you are not allowed to freely move the element on the picture and have to comply with one of the nine preset positions available. On the upside, you get to define the font you want to use on the watermark text, its size and color.
Uploading to Facebook is a simple procedure. The app will pop the website’s login screen and once you do that you’ll be able to place them into a new image album or send them to an existent one. A progress bar will track the upload process giving you an estimation for the completion of the task.
Unfortunately, during our tests we were not able to conclude the upload on all test machines, and on one of them Picture Dude Image Uploader would crash immediately after logging into our Facebook account. On another, however, everything went fine.
Effects and editing functions can be used with the utmost ease. Support for drag and drop ensures comfortable loading of the items you want to process. There is no intermediary level to applying a filter. Paid edition has definitely the edge over the free one putting easy to apply effects and editing options at your disposal.
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