Manage, View, Convert, And Edit Your Images
FastStone Image Viewer is an image browser, viewer
, converter and editor with an easy to use interface and a nice array of features that include resizing, renaming, cropping, color adjustments, watermarks and more. It also includes an intuitive full-screen mode that provides quick access to EXIF information and thumbnail browser via hidden toolbars that emerge when you touch the edge of your screen with the mouse. For a free program, this multipurpose image tool strikes us as a good find. Although the main interface looks too cluttered with buttons at first glance, the three main windows are intuitive enough once get your bearings. FastStone Image Viewer for Windows boasts a nice default design, but you can customize it to your liking with several skins.
While the viewing functionality is a no-brainer, FastStone comes with a range of methods with which to browse pics. First off, there is the standard file browser that displays thumbnails of your images with a preview window for the file that is currently selected. There is also an option to check out individual pictures at their original size in the Windowed View, which is along the same lines as the default image viewer in Windows. Finally you can see images in full-screen, switching between files using the keyboard, the middle mouse button or the slide-in toolbar at the bottom of the screen.
However, FastStone Image Viewer goes beyond simply displaying images. You can perform some quick edits to really bring out the best in your pics such as adding a stylish frame mark that acts as a mask to reduce the sharp edges or if you happen to be working with 3D there is also a very effective bump map option that will serve you well for texturing. There are of course the standard tools of brightness/darkness adjustment, sharpness/blur, grayscale, red-eye removal and more. For results better than those you get with FastStone, you would need to use a professional package like Photoshop.
Further great features come in the form of batch rename and batch convert options. These could prove invaluable to many web developers looking for a quick way to prepare their PSD files for the web. With the inclusion of these batch functions, it would have been good to push the boat out even further and have an option to apply batch effects, for example to brighten up a group of photos that were taken in a dark space but alas, its not there!
Looking for faults with FastStone Image Viewer is like looking for the corner of a circle although if you insist on nitpicking, you can say that in the thumbnail browser view dragging and dropping should be possible for moving files. However when you realize that it is possible to drag and drop with the left nav bar that argument looses its legs. As I mentioned, there is healthy competition in the image viewer arena, but thanks to the innovative features of FastStone Image Viewer the bar has been raised to new heights.
Features :
Image browser and viewer with a familiar Windows Explorer-like user interface
True Full Screen viewer with image zoom support and unique fly-out menu panels
Crystal-clear and customizable one-click image magnifier
Superior Red-Eye effect removal/reduction with completely natural looking end result
Image modification tools: Resize/resample, rotate/flip, crop, sharpen/blur, brightness/contrast, etc.
Eleven (yes, 11) resampling algorithms to choose from when resizing images
Image color effects: gray scale, sepia, negative, Red/Green/Blue adjustment
Image special effects: watermark, annotation, drop shadow, framing, bump map, lens, morph, waves
Multi-level Undo/Redo capability
One-touch best fit/actual size image display support
Image management, including tagging capability and Copy To/Move To Folder support
Histogram display with color counter feature
Image EXIF metadata support (plus comment editing for JPEGs)
Configurable batch processing to convert/rename large or small collections of images
Slideshow creation with 150 transition effects and music support (MP3, WMA, WAV...)
Create efficient image attachment(s) for emailing to family and friends
Print images with full page-layout control
Choose and set desktop wallpaper from your image collections
Acquire images from a scanner
Versatile screen capture capability
Powerful Save As interface to compare image quality and control generated file size
Run favorite programs with one keystroke from within Image Viewer
Create a no-install fully portable version of the program which can be run from a removable storage device
Configurable mouse wheel support
Supports multiple program skins
by: True Incubus
Paranormal Photography 101 Take Better Pictures: Advice On How To Take Great Photos How To Find The Right Person To Conduct Your Portrait Photography Session Capture A Picture Perfect Shot Perfect Framed Art Pictures for a Girl's Themed Room Reduce Your Page Load Time With Dynamic Image Sprites Convert Flip Video to iPad H.264, MP4, Play Flip Camera Video on iPad Picture The Perfect Bed Frame Beware Of Cheap Camera Cases Spy Cameras-seven Best Buying Tips Best Place To Buy Hidden Spy Cameras In Canada Easy Ways To Make Your Landscape Photography Unique Image Consultants: Why Do We Need Them?