Upon first inspection, Adobe’s Photoshop Express could be mistaken for an attempt to popularize a diluted version of the image-editing software we all love and can’t live without. The interface is youthful and slick, and very friendly. Express provides quick and easy image editing, automatically animated slide shows, and expedient connections to all of the popular, trendy sites like Facebook and Flickr—and it’s free. All one needs is an Internet connection and the inclination to fix and share photos.

When you fill up your free 2GB you can buy 20GB for $20 per year—that’s a hot price for such a cool site.

All of those qualities taken in one lump could make Express appear to be the exclusive realm of the inexperienced amateur. Wrong—double wrong. Adobe’s Photoshop Express is a useful photo environment that can bring enjoyment—and a significant benefit—to serious, advanced photographers.

You can test drive the features before you sign up.

Adobe’s Photoshop Express has the best bloodlines of any image-storing site that’s out there, in that it’s part of the Photoshop clan and was even written using Adobe’s proprietary language. Express is a Rich Internet Application (RIA) that’s freely “…available to anyone who wants to store, sort and show off digital photos with eye-catching effects.” The online application was created with Flex, Adobe’s open source framework for building RIAs. Membership is free and comes with 2GB of storage space.

Try out the features before you join. You can “crop, rotate, tweak, twirl and smudge” the supplied sample photos all you want.