When it comes to uploading images to a website you always want to try and make sure the file sizes are as low as possible without compromising on quality. Sometimes that is easier said than done, but with the free ImageOptim for the Mac it's a breeze. 

Want to throw a quick shape collage together using online image sources such as Facebook, Instagram, or a simple Google Image Search? Loupe has to be one of the best tools for doing that. In just a few clicks you can have dozens of images related to any subject pulled in and formed into a variety of shapes.

I've always thought that free tools like Paint.NET are incredible pieces of software because they drastically simplify the image editing process for most users while still offering a lot of the advanced options for the power users out there. The downside to Paint.NET is that it's only available on Windows, but a free app called Pinta tries to bring a similar set of features to all platforms.

If you're running a website and are trying to minimize the amount of bandwidth being used then one of the things you might be looking at is compressing the images on the site. It may be worth running some of the key images on your site through the Yahoo! Smush.it tool to see what kind of magic it can work on them.

We've already shown you how to change the background images used by the various menu entries on the home screen, but the Weather menu can be tweaked even more if you're using the Aeon MQ 3 theme. There is a nifty feature buried in the skin settings that lets you use dynamic weather backgrounds that change based on the current time of day and local weather conditions.

I don't know very many people anymore that use screensavers on their computers, but displaying a nice photo collage might be worthwhile if you still enjoy having something flashy on the screen when your computer is sitting idle. I came across a pretty nice one that was started a few months ago, and I'd say offers the right amount of options without being overkill.

I remember testing out the ImageGlass photo viewer last year and was impressed with the speed at which it could shuffle through photos, but I wasn't very fond of the interface. When I recently checked back in on the project I noticed that a technical preview of ImageGlass 1.5 was available, and it is looking pretty good.

There are all kinds of photo sharing websites out there, but the concept behind LiveShare is really interesting. It all starts with a photo stream that is created by you or a friend, and then gets shared out among anyone you want. These streams can be private so that only the people you invite can view/post to the stream, or they can be public so that anyone can view/post to the stream.

HDR is the process of combining multiple photos with the hope that the resulting image is clear in both the light and dark areas. Getting good free HDR software that is capable of merging the photos together can be a little tricky since there are a lot of things it has to take into account, such as perfectly aligning each image.

For the every-day photos that you snap just for fun, there’s no reason to spend hefty sums of money and quality time learning Photoshop. Instead, head over to BeFunky.com where you can quickly, and easily, edit your photos for free. Not only can you edit your photos, you can also add effects and design elements with very little effort.

Before posting or sharing photos you might like the piece of mind knowing that there isn't any identifiable information stored in the metadata of your images. For example, if you've taken a photo using your cellphone there is a good chance that the image was also tagged with the GPS location where it was shot.

Personally I've never needed to compress a large number of images before, but if I did I'd definitely be using Caesium. The interface is easy to understand, and the dual-pane previews along the right side make it easy to see the before/after comparison so that you can get the right compression ratio.

Last year we wrote about an image sharing service called Min.us that was unique in the way they made image/photo sharing super simple. If you haven't been following their blog you'll probably be pleased to hear about some of the great features they've been rapidly adding.

I share a lot of screenshots and images with people, but there are all kinds of tools out there that try to make these tasks as simple as possible. Climsy is one of those apps. We've covered several clipboard utilities in the past, but this one serves a single purpose of uploading the images you've copied to either Climsy.com, ImageShack.us, or your Dropbox account.

Last month I covered an awesome photo sharing service called DropMocks. Unlike most photo management sites this one wasn't looking to be the most powerful service on the web, and instead just wanted to offer a simple way for users to quickly share photos with one another. There's a new kid on the block that copies a lot of what DropMocks offers, but also throws in a few goodies.