4 Men 1 Lady

a lifestyle blog about the persuit of bringing beauty to a house full of men.

In the mood for a Picnik?

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Over a year ago I was in the market for some photo editing software. Everyone recommended Photoshop Elements which is basically the beginner version of Photoshop. It costs less with less bells and whistles but still does the job. I’ve watched hours of online videos explaining how to use it and I still get frustrated so I rarely used it.

Last week I stumbled on to Picnik, a free, online photo editing software and let me tell you…


It. Is. Sick.

(“Sick” is slang for “awesome”, mom).

Being the amatuer that I am I love that it’s free and very user-friendly.

Check out what I’ve been toying around with:

Before:

After using “CinemaScope feature”:


Before:
After (using “Soften” feature):


Before:

After (using “Holga-ish” feature):

Before:

After (using “Cross Process” feature):

Before:

After (using “1960’s” feature):

Before:

After (using “Lomo-ish” feature):


Thanks Picnik!

Comments

  2. I love picnik! until I got photoshop. Photoshop is complicated, but you can download “actions” and it works kind of like picnik. Just click on an action and it edits the picture for you. Pioneer Woman has free actions, and they’re great. If I want something else I could buy actions from a website.

  7. oh this amazing. i’ve been contemplating buying photoshop, but i know i don’t have the time or patience to work through it and become amazing. thank you thank you for the recommendation. my wallet thanks you as well.

  16. You don’t know me, but I read your blog all the time. It’s great. I agree with Enriquez Family’s comment. I love Picnik, but it does make it difficult to enlarge your photo. Make sure you don’t permanently alter the photo (or at least keep an original) because it does take your MB WAY down. I found this out the hard way with a couple of my pictures. I don’t know if this is just with the free features of the site, or with everything, I don’t know enough about it. I do know that enlarging is not really an option after using it. Hope that helps.

  17. Or as my son says, “It is totally BEAST.” Which is apparently a good thing. A very good thing. Cross process has to be just about my favorite although my blog will evidence much use of cinemascope as well.Have fun with it.

  18. I’ve used the full version of Photoshop for years … but I LOVE Picnik … LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

    What a fun program! I paid the small fee to get the “premium features” and love it even more. It does run super slow with large images, but oh well … I just deal with it.

    But now … nearly any pic I put on display has to get the Picnik treatment. So it becomes a bit time consuming. 🙂

  22. Your pictures turned out great! Love it! If you do ever need help with Adobe Elements let me know- I used to teach classes on it at the Y. But who needs it when you’ve got this!

  26. It used to be a feature on Facebook and then became it’s own website. (I think that’s how it went anyway.) All I know is that I’ve been using it for quite a while on pics uploaded to facebook and only on the picnik website for about a year. Your pictures came out great!!

  29. Do you have problems with the site taking forever to upload your photos? I’ve tried them before but it took an insane amount of time to upload, so I didn’t fool with it anymore. Do tell, because I’ve heard you can do wonders with your pictures!

  31. Until I started taking clients money in exchange for their photographs, lol, I used picnik. While photoshop elements is AMAZING for the price and it lets you get more of what you want on purpose, it’s incredibly time consuming as the more you learn to use it the more you want to learn and practice. Picnik is THE BEST free software for the hobbyist and of course… *moms* 🙂

  32. Yes! Isn’t it awesome? I just renewed my subscribtion last night.

    Check out the advanced section, then curves, and then select from the drop down menu. They have a Polaroid action.

    A subscribtion also makes a good gift for a blogger.

  35. Love it! Photoshop is too complicated for me to want to use it, since I mostly do simple editing. I really love Picnik’s lomo-ish feature.

  40. Love what you did! As a graphic design student and a photographer I use Photoshop and a few other Adobe programs. While they are wonderful programs there is a huge learning curve. This is even worse if you are not super-computer savvy. I have had it three years now and am still learning new things! Picnik seems to be a great option for the busy mom who doesn’t have time to sit in front of a computer and mull things over (for hours) or take a class. I can’t wait to take a peak at picnik

  42. I totally love Picnik too! Have you tried the new B&W feature? you can color just parts of the picture, it awesome. Besos!

It is nice to meet you!

Hey there! I’m Michelle; I’m an Passionate DIY’er and in constant pursuit of how to bring beauty to my house full of men (3 boys + 1 hubby). Stick around and see what I’ve got up my hard-working sleaves!

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