Fun With PicMonkey

Have you heard of PicMonkey? It is a new photo editing website and I am in LOVE! Right now, everything is totally free and there is no registration required. Of course that means make sure you save all your pictures, otherwise they will disappear from PicMonkey as soon as you close the page or upload a new photo. Also, it's really so awesome that I have my doubts that it's going to remain free. So go take advantage of it while you still can!

One of the neatest tools is the collage maker, where you can make a Facebook banner for your Facebook home page. I haven't done it yet, but how cool is that? I have a million things to do around my house, but instead I've been puttering around on PicMonkey. We  have Photoshop on our computer, by the way, but I find it so daunting! PicMonkey is way easier!

I'm sure I should probably learn Photoshop too, since I know there is a lot more that can be done with it, but for now I'm going with user friendly. Because PicMonkey is really user friendly. From the home page, just choose "Edit a picture" or "Create a collage" and follow the easy directions from there. The edits are almost all on a simple sliding scale.

Here are a few things I've done so far. It's been a pretty big week for Bethany, so I'll let her be the subject of the day!

Before......After

 

 

 

Before.....After

Before.....After

I liked the first picture (of Bethany by herself) a lot before I started playing with it, but now I like it even more. The colors are so vibrant and I like the option to add text.

The second picture was already cute, but since the girls are sort of obsessed with mustaches, I thought I'd have a little fun with it. You can also add hats or sunglasses.

The last picture came out so dark, I thought it was a total bust. But I was able to brighten it up and add the film reel effect to kind of go with the imperfections.

I was using Picnik to edit pictures and make collages, until the site shut down a couple months ago. So far I think I might like PicMonkey better. I especially love that you can make your own collage layout, if none of the prefab ones are the right fit for your photos.

How do you edit your photos? Do you have a favorite website, or are you well-versed in Photoshop? Have you tried PicMonkey yet?

Digital Age

I'm a huge fan of modern technology, with digital photography being near the top of my list of most loved technological advances. My mom took a film photography class several years ago, and once she took me to the college's dark room to see how the photographs were processed. While it was interesting, and something that would be cool to learn, digital photography is so much more practical and easier.

Whenever I see people posting their wedding pictures online, I'm jealously reminded that we didn't have the advantage of digital wedding photos. I got my first digital camera when Connor was a baby. While I took plenty of film pictures of Bethany as a baby, I so wish I had had a digital camera. I love that I can take tons of pictures and choose the best ones to have printed, instead of wasting money printing blurry or otherwise blemished shots.

Another great thing about digital photography is that there are so many photo editing software packages available to make my pictures just right. People used to have to depend upon professionals to edit pictures, but now anyone can do it themselves. Being able to crop, add effects, and improve the photo quality of my digital pictures. Then I have the option of printing them out at home, or using a service which allows me to take my pick of photo products, different finishes and various sizes of prints. Playing around with my pictures is so much fun!


Do you love digital photography too? What's your favorite, most user friendly photo editing software or website that you use? It's hard to recall what life was like pre-digital, but I'm definitely not looking back.