All this picture stuff got me thinking about how there simply has to be an online photo editor, besides the one at Flickr. So, I turned to my trusty friend Mr. Google, and what do you know? Turns out there are several. I’m going to be trying a few out, and I’ll share my thoughts here, in case there are any others out there who can’t download software.
Note: I got the idea to look for free online photo editors from Kristin and Tasha, who both suggested downloadable freeware. I haven’t been asked or paid to review any website. Although I do get a lot of requests for pay-for-post blogging, I always say no, because it just ain’t my gig. So there. What follows is my real, nearly bankrupt opinion in case you were thinking otherwise. Well, nearly financially bankrupt. Because Morally? Let’s just say that my college years wore my moral fiber just a wee teensy thin.
Today, I tried Picnik, mostly because it was the first link in the Google listings. Picnik let’s you edit your photo in the following ways: Rotate, crop, resize and you can also adjust the exposure, and sharpen photos. If editing people pictures is your thing, you can also fix red-eye.
Pros:
- I didn’t have to register for anything.
- I thought the zoom feature was pretty cool, too.
- Under the “Create” tab, you can do all sorts of things, like pixelate, selectively focus/unfocus areas, and much much more.
- If you choose the premium account, it’s pretty reasonably priced.
Cons
- Some of the cooler features require a premium account; I don’t have one, so I couldn’t try them out.
- You can’t go back and undo a change unless it’s the last change you made.
- It isn’t possible to selectively adjust color for one object; Picnik may not be suitable for enhancing skin tones.
- The selective focus and selective color/black and white options (under “Create) were pretty limited, in that the area chosen has to be a circle, and it has to be in the center of the photo (unless I’m doing something wrong).
I decided to test Picnik with this picture:
I chose this picture because, while I (somewhat) like the composition, I was disappointed in how washed-out and flat it looks. There is very little depth (despite how the picture incorporates several city blocks of buildings!), and almost no contrast. The clouds were especially blah.
In editing the photo, I added red to the colors, contrast, and enhanced the shadows and highlights. I also sharpened the picture, but just a little (and wow, that can move into the overkill category faster than you can swing a cat). Not that I’d ever swing a cat.
This is what I ended up with. It’s much closer to the view out my work’s window than the one above. In fact, you can even see the reflection of the flourescent lights now, although I wish I’d cropped that out. [THREE PREPOSITIONS IN A ROW - I WIN!!]
What do you think, Intertubes?
It looks really great, wow, I don’t do Squat w/my photos except download, post, or delete them. Thanks for the inspiration.
Thanks also for the bead contest again, I posted a picture of earrings I made from the fabulous prize from Auntie’s beads. Send my best, Martha
http://comicallyflawed.blogspot.com/2009/08/pink-accessories-for-pink-saturday.html
I like the results.
While the new picture certainly addresses the issues you had with the original, it has acheived a grainy feel. Didn’t your Nikkon come with photo editing software? Because my Kodak did, as did my Cannon (EOS Rebel – we just bought it – LOVE IT!). The Kodak software does what Picnik does, but I don’t know about the Cannon software yet, as I’ve just edited those photos with the software provided with Vista – grr (one must add grr after saying Vista grr). However, all in all, it’s a nice edit!
Yeah, I cringe at the graininess, too. The sharpness feature is really touchy – it’s easy to go too far. Unfortunately, that was one of the downfalls with Picnik, although I’m going to try a couple of different pictures and see if maybe it was more to do with the picture chosen. Maybe if there are less straight lines, it will be better?
I don’t have a computer right now (my Dell SUCKED), so I’m kinda stuck with what’s available online.
I finally caved an bought a premium account. I love the features, but for some reason there have been tons of bugs and problems when I try to edit things so I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to ask for my moolah back.
So, basically what I’m saying is I love it, when it works!
I think you win
. In the preposition thing and in the photo editor thing, but I’ll reserve judgment until I see other programs’ work.
But definitely with the preposition thing
.