Editing Online

Since I began participating in the edit me challenge last year and now that I am co-hosting I have learned a lot about the many editing programs out there. I’ve used quite a few over the past few years, but have found that I really love Lightroom, but I love using photoshop as well and while I’m not a proficient user of photoshop or lightroom they get the job done for me and I’m pleased. That being said, there have been a few times when I’ve needed an editing program and those weren’t available – right after Jonah was born my laptop got a virus and was out of commission for a few weeks. Bummer. I experimented with my husband’s iPad trying out different apps and found a couple I liked, but right now I’m really loving the camera app from Smug Mug on my iPhone!

For all the picnik lovers and users out there I’m sure you know picnik will be closing in just under one month. As with everything else Google+ is taking over many of picnik’s features. In a year’s time we will probably all being referencing Google+ like it’s twitter or pinterest, saying things like “oh I +’d that yesterday” or since it uses circles I guess we’ll be saying “I added her to my circle” and everyone will know what we’re talking about. Who knows maybe everyone already says these things and I’m just out of the loop… If you are a Google + user and fan (of google+) you can find me here.

Anywho, the point of all this is that I tried out Pic Monkey. I’ve been hearing about it for about a month now from some of the Edit Me Challenge participants and have read a couple reviews. Now, I’m not a picnik user, so I cannot really compare the two, but here’s what I found with Pic Monkey. I’m using this week’s Edit Me photo from Beth at Snaps of Our Life and breaking down my steps just in case you are curious!

Original Photo:

Edit #1 using Pic Monkey

 This is pretty much just a clean edit. It was very easy and the sliding bars are similar to why I love lightroom so much. They are easy to use and adjust as you go.

• I cropped the photo square using the crop tool. I entered 1200x1200 to get a square then dragged the photo to get it into the right position.
• Next, I increased the contrast just enough
• Lastly, I warmed using the temperature sliding bar.

Edit #2 using Pic Monkey

 Using what I got in the first photo...

• selected Cross Process and moved the Fade bar to 75% (this is like Opacity but the numbers go the opposite way basically) So for this photo I'm using 25% of the Cross Processing effect.
• Next I used the Boost Effect and clicked the reverse effect box took the brush at 32% and went over the berries and some of the leaves.

This really seperated the foreground from the background.

Edit # 3 using Pic Monkey

Again I am building from the photo above.

• Added the Gritty effect with darkness set to 54% and then faded it 75%
• Used Fancy Focus with 72% Intensity - this created the dark edges

I don't know how well I like this effect for this photo but using it with a building in the backgroud or something would probably be really cool!

Edit #4 using Pic Monkey

I started back from scratch with this one.

• I used the Yesteryear effect - Fading to my liking.
• Tint with a slightly light blue - Fading to my liking.
• Within the Tint effect, I chose the brush with original clicked - this is basically like an eraser and removed the tint at 100% from the berries.
• Next, I chose Focal Zoom with the following settings:
• Blur 77%
• Size 50%
• Hardness 23%
• Screen (blending mode)
• And Faded it 37%

TaDa! I really like the last edit! Something totally different than what I would have done with my regular editing programs.

My take on Pic Monkey is it's incredibly easy to use, it's fast, you can undo things pretty easily and it has just about everything you need. Downsides would be that you can't really see each layer after you've moved on - but this is a FREE program I can't expect much more than that! There are some things I they will charge for down the road but right now you can use them as a free trial just by entering your email address. Nothing I used was one of those items. However, if I were editing a portrait there are several brushes ect that I would want to use that you do need a free trial for. I hope this helps someone out there looking for editing programs. Let me know if you've used Pic Monkey and your experience!

And don't forget to check out this week's Edit Me Challenge AND our judge this week is Beth from Snaps of Our Life. She and her family are celebrating World Downs Syndrome Day, go show her and her little girls some support!

xoxo