Picnik, A photo editor for the rest of us

I love Picnik. I can't put it any simpler than that. Picnik is a photo editing program that works in your browser— PC or Mac. The interface is ridiculously easy to use, the options are fun and plentiful, but most importantly, your picture will look good.

I have long hesitated to really use much photo editing. Photoshop is just too complicated for my ADD brain (I still have no idea what a layer is, exactly). I don't want to read a manual or a take a class just to tweak pictures I take as a hobby. Other programs, such as Picasa, seem too simple for my needs, and the results never quite satisfy me. Picnik is a nice middle ground. I currently use the free version, (although a paid account is available) and have discovered a few options I use faithfully.

One basic tool I am consistently pleased with is sharpen. I have used it with pictures taken both with my camera phone (a Motorola RIZR Z3 2.0 megapixels) and my digital camera (Canon Powershot SD500, 7.1 megapixels). The pictures always seem natural, rarely grainy (unless you crank it way up), and a little goes a long way. Picnik has all the traditional options, such as color temp, cropping, and exposure.  I tend not to care too much for the Auto-fix. I prefer to tweak the details myself.

For this little guy, I used sharpen, exposure, color temperature and focal soften:

 

Before:	After:

 

Picnik also offers some really cool effects. (I've noticed now that I sometimes shoot pictures based on what I can do with them once I upload them.) Sure, you can soften or turn your picture sepia, but try out the 1960's filter reminiscent of those washed out pictures from your 4th grade summer vacation at Disneyland. Also fun to play with are Night Vison,Orton-ish and Cinema Scope. My very favorite is the Lomo-ish filter, which adds a Holga type haze around the picture:

 

Before:	After:

 

Picnik also includes options such as frames (check out Polaroid) and adding text or shapes. Once you are done, you can upload your photos directly to a variety of photo sharing/hosting sites, including: Flickr, MySpace, Photobucket, Facebook or email.

Give it a shot, registration is free. It's easy to use, and it may change the way you take pictures.

Comments

[Posted: Jun 9, 2008 3:10:37 PM]

I hate to admit this, but I have been using Kodak EasyShare for years. Ever since my first digital camera.

Since then, I have been fighting learning a new editing software, however the darkroom photographer in me was far from satisfied with my current editing results. And PhotoShop? I'll buy that right after I start buying all of my meals at Whole Foods.

I signed up for Picnik a long time ago, but am going to try it again today, thanks to you.

Here goes nothing.

[Posted: Jun 13, 2008 10:51:13 PM]

Ｆｒｉｅｎｄｌｙ ｇｒｅｅｔｉｎｇｓ Marcie! Heard about your Picnik review from the official Picnik blog. I came over here to say hi and read. I can relate on the "ADD brain" tip; and alas, maybe it's just my bad (good?) luck, but Photoshop has been awfully crashy for me lately.

Adding a little pop to shots with Picnik goes a long way. Have you tried collages yet? Check out the Picnik forums and contact Charlie to get signed up for the sneak peek.

Cheerio!

[Posted: Jul 14, 2008 12:27:53 AM]

Picnik rocks!

So easy to use, it truly is the editor "for the rest of us".

Highly recommended.

[Posted: Jul 17, 2008 12:13:22 PM]

I love picnik too :o)

[Posted: Feb 14, 2009 4:00:36 PM]

Picnik is amazing!! I'm a writer, and not very technical so it's such a relief not to have to learn Photoshop.

I've just created a new banner for my blog by sprucing up a photo that wasn't very good, strategically cropping it and then putting the blog name across it. There's loads of fonts to choose from which is pretty good.

I pay for the upgraded account, it is definitely worth it.