Picnik
Submitted by The Consumer’s Corner Blog
During my ‘hiatus’ this summer and fall, I purchased a neat little digital camera off of eBay. This little thing has become my constant companion; I rarely leave home without him (yes, my camera is male). Nothing too fancy; 6 megapixels, 4x optical zoom, a gig of memory. A bit simple, but it’s more than adequate for my needs.
What is not adequate is my skill as a photographer. I’ve gone through about a thousand shots now, and while I’m getting better as I go, this blogger will not be winning any Pulitzer’s anytime…. ever? It’s just a hobby, that’s all it will ever be. But, being the perfectionist I am, I want my ‘art’ to at least look good, even if it cannot be great.
Photoshop is completely impractical for hobbyists. The Gimp is very effective, and I still use it, but it does have a bit of a learning curve. So what’s a fellow to do when he wants to do a quick touch up, or his skill isn’t quite where it needs to be to do fancy effects? Enter Picnik, a free web-based photo editor.
I’d tell you it’s limited, but I honestly haven’t tried to do anything that Picnik is incapable of. You hardcore geniuses will find it’s limits rather quickly I assume, but you guys already have Photoshop, and the knowledge required to opperate it. Picnik is for the rest of us.
It will auto-correct some stuff, but it’s honestly more fun just to do it yourself while playing with brushes and sliders. Adjust lighting, colors, contrast, apply masks, do that neat ‘everything is black & white except for this or that’ effect; the sky is the limit. I’ve turned some fairly pedestrian looking shots into things that I wasn’t ashamed to upload to art sites like deviantArt, and they were well received. Do something wrong, and screw your photo up? Just hit undo! Or, don’t save it. Your original is never copied over unless you want it to be.
Upload photos into Picnik directly from many popular sites, including MySpace and Facebook. You can’t upload them to those sites yet (so far as I can tell), but I’m betting you will be able to in the future. Picnik is 100% free (’Premium’ upgrade is available), and it doesn’t even require registration! Amazing. Considering it’s absolute lack of cost, usefulness, and user friendliness, this site is a no-brainer ‘Recommend!’
–Jeremy Hobbs
Had a great product review for your product? Do you want to offer your own review of a product? Register on Product Reviews Blog now and get published within minutes. Before posting, it is recommended that you review our posting guidelines.
