Let's go on a picnik

Growing grass...

Fluffing clouds...

Sprinkling dew...

Floating kites...

Stealing picnik basket...

What on earth?*

*above phrases taken from the picnik site.  it's very cute.

Picniking is one of my hobbies.  

Ever since I found out that it is possible to edit photos without cluttering up my hard drive, or spending a whole lot of cash, or going insane trying to operate the complicated features...I was hooked.

Picnik.com!  Photo editing made easy!

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I suppose I should add a few disclaimers before I keep endorsing this product.

1. It's not Photoshop.  There are limits.  Limits can be frustrating.

2. You should be taking photos that don't need editing.  Not editing every single photo you've taken.

3. You will be tempted to pay something to get the Premium program.

4. If the Internet crashes you may lose your edits.

5. Oh, disclaimers are boring.  Let's get back to picniking!

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Picnik is literally as easy as 1,2,3.

1. Register for nothing.
Just enter an email address, username and password and you're in.

2. Upload and edit photo.
You can upload from your computer, Facebook, Picasa, Flickr, or basically anywhere.
Editing involves pressing all the buttons to see what they can do to your photo.  There is always 'Undo'!

3. Save photo and keep forever.
Again, you can save your photo on your computer, in Picasa Web albums, or basically anywhere.

Let's have a look.

Behold a photo I have taken and want to edit.  I uploaded it onto Picnik by clicking 'Upload'.

Behold I am cropping it (cutting into a smaller square).  I crop by clicking 'Crop'.

Now I am adding effects by pressing 'Effects', and then clicking the effect I want.
(Do you get the feeling that this may be very easy?)

So....  BEFORE and AFTER

I call this my 1960 effect.  Boost the colour, add rounded edges, label in ye olde font and use the "1960's" effect.  Easy!

Here is an example of a more serious Picnik save.  In this case I began with a photo that was really blah and uninspiring.  These are my favourite photos to edit, because it's pretty hard to make them look any worse.

  

I've been fiddling around making the little headers and buttons for The Mouse Files on Picnik.  Before that, I have to admit it wasn't a very useful program.  There are limits to how much you can edit your family holiday snaps.

Future post on The Mouse Files... 'How I Waded Through Many Internet Pages and Spent Four Hours Adjusting Ratios To Make A Button On My Blog (made easy for you)'.