Picnik Free Online Photo Editor

R.I.P. - Goodbye to an Old Friend

and Exceptional Photo Editor

User Experience with Picnik Free Online Photo Editor

What Working with Picnik Free Online Photo Editor Is Like

T
he home page of Picnik Free Online Photo Editor is a clean, crisp, inviting, warm landing page for this awesome free online photo editing application. It is free of advertising and very user-friendly.

• Ease of Use / Intuitive Interface - Very good; clean, crisp, easy to use
• Size of Workspaces - Very acceptable
• Attractiveness / Clean Lines - Excellent Presentation
• Excessive Use of Ads - Totally free of advertising
• Zoom - Scale in lower right corner; one of the best I have seen; excellent for working with small areas such as the eyes
• Undo - Seemingly endless levels; I counted up to 40 and could have continued
• Redo - At least 40; probably many more
• Immediate (Live) Preview of Changes - Yes
• Full Screen Mode for Editing - Premium Package only
• Right Click for Additional Options - Yes
• Keyboard Shortcuts - No

Getting Started with Picnik Free Online Photo Editor

Introduction to the Application

T
he Picnik Free Online Photo Editor home page is clean, crisp, free of advertising, and looks happy! It lets you know right off that you can upload from many different sites and local drives and that, of course, it's free and you don't have to register. In the center of the screen is a big button that says "Get Started Now", and that's really all you have to do - click the button (or choose one of the other options below that). The same options are available on the next page that comes up.

From here, you also have lots of chances to subscribe to their premium services, send gift subscriptions to others, change languages, make collages, print photos, and much more.

Normally, the program opens your photo with the Edit tab already selected. However, for some reason, this is not always true. If it doesn't open where you want it, just click one of the other tabs to begin - or just to check out what else is available.

You will probably spend most of your time with the last three tabs: Edit, Create, Save and Share. You do need to know that the Home tab will take you, not to the original Picnik Free Online Photo Editor Home Page, but to a screen that gives you several options, one of which is close the current photo without saving or sharing it and the chance to upload a different photo.

You will also notice on the right side of the workspace beside the Undo button a small circular icon with a drop-down button on it. Using this drop-down, you can close the current image with or without saving it.

The image above was done using Picnik Free Online Photo Editor. In the original, both eyes were glaring red, the colors needed an uplift, and the shirt had no images or text. I very quickly corrected the red eyes, AutoFixed the colors, and added the football sticker and two text objects. Cool pic, don't ya think?


Photo © guardianstar77, 2011 - All Rights Reserved

File Management in Picnik Free Online Photo Editor

Where You Can GET and PUT Your Files

T
he file management functions are part of the strength of the Picnik free online photo editor. It supports a large number of file formats and is capable of uploading and saving really big files!

General Information

• Sample Photo for Practice - Yes
• Max File Size - 16mb
• Max Resolution - Unknown; test image was 6000x6000 at 200dpi
• Time to load file - Extremely fast

Open / Download

• File Formats - JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF
• PC or Laptop - Yes
• Removable Media (flash drive, external hard drive, etc.) - Yes
• Mobile Phone - No
• Social Networks / Photo Storage Sites - Yes
• URL (any website) - Yes; under the Library tab

Save / Upload / Export

• Files Formats - JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, PDF
• Save to PC or Laptop - Yes
• Save to Removable Media - Yes
• Save to Mobile Phone - No
• Upload to Social Networks - Yes
• Upload to Photo Storage Sites - Yes
• E-mail - Yes
• Save on Application Host Server - Yes, with registration - which is free
• Print - Yes
• Create a Product (similar to Zazzle) - Yes (under Print options)

Workspaces

• Save to Picnik (with free registration)
• Multiple Images - Yes; with free registration can upload up to 5 photos at once

Basic Features of Picnik Free Online Photo Editor

Working with the Standard Tools

P
icnik Free Online Photo Editor includes all of the most common basic features of an online photo editor. It also has some extended features that make some of the basic photo editing tools exceptionally good!

• Crop - Yes; excellent tool with overlying grid that can be resized and positioned before cropping
• Copy - No
• Resize / Scale - Yes, enter size in pixels or percentages
• Flip - Yes; on the Rotate button
• Rotate - Yes; 90 degree increments; has an amazing "straighten" option complete with overlying grid
• Marquee Selections - No
• Advanced Selection Tools (lasso, oval, etc.) - No
• Increase Canvas Size - No

Text Capabilities of Picnik Free Online Photo Editor

Blue Ribbon Quality

M
y own personal Blue Ribbon award is certainly deserved by Picnik Free Online Photo Editor. If you have read any of my other reviews of free online photo editing applications, you already know that I place a very high value on being able to select objects (such as text) after creation so they can be edited, resized, and repositioned on the photo. Picnik Free Online Photo Editor offers all of this and more!

Picnik has a terrific range of fonts, with only one set reserved for Premium users. These include the more common basic fonts, as well as a substantial offering by other users. These are all unique to Picnik, and some of them are very interesting and a lot of fun!

• Range of Fonts - Superb!
• Font Preview - Yes
• Color - Yes
• Size - Yes; scale with slider
• Bold / Italics / Underline - Bold and Italics available for some fonts
• Placement on Image - Yes, drag to position
• Rotation - Yes; has a freeform rotation symbol to rotate by any increment in either direction
• Transparency - Yes; affects the opacity of the fonts themselves
• Special Effects - Drop-down menu to impact appearance of font
• Move / Reposition after De-select - Yes
• Edit after De-select - Yes

The image shown here combines a couple of the other photo editing effects with the text objects. Yeah, I know it's corny, but I made this image primarily to show you some of the capabilities of the text editor in Picnik.


Original Image Courtesy of PhotoRack

Photo Enhancement Tools in Picnik Free Online Photo Editor

Fine Tuning with Picnik Free Online Photo Editor

P
icnik has a ton of tools for enhancing photos, including the most common ones. The best part of these tools is that each pops up a "how-to" box to the left of the image. Many of them also include an Advanced button that allows you to further refine how the tool is implemented. I love both of these features.

• Hue / Saturation - Yes
• Contrast / Brightness - Yes
• Color Balance / Correction / Enhancement - Yes
• Levels - Premium Package only
• Curves - Premium Package only
• Exposure - Yes
• Desaturate - Yes
• Blur - Yes; under Effects - Soften and Focal Soften (which is awesome)
• Noise - No
• Sharpen - Yes

The image above is my oldest grandson when he was much younger. Although I love this photo as it is because of the expression on his face, I wanted to focus more on that expression. I added the black-and-white effect, used the paintbrush to restore the original color to the face, used the focal soften to blur the area around his face, and chose a museum matte to frame it. I love the result!

The photo below is the original from which I created the above version.





Photos © guardianstar77, 2011 - All Rights Reserved

Common Add-On Features of Picnik Free Online Photo Editor

Other Things You Can Do with Picnik

I
n Picnik Free Online Photo Editor you will find a nice assortment of add-on features common to most free online photo editors. Unfortunately, a lot of the nicer tools are for Premium Package subscribers only. Overall, though, most people will probably be happy with the free photo editing options.

• Red Eye Reduction - Yes; works beautifully
• Frames / Borders - Yes; extremely limited
• Shapes - Yes, a bit limited but fully customizable
• Stickers / Stamps - Yes; nice variety for free; many more with Premium Package
• Talk Bubbles - Yes
• Polaroid - Yes, no "bend" option but angle and background colors can be set
• Collage - Yes, with registration
• Face-in-a-Hole - No

I loved the above photo of my middle grandson! However, it was overexposed, he had bright red eyes, and (like most little boys) had a dirty face. In Picnik Free Online Photo Editor, I cropped the image to eliminate as much as possible of the white wall behind the mirror, corrected the exposure, got rid of the red eyes, and removed the dirt from his little face using the Blemish Fix effect. I was absolutely thrilled with the result. Below is the original.






Photos © guardianstar77, 2011 - All Rights Reserved

Common Filters / Effects in Picnik Free Online Photo Editor

Sprucing Up Your Photo with Picnik Free Online Photo Editor

P
icnik Free Online Photo Editor chose not to embrace a lot of the filters and effects common to most free online photo editors. However, they more than make up for that short-coming with some of the other awesome effects that they do offer - all for free. (See the Unique Additional Features section below.)

• Kaleidoscope - Yes, sort of; Hypnotic effect
• Liquid Waves / Waves - No
• Ripple - Yes, but difficult to use
• Water Ripple - No
• Twirl / Swirl - No
• Edge Detection - No
• Lighting Effects - No
• Lens Flare - No
• Sphere - No
• Emboss - No
• Pixelate - Yes
• Textures - No
• Terrain / Bump Map - No

Advanced Photo Editing Features

Picnik Free Online Photo Editor for Graphics Artists and Illustrators

Y
ou will not find many advanced photo editing tools in Picnik Free Online Photo Editor, although there are a few. With subscription to their Premium Package, you have access to Layers and the Advanced tools, such as Curves and Levels. With the basic free application, however, there isn't much to offer graphics artists, designers, and illustrators.

• Pixel-Based / Bitmap Editing - No
• 16-Bit Support - No
• CMYK Color Space - No
• Range of Brushes - Acceptable
• Range of Shapes - Acceptable
• Pen Tool - No
• Layers - Premium Package only
• Tablet Support - No

Animation within Picnik Free Online Photo Editor

Non-Existent

A
nimation is another arena in which Picnik has chosen to not compete with some of the other free online image editing applications. There are absolutely no tools for animation, not even animated text or stickers.

3D Transformations within Picnik Free Online Photo Editor

Sorry - These Tools Don't Exist

T
his is another "missing piece" in the Picnik Free Online Photo Editor line-up of editing tools. Although there is a great selection of beautiful, 3D stickers for you to choose from, the ability to create anything new in 3D aspect is just not available.

Noticeably Missing Features

What You WON'T Find in Picnik Free Online Photo Editor

A
s just mentioned in the preceding sections, there are lots of common features "missing" from Picnik Free Online Photo Editor. Instead of dwelling on those, let's jump right on down to some unique additional features that you will find in Picnik!

Unique Additional Features of Picnik

Super Cool Things You WILL Find in Picnik Free Online Photo Editor

S
o why, with all those "missing" common features, would I choose Picnik Free Online Photo Editor as a Blue Ribbon winner from among the many free online photo editors? Ah, geez, let me count the whys...

• Great file management, including ability to upload from a webcam (which is fairly uncommon)


• Ability to select all objects (text, stickers, shapes, etc.) at any time after creation so they can be edited, resized and repositioned.


• Ability to right click on the objects for a pop-up content menu that allows extended functions, such as the ability to "layer" the objects, duplicate them, and more.


• The "help" windows that appear to the left of the images explaining what functions are for and how to use them


• The dialog box at the top of most of the effects that allow for adjusting the effects as you want them to be


• The dialog box that appears to the right of the photos that include extensive options for enhancing and/or altering images


• Note the drop-down menu on most of these dialog boxes. The default for most of the affects is Normal. However, from this menu, you can select from many Photoshop-like® options that will drastically change the effect (such as Multiply).
• The overlying grid that comes with the crop tool.


• The option to "straighten" images, which also comes with an overlying grid to help you straighten crooked images or just rotate them as you wish


• The ability to combine the brush option with many of the tools


• For any effect that shows a small icon of a paintbrush (on the pop-up dialog box to the left), you can use the paintbrush to create really wonderful effects. For example, you can make the image all black and white, then brush over areas that you would like to restore to their original color. This is awesome. You can also apply an effect (such as Smudge) and then paint over an area of your photo that you do not want to be smudged. Watch for the paintbrush and play with it to see what happens.
• The number of free effects that I have not seen in other applications, such as Focal Soften, which is amazing


• The zoom scale, which is one of the best I have used

Pay close attention to all the options you have in these effect adjustment boxes. Some of them can be used to create powerful enhancements to your photos, and some of them will just create a drastically different appearance - which might be just the exact effect you want!

The image shown in this section started out as a bunch of red flowers growing outside. I applied several different effects, brushed out parts of some of the effects, changed colors on some of the effects, and applied different effects at random points. Amazing result!




Original Photo Courtesy of PhotoRack

Environment of Picnik Free Online Photo Editor

General Things You Need to Know

T
he general environment of Picnik Free Online Photo Editor is totally transparent with regard to all aspects of their services. From the Home tab (not the home page itself, but the tab), you can access a TON of information, including their Terms of Use / Service, Privacy Policies, Help menus, forums, and much more. This is possibly the most open environment of all the free online photo editors that I have reviewed.

• Registration Required - No, but you do get more options with registration; it's free and takes about 30 seconds (even if you type slowly)


• Premium / Pro Upgrade Available - Yep


• Plug-Ins (manageable within program) - No


• Frequency of Updates - Appears to be updated frequently


• Terms of Use - As always, you should read all Terms of Use / Service and so forth that are provided by Picnik. However, after reading through them all, I found no restrictions regarding commercial use of your own photos after altering within Picnik.

Link to Picnik Free Online Photo Editor

Training and Support for Picnik Free Online Photo Editor

What Help Is Available

I
n my opinion, besides the features and functionality of the program itself, the second best thing the publisher of a free online photo editor can offer users is lots of friendly, easy-to-use tools for learning more, doing more, and being more involved in the community surrounding their program. Picnik Free Online Photo Editor has certainly done an excellent job of providing these tools.

On the Home tab (not the Home page), you will find links to many tools to improve your knowledge of Picnik as well as links to the forums, blog, online store, Terms of Use / Service, Privacy Policy, and much more. I especially like the application's training tools. After selecting the Home tab, select the Help tab. At the bottom you will see a little box that says: "Grow in Your Picnik Mastery". This is a wonderful way to introduce yourself to the basics of Picnik Free Online Photo Editor as well as some of the more advanced features.

• Help Menu Available within Application - Yes


• FAQ / Knowledge Base / Tutorials within Application - Yes


• Forums / Blogs / Community Groups - Yes


• External Training / Tutorials - Lots of people love Picnik; ergo, there are lots of external training opportunities available, including YouTube® videos (see below)

Summary of Picnik Free Online Photo Editor

The Big Picture

Okay. So it is missing a lot of the features common to most free online photo editing applications. I don't really care. The amazing tools that are available are among the best I have seen, and they all perform even better than expected. You won't necessarily be able to create fantastic works of art with a few clicks in Picnik, but you can easily enhance your photos and add a multitude of special effects to them with just a few clicks. Picnik Free Online Photo Editor is a Blue Ribbon winner for me!


Original Photo Courtesy of PhotoRack

Please Visit Guardianstar77 on Zazzle

Find Great Digital Arts Product

Why I Wrote Picnik Free Photo Editor

Meet the Author of Picnik Free Photo Editor

guardianstar77 is a writer, graphics design artist, nature enthusiast and lover of everything that resembles a horse. She lives in Central Arkansas and shares her life with a husband of over 40 years, 2 sons, and 5 fabulous grandchildren. guardianstar77 is not domesticated, finding that spending time doing almost anything else beats doing housework. Her passions include recycling, frugal living, feeding the hungry, old-fashioned vintage everything, nature, reading, writing, flea markets and yard sales, Christmas, mystical creatures, carousels, and artwork filled with glorious earthy colors.

guardianstar77 is a devout Christian, a staunch conservative, a passionate American, and a defender of capitalism. Although she is, by her own definition, somewhat of a "professional hermit crab", guardianstar77 is deeply loyal to her family and those she chooses to have as friends. When not pursuing writing and artistic goals, she spends her time deepening those relationships.

guardianstar77 is a long-standing member of Squidoo, and she shares her royalties with many Squidoo charities. View all my lenses!