PicMonkey Makes Photo Editing Simple

 

Have you ever worked with photo editing programs?  And if so, are you intimidated by them?  A long time ago I  purchased a photo editing program that I found wasn’t very user friendly.  Since then I’ve played around with some of the programs on-line and I’ve found PicMonkey  to be my favorite.  I can easily enhance, add text, make a collage, or turn an ordinary photo into the unordinary.  

This isn’t a sponsored post, it’s just me gabbing about a website that I’ve found quite useful in my blogging.   And because  I’m  somewhat  frugal, I work off of the basic (free) PicMonkey program.  But if you are willing to spend a few bucks then you can upgrade to their Royale package for $4.99 a month, or $33.00 annually, and the first month trial is free.

The photo above has been slightly enhanced through the photo gallery program on my computer.  Just a little tweaking was done to brighten the images and correct the color before I uploaded them to PicMonkey to make my collage. 

From this point forward I’m going to show you just how creative you can be using  PicMonkey.  In the pictures below  I used multiple design options.  My suggestion is to sit down and play with the program and get familiar with it.  I think you’ll see that there are plenty of features to keep you busy.  If you run your cursor over the image it will tell you what photo process I applied to each photo.

 

If you have a favorite image above please go ahead and share it on Pinterest – one of my most favorite places to hang out!

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DIY – Create Your Own Wall Art

Recently, I was snooping around Walmart when I happened upon a machine in the photo department that prints faux canvas images of your photographs relatively cheap. 

Since I think this is a really cool product, (and no, Walmart isn’t paying me to write this post), I decided to play around with one of my photographs and show you what I mean.

The photo above is my original.  With  a little help from my photo editing program I transformed that original image into a black and white, a faux painting, and a picture that’s bright and colorful. 

I think it’s important to create several different images that you can compare before heading off to the printer.  By doing this, it helped me realize that I actually preferred the black and white version of the photograph over the others.

So, why hide your beautiful photos in a photo album that collects dust?  Show them off!

Which photo of the four is your favorite?

 

 

Photo’s, a Pretty Little Primrose, and a Turkey

When I started blogging I didn’t realize how important a good photograph could be. I knew very little about depth of field, lighting, composition, and ISO. In fact, I started out blogging with an ancient digital point and shoot.

I also knew zilch about photo editing programs, other than how to hit the auto correct button that I frequently came to rely on, but found did little good.

I took pictures at the worst possible time of the day. There was no way in world I was going to get a decent picture while relying on artificial light in a dimly lit room. Especially without using any fancy photography lighting equipment or hint of natural light.

I discovered direct sunlight and flashes weren’t my friends either. Both created shadows that distracted from my food.

Aside from the lighting issues, I have learned to deal with the challenges of taking pictures of food in general. As you know, food quality changes quickly. A slice of bread will dry up, ice cream will melt, apples will turn brown, etc.

I realize I still have a lot to learn but I’ve found  one of the best ways to improve my pictures is to practice, practice, practice.  I do this by photographing things that aren’t going to melt – like this pretty little primrose or our turkey.