My old laptop came with a free photo-enchancing program called Microsoft Picture It, that I really love. Unfortunately, for some reason, this program is no longer available to upload into other computers. My laptop has been running so slow lately, that I use my netbook and my work computers much more for photo editing.
I tried one of the photo software programs that you purchase in a store like Staples, and instead of buying PhotoShop, I got some generic crap that frustrated the hell out of me. I removed it from my hard-drive.
I have tried out three of the major online photo-enhancing software products: PhotoBucket, Picnik, and Picasa. While I like different features of each one, overall the very best one, in my opinion, is Picnik . I have my Picnik account attached to Flickr, (it does this by default, you don't have to do anything) but their home page says you can also use Picnik with PhotoBucket and Picasa and WebShots (which I have not tried).
PhotoBucket is owned by News Corp, which also owns MySpace, and you can tell that the software, especially the 'add-ons' like glitter text and the crazy font choices, are aimed at the MySpace crowd. I do like the fact that I can take a picture with my cell phone and text it directly to PhotoBucket.
Picasa is owned by Google, and it has the nice option of directly uploading a finished picture to a Blogger post. I like the ease of editing picutres on Picasa, yet there are some features omitted, namely being able to re-size a picture, that frustrate me about Picasa.
Picnik is the one that I prefer overall. I like the ease of editing, the types of editing available, and the fact that it is connected with Flickr, which I have come to really enjoy. Picnik and Flickr are owned by Yahoo.
With Picnik, once I've edited a picture, I can easily add the html to a blog post here on Blogger, or to Facebook. Plus, putting a picture into a 'group' on Flickr is a fun way to share your pics with other photographers who share similar interests.
PhotoBucket and Flickr/Picnik are online-only services (there's nothing to download), so your account and photos can be accessed from any computer. While Picasa can be accessed from any computer, in order to edit your pictures you have to download their software onto a specific computer. Which is another reason that I enjoy Flickr/Picnik.
I have only the free accounts with PhotoBucket and Picasa. If there are pay-for upgrades for them, I don't have them. With Flickr/Picnik on the other hand, I was given a gift of an upgrade to Flickr and I purchased the upgrade to Picnik.
The picture above is one that I took last fall in Norwich, Connecticut while on vacation, and I had some fun editing it on Picnik to get the red and black image below. Once I saw this image, I thought - I have to use it for a Ruby Tuesday!
Which software do you use to edit your pictures?
~Mo
12 comments
Comment by Eyad on 1:37 PM
ello sweetheart
i used all of these editing programs but not Flickr ! ..
when i was a beginner in photography i started with Picasa until i felt that im confidence to use bigger programs .. started with Photoshop free trial Version 30 days and i liked it .. and now i have Photoshop CS4
yours ~
~Eyad♥
Comment by star8278 on 1:41 PM
You can send pics from your phone to flickr too. It's under a tab called extending flickr, probaby under the my account link on the page somewhere. They give you a custom email addy that you can program into your phone and use to email the pic to.
:)
So glad you like Flickr. If you are still looking for a program to load on the laptop, I am very, very happy with and do all my editing with photoshop elements 7. I even like it better than CS2 which I had on the desktop. You can get tons of great freebie actions from coffeeteaphotography.blogspot.com
Comment by Desert Songbird on 2:15 PM
I've used Picasa exclusively because I'm too lazy to try anything else!
Did you know that your Ruby Tuesday photo is not showing up? Or at least I can't see it.
Comment by Lois Grebowski on 2:16 PM
Most of my pics are raw, but if I edit them, I have Dell Picture it on this laptop and a home version of Photoshop on my other laptop.
Comment by barb on 2:37 PM
I love Picnik, too! I use it and Photoshop Elements 7.
Comment by Eyad on 3:25 PM
and yes Lisa reminded me
i prefer photoshop elements 7 better then PS CS
:D
and i will let you use it soon we i move to yours :)
love you
Comment by Jamie on 8:16 PM
As usual the eyes started crossing as various computer programs were mentioned ... Beyond my ken and no one home to help. Fortunately, I loved the result. That is one great picture. Congratulations.
Comment by Linda on 10:15 PM
The stone looks like it came directly from the depths of hell! Norwich may be close now that I think about it!
I tend to use Picasa for my editing and then upload the pictures to Flickr before I upload them to my blog - whew! Reason being I like the editing in Picasa but like that I can resize the photo in Flickr.
The main reason I use Picasa and not Picnik is a four letter word - FREE!!
Comment by Amazing Gracie on 12:07 AM
Uh...I'm with Jamie. I have Adobe Photoshop but haven't figured it out yet. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I know that will shock you.
I currently use the photo thing on my computer. Sad to be so dumb.
~~~Blessings~~~
Comment by Patti on 6:33 PM
I use good old, free Paint.Net. I'm not good at all this fancy stuff.
I like that you used a pic from Norwich when you were visiting Linda!
Happy Ruby Tuesday, a day late.
Comment by Marites on 10:17 PM
you hve beautiful pics. i hve picasa, photobucket, picnik and i also surf around to edit some pics. nowadays, I use photobucket more often. my Ruby Tue is up too.
Comment by maryt/theteach on 9:01 AM
Lost you along the way, Mo but I use Adobe Photoshop to make my pictures slightly smaller and then I upload to Photobucket or I go to Picasa. Is there a photo-editing program in which I can make the shot smaller and do the photo-editing and then download to Blogger? Wow, your RT shot is horrifying! :)
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