I love Picnik.com, it’s a free photo editing site that is for the short term memory people like me that have a hard time remembering steps in Photoshop and of course I’m really too cheap to pay for software. I typically use Picnik to do a photo edit or to make a badge for the blog and I find it easy to use for making a clever photo collage.
But as they say, all good things must come to an end…..
Picnik recently announced the closing of the site with this….Take heed! The ants have invaded. Picnik will be closing April 19, 2012
Dang! That sucks but I do try to find the linking in every dark cloud. Good news for now is that they are offering all of their premium services from now until the end of the site for FREE! Yep! So my recommendation is if you have blog buttons or badges you want to make, do it now! It’s actually pretty darn easy and I have found some tutorials for you!
Want to make a header or button for your blog? I found this easy tutorial here: http://fosteringacreativelife.com/2012/01/14/how-to-create-a-blog-button-or-header-in-picnik/
Want to make a “grab my button” badge for your blog and put it on your sidebar? Kimberly shares an easy tutorial here: http://www.allaboutkimberly.com/grab-my-button
Want to make a photo collage? It’s easy, here is a tutorial video: http://www.butterscotch.com/tutorial/Making-A-Photo-Collage-In-Picnik
Take advantage of this while you can!
SO what happens after April 19th? Picnik was purchased by Google and now Google+ will offer a “Creative Kit”, not sure what that means but hopefully they will offer a comparison to the site with the Google + integration. You can read all about the Picnik shut down here: http://www.picnik.com/
There are many alternatives to Picnik but only handful of them compare. Here are some alternatives I have personally researched and compared to Picnik:
- Pixlr: I recommend the express version found here: http://pixlr.com/express/, loads fast, uploads quickly and is easy to use with some cool effects. I did not need to register but they do offer a “premium” service for $4.95 a month or if you sign up for the yearly service it’s only around $2 a month.
- BeFunky: If you are looking for the fun artistic effects including graphic shapes, effects, frames etc that Picnik offered, try out http://www.befunky.com/create/#/home it seems to be user friendly and you do not need to register for an account.
- Photoshop Express: I had no idea that Photoshop offers a free online version anyone can use with 2 GB of storage. You can sign up for an account here: http://www.photoshop.com/tools/overview. It’s not too comparable as far as the easy to use artistics that Picnik offered but they do offer a nice photo editing system.
These are just a few I’ve tried. I’m sharing some articles that others have written where they have also tried out some sites and they share their opinions:
- http://mashable.com/2012/01/24/alternatives-to-picnik/
- http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/2012/01/8-free-photo-editing-sites-alternatives.html
So keep on Picniking until you can’t Picnik anymore with all of the free premium services and hopefully you can find a site that works for you to use in the future!
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