Update: Now Picmonkey charges for some of their actions, but there is a free website called Ipiccy that has identical software.
I own Photoshop, but I actually prefer the simplicity of Picmonkey! Plus, most of the actions are free & it’s so simple anyone can use it!
Today I am going to show you how you can make you baby photos (or really any photos) shine using this free software. One note: I have found that sometimes using this software compared to Photoshop decreases the pixels and thus the quality of your image, so keep that in mind if you want a super high quality photo.
Here is the Photo I started out with. Cute, huh? Well, we’re going to make it cuter!
Quick Note:
I
circled or highlighted every important move or action I made in pink
(just in case you didn’t notice 😉 The pink box on the left side of the
pictures will be where to find the particular effect I am using in each
step.
circled or highlighted every important move or action I made in pink
(just in case you didn’t notice 😉 The pink box on the left side of the
pictures will be where to find the particular effect I am using in each
step.
So, first off, I cropped my image.
I wanted my picture to be lighter. I love using Curves for this. It gives pictures a pure creamy source of soft light & it is so easy to control and get the tone you want.
Next I wanted to sharpen my image a bit, so I used Eye Brighten around the main focus of my image. I prefer this tool over the Sharpen Tool Because you can control what gets clear and what stays blurred.
This is a close up of what she looks like after using Eye Brighten to sharpen her face.
I like to sharpen her dark features (bow & eyes) with Mascara just to make them stand out a little more.
Now I used Exposure to give more contrast (lighter lights and darker darks) I played around with the shadows & brightness until I liked it.
Now I cleaned up her skin (bug bites!) using Wrinkle Remover, because I am picky like that! 😛
Next I used Cross Process to change the tint of the picture to a more creamy green. I faded it to about 70% so it would be very subtle.
Here’s the before and after. It all comes down to your preference. Some people like the antiqued look and some like natural. I like a combination of them!
Using Curves again (my favorite 😉 I used the color override to dilute it. Before I “applied” the action,
I erased where I wanted all the color to be so it would pop more.
Call me crazy, but I like my pictures to be as clean as possible, so I used Clone to replace this ugly leaf in the grass with more grass.
All better!
There you have it! all The steps might look insignificant until you see the before and after! 🙂
It’s all about playing around with your picture until you like what you see!
If you haven’t tried Picmonkey out, you really should! Ever since Picnik closed, it has been the best free photo editing site I have found!
Thanks for stopping by!
I looove picmonkey, but it makes both of my computers go waaay too slow, I still use it sometimes because it's so easy to use!
PS. I THINK I'm on your babycenter birth board.
It does freeze up every now and then, but as long as I don't have too many other windows up it works great! Thanks for stopping by my blog. See you on the board! 😉
I used to use Picnik and I was sooo disappointed when they closed. I have had alot of trouble trying to find a photo editing program similar to Picnik. I loved Picnik. It was so easy to use. I'll have to try Picmonkey. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
I know! Picmonkey is an offshoot of Picnik, so it is pretty much identical. I love it! Hope you give it a try! <3 Hannah
Unfortunately, it's no longer free. 🙁
Yes, unfortunately not all the features are free anymore. Try http://ipiccy.com/ (it has similar features, in a different setup)
Hope that helps!
<3 Hannah
it asked me to update to use curves.
I thought this was a free site, any secrets?
At the time this tutorial was written All of Picmonkey was free. However, they have decided to "charge" for some of their features. 🙁
Try http://ipiccy.com/ (it has similar features, in a different setup)
Hope that helps!
<3 Hannah
I use PicMonkey all of the time. It does charge now for some of the features but it is well worth it. Also have been using Ribbit. It is the identical set-up of Picnik.
I really don't understand the curves function and the difference between dodge and burn. Can you explain them to us?
When using curves, you drag the line either up (for a lighter picture) or down (for a darker contrast) The two actions I used it for were 1) to lighten it and 2) to dilute the color.
I didn't use dodge and burn, but in my experience, dodge and burn can be used to make it "pop" more.
Hope that helps! The best way to learn and figure it out is to play around with it on the website! 🙂
<3 Hannah
i try to use PicMonkey…,its its easy to use but no longer free.,
Thanks for sharing…,
Yeah, I'm sad it's no longer free, but as I mentioned above at the top of the post, try using ipiccy which is pretty much identical (and free!) 🙂
I absolutely love Pixlr. (I use pixlr express htp://pixlr.com/express ) You should give it a try. It's by far the easiest one to use, very intuiive and full of nice effects 😉
Super helpful post!! I've never used the curves feature, but I'm gonna now!!
Hi Hannah,
I think the curve doesn't exist anymore… at least I cannot found it…
Oh boy!!! Found it!!!!!
Thank you so much for your great tutorials!!!! and for all the help!
Where is the curve feature now?
At the very bottom of effects. 🙂
I love Picmonkey. I use it exclusively. It is well worth the small yearly charge. I have one complaint. When editing photos they are often degraded too much to maintain a decent quality for enlargements. Especially when converting to b/w. Any suggestions? ann
I agree- the only suggestion I have is to edit and save it under the highest quality (when editing, click the tool icon in the upper right options and click "King Kong") Hope that helps! 🙂
PicMonkey is great. I am using it since last year. It has some exclusive features which impressed me much. But Sometimes It hang when I work for a long time. Can you please give me any suggestion?