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We have received quite a few emails over the past few weeks from readers about a Picnik alternative. For those of you who do not know, Picnik was recently bought by Google. There is some confusion among users as it relates to the future of Picnik. It is not closing down. Google will more than likely incorporate it into Picasa or give it a new name.
Still, I did go on a hunt for other free online photo editors that exists. That is when I came across PicMonkey. In many ways, I actually like it better than Picnik. I did not like how many clicks it took me to just re-size a simple photo. PicMonkey is much faster and simpler to use.
PicMonkey – A Free Online Photo Editor
Below this article you will find a video that I created showing you exactly how I use PicMonkey. I always try to have a picture with every post I write. Some of the picture I find are entirely too big and I have to re-size them to fit on my blog post.
Some of you might do the re-sizing of your pictures inside WordPress, but let me give you a word of caution. Re-sizing your pictures inside WordPress can actually slow down your site, which will ultimately effect your search engine rankings.
It is better for you to get in the habit of editing your photos to the correct size before you upload them to WordPress. That is what I use PicMonkey for.
Here are some other free features of this cool online pic editor software:
- Crop
- Rotate
- Exposure
- Colors
- Sharpen
- Special Effects
- Add Text Overlay (Watermark)
- Touch Up
- Borders
Again, at the time of this writing, PicMonkey is completely free to use. So take advantage of it!
Below is a video I created walking you through how to use the software. If you cannot see the video, watch PicMonkey – A Free Online Photo Editor directly on YouTube.
UPDATE: I recently heard that PicMonkey is from the creators of Picnik.com. That explains a lot!
Thanks for this. I do allot of my own illustrations and often need to resize my work before I include it on the site. :), Susan
Hi Susan. Absolutely! I love your art work and this could definitely help for sure. Jonathan
It’s good and very familiar to picnik. I am looking forward to seeing what Google ultimately does with picnik.
I agree. I think they will integrate it somehow into Picasa. Jonathan
Thanks for the article! Perhaps some people want to resize their photos without going on line and waiting for a program to load. Here’s the easiest and quickest way that I know how:
Always work on a copy of the original image when editing a photo, especially when resizing it smaller.
1. Right click on the photo and choose > open with > Microsoft Office Picture Manager.
2. Crop:
Click on > Edit Pictures > Crop (it’s very important to crop the photo before you resize it or you will lose more pixels). Once you have the picture the way you want it, click > OK > and then back to > Edit Pictures.
3. Resize:
Now click on > Resize > choose Predefined width x height > go to the drop down arrow (you can skip going to Predefined width x height and go straight to the drop down arrow) and choose the size you want (I almost always choose > Web – Small (448×336) for my blogs). Click > OK >
4. and finally the Save icon (or you might want to rename it and then go to > File > Save as… and rename it). Done!
Christina (Tina) Morley
http://www.lightandlifebibleministries.weebly.com/
Thanks for the additional tips Christina! Jonathan
Hi Michelle, I am not sure. I haven’t tried that as of yet. Jonathan
Not sure why but picmonkey crashes my shockwave flash plug each time I go to save the pic? :/
Sorry for your troubles. That has never happened to me. Maybe try a different internet browser?