Have you ever received a photograph via email, or grabbed a cool graphic off the Internet and wanted to turn it into a desktop wallpaper, or send it on to a group of friends, only it wasn’t quite right for what you had in mind? For simple changes, it seems a waste to open up a large graphics editing program like The GIMP or Photoshop, especially if all you want to do is resize it, rotate it, or maybe convert it to a different format.
Well, there is now a solution, a solution that works no matter what type of operating system you use, no matter where you are. All you need is a web browser, the latest version of Flash, and a working Internet connection. Point your browser to picnik.com and start editing to your heart’s content.
Picnik.com is a new website (the service is still in beta), but from what I could see of it, and in my experience trying out its features, Picnik.com has a bright future ahead of it. Aimed primarily at people who don’t have heavy editing needs, Picnik.com is a photo editing program that works right in your browser.
To use Picnik.com, simply head to the webpage and click the green “Upload Photo” button. This will bring up a file picker so you can upload a photo from your hard drive. Or, if you prefer, Picnik.com is also aware of several popular photo-sharing websites, such as Flickr.com or Facebook.com, and is also integrated with Picasa Web Albums. Finally, you can search Yahoo or Flickr right from within the Picnik.com program, or simply enter the web address where your photo is located. Picnik will parse the website and provide a list of all available images. Simply select the one you want and Picnik will download it into your image editing workspace.
At the moment, Picnik provides eight common image editing tools, such as Rotate, Crop, Resize, Exposure, Colors, Sharpen, Red-Eye and the ever-popular Auto-fix, which attempts to automatically fix levels without any input from the user. For those users familiar with standard photo editing software, these tools will be expected, and work as the user is used to, more than likely.
There are also available a suite of what are called Creative Tools, which go beyond quick fixes for less-than-perfect photos and – as the name would suggest – allow the user to realize his or her artistic potential. There are currently 20 of these so-called Creative Tools. At the moment, all 20 are available to be used (whether the user has signed up for a free account or not). In the future, however, Picnik has announced plans to make available a Premium account. When that happens, only eight of the tools (Sepia, Black & White, Boost, Soften, Vignett, Matte, Border, and Rounded Edges) will be available for free use. The remaining tools (Local Contrast, Unsharp Mask, Tint, Infrared Film, Focal B&W;, Focal Soften, Doodle, Gooify, Heat Map, Duo-Tone, Lomo-ish, and HDR-ish), will only be available to Premium users. Until the website goes out of beta, however, all 20 tools will be available for all users.
While the Creative Tools are nice, it is the standard editing tools that I think make Picnik such a great website. Everyone has photos on their hard drive, but not everyone has the means – or the knowledge – to use a graphics editing program, especially ones as complex as Photoshop or The GIMP. With Picnik, even the most novice users can take photos and make them look better, almost without trying! And don’t worry about messing up. First of all, the image you’re working on is only a copy of the real image. Any graphics uploaded from your hard drive remain intact unless you save over them, and obviously you’ll only be working on a copy of a picture downloaded off the Internet. And even if you do make a mistake, there’s no worry, because Picnik is able to undo any actions, no matter how many, all the way back to the beginning. So try things you might not normally try, because you can always take it back!
Once a user is done editing a photo, there are several options available for saving, as well as sharing. Photos may be uploaded to a user’s Flickr, Facebook or Picasa Web Album pages, as well as emailed. They can also be saved to the user’s computer, of course, but can also be printed. The print feature, however, is currently in what the website calls “extra beta.” It appears rather limited at the moment (the only print options are for full-page or half-page printing).
While Picnik is still obviously an unfinished product, it is amazing to me how well it works. I occasionally had issues with uploading test photos, which was annoying. It seems that the first time I attempted to upload a photo, the process would fail. If I turned around and attempted to upload the exact same photo a second time, it always worked. Whether this was a problem at my end, or a problem with Picnik, I don’t know. Overall, however, there is currently a lot to like about Picnik, and it appears there will be even more to like in the future. It’s too bad that the website will be split into free and premium sections, but it’s understandable. The site currently has no advertising on it, as is appropriate for a graphics website. Wouldn’t want too many flashing advertisements to distract users from their own photo! So I can understand the need to have a premium section. And in all honesty, the tools that will remain free are the standard tools. If a user never knew about the premium offerings, I don’t feel the user would be disappointed. Frankly, the extra Creative Tools, while nice, are probably better served by a dedicated program.
All in all, I am looking forward to new tools and updates to Picnik. It looks to be growing into a wonderful tool for photo lovers who just need to perform a touch-up or two on their photos.
