Picnik Your photos: image editing in the cloud

University of Georgia 2011

Picnik your photography: Image editing in the cloud
Agenda:
What you will learn:
Features offered by Picnik
How to do basic edits (crop, resize, straighten, basic color correction)
How to do basic touchup – blemish fix, red eye
How to apply affects – black & white, soft focus
How to add finishing touches – texture, frames
How to share images across social media
Tips for better photos
Resources
Wrapup
University of Georgia 2011 Robin Fay, georgiawebgurl

Picnik your photography: Image editing in the cloud University of Georgia 2011 Robin Fay, georgiawebgurl
Features
Pros:
Owned by Google
Includes a variety of image editing choices most for Free
Provides an easy way to upload images to other sites or download
Paid version includes more advanced touchup, more effects, and a library (last 100 photos uploaded)
Can layer images such as text
Seasonal/holiday clipart
Ability to print cards (cost)
Cons
Have to start with an image (no create image from scratch)
Not good for creating graphics (logos)
Somewhat limited in terms of ability

University of Georgia 2011 Robin Fay, georgiawebgurl Picnik your photography: Image editing in the cloud
Basic free service (Edit)
Autofix
Crop
Resize
Enhancement
Exposure
Color
Sharpen
RedEye

Works and integrates with all of these:
Image galleries:
Picasa (google)
Flickr
Photobucket
Webshots
Social media
Facebook
Myspace
Webs (free webhosting, formerly freewebs.com)

Basic Edits
Auto-Fix: Auto Fix attempts to do just that – fix contrast, brightness, etc. in one push of a button. You can always undo if you do not like the way it looks.
Crop:
Crop is the ability to cut a photo – to cut away what you do not want. Picnik includes some default photo print sizes (5” x 7”, etc.) as well as the Golden Ratio, standard profile pix sizes (for Twitter and other social media sites) as well as desktop sizes for PCs and Iphones.
You can use the grid to “set” the crop area or set actual dimensions. Keeping proportions will keep the general relationship of the image - e.g. the height and width keep their relationship. Proportion is very important!
Crop displays a 6 x 6 grid (the rule of thirds) which is good for helping to edit photos. We’ll talk more about the Rule of Thirds in photography tips section.

Basic Edits
Rotate:
Rotate gives you the ability to flip images
Tip – if you are left handed and using a cell phone to take photos invariably your photos will be upside down or sideways. Use rotate to fix them.
Rotate also includes the ever so important ability to straighten. The horizon is straight. Your photos will make more “sense” if the horizon is straight. (Generally – photography is an art after all).
Tip: At the bottom of your image you see the size and also where you are on the image. You can use this to navigate around the image, too.

Picnik your photography: Image editing in the cloud University of Georgia 2011 Robin Fay, georgiawebgurl Basic Edits Rotate/Straighten

Picnik your photography: Image editing in the cloud University of Georgia 2011 Robin Fay, georgiawebgurl Basic Edits Exposure – a photographer’s best friend Auto Exposure will attempt to fix the darkness/lightness – remember you can undo if you don’t like the results Your flash is your friend. When shooting people outdoors during the day a flash will fill them. If your camera has the ability to change settings for daylight or exposure/shutter speeds, you can also use those settings, too. Depending on how bad your photo is, you may not be able to rescue it… For over exposed photos (too white/too light ): dial down the exposure (it’s already overexposed), turn up the shadows, and tweak the contrast. For under exposed photos (too dark/too light): turn up the exposure, turn up the highlights, and tweak the contrast. Often with under exposed photos (frequently night shots) you will get a lot of pixelization when you turn the exposure up.

Picnik your photography: Image editing in the cloud University of Georgia 2011 Robin Fay, georgiawebgurl Basic Edits Exposure – sometimes it is just better to keep a night photo a night photo but make a few enhancements. Most night lighting is very yellow, adjusting the color can be helpful.

Picnik your photography: Image editing in the cloud University of Georgia 2011 Robin Fay, georgiawebgurl Basic Edits Color! Auto Colors will attempt to balance your photo’s colors, the saturation, and the temperature. If you don’t like it, you can undo it. Neutral picker – use it! Find a black or white (preferable) or grey, click on Neutral Picker, then click on the area of your neutral (black, white or grey work best). This will automatically balance the temperature (cool = blue , warm = yellow/gold). Very useful when working with unnatural lighting (office) and people. Saturation: How MUCH color – the richness of the color Temperature: Cool or Warm Tip: Before editing the color of your images, make sure to calibrate your monitor. http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-online-tools-calibrate-monitor/

Picnik your photography: Image editing in the cloud University of Georgia 2011 Robin Fay, georgiawebgurl Basic Edits: Color:

Picnik your photography: Image editing in the cloud University of Georgia 2011 Robin Fay, georgiawebgurl Basic Edits Sharpen Sharpen should be handled with care because too much sharpening can cause jagged edges (and also exaggerate lines in people’s faces). Use the Unsharp mask for better control over your sharpening. A smaller radius will generally make a better photo. You can not use sharpening to “make” a blurry photo completely clear. What you can do is define edges a little more and provide a little sharper image.

Picnik your photography: Image editing in the cloud University of Georgia 2011 Robin Fay, georgiawebgurl Basic Edits Resize Resize is probably the most used of all image editing tools, regardless of software! Cameras shoot higher and higher res (resolution) . Basically resolution is the amount (number) of pixels in an image; the higher the res, the better the quality and the bigger the file size. File types also impact this too as some file types have compression. A pixel is a square of digital information – like legos they build together to make an image. When people talk about an image being jagged or pixely, it means you can actually see the edges of the pixels – the image has been blown up too big or resized to point where the pixels are visible. A pixel or pel , (picture element) is a single point in a raster image, or the smallest addressable screen element in a display device; it has its own unique address. (Wikipedia). Resolution is t he number of pixels in each unit of measurement that can be displayed or played; for visual images, resolution is recorded in height x width. For file formats (mp3, jpgs) the file size is impacted by the resolution. All digital devices record and display (or play) to a certain resolution.

Picnik your photography: Image editing in the cloud University of Georgia 2011 Robin Fay, georgiawebgurl Basic Edits Resize: the pixels – the more you size up, The more visible the pixels will become. For file Space, you want to size down (go smaller). For resizing, you want to keep proportions – no funhouse mirror affects!

Moving – we will leave Featured to the end… Moving on to effects
Effects
Black and white – also includes color toning, too!
Sepia (brown/antique)
Boost (color, contrast)
Invert (negative)
Finally, crossprocess is one of the most used
Photography filters these days.

Effects
Soft focus (can be good for photos if fade is turned up)
Trying combining effects: sepia + boost

Touchup: Red Eye & Blemish Fix
Red Eye – choose human or furball (animal) and click on the eyes. Red Eye works ok; better sometimes than others. If you have a red eye flash it’s better to use that. Also have folks look slightly above the camera instead of into the camera.
Blemish fix: Provides a brush to soften areas and blend them in to hide the blemish.
Teeth whiten works similarly except you do get a choice of brush size and fade (reduce or increase the affect. Teeth whiten can be used for eyes, too! (carefully!)

Adding text
Click on the text menu
Type in the box
Pick your text
Click add
You will see 2 boxes pop – one with your text so that you can move it and resize it; the second to change font color and display
.
If your right click on the actual text box, you get even MORE control over the text. This also works with stickers (clipart) when we get to those. Duplicate!

Picnik your photography: Image editing in the cloud University of Georgia 2011 Robin Fay, georgiawebgurl Featured: Various holiday activities, christmas cards, valentines, etc. AND SLIDESHOWS! The fun stuff

Picnik your photography: Image editing in the cloud University of Georgia 2011 Robin Fay, georgiawebgurl Featured: Various holiday activities, christmas cards, valentines, etc. AND SLIDESHOWS! The fun stuff Slideshows: Drag and drop images in or let Picnik pick (autofill)! Filmstrip and slideshow are free. The rest are not. You can set privacy settings, too. Under> Share: Email it to others or get code to embed it – wherever!

Picnik your photography: Image editing in the cloud University of Georgia 2011 Robin Fay, georgiawebgurl Finishing off your photos: Frames, sharing to facebook, saving Frames: add decorative frames or provide a background for text

Robin fay @georgiawebgurl Picnik your photography: Image editing in the cloud Remember that discussion of pixels – well there’s another part -- compression. Compression is squishing of pixels and while it makes images smaller, it degrades them over time (a simplified version of what happens). Need to login to connect accounts to facebook, etc.

Integrates with Picasa or Flickr for gallery space
Sharing to social media (or creating an album)
You have to have accounts set up at the sites first
You authorize Picnik to add images on your behalf, linking your accounts; Picasa is now part of Google+ (sort of)

In Picnik, the questionmarks often provide photography tips in addition to editing help.
Do be aware of background elements when taking photos of people
Do be aware of the angle of the sun and the amount of light
Use a flash even when shooting people outdoors
Most importantly -- learn about your camera and shoot in RAW format if at all possible; shoot in the highest format available – but don’t forget to resize before you email!


Photographing people
Generally, in the past, people removed their glasses because of the glare (some glasses are now glare free) – but you can remove glare using image editors
Use redeye setting or flash if you have one
Shooting from slightly above will provide better portraits – but you don’t want to tower over someone!
Be careful when shooting from below – big head syndrome and doublechins!


Rule of thirds
The rule states that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these in tersections -- Wikipedia

A word about color theory: If you are creating artwork or taking photos knowing a little about color theory will help you greatly.
Always work with a “master” – make a copy as soon as you start - never work with the original
Every time you edit a JPG you lose pixels – lost pixels = list quality
Once pixels are lost you can not get them back
..but you can retrieve images from a corrupted card IF you do not keep taking photos!


Need something MORE?
Try Aviary:
Suite of products that includes:
Image Editor
Effects Editor
Image Markup
Color Editor (palette maker)
Vector Editor
For multimedia:
Audio Editor
Screencapture
Picnik your photography: Image editing in the cloud Or download opensource image editor: GIMP

Picasa vs. Picnik: what’s the difference?
Picasa
image editor must be downloaded
Gallery space can either be public or private
Keeps copies of your images on your computer – can be used as an image library
Completely free
Not as robust in terms of image editing
Picnik
Nothing to download
No Gallery space – must save/share through another resource like Picasa
Keeps copies of your images on your computer – can be used as an image library
Some charge
Very robust in terms of image editing

Picnik your photography: Image editing in the cloud University of Georgia 2011 Robin Fay, georgiawebgurl Resources For even more on color and composition check out http://www.slideshare.net/robinfay/illusion-insights-into-visual-design-elements Monitor calibration: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-online-tools-calibrate-monitor/ My color resource links list: http://www.delicious.com/georgiawebgurl/color My presentations: http://www.slideshare.net/robinfay/

Picnik tips
Try Auto first – it may fix what you need
Get creative – you can use effects and text any way you want. Doesn’t everyone need a fake moustache?
Undo if you’d like it.
Picnik pro offers the history – very useful if you are a heavy user.
Don’t forget: questionmark and right click on tools. Lots of extras are hidden!
Fade = opacity and frequently gives you the ability to control the amount of the effect
At the bottom of your image you see the size and also where you are on the image. You can use this to navigate around the image, too
Questions? Comments?

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Picnik Your photos: image editing in the cloud

by robin f on Dec 08, 2011

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Picnik Your photos: image editing in the cloud — Presentation Transcript