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14 Free Photo Editing Sites, Picnik Alternatives
Between Naps on the Porch: 14 Free Photo Editing Sites, Picnik Alternatives

Between Naps on the Porch

Between Naps on the Porch is a lifestyle blog with an emphasis on Decorating, Tablescaping, Before and Afters, Thrify Finds, and Gardening.

Feb 24, 2012

14 Free Photo Editing Sites, Picnik Alternatives

Recently, after learning Picnik was going away or moving to Google+ in mid-April, I went in search of some alternative photo editing sites.


I posted the results of my search  in a previous post, and as I have continued to find additional programs, I've been adding them to that original list.

The list has grown now from 8 to 14 photo editing sites, so today I'm posting the original 8 with my most recent finds added to the end of the list.  If you read that original post and would like to check out a few more alternatives, just skip on down to numbers 9-14 for the latest additions.  (In the comments on this post, Laurie says #13 (iPiccy) is just like Picnik.  I haven't tried it yet, but that sounds promising!)  Update:  PicMonkey is up and running and someone emailed me to tell me it's great...much like Picnik.

I've used Picnik occasionally over the years and had just started playing around with it more recently for the purpose of watermarking photos.  Fortunately, I found another program I like better for watermarking a few weeks ago.  You can read all about the two programs I use for watermarking in THIS post.

Pssst:  The 3 winners of the recent giveaway from Fish Foam have been announced on the Giveaway post.

1. Fotoflexer:


You can do some fun, crazy things with Fotoflexer including retouching photos, adding special effects, fun fonts, layers, etc...  One neat thing...it will link to your photos wherever you have them stored.  You can edit photos from Facebook, Picasa, Flickr, Photobucket or upload them from your website or computer.


2. Picasa:



Picasa lets you share your pics directly with the folks in your circles in Google +.  There are also a lot of "effects" you can apply to photos. This is the program I currently use to create collages.


3. Pixlr:

I dove right into Pixlr and started playing around with their effects.  I found it easy to use.  Of course, you can do the usual stuff...sharpen, crop, adjust contrast and color.  There's even a "teeth white" feature. lol  Don't we wish life was that way. ;)


4. Phixr:

I've found Phixr also very easy to use.  You can adjust the usual things that photo editing software allows.  Some fun things: you can add speech bubbles to your pics of your pets, decorate with objects, like hearts...that could come in handy for Valentine's Day.

5. LunaPic:



LunaPic lets you to upload your pics from Facebook, Photobucket, Flickr, Picasa, MySpace, and your computer.  Lots of effects available, including some animation.  The "reflecting" animation is pretty cool!

6. Gimp:


Gimp describes their program as a "versatile graphic manipulation package."  It looks pretty sophisticated.  You can use it to elminate various distortions from photographs, retouch your photos...it even has a clone tool, like Photoshop.  It may be a bit more complicated to use than some of the other programs mentioned in this post, but it definitely has some cool features.


7. Photobucket:


I have a love/hate relationship with Photobucket.  Okay, maybe hate is too strong a word. Let's call it a love/dislike relationship.  Photobucket has lots of fun editing tools for images, but after you've been using it for several months/years, one day you may find all the pictures or blog buttons you stored there have suddenly vanished from your blog.   Apparently, there's a magical storage number and once you exceed it, it's pay-up or all your images vanish.   I learned this the hard way and at that point, I took all my images off and moved them to Picasa.  I still use Photobucket occasionally, but once I finish the editing, I copy the pic and save it on my computer to use when needed.  I don't store pics or blog buttons or anything on Photobucket anymore.


8. Paint.net:


 Paint.net is a mini Photoshop.  It will do a lot of the same things you can do in Photoshop, like creating layers and special effects.  If you're familiar with Gimp or Microsoft Photo Editor, this program is sort of like those.


9.  Photoscape:


10. Be Funky

Be Funky is another great site that some folks say is very similar to Picnik.  I haven't tried it but that's the feedback I've heard.


11. Creative Kit:


You'll find detailed directions/steps for locating Creative Kit on Google+ in THIS post.  It may be the program that Google is developing to replace Picnik.  It doesn't have as many features as Picnik at this point.


12. Photoshop Express Editor:


This program is a free program offered by Adobe Photoshop.  You can edit your photos to correct for the usual "problems" as well as add lots of special effects, conversation bubbles, cartoon characters, etc...  I figure it can't be too bad since it's offered by the makers of Photoshop.

Have you used any of the above programs?  Would you recommend any of them?  Please share what you've used and how you use it...would love to hear and it would help everyone who reads this post.


13. iPiccy


Alex at iPiccy e-mailed to tell me they have upgraded the iPiccy program so it now includes a lot of the features users enjoyed with Picnik.


14.  PicMonkey


Jenn with PickMonkey e-mailed recently to share information about PicMonkey.  She said PicMonkey was "created by ex-Picnikers" and isn't live yet, but will be up and running soon.  Update:  PicMonkey is now up and running.  I'm hearing good things about it.

Pssst:  If you find this tutorial or any of the other shown below to be helpful, so appreciate if you'll give them a +1 in Google!  Thanks in advance!

For addition blogging tips, check out these posts:


9 Tips for Better Blog Photos
Label Photos for Pinterest
Type Accent Marks, Currency/Math Symbols & Unique Punctuation for Blog Posts
Favorite Tool for Watermarking Photos for Blog
How to make a Blog Button with Grab Box Underneath

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29 Comments:

At Friday, February 24, 2012 , Blogger Glenda/MidSouth said...

Thanks for all the great info. I really need to take some time and get on top of what is available out there. Dryer buzzer just went off, so gotta go see about that, but bookmarked this post.
Thanks - you are so appreciated.
Enjoy your weekend.
Glenda

 
At Friday, February 24, 2012 , Blogger Cottage and Broome said...

Thanks for keeping us informed on all the different photo editing options! It is very helpful, Laura

 
At Friday, February 24, 2012 , Blogger Jessica @ Stay at Home-ista said...

thank you for the list. After Picnik went away i pretty much just shifted over to Picasa, but it's nice to see some other options are out there too.

 
At Friday, February 24, 2012 , Blogger live and luv said...

Thanks for the tips and info. Keep it coming. As an avid picnik user I'm game for any alternatives!

 
At Friday, February 24, 2012 , Blogger Unknown said...

Thanks for the tips. I will be checking out your additions and waiting for the ex-picniker version as well!!!

 
At Friday, February 24, 2012 , Blogger Unknown said...

Thanks for the info ! I will be trying some of these .

 
At Friday, February 24, 2012 , Blogger Brooke @ Spruce Your Nest said...

Thank you so much for all the info and the researching you have done! Pinning this for sure!

 
At Friday, February 24, 2012 , Anonymous Ashley@AttemptsAtDomestication said...

Thanks for all the info!

 
At Friday, February 24, 2012 , Blogger Barbara Neubeck said...

Hi Susan,
Thanks for all the work you've done to help us narrow down what's available. Appreciate it.
God Bless
Barb from Australia

 
At Friday, February 24, 2012 , Blogger Patricia said...

I'm also bookmarking this post to return to it when I have some time to make a decision on which program to use. I liked using picnik for making headers. It will be nice to discover some creative new ways of editing photos. Thanks so much for gathering this information all in one place. I appreciate the time you took to research this.

 
At Friday, February 24, 2012 , Blogger Unknown said...

Susan thanks so much for researching this for us! Wow, I have checked out a few of these and am very impressed with what is out there. I especially liked Befunky and Fotoflexer. I will continue to check out the others. Thanks again for keeping us informed; you're a treasure!

 
At Friday, February 24, 2012 , Blogger Cindy @ Dwellings-The Heart of Your Home said...

Susan,
Thanks so much AGAIN for always providing GREAT information to your friends in blogland! Very much appreciated!!!
Blessings,
Cindy

 
At Friday, February 24, 2012 , Blogger SSM said...

Thank you for sharing!

 
At Saturday, February 25, 2012 , Anonymous Bobby said...

Great list, thanks for sharing your hard work in finding all these!

 
At Saturday, February 25, 2012 , Blogger Gina said...

Dear Susan, How can we ever thank you. You have done all the hard work for us. And I am grateful. I was hoping that someone would take up where Picnik left off. It was the easiest of all photo editing programs and perfect for the not so serious photographer. I have had many compliments on my photos thanks to Picnik.
PicMonkey has a link on the web on which you can click and they will send you a notice when they're up and running. I will be the first to sign up, and it doesn't have to be free.
Many thanks Susan. All of us appreciate you very much. Gina

 
At Saturday, February 25, 2012 , Blogger Bonnie said...

Thank you for ALL your hard work. I had just figured out Picnik and then they quit! Then, I decided to use Photoscape but found out the hard way that it does not work on Mac's. I am now using Picassa.

You continue to inspire. Thank you.

 
At Saturday, February 25, 2012 , Blogger Unknown said...

Hi Susan, Thanx for researching all these sites! Looking into them now as my husband goes in to have his kidney stone removed, I know, TMI - lol! Hey, I have a question and couldn't find your email address, where did you find the code for your "Stay connected Never Miss a Post Widget? I'm trying to clean up the sidebar on my blog and can't seem to find the bar that puts everything together. I've got separate widgets for each one.

 
At Saturday, February 25, 2012 , Blogger Unknown said...

Hi Susan, Thanx for doing all this research on the photo sites, looking into them now, they've got to be better than the Infran I'm using where i have to edit the original then tedious steps to resize and copyright each photo afterwards. I have another question for you too. Where did you find the widget for your "stay connected never miss a post" bar? I want to clean up my sidebar from having each thing listed separately but can't seem to find this. Thanx again!! Shelly

 
At Saturday, February 25, 2012 , Blogger Maki said...

Susan, thanks so much for sharing this list!
It's a great help in finding something to replace Picnic

Hugs, Maki

 
At Saturday, February 25, 2012 , Blogger Mary Ann said...

What a fantastic job you have done. I have always use Picasa and find it very easy, however, I am certainly going to give some on your list a try.

 
At Saturday, February 25, 2012 , Blogger Heaven's Walk said...

THANK YOU for more great information, Susan! I've been using Picasa lately (bit more of a learning curve there, but not bad). I created my new header there. I tried out almost all of the sites you listed here, but had never heard of PicMonkey or iPiccy. I just hopped over to try out iPiccy - and it's JUST LIKE PICNIK!! YAY!!!! So, for anyone out there who will miss their Picnik as much as I will - TRY OUT iPiccy!!!! Thanks again, Susan! :)

xoxo laurie

 
At Saturday, February 25, 2012 , Blogger Annesphamily said...

I don't use any site as I am still learning! Photos are tricky business here in blog world! Thanks for the tips tho.

 
At Sunday, February 26, 2012 , Blogger charlotte's menagerie said...

What a great reference you have created. Thanks

 
At Saturday, March 03, 2012 , Blogger LindyLouMac said...

This is brilliant, thanks so much. I am getting in a panic about Picnik closing down so this will be very useful. I was sent here by a blogging buddy Jackie in Surrey.

 
At Thursday, March 08, 2012 , Blogger melissa@joyineveryseason said...

I'm in mourning for Picnik ... but feel much better now after reading your wonderfully helpful post. Thanks!

 
At Sunday, March 11, 2012 , Blogger SunnyDays said...

You are a lifesaver!! I have been so bummed about Picknik and this helps so much! So far I'm loving PicMonkey, but I'm going to play around with all of them. Yahoo!
Denise
Sunny Days In Second Grade

 
At Wednesday, March 21, 2012 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Susun,

Just wanted to let you know that PicMonkey is now live! Check it out and please let us know if you have questions or feedback, we'd love to hear from you!

Cheers,
Jenn

 
At Thursday, March 22, 2012 , Blogger Grandma Linda's Daydreams said...

Wow, thank you for this invaluable information! I have just begun to trry and edit, so I really needed this. I've been reading all your back-posts, they are excellent. Thank you for sharing!
Have a very Happy Spring! Linda

 
At Friday, March 23, 2012 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

When I learned that Piknik is going away, I was so ticked! I loved that site and the ease of interface. I do not like Gimp, and have tried using it twice, but found both times, that it's not user friendly, IMHO. Picasa annoys me. Too messy and I don't like it when someone sends me a photo that I want to print. I still don't know what I am doing wrong with that...should be abundantly clear. Thanks for your efforts at listing sites. I'm on a roll and will try some.

 

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