A few weeks ago, a blogger friend, Nikki (More for Four) asked me how I get labels and things on my photos. I told her I could do a quick tutorial of PicMonkey to show how I use it to quick edit my photos, add labels and make collages. The features I use most are cropping, exposure, labels, and text. In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I use most often when editing a picture. I will then show you a few tricks to creating a collage.
Editing
1.) Open your internet browser, and go to www.pickmonkey.com (it is free and there is no registration). The main page looks like this:
2.) Click on Edit Photo. A window will open asking you to choose the photo you would like to edit. Choose the photo, and click Choose.
3.) Once you have chosen your photo, on the left hand side of the screen, there is a list of editing options on the far left indicated by pictures. They are Basic Edits, Effects, Touch Up, Text, Overlays, Frames, Textures, and Themes. The three I use are Basic Edits, Overlays, and Text.
4.) The first thing I do, is crop my photo.
5.) I then adjust the exposure.
6.) Next I click on the Overlays button on the left, and choose my overlay, as well as color. (once you choose an overlay a window opens allowing you to adjust color and if you would like it to fade). You can adjust size just like you would adjust the size by clicking, holding, and dragging the dots around the edges of your overlay. You can position your overlay, by clicking it and dragging it to its location.
7.) I then add text. If you would like your text to appear inside an overlay, you must do the overlay part first. Then you can position text on top. This process is similar to the overlay. You can choose a font, and then click add Add Text. A window will appear so that you can adjust color, fade, bold, center, etc.
8.) Once you are done making all your adjustments. You can click Save at the top of the page. Choose where you would like to save it, and give your photo a name.
12 comments
Erin, this is fantastic! I have used Photoshop and Gimp before, but this seems really accessible and convenient–not to mention easy to use for someone like me! Great suggestion.
Thanks, Maria! Let me know if you use it, and what you think. Your photos are always so gorgeous!
Take care,
Erin
I love it! I just pimped up two photos and will do a collage later. Thanks for sharing!
Kathy,
So glad you found it useful! Cannot wait to see what you've done 🙂
Take care,
Erin
I love this so much! Thanks for sharing!
Tell your friends 😉
I actually just started using PicMonkey – all of my editing had been done in iPhoto previously, but our poor Macbook is about to die after 5 years and I am not ready to replace it. Anyway, I have had great results, but I didn't even know it could do labels and collages and things like that. Awesome! Thanks for the tips!
Sara,
Isn't PicMonkey awesome?! I'm glad you learned something new! I've always wanted to create a couple photos with the kids and things that they say with some text and frame them. Kind of as a kids say the darndest things frame.
Take care,
Erin
Yay!!! I can't wait till nap time to try this out! Thanks so much 🙂
PicMonkey is my go to! It is perfect for me since I'm just getting started with blogging and there's no way I can afford photoshop right now. I also love that it is web-based since I'm not always at the same computer.
Here's a fun little tip to add… When you're choosing a color for an overlay or text, when you click (or maybe it's right click?) on the little swatch that shows you the color you have selected, you get a little dropper that lets you grab a color from your picture to use from the overlay… Then your text or overlay will match your picture perfectly!
Great tutorial! But how do I get this to work on a MacBook?
PicMonkey is a web based program, so whether you have a Mac or PC it would work the same. Just make sure you have access to the internet, go to http://www.picmonkey.com, and then go from there.
Take care,
Erin