WFMW- Blog help Edition – Pictures & Collages

“Blogging tips“

There is one type of question I get asked almost more than anything, time and time again. So I thought this would be the perfect time to address it!

“How do you make those cute picture collages on your blog?”…..”What do you use to edit your pictures?”…….”How do you get words on your pictures?”…..”How do you watermark your pictures?”…..”How do you get those cute frames around your pictures?”

Do you see a pattern here? Everyone wants to know about my pictures! LOL

I have one word for you people…………….

PICNIK.com

Seriously……..it’s SOOO easy! Picnik is a FREE online site that is easy to use. I fell in love with it so much, last year I upgraded to Picnik premium, so I have access to everything they have to offer!

I upload pictures to Picnik straight from my camera, but you can get them from your computer, photobucket, flickr, facebook….numerous other places where you may have pictures stored.

The first thing I do with every picture is “Auto Fix” – if I don’t like the way that looks, then I go to “Exposure” and auto fix.

Then I go to “Colors” and pick “Neutral Picker” and click the dropper on something white. If there is nothing white in my picture I try the auto fix, but I usually don’t like that, so I will play with the slider until the color looks right to me (it’s not usually that far off because I REALLY try and set my white balance when I take pictures.

From there I crop my picture if it needs it.

After that – just play! Don’t be afraid to try settings and ADJUST them, I rarely ever choose an edit that I use with just one click – I will fade it or something. TRY lots of things, you can always UNDO.

I love to use the Touch Up section for faces – but again, don’t use an edit with one click…..slide the fade bar…..most of the time subtle is better.

Text and Frames – are well,…. text and frames – don’t be afraid to adjust colors and sizes, even on the frames. I use the frame Boarder the most. Where it says “outer color” click that black box– see all of the colors you can change to! you can even get a dropper and pick a color from your picture. Adjust the thickness. Choose “Caption Height” and adjust the size and this will give you the box below your picture, where I add text, like in my Sweetheart Cherry Cake picture here.

The premium features that I love and use most are the advanced edits – you can adjust curves, levels, dodging, burning even cloning…..I use them all, I adjust them to my liking……again, I rarely ever click and I’m done….I ALWAYS adjust it! Levels is a great way to brighten up a picture if it needs it……in the Curves there are some GREAT B&W adjustments, Sepia and others (more than what you can do in the free edits)

Black & White with a little color

This is a favorite edit of mine, make a picture B&W , then slide the fade to where you have light color back – Click Apply. Then make the picture B&W again, then THIS time click the brush next to the fade bar – an effect painting box will pop up, make sure the “effect” tab is clicked, adjust your brush size, and paint over an area in your picture where you’d like a little bit of color to show. When it looks the way you’d like it – Click apply!

That’s how I got this picture

If you want any help using picnik, just leave a comment and I’ll answer you via email, if you give me your email – and I’ll try and post in the comments too so other’s can see the answers.