5 Tips for Free, Easy Photo Edits

The news of Google's latest service shutdowns means picture editing is no longer a Picnik for many bloggers, Flickr users and others.

Google is shutting down Picnik and wrapping the technology into services like Google+. And while many die hard Picnik users are understandably miffed, the odds are good that several alternatives have come about to handily replace their de facto image editor.

Whether or not you use Picnik, here are five tips for free and easy photo edits.

1) Your Computer: Most laptops come preloaded with image editing software. It may only cover the basics, but it'll do in a pinch and they work whether or not you're online.

2) PowerPoint: This may be seen as Macgyver by some and MacGruber by others, but you can pull images into a powerpoint slide, edit them and save them out again as jpgs. This is also great if you don't have photoshop and want to combine images. Again, you're limited in what you can do, but you can do more than you think.

3) Pixlr: If you prefer Photoshop, but don't have access to it, check out Pixlr. It's a great, free online image editing tool that closely resembles the graphic design software.

4) BeFunky: I've used BeFunky in the past for some photo fun, but they've enhanced and expanded their offering with plenty of free options to edit and filter images, add special effects and more. Thanks to Matthew Dooley for the heads up on BeFunky's full array of options.

5) Picassa: I use it on my desktop. It also connects to Picnik, but it lets you do quite a bit of editing without it. It's also a great photo management tool.

Bonus Tip: If you're in love with a photo app on your smartphone? Use Dropbox or something similar to transfer images back and forth and simply edit on your phone. It's not as straightforward as the above options. But if there's a filter you're in love with on your phone, it's an option for the right shots.

UPDATE: Thanks to David Parmet for also tipping me off to the Aviary App which allows you to edit pics from/in Facebook. 

Picnik is a great site. Hopefully Google makes a quick and obvious integration of Picnik into all of its photo tools. In the meantime, the site's given refunds to all its users and is free to all until it shuts down in mid-April. This gives die hard fans plenty of time to find an alternative that might even improve upon their former photo editing habits.

Social Media Consolidation Leaving Users in Lurch

Picnik is just one of several sites changing their policies or shutting down completely. Co.Tweet's moving to paid only as part of Exact Target's product offering. Twitter bought Summify and it's shutting down soon.

Social Media is maturing and, as sites buy other sites or evolve, it's impacting users. Hopefully it means more from mainstream sites like Twitter and Google+ in the above examples. Just remember it's business. And it's something  we'll surely be seeing more of in the future.

And a thanks to ShannanB for inspiring this post. 

 

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[Casey_Williams]

Glad you mentioned PowerPoint. I think "photo-snobs" are a little too quick to dismiss its image editing tools. The newest versions of PowerPoint offer some template effects that would take much longer to do in a pro tool like Photoshop.

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[ShearCreativity]

I'm glad to see that you have mentioned these approaches to photo editing. Not many people are aware that PowerPoint has great tools. However, guilty as charged, I have been sucked into the iPhoneography craze of one-tap filters. After using some of the techniques you have shared, you can utilize your photos throughout social media. That's what I do.

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[Adam]

I just heard that The photo editing site http://www.picnik.com/ is closing, as it was sold to Google. But everyone can use all the features of both the free and premium accounts for free until the site closes in April.

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Don't miss that pixlr.com also has Pixlr Express (http://pixlr.com/express/) And Pixlr-o-matic (http:/pixlr.com/o-matic/)in addition to The Editor mentioned here.

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Thanks for the great "Tips" i have edits my photos today. I like this blog and waiting for the next post..

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Windows has a built-in software for simple photo editing, although it's limited to cropping and rotating photos, as well as adjusting image brightness.

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Windows has a built-in software for simple photo editing, although it's limited to cropping and rotating photos, as well as adjusting image brightness.

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[Alex]

Thanks for the tips! I always have trouble editing pictures, I will be user to use on of the other method you suggested. I had no idea powerpoint that the ability to edit pictures, I am excited to check that out. As for the Social Media comment, I agree. Social Media will quickly be dictating the business world. It amazing how many people have jumped on board with this ship. As with most sectors of a business, there will be merger and acquisitions, big names are going to buy out the smaller ones. Only time will tell where it all ends up.

[Lauren]

This post is so helpful. Finding a great way to edit photos fast and for free is hard to come by. These tips will certainly make it easier to accomplish.

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