Free Online Photo Editing

Most people know I’ve avoided Photoshop like the plague as I fear I might become addicted and just really don’t want to start spending a ton of time on photo editing when there is so much fun stuff to see and do in SL, and that is where my free time goes. But I do love to take pics and be a little creative with them besides looking for good windlights, angles, sets and costuming in SL. That was why the free Picnik photo editing in Flickr made me happy. I could crop, frame, add text or a few special effects or stickers and I had even learned to clone spots and brush out or color in around small problem areas on rare occasion as needed.

Google apparently at some point decided to keep Picnik for themselves leaving the free online editing and Flickr group without. Flickr announced a few months ago that Picnik would no longer be available to users and that something else would replace it April 19, 2012 for Flickr users to edit in Flickr. That something turned out to be Avery.

Yesterday April 5 (yeah they didnt wait until the 19th and gave no warning) I pulled in a batch of pics from SL to Flickr only to find out Flickr had just dissolved the Picnik edition replacing it was Avery free editing that can be done straight from the Flickr pics like Picnik used to work. Ok, I’ve heard Avery does a great job in some areas, but this little free program in Flickr basically sucks for me… yes I’m spoiled. I am grateful someone came through with a free editing program that can be done right in Flickr and I will still possibly use it a little for basic cropping but that is about it. I think they are trying, as they ask for suggestions but my suggestion is MAKE IT JUST EXACTLY LIKE PICNIK WAS. My list would be too long for them really. I can’t even zoom into my photo to a spot to edit like before which is needed for people who have small monitors or are on a laptop like me.

So while I was whining and yes, even cursing too, a friend suggested I try PicMonkey. Viola! It’s exactly like Picnik was with all the options I love, free, user friendly, fast, special effects, etc. I once again have a ton of editing tools that are easy to use including all the makeover tools, text, stickers, textures, various brushes, etc. and so much more. O, I’m sooo happy!

Now all someone needs to do is get Flickr to incorporate Picmonkey right into Flickr so I can still pull up a batch of photos into Flickr and edit from there rather than taking an individual photo into Picmonkey, editing it, then back to my computer then up to Flickr .. and move on to the next one, one by one.

To find Picmonkey online go here: http://www.PicMonkey.com/Picmonkey