Every time the topic of photos comes up with friends, I ask if they've checked out Picnik. So far, everyone has said "no, what's that?", which is why I think the bullhorn must come out. If you haven't played on Picnik yet, you're going to have one of those "why wasn't it always this easy?" moments. This photo editing site makes it so easy to upload photos, edit them, create artsy effects without a Photoshop degree, and share them on any of the big photo-sharing sites (Flickr, Picasso, Webshots) or just save them to your computer. And the synergy goes both ways: I can be in my Flickr photostream and click "edit photo" to edit my photo in Picnik and then save a new version in Flickr. Your photos are never trapped in a gallery and it's intuitive—you don't need a manual or a $20 tutorial CD to figure this site out. There's no serial number to remember to keep in a safe place. Other features I appreciate: no downloads, installation, or registration forms to fill out. You can get started right away, which is really nice. And you can create photo collages like the one above (fantastic for wedding photos, scrapbooks, or quick way to share your trip's best snapshots.)
I am obsessed with Picnik, and in fact, I use the site to edit the photos on The Haystack Needle. So the truth comes out: I'm not all that tech-savvy (even though I run a blog) and I'm never going to read a book to learn a fancy photo program. I think of Picnik as my Cliff Notes version of creating pretty photos. The two photos below are the original shots of a couple of my Maine honeymoon photos. The edited versions above and below the fold took all of about five minutes to create. Seriously. You're not confined to buying prints from Picnik either — you can easily drop your photos in Flickr or move them to Facebook to share.
Picnik has answered the big digital photo dilemma for me — it's an all-in-one place to store, edit, resize, print, and share my photos anywhere I want. The cool effects to play around with are a super fun bonus. Check below the fold for other examples of what you can do with Picnik— put your photo in a Polaroid frame (one of my favorites) or give photos a Lomo-camera or cross-process effect. It's a site to check out for sure. Enjoy!
