Quick Photo Editing

I love taking pictures! I took several classes in college, and I really fell in love with it.  I have always thought of pictures as the best way to remember a moment.  I look at a photograph, and I can remember how I felt when it was taken.  I enjoy being behind the camera just as much as I enjoy being in front of it! And I love to edit photos, as well.  I have photoshop, but not everyone does, plus sometimes it can feel overwhelming. I took a college course in design... the entire class was on how to use photoshop!  It was very informative, but very involved. 

A few weeks ago, my good friend Jen took some pictures of my husband and me.  I asked her to send me some of the unedited photos so that I could play with them.  I wanted to experiment with different photo-editing websites.  I used to use Picnik for online editing, but it is no longer up.  For this demo, I will be using Picmonkey.com

When you type in picmonkey.com in your web browser, this is the first screen you will see.  Click the blue "Edit your photo" button.  You will be taken to a smaller window to select the photo you want to upload.

After you select your photo, you will be taken to this screen.  I wanted to take out the light fixture in the top left corner. To do this, I will use the "clone" tool.

To access the clone tool, click on the science-y looking, beaker-shaped button.  Scroll down to the bottom and select clone.  A drop down menu will... drop down. Click on the source you want to use to cover the unsightly object and then "paint" over it. Click "apply" (the green button).  Next I wanted to make my image black and white...

On the same tab as the clone tool, scroll up until you see the "Black and White" button.  Click it, then hit the green apply button.

Next I wanted to add text.  Click the "P" button, and it will take you to the text menu.

Here, you can select your font, font size, and color. When I add font, I add one word at a time, so I can move them around individually if I need to rather than having to move an entire phrase. I chose a quote from an Avett Bros. song, "There is nothing worth sharing like the love that let us share our name." When the words are arranged how you like, click save at the bottom left of the screen.

And here we have the finished product.  Picmonkey has tons of other features to play with that I didn't show here.  Best part is it's free, and in just a few clicks, you can have a beautiful, personalized, edited photo without having to pay the big bucks!