PicMonkey Review

by Autumn Francis

http://www.picmonkey.com/ 

Description

PicMonkey is a (Mostly) free online photo editor started in 2012 by Picnik engineers. It does not compare to the flexibility of Photoshop but it does provide a more in depth editing process than many other free online photo editors. PicMonkey does require Flash to work. 

Access

PicMonkey is free for the basics but upgrades must be paid for. PicMonkey does require Flash 10.2 or higher, Flash 11+ is recommended. It is accessible on fast up-to-date web browsers such as Google Chrome and Firefox. The latest version of Internet explorer will also support PicMoney.

Sample Usage:

Basic Editing Abilities:

Crop

Rotate

Exposure:

     Brightness, highlights, Shadow, Contrast 

Colors: 

     Saturation, Temperature     

Sharpen

Resize

Photo Editing Effects

PicMonkey's photo editing filters/effects include:

     Tried and True:
          Orton, Cross Process, Dusk, Intrepid (not free), Urbane (not free), Tranquil

     Basic Effects:
          Boost, Soften, Black and White, Dark Edges, Frost, Sepia

     Camera Look:
          Daguerreotype (not free), Polaroid Film (not free), Time Machine (not free), Yester-color, HDR, Cinerama, Lomo, Infrared, Holga, Gritty (not free), Film Stock (not free)

     Paintbox:
          Ombre (not free),Tint, Warhol, Burst (not free)

     Area:
          Focal Soften, Focal B&W, Focal Pixelate, Focal Zoom, Fancy Focus (not free)

     Artsy:
          Draw, Film Grain, Posterize

     Advanced: (not free)
          Curves, Dodge, Burn, Clone

Here is an example that I put together in 15 minutes. PicMonkey is fast and easy to use. It also has settings to enhance photographs of family and friends. Not to mention holiday themes.

          Original:                                                                           Creation:

 -----> 

Tools Applied to original:

          Crop, Rotate, Exposure, Color, Sharpen/Clarity, Cross Process, Dusk, Focal B&W, Focal Soften, Film Grain, and Museum matte frame

         --------------------> 

Tools Applied to Original:

         Crop, Sweethearts Theme: Broken Hearts and, Desire, Winter Land Theme: Corniture, and Darken edges   

PicMonkey_Save.tiff

Allows Photos to be saved as either .jpg or.png only

What the Tool Does Well

Great user-interface and easy to use. Everything is pretty much Self-explanatory. 

What it Does Poorly

Since it requires Flash, PicMonkey will not work on iOS devices. However, PicMonkey can work on an Android if Flash is installed on your device.

Also, PicMonkey cannot open/edit .tiff file types.

Additional Resources

How to, from the creators of PicMonkey:

Photo Editing Effects and Questions 

http://help.picmonkey.com/ 

Tutorial Video covering the basics:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQahCP0Z7AM