Picnik Photo Editing

There are times when we all need to edit photos. In the classroom, you may need to do some cropping in order to avoid posting a picture of a little one whose parents said "no thanks" when it came to posting their kid online. You may also want to add a boarder to a picture to spice it up a little before giving it as a gift. You may want to add text (first day of school, names, height/weight, "thank you," etc.) and a cute little clip art graphic. You may even want to do some more "professional" things like airbrushing or teeth-whitening. (What?! We all want to look our best online!) Enter....Picnik.

Picnik is a free, online photo editing tool that doesn't require any installation or downloading of programs. (I LOVE that, by the way!) You can import and export pictures from Facebook, Picassa, Flickr, PhotoBucket, Yahoo! Mail, or your own computer, just to name a few. (Did I also mention I love its versatility? Because I do!)

Of course, you can shell out $25/year to get the premium version (that's what I currently have), and you get access to a few more editing perks. But the premium version definitely is not necessary to enjoy the wonders of photo editing through Picnik!

I think the best way to illustrate what Picnik does is to show you! I'll be using a picture from my husband and I's recent wedding... sorry for the mushiness! ;) Here we go:

The original

A spot of color

A colored frame and some text

A graphite drawing

Puzzle pieces. This would be SO cute to have a class picture with the caption, "We all fit together!" or "We complete each other!"

A postage stamp frame with a little clip art and added text

Those aren't even all the options available, but I think you get the idea. Even if you don't use Picnik with your students, it could still prove to be very helpful if you're managing a classroom website or putting together a photo slideshow!


:: January 20, 2012 edit:: I just read (via Mashable) that Google is shutting down Picnik. Needless to say, I am SO upset! Google claims they're moving Picnik's features to Google+ as of April 19, 2012, but user comments so far on the article say that Google+'s version is definitely not the same. Boooo!