Picnic – Learn Picasa and Google Photos!

Picasa Tip: Adding Lipstick

Edit/Improve Photos, Picnic 12 Responses »

Jul 172012

note 9/15/2013: Creative Kit has been discontinued.

I was looking for a recent picture of myself to use as a profile picture and found this one taken just a few weeks ago in a wonderful natural setting. One big problem though – I think I looked a bit sickly without any lipstick!

So, I used the new ‘Edit in Creative Kit’ feature (the reincarnation of Picnik) to add a bit of color to my lips. Then I did an I’m Feeling Lucky, and used Tuning to warm the color tones a bit. (See member Tutorial Video: Tuning) Now I’m much happier with the picture.

Ok, I confess, as long as I was in Creative Kit, I did a little teeth whitening, and cleared up the whites of my eyes a bit too. Hope I didn’t overdo it?

So, how is this done? First you open your picture in Picasa, just like any other time you want to edit a picture (see member tutorial Videos: Single Picture View, Basic Edits) Then, from the first tab of editing features, click on ‘Edit in Creative Kit.’ Creative Kit is all on the web, so you will need an internet connection for this to work. When you click that button, it will copy your picture up to the web so it can be edited in Creative Kit. When you’ve finished, you will have the option to save it in place on your computer, or to save a copy on your computer. Once a photo has been edited with Creative Kit, and saved, you can’t Undo like when you edit in Picasa on your computer. (See member Tutorial Video: How Picasa Handles Edits)

Once you’re in Creative Kit, you’ll find the ‘FacePaint’ option on the ‘Decorate’ tab. To add the lipstick, click the red color, adjust your brush size so it’s small enough to not color outside the lines of your lips. The key to making it look natural is to increase the Fade (transparency) – I made it about 60%. Now just drag across your lips, you’ll see the red color be applied. If you don’t like it, you can click Cancel and try again. You probably also want to increase the magnification of the photo while you’re painting on it. Just drag the zoom slider in the lower right corner of the screen.

Then, I repeated the process with the white color on my teeth and eyes. When you’re done, click ‘Save to Picasa’ in the upper right.

This is fun, but realize that it’s not full-featured. The only colors available are the ones you see. If you want more of what was available in the original Picnik – you will find that now at www.PicMonkey.com

This tip brought to you by Geeks on Tour

Geeks on Tour is a membership website with hundreds of Tutorial Videos on topics of interest to travelers, such as managing digital photos with Picasa, Route-Planning with Streets and Trips, and sharing your travels with a website using Blogger or with friends on Facebook. You can subscribe to our free e-newsletters, or become a paid member and be able to view all of the videos in the Learning Library.

Editing Facebook Pictures with Picnik

Picasa, Picnic 4 Responses »

Nov 152011

Note: As of April 19, 2012 Picnik for Facebook is closed. See ‘Is Picnik Really Dead? for more info.

If you use Facebook, you probably have some pictures shared thru your Facebook account. I often take pictures with my Droid smartphone and upload them directly to Facebook. That means that I don’t get the opportunity to improve them in Picasa first. Horrors! My friends will see the picture as it was taken rather than after it’s been touched up. So, what do I do? I’ve checked on Facebook and the only built in tool for your photos is to rotate – meaning it will take a horizontal picture and turn it vertical etc.

Picnik or Picasa

I could download the picture to Picasa, edit it there, and re-upload it to Facebook. But what if I don’t really want that picture on my computer? Or, what if I’m not even at my computer? Let’s say I’m on vacation and I’m just using a computer at an Internet café?

You can use Picnik to do the editing all online.

Picnik is the online photo editor that Google purchased a while back and incorporated it into Picasa. You can select a picture in Picasa on your computer and click the Edit in Picnik button to be able to use all the tools there. When you’re done, you’re back in Picasa.

Picnik App on the Web

But Picnik is a standalone website as well, you don’t need to get there thru Picasa. Just go to www.Picnik.com. Many features of Picnik work just fine without even registering. Just try clicking on ‘Get Started Now’ and you will be taken to Picnik’s home page. If you click on the Library tab, you’ll see a link for Facebook as well as other online photo sharing sites like Picasa Web Albums, Flickr, or Photobucket. Click on Facebook and then the Connect button. If you’re logged into Facebook on this computer already – Picnik will immediately show you all your photo albums on Facebook. If you’re not logged in to Facebook already, Picnik will present the Facebook login screen for you to complete. When you’ve logged in, you will see all the pictures in your Facebook profile.

Find the picture you want to edit and double-click on it. This will load it into Picnik’s photo Edit screen. Now you have lots of tools for editing your photo. The first tab is ‘Basic Edits’ including Auto-Fix, Crop, Exposure, Colors, and Sharpen. You can also add text anywhere on your picture as well as ‘stickers’ which are clipart images. Be aware that certain features require a ‘Premium’ account. A premium account costs $25/year.

When you have your picture looking how you want, you click on the Save and Share tab and click to ‘Save this photo to Facebook.’ This process will not save over your original – it creates a new picture in your Facebook album. Then, if you want, you can delete the old one using the tools in Facebook.

Picnik App on Facebook

Right from your home page in Facebook, you can go to the Picnik App in Facebook. Once the App is connected to your Facebook account it works just like Picnik on the web, you just have the Facebook menu bar still appearing at the top. You can open any album in your Facebook pictures, edit a picture in Picnik and Save it back to Facebook. Just realize that you’re saving a new copy of the picture – not overwriting the original. And it will get posted as an update on your wall as well. If you don’t want that just go immediately to your wall and remove the post – your picture will still be on your profile in the Pictures area.