Special effects with Picnik free online photo editor

I've found a website that offers a free photo editing package that is working out pretty well for me. It is called Picnik.com and it offers several editing tools free, but also has a more advanced system for about 25 bucks a year.



Right now, I don't think I'm ready to move into the advanced stuff, and even though it is a reasonable rate I think, I'm just not willing to put out the dough!



The free program offers some really fun stuff though.

For example, I can take the picture above and turn it into the piece of photo art below.

The next set was a little more complicated than the ones above. I did some editing with my HP software, then went to Picnik, then came back to HP and editied some more. The photo above I took through two processes in Picnik while the photo below went through two processes on HP, three on picnik, then back to one final adjustment on HP.

But this is how it all turned out. Now I want you to know, I wasn't looking for beautiful. I was looking for age and character not only in the subject but in the medium.

Some of you already know that I invested in a new camera. My little Kodak had served me well since about 2001, taking about 15,000 pictures in its lifetime, and to tell the truth, it is still plenty good enough for my two oldest grand-girls to use when they visit.

The new camera is a Fugi which I never thought I would buy anything but a Kodak, and I didn't expect to like it, but it was somewhat affordable compared to others with similar specs, and I cannot tell a lie, I really like it.

I'm still learning the settings, and rely a lot on the auto and the SP auto, but....check out hopefully Monday's edition of the Lincoln Daily News for the pictures of the Water Fights at the Park District.

I took all those pictures, working my own settings instead of letting "auto" do the job for me, and I was very pleased.

I love trying to capture water, and I think I got the job done pretty well (oops, excuse me while I rush to emergency, I just broke my arm patting myself on the back!!!).

Anyway, hope you enjoy, and if you like to play with photo editing, be sure to check out Picnik!!

BTW, how many pics have I taken on my new camera thus far?? WEll, I've had it since the middle of June and have taken 1100 pictures thus far!!!