Beginner Editing Tips for Cool N00bs
Hey you! Don’t just lean against the wall with that “I’m fine…really!” look on your face. Come join the party! We are editing our crumbuns off: experimenting, playing, and punching out some hecka beautiful images. Here’s the skinny on how to dive into PicMonkey while holding your drink level and looking kewl.
GET YOUR PHOTO INTO THE EDITOR
You can open your photo two ways. Click “Edit a Photo” and then select it from your computer files. Alternatively, some browsers (Chrome, Firefox, and Safari) will allow you to dra-a-a-g your photo from your file directory to the “Edit a Photo” button to open it.
If you’re not quite sure what you want to do, you can start with one of the effects you see promoted on the home page. Click on the square that describes it and PicMonkey will take you to that effect or tool, with a sample photo to work with.
From this point the world’s your oyster—explore, you Magellan! Or you can keep following our docent tour, here…
KICK OFF WITH THE BASICS
If you opened your own photo to edit, PicMonkey launches the Editor with the Basic Edits tab open. If you launched the Editor by clicking somewhere else on the home page, click the Basic Edits tab (the topmost icon in the far left column). Click the “Auto Adjust” button to see what PicMonkey thinks is your photo’s best exposure, color, and clarity. Sometimes the Monkey’s right, sometimes not.
Click “Crop.” If you want your photo to maintain its aspect ratio (proportions), click “Scale photo.” Resize by clicking and dragging the corner circles.
MAKE FRIENDS WITH THE TOP TOOLBAR
Notice the toolbar that floats directly above your photo. Your best friend is going to be the Undo button, the curvy arrow icon that points to the left. This is how you undo any action or any effect once it’s been applied. For example, if you didn’t like what “Auto Adjust” did to your photo, click Undo.
MAKE YOUR PEOPLE POP
If there’s a person in your photo, you can experiment with our Touch Up tools to bring out the best in his or her facial features. Click the Touch Up tab. Some all-time favorite free ones are “Blemish Fix,” “Blush Boost,” and “Weight Loss.” You can experiment with the Royale Touch Up effects even if you’re not a Royale member; you just can’t fully apply them to the photo. Favorite Royale Touch Up effects are “Wrinkle Remover,” “Mascara,” “Eye Brighten,” and “Air Brush.” Our subject got Barbie-perfect skin today, with “Wrinkle Remover.”
We put some great samples of photos that we used Touch Up on, in our Touch Up board on Pinterest!
MOD-UP THE MOOD
Click the Effects tab (the flask icon in the far left column). These effects are made of awesome, and they can dramatically change the mood of your photo in one click. The efffects group called Tried and True are huge among PicMonkeyers. We used “Dusk” to create a warm vignette around our wistful lady.
Go to our Pinterest Effects board for a quick look at before-and-after pics of many of our effects.
GET GRAPHICS-Y
Time to have some fun with overlays. Click the Overlays tab (the sticker icons in the far left column). Scroll down to the “People Toppers” effects group. Click “Facial Hair” and observe the instant manliness. We’ve decided Mrs. Wistful needs a mustache.
The corner circles help you size the overlay, and the top circle helps rotate the image to just the right angle.
WRAP IT UP
Now it’s time to frame zis verk of art. Click the Frame tab (the square icon in the far left column). The first four frames are the easiest to work with because they maintain your photo’s original aspect ratio. Try “Polaroid Frame.” Notice that it may crop your photo to a square. Click “Transparent Background,” which makes the frame look super realistic.
FINITO!
Save your photo using the “Save” button in the top toolbar. You can click “Share” in the same toolbar to share it on your own PicMonkey share page in Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest or Email.
Next time you set out for adventure, you can explore the Themes tab (the bottom icon in the far left column). The Halloween themes—Vampires, Zombies, Day of the Dead, and Witches—have tons of Quick Tips laid right into the editing experience. It’s like going to the PicMonkey Graduate School of Photo Crazification.
love
yay!!
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Awesome! Can’t wait until I have time to explore this Picmonkey thingy to see if it is for me.
Thank you, thank you, thank you….. for all the “tips”. You give me GREAT inspiration!
Peggy Sweeney, Editor
The Journeys Through Grief Newsletters
https://www.facebook.com/journeysthrugriefnewsletters
thanks for stopping by, Peggy!
está buenísimo, lástima que no se puden utilizae todas las herramientas.
ALE…
tiene todo si utilizas tu imaginacon a mi me encanta!!!!
hay que descargarselo??
OK, I get it. Have done more reading, and realised that cloning is only available under the Royale version – of course!
I have finally taken the plunge and tried it out for myself, but I’m stuck.
I have cloned part of the photo, but am unable to save it. I am using the free software, and the only options that come up for me are to upgrade, discard or cancel. What am I doing wrong?
PLEASEEEEE make an android app for this. Best online editing software I’ve seen; neat, professional & has all the features I use combined into one. Normally I have to use three apps. I LOVE IT!
I want to draw a straight line – how can I do that? Thanksl
Well, if you don’t mind it being imperfect you can use “Draw” in the Effects tab.
Hang on, Ileane, got a better solution for you! Use “Draw” (in the Effects tab), but hold down the Shift key while you’re dragging to draw a line, and it’ll make a perfectly straight one! It’s a bit finicky for vertical lines, but you can do it. Hope this helps!
Or you can make a really skinny rectangle
kisss
Awwww ♥
Es cherveer
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i love this program…..
Hola soii gerardo & pues…..
…i keep on clicking bubbles for my image setting, why it does not respond?
Not sure exactly what you mean, Jinky. Can you send us a note, at http://help.picmonkey.com/customer/portal/emails/new, to let us know more about what you were doing and what you expected to happen vs. what happened.
aww lo amoo :33
The love, is betuful
i want to paste an other picture on cny of my editng picture.. how can i do it?
*any
If you want to paste an entire image across the full width of another image (and blend them, we assume), use “Add your own” in the Textures tab. If you want to place an image that doesn’t fully consume the width of the photo you’re putting it over (and you want to be able to play with the size) use “Add your own” in the Overlays tab.
LOVE you picmonkey! Are there any plans for some Easter fun???
Not like Halloween, but we’ll do some new stuff for ya. Thx for stopping by.
And that, my dear, IS the HOOK!
Nice Monkey
I love u so much
Big hugs!
How to download?
Hi there. If you want to download a photo you just edited, you click “Save” in the top toolbar. Is that what you were asking about?
Beautifull
Like!
hi
انت رايق
i love it <3
i like picmonkey so much..
Hi, I love using Pic Monkey so very much. The effects are just amazing. But recently, I haven’t been able to do much editing on my photos because most of them require upgrading. I don’t want to upgrade. So what should I do?
When you do a focal point, how do you adjust instead of circle, and change it to different size?
Joanne- did you ever receive a response? I also don’t want to upgrade, let me know if you found out a solution without having to upgrade. Dawn
Es lo Máximo!!!! desde que lo descubrí no paro de usarlo, amo Picmonkey y mira que yo soy fan de los editores de fotos, he hecho cosas increíbles con esta aplicación, me encanta!
ojalá la hicieran para descargarla en iphone o android, vale mucho la pena hacer el Upgrade….
I just found out about this program and I just upgraded. This is a great online program! It’s only $33 for a year. If you bought photoshop Elements it would be $99 or $600 for regular photoshop. $33 a year is nothing for a program like this. If you want to be more creative and have more options go for the upgrade. I’m sure this company put a lot of money into creating this program.
Shosho
This is an incredible program! Thank you so much for sharing it with us! 💋
I just purchased this because I need to make a collage. The tutorial says it is easy peasy, but I cannot get it to work for the life of me. I cannot get my photos into your program and there is no upload photos button as stated in your directions. please help, as I have already paid for the year!!
Jenn! The way you upload photos is “edit a photo” button that is to the right of the orange monkey logo. Also you can go to http://help.picmonkey.com/ for more tips. (see the “let us know” link at the bottom of the page)
I like Picmonkey so much but I have one problem. I’ve just bought a tablet computer (Android 4) and a can’t use picmonkey service because this OS doesn’t support flash. Are there ways to use picmonkey with my tablet? Thanks!
Sorry, but Flash is currently what is required to run it. Stay tuned for mobile options down the road, but for now, you do can’t run it on your iOS tablet.
I am not able to go back into my subway art and edit/manipulate any of the words/phrases I have previously saved. Is this option only available with a membership?
Hi Lynda. Not sure what you mean by “go back into” a photo you’ve edit. Would you shoot us a note here
http://help.picmonkey.com/customer/portal/emails/new
and tell us more about the problem?
jkov0909@mail.ru
Hi – I love your service – just upgraded after using for a year for free. Nearly broke me, but it is worth it. I’d love to write a post on my blog about how cool Picmonkey is. Would that be ok?
Fantastic! Yes!
how do I erase flaws from the background… completely
Hello….. Is there anyone out there? Just wanna know how to erase flaws in the background
Hi Lovely Times. Best bet is “Clone,” which is a Royale effect. If you’re not a Royale member, try opening the photo as a texture on top of itself. Then use the paintbrush to erase out the parts you don’t want, and adjust the fade. It won’t completely erase it, but it could do a decent job. You could also try Blemish Fix in the Touch Up tab.
I am new and for some reason I can not get certain jpeg files to open…Any suggestions?
These are photo’s that I have scanned in.
Hi amanda. Shoot us a note at
http://help.picmonkey.com/customer/portal/emails/new
and we should be able to figure it out. Maybe files are too big?
How would I use Picmonkey to enhance eyes…alot of professional pics I have seen enhance the subjects eyes to where they are extremely blue, or whatever the eye color is, and so clear, Do you have options for this?
Have you tried “Eye Brighten” in the Touch Up tab? It’s awesome. Click on the eyes after you’ve adjusted the brush size just right. And then be sure to play with the “Lighten” slider and the “Fade” slider to get it just right.
how do I change everything to black and white except blue eyes? I can do one eye but can’t figure out how to do the other one using the B&W focal tool.
Hi Jennifer. That’s easy! Use the Black and White effect, instead; the one that’s closer to the top of the effects menu (the one with the chinese lanterns in the button image). After you’ve clicked the effect and your image is ALL black and white, click the paintbrush icon in the lower right corner of the effect interface. A paintbrush palette will open. Make sure that “Original” is selected (in blue) in the bar atop the palette, and adjust the brush size before you start painting the black and white *out* of the areas where you don’t want it; in this case, the eyes. Works like a dweeeeaam, I tell you.
how do I change everything to black and white except blue eyes? I can do one eye but can’t figure out how to do the other one using the B&W focal tool.
did you see our reply above?
Currently it looks like BlogEngine is the top blogging platform out there right now.
(from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?
How are you enjoying your job at BlogEngine?
Thank you PikMonkey! That does EXACTLY what I was wanting to do! Love it! Super easy tool! Yay!
I used to be recommended this website via my cousin.
I’m not sure whether or not this submit is written by means of him as no one else recognise such designated about my difficulty. You’re
incredible! Thanks!
Will you ever make a mobile version for Android/iOS?
think this is brill – just created my first subway art and very happy with the results. Only thing is I went back into the picture to try to change one of the colours and the font and couldn’t figure out how to do it. I tried clicking over the text but didnt work ???? any help/thoughts greatly appreciated.
Once you’ve saved something, you can’t go back and take it out. Here’s what you CAN do, though…
If it’s a solid background, you could open it in the Editor and place a solid square overlay where the bad word/bad color is, and then add back the word on top of the overlay. But you’d need to be reasonably certain you can get the exact same background color as whatever surrounds this area.