Photo Tutorial + DIY: Quick Picnik 101
We’re all still having a blast playing around with our cameras, but the resulting bounty is no fun if stuck on a hard drive all day.
One of the top inquiries I receive is how to quickly and easily edit photos in a post production manner to give them that extra pop and zing. We’re going to start taking a look at various programs and what to do. You may know it, you may not. You may need a refresher, or you may need reminding. Either way, it’s all about the fun of it.
We’re starting with the free version of Picnik today, and I dug out one of my favourite photos of Isla’s first few months to prepare it for her birthday album.
Picnik is so easy to use that, when I started, I actually thought I was missing something. Compared to other high function photo editing software apps, this is a wonderful tool for both entry-level photogs and experienced but time-crunched picture fiends alike.
Here is the photo straight out of the camera. Taken on my Canon 20D with a 50mm lens, and all I remember is that it was Aperture Priority mode around the 3.5 mark. Forgiveness on the memory front: it was eight months ago!
Picnik has a feature in which you can ‘auto correct.’ It never hurts to try it out, but it turned the pic rather cool in temperature. It’s all about your personal style, however. There is nothing wrong with stopping right here.
I decided to go in by hand to fix the main elements as best I could. This is auto exposure setting.
This is where I would have landed had I corrected the exposure manually.
And again with colour correction, I decided to let Picnik show me it’s robotic judgment.
Vs. By Hand. I warmed it up 13 points by increasing the temperature, giving it a warm tone rather than a cool one.
Oh, sharpening tool. Such a tempting treat. This is such a handy function to really crisp up an image or forgiving the odd lost focal point or aperture misjudgment. The problem is, you can really overdo it and fast. Increasing the sharpening mask too much can really sullen a baby’s complexion, age a mama’s skin or really pixelate a photo and well, we don’t want that! It’s important to exercise restraint on this one.
In the photo above, I went all the way to 40 to show what I mean about adding noise to the image.
Here? I hung out at 4.5. Restraint. If only I could apply the same practice to chocolate pudding…
And finally, filters. We’ll get into them much more soon but the number one favourite of mine that should be yours too is ‘boost.’ Again, practice restraint. Here I’ve come in at 7% to just give an oomph of saturation. But, as you can see, her skin has swayed to the redder side of things, looking almost ruddy and overdone. And that’s just at 7%!
The art of editing a photo well is knowing when to stop, and I should have one step before the filter. But they’re so fun!!! They are! Yes! On the right photo.
Ooh, I’m a killjoy, I know. It’s important to remember, however, that editing shouldn’t be about fixing images, but enhancing them. This is why it’s key to master the image in camera first, rather than hoping for the best later. Keep that in mind, and you’ll be fine!
* Picnik has not contributed in any way nor form to this post. I’m just enthusiastic about their product and wanted to share! All opinions, views and steps expressed are my own.
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