Three Pictures
Posted: January 22, 2012 Filed under: 365 Yoga Challenge, Art, Earth, home, Letting Go, nature, Photography, snow, Spirit, water, winter | Tags: Adobe Photoshop, flowers, nature, Photography, Picnik, snow, winter 25 Comments
Picnik will be closing. The last day to use the photo editing site is April 19, 2012. I will be sorry to see it go because I was just starting to really enjoy playing around with my photos in a variety of ways. Picnik made play easy to do, usually in one step rather than the several I often have to take in Photoshop to get certain effects.
Because they will be closing soon, they have opened up their premium features. You can now use them for free. Today I played with textures. I used a photo of a poinsettia tipped over in the snow I took yesterday and tried on a couple of textures.
The first photo is the almost straight out of the camera image. It was resized and tweaked a little (contrast, sharpening). I think the snow provided a pretty interesting texture without post-processing help.
The day started out rather frustrating. I worked out some of the frustration skiing. I took my first tumble today. Skiing will be easier now. The first fall always releases the fear, the worried voice in my head that seems to think if I fall the worst will happen. I fell. I got up. I laughed about it. And you know what else? It didn’t kill me.
I worked out the rest of my stress playing. I played with the photos. I also took a trip to a local art supply store to purchase some items I needed to help me get started on an altered book project. It’s a project I have been eagerly looking forward to beginning and as soon as I get this posted I’m moving over to the “Art Desk” (as my oldest granddaughter calls it) to make what will probably be a mess at first. Yay! Here’s to messiness! I’m letting go of perfection.
Thanks for dropping in to the Bogs for a few minutes on this beautiful Sunday. The sun is shining, the temperature is rising, but there’s still enough snow out there for sledding or skiing. Enjoy. 🙂
Life in the Bogs 
Hi there Robin. I love poinsettia! I love that you’re playing. I love that it’s possible for all of us to let go of perfectionism and make little messes and not beat ourselves up.
Thanks, Kathy! 🙂
Wishing you safe travels.
I know, Picnik is pretty fun to play around with and I’m disappointed that it’s closing! Apparently some of the features are moving to some Google + photo editing program but it wont be the same. Great shot though and enjoy playing with the premium features! 🙂
Thanks, Stephen. 🙂
Love the poinsettia photos. And if you are ever so inclined, I love to hear more about your art project, as well. Have fun playing, my friend!
Hugs,
Kathy
Thanks, Kathy M.
You’ll probably be hearing lots more about it soon. 🙂
That’s too funny.. I was just thinking about trying out Picnik, but I guess there will be no need to test it out now! 😦 Glad to hear that your first fall is out of the way and that your body is none the worse for it. Stay warm, Robin! 🙂
Go for it, Dana. It’s free and you get to use all the premium features until they close shop in April. That’s still a few months away. 🙂
I hadn’t heard that picnik was closing. I use it often in my blog and on a newsletter I write for a friend on Constant Contact. I shall be sorry to see it go.
I do love your poinsettia and am amazed that we have them here for Christmas and obviously you do too on the other side of the world. Different seasons. Same plant. 🙂
Thank you, Judith. 🙂
Such rich reds. This is a lovely set.
Thank you, CFBookChick. 🙂
Hallo lieber Robin Grüsse dich lieb und wünsche dir einen schönen Tag und gute Woche schöne Fotos mit sehr viel Schnee,hir haben wir leider keinen.Herzlicher Gruss von mir Gislinde.http://zitroneblog.wordpress.com
Thank you, Gislinde. 🙂
Great photos, Robin! I’ve always loved red poinsettia
Thank you, Gracie. 🙂
Wonderful shots, but I do prefer the first one.
Thanks, LadyFi. 🙂
Love the photos AND your life philosophy shining through – thanks!
Thank you, Lynn. 🙂
I am sad about Picnik too – I had just begun playing over there, and I love how easy it is to add text to photos. Wonder if Google will put something in place to replace it – do you know?
Carla: I don’t know. Google has Picasa, which is okay but doesn’t have many features to it. I think Flickr is planning to have their own editing program (which may have something to do with the demise of Picnik but I’m not sure of that either).
Too bad about Picnik – you can pretty much do all the same stuff on Google Picasa’s editor, and it’s free too! For simple stuff, it’s actually much quicker to use than LR3 is for me. And the newest version I’ve got on the iMac has got some fantastic features.
I like it when you explain what you’ve done to your photos. I have a lot to learn, and artistically, I’m not really up to snuff. I can make a royal mess out of photos trying to make them look better.
Give Picnik a try, Christine. It’s free and it’s easy to use. It would be a good starting point, even if it’s only available until April. You could also try Picasa. It’s free and easy too.