Picmonkey problem

1. 84

   TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years ago

   I have been advising people to use the free text editor, Picmonkey.com, for years.  Today I went on the site to rework a photo, and after I did, the site would not allow me to down load it.  Seems they now want everybody to pay a fee for use.  Anybody else having this problem?  Conversely, can you provide me another free photo editing site that I can use.  I like to make Made for Pinterest photos with print on the first photo but can't do this without a good editor.  Advice and info will be appreciated.  Thanks.

   replyreport
   1. 96

      eugbugposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      You can still download Picasa free from 3rd party sites, not Google because they've "moved on" (their words, not mine). They want people to edit photos in the cloud using their Google Photos product (you could upload images and do that?)
      You can do basic stuff in Picasa like cropping, changing brightness, colour balance, retouching, adding text (which can be scaled, rotated, changed in colour and font). I find it also to be an intuitive and easy to use image organiser and browser.
      Another option is PaintShop Pro from Corel which costs about $75. This is a comprehensive imaging program  (sort of the "Poor Man's Photoshop"). If you ever want to to do any fancy stuff like drawing diagrams, it's very useful. It also supports layers so you could for instance have a base photo, add maybe thumbnail images on top of that on a new layer, and then maybe add arrows, lines etc on a third layer to point to things. It supports vectors, which means that if for instance you draw shapes such as circles, rectangles or lines, arrows, or other composite entities made up from these, they can be edited and scaled/moved around later.  If you use a raster imaging program, you can't do this at a later period, because the image is basically a collection of pixels. Once you've finalised your image, then you can save the whole thing as a composite .jpg.
      I did a search for "online photo editors" and came up with Fotor.com which seems to do a lot of the basics. I tried to save an edited image, but you have to sign in, so I don't know whether there are any restrictions. There's probably lots more editors similar to this.
      Gimp is another editor which does lots of stuff. I've always found the interface a bit confusing though. I think it was originally built for UNIX/Linux, so Windows users will find it a bit unfamiliar to use.

      replyreport
      1. 82

         Venkatachari Mposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         Very much useful information provided by you about so many options available. Thanks for it.
         I am using the Paint tool which is a free one for editing my photos.

         replyreport
         1. 96

            eugbugposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            You're welcome Venkatachari. Paint is totally fine for really basic editing. A program with vector drawing capabilities however allows text, lines and shapes to be altered.There are lots of free editors, it all depends on how much manipulating you need to do to images.

            replyreport
      2. 84

         TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

         Eugbug:  Thanks for the info.  I was so disappointed with PicMonkey, especially with the way they did it.  They let me waste my time editing a photo, and THEN let me know I'd have to pay to use the site.  I may just have to bite the bullet and buy the basic plan for $4.00 per month because it really is a good program and I won't have to have a new learning curve,but I'm not happy with them right now.

         replyreport
         1. 96

            eugbugposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            On a related topic, I notice too that one of the image hosting sites I use for posting images to forums has discontinued free hosting.
            I don't think there would be a steep learning curve if you decide to use new software, and in any case we could help you if you run into problems

            replyreport
            1. 84

               TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks.  I took a look at a few of these sites and found even the ones they say are easy to use difficult.  I'm just going to pay to use PicMonkey.  Too stressful to do otherwise, but I appreciate your help and advice.  I'm making good money now and can write off the cost for taxes, so it will be OK.  Too old to learn new tricks, I guess!

               replyreport
               1. 96

                  eugbugposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                  Good for you! Keep trucking (or RVing )

                  replyreport
         2. 84

            TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

            I have looked at most of the options everybody here has mentioned, and for some reason those that are "free" are all cautioned against by my virus protection program!  Don't know why because it seems others are using them without problems.
            
            As I noted in another post here, PicMonkey wrote to me and said that they will only allow saving, exporting and sharing for people who sign up for their premium program...$4 per month. I can foresee them raising that cost as time goes on, too, and kind of feel like they're taking advantage of the situation they've created for people like me.
            
            I am NOT good with these types of things, but have been able to successfully and easily use their program. Without it, I won't be able to convert photos for hub use.  Although I said I wouldn't do it, I'm afraid that now I'm going to be forced to buy into the premium program. Don't know what else to do if free programs aren't safe to use and other programs are too complicated.  I tried to work with some of them and just couldn't "get" it.  Hell to be old!

            replyreport
            1. 96

               eugbugposted 6 years agoin reply to this

               Would you like to modify text on images at a later stage ?(e.g. scale, move, change colour, font etc). A package with vector support allows you to do this.

               replyreport
               1. 84

                  TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

                  I rechecked the costs for Picmonkey and realized that I had misunderstood what they were saying when they emailed me.  Their program does all of those things you talk about. They're offering a 7 day free trial for anybody who wants to give them a try.
                  
                  I did drop a note to the team to see if they would be willing to add a basic image editing program to the HP hubtool or maybe try to strike some kind of a deal with Picmonkey, but I doubt they'll do it, even though it would help the writers here and be good for the site as well.

                  replyreport
2. 93

   Krysantheposted 6 years ago

   Glad to see I'm not the only one who had this issue.   Even though I use Canva to make Pinterest friendly images, I use Picmonkey all the time to edit photographs.   Like you I was pretty disappointed when it wouldn't let me export my picture the other day.
   
   I've used both ipiccy and pixlr in the past.  They both do a good job and are easy to use, but  I don't like them as well as Picmonkey.  I'm sure I'll end up paying the few dollars a month.

   replyreport
   1. 84

      TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I sent an email to Picmonkey about this and their response was that they  will only now allow you to export, share or save photos if you pay them $3.99 per month or $47.88 for a year.   This is for their most basic program.  The super premium program will be about twice that much.
      
      They do have a good, easy to use program, but it would have been nice if they had warned people they were going to start charging before allowing them to take their time doing an edit and then springing the bad news on them!

      replyreport
3. 96

   theraggededgeposted 6 years ago

   Paint.net (not Microsoft Paint) is a free and useful image editing program. It's pretty simple to use.

   replyreport
4. 92

   FatFreddysCatposted 6 years ago

   I've been using BeFunky to make collages of album covers/etc. for my Hubs for awhile now. I haven't played with it much beyond the collage function but it has a lot of the same photo editing options as PicMonkey.  "Free" customers have limited options/templates or you can sign up for a paid plan for more advanced stuff.
   
   https://www.befunky.com

   replyreport
   1. 96

      eugbugposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Picasa is useful for making collages also.

      replyreport
   2. 84

      TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Fat Freddy:
      
      I think you solved my problem.  This is the only program that has not given virus warnings for my computer, and is also fairly easy for me to use.  I still will have a bit of a learning curve with it, but it's free and I think it will do what i need for it to do.
      
      Thanks so much!

      replyreport
      1. 92

         FatFreddysCatposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         No problemo (tips hat)

         replyreport
5. 91

   Jesse Drzalposted 6 years ago

   Hubbers helping Hubbers..good stuff.

   replyreport