Saturday

Photo Editing Programme Reviews

Every Twitter chat is filled with people asking for the best photo editing programmes. Of course, there's no "best" option as it's all down to personal preference. However, I thought it might be helpful to do a little review of the three main contenders: Photoshop, Pixlr and Picmonkey. I don't use Apple products so I've left out iPhoto. It's worth pointing out that I do have some training in using Photoshop, thanks to my two art A levels, but I'm mostly self-taught, and I was a newcomer to both Pixlr and Picmonkey when I created this post. 

This is the photo I have used as my base, and I've tried to create a similar look with each programme.



Photoshop

Everybody knows that Photoshop is the photo editing software. It's used by practically everyone involved in photography and it's the go-to programme for editing. I'm very comfortable with Photoshop as I've developed my own little "formula" for editing each photo that appears on my blog. Although I feel at home using Photoshop, there are a lot of features and I'm pretty sure nobody knows what they all do, although it can be intimidating for a newcomer. 

Tone>Brightness & Contrast> Curves> Lightness
To edit my photos, I begin by editing the tone, then the brightness and contrast. I add a curves layer, which I've downloaded for free. Curves overlay an effect over your photo- Think of them like Instagram filters! Finally, I up the lightness a little to get that dreamy, cloudy finish. 

Pros
  • Professional, widely used software
  • Easy to find tutorials for specific effects and processes
  • A lot of features, so you can create practically any look
Cons
  • It's very expensive!
  • You need to install it on your computer, so you can't use it everywhere
  • It can be intimidating for newcomers

Pixlr

As you can see, Pixlr looks almost identical to Photoshop. Because of this, it's fairly easy to use if you're familiar with Photoshop, but it's an online programme so it's available wherever you are. I did find that it could be quite slow but, all in all, I was quite impressed. 

Colour vibrance> Brightness & Contrast> Pastels> Curves> Lightness
I began by editing the colour vibrance, brightness and contrast as usual. I applied a preset curve that was included with the programme (Pastels), then went ahead and edited the curves myself a little. I ended by increasing the lightness as usual. 

Pros

  • It's free and can be accessed anywhere since it's online
  • It's easy to use if you're familiar with Photoshop
  • It has preset curves ready to use, so you don't need to search or pay for others
Cons
  • It can be slow
  • It's reliant on internet connection
  • Like Photoshop, it can appear a little intimidating


Picmonkey

I've heard a lot about Picmonkey and it seems to be very popular with people who can't justify shelling out for Photoshop. It's very user-friendly, and was very easy to use as somebody who is new to the programme, with a visual menu. Like Pixlr, Picmonkey has built-in curves layers and is totally free, although you do need to pay to unlock a lot of features. Unfortunately, I found it very slow and it crashed really easily. In fact, my photo completely disappeared at one point and I had to reload to start all over again. Even though I have the fastest commercially available broadband, Picmonkey wouldn't work unless I used the lowest resolution setting. It also annoyed me that the settings are given men's names. It's not cute and quirky. It's just confusing. This ain't Shakeaway! 

Auto Adjust> Tranquil> Brightness.
I began by auto adjusting the layers and then applying the Tranquil curve. I edited the brightness a little but I couldn't find a way to increase the lightness, although I think the curve layer did a fairly good job of this anyway. 

I was also intrigued by the "makeover" features. With these, you can do anything from removing red eye and blemishes, to easily adding make up and hair highlights. Although most of these features are only available to premium, paying customers, there are a few good settings available to all. They are extremely easy to use and you can preview the paid features before you shell out for an upgraded account.
Above is the unedited photo I used and below you can see how it looked with the changes.

As you can see, the changes are very subtle but they do make a real difference. I used the blemish remover on my chin, teeth whitening and used the make up settings to add eyebrow pencil, eyeshadow, blush and lip tint. (I've just spotted that the eyeshadow left me with a line right through my cheek. Ignore that!) There were also paid options for airbrushing, which was essentially Gaussian Blur and is never a good look, wrinkle removing, eye brightening and hair highlighting amongst others. It was very easy to use so I was impressed with those settings. 

Pros

  • Free and available online
  • Very user-friendly
  • Preset curves built in
Cons
  • Extremely slow, prone to crashing and with confusing setting names
  • You have to pay for a lot of features
  • There are adverts at the bottom, although I didn't see these with my AdBlocker
Let's take a look at all three of the edited photos together. Which one do you prefer?
Whichever editing programme you use, it's worth playing around with some others to find one that really works for you. 

19 comments :

  1. Oddly enough I quite liked that Picmonkey uses Bond actor names to denote different qualities of resolution in line with their Bond portrayal quality, I thought it was fun and quirky.

    I'm a Photoshop girl but Pixlr sounds interesting if I needed to edit something away from my laptop.

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    1. It's fun but I don't think it's very practical. I found it confusing- They could have been much more clear with it.

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  2. You don't get ads if you pay for picmonkey, it's only £3 a month, well worth the money when you know how to use it. I reckon you could have edited even better when using different settings :)

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    1. That is quite good value actually, although Ad Blocker does a good job of stopping the ads.

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  3. What a great post Becky! I've only ever tried out picmonkey a wee bit so it was great seeing what a few other programs look like. I'll definitely give the Pixlr a go but maybe not on this very old and slow pc! I'd love to get photoshop one day but I'd definitely need to get a shiny new laptop/pc before I even thought about it!

    Alana | Alana Gets Healthy
    xxx

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    1. Yep, I wouldn't recommend it on a slow PC!

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  4. I'm a Photoshop girl through and through, I've been using it since I was about 14 so I guess I'm quite familiar with it but I can definitely see how intimidating it can be for others. I find Picmonkey useful for collages as it's just a bit quicker, however I've never tried Pixlr so can't comment on that!x

    Charlotte / coloursandcarousels

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    1. Yeah, I've been using it for 10 years now so I'm confident with it but I remember being so intimidated when I started. My graphics tutor just told us to "play around with it" and that was the extent of our training. Good job, Julie!

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  5. This is all very informative. I have had no experience with any of those photo editing programs but am considering a different one than I have. I have a slightly older Apple computer and iPhoto crashes on me regularly so I lost ALL my photos and have to re-import them. When I do edit the photos (other than cropping) they look nicer but I think the edited photos may not show up as well on Windows based programs. I do crop my photos to 400 x 400 now in case someone wants to share them. If I get a new computer that's not an Apple I may get one of the ones you reviewed. You look beautiful in the photos above both before and after.

    http://www.full-brief-panties.blogspot.com/

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    1. Oh no! How frustrating to lose all your photos! Thank you so much for your kind comment!

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  6. I'm a GIMP user myself. It doesn't have a lot of the features photoshop does, but it's free and I don't need to rely on my internet connection remaining stable if I need to edit pictures. And you can import things like Photoshop brushes into it and such. I'm planning on looking into a picture editor for my phone though, since I started using Instagram and would like to put slightly more polished pictures up there,

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    1. Darn, I forgot GIMP! I'll have to try it at some point!

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  7. I most definitely prefer the look of the Photoshop edited picture though the programme is very very intimidating
    Megan x | MeganRoisinn

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    1. It is intimidating at first but you only need to know a few features. I only use a couple of tools to edit my photos.

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  8. The photoshop picture wins hands down for me! I use Picmonkey at the moment but I have been thinking of trying something different. Need to give Pixlr a go I think!
    Sam
    x

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  9. Ahh this is so helpful! I tried using Pixlr once and just have no idea how to edit a photo so gave up. I'm trying it again!x

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    1. I can help if you like? I'll sit you down on the carpet, fire up the interactive whiteboard and give you a sticker for good work ;)

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  10. Yes, this is really very good review indeed! Hopefully I'm very pleased by having such wonderful review and I would like to use best photo editing software. Thanks

    Photoshop clipping path

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I read all comments and appreciate every single one, even if I can't always reply. If you have a question or need a reply, feel free to tweet me @BeckyBedbug- I always reply to tweets!

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