Photo-crazy

I would like to thank Google's Picasa for my newest obsession...

Picnik.

Taken with my Nikon D5000.
Focal Length: 55.0mm
1/60s f/6.3
ISO: 400
Edited in Picnik – 1960’s effect & rounded corners

Picnik is the most fun I've had editing pictures. EVER. EVER.

I discovered Picnik a couple of days ago and it has literally changed my photographic life. I took the picture above a few months ago when Emma and I were walking around the neighborhood. There’s a house on the corner that usually gets weeds about 5 feet high. Then someone comes & cuts them all down and leaves. The backyard fence is missing several planks and this little fence along the front has seen better days, but I thought it took a cool picture.

And it did, but when I uploaded it into Picnik and started trying out different effects I fell in love with it even more. I used the 1960’s effect. I am obsessed with old looking photos. Not like 1901 photos, but pictures that remind me of my childhood. I think they look so nostalgic and fun. I rounded the corners and I was done.

Taken with my Nikon D5000.
Focal Length: 55.0mm
1/60s f/5.6
ISO: 800
Edited in Picnik – Polaroid Frame with Hand-Drawn Hearts Stickers

This picture I just framed and added some of the stickers they have. I really love the stickers and frames. I did a bunch of stuff on Scrapblog until they started charging for a lot of ‘premium’ content that wasn’t really all that spectacular. But you can do the same stuff you did in Scrapblog in Picnik. There’s collage frames & fancy stickers or backgrounds. Now, Picnik is free, but they also have a premium subscription (which I have signed up for). It’s $4.95 a month or $24.95 for a year. I think it’s worth it. I love the premium options and for a little more than $2 a month it’s cheaper than most of the crap I get.

Taken with my Nikon D5000.
Focal Length: 55.0mm
1/3s f/32
ISO: 500
Edited in Picnik – Rounded Corners

For this picture I was reading all over the place about how to make lights look like stars without using an 4-, 6- or 8-point filter. I didn’t think I was getting it, but I really like the way this one came out. Almost all the little lights look like stars! I had to set my aperture as high as it could go even though most tutorials said it would work at around f/22. I didn’t want to change the colors with any effects in Picnik so I just rounded the corners and left it at that. I think it came out pretty good, but that’s just my opinion.

So those are my efforts from these last couple of days. I can’t wait to do more! I think tomorrow I’m going to run to Target and get me some rain boots so I can stomp around in the rain and get some water motion pictures. Wish me luck!