Photography Simplified
Picnik Closing… Google’s Loss is Your Gain?
I had a completely unexpected email this morning. It was the folks at Picnik letting me know that after 10 years of service (and only a couple of years being owned by Google) they’ll be closing.
Picnik closing doesn’t mean you’ll lose your photos that are stored with them. There’s a new function on Picnik to export your photos. And it doesn’t mean you’ll lose your money if you’re a premium Picnik member. Google will be issuing refunds. But, it does mean you’ll have to find a new photo editing program. Preferably a free one.
If you know me, you know I’m going to recommend GIMP.
GIMP is like a free version of Photoshop. It’s my favorite program to make banners, edit product photos, and retouch my portraits before I put them online. If you’ve been using Picnik, this is a perfect excuse to upgrade to a more flexible, professional program like GIMP.
GIMP is still 100% free, and it lives on your computer rather than being an online product. That’s awesome because:
- There are no long upload waits.
- There are (virtually) no size limitations.
- You don’t have to download your files again after you’re done. They’re still right there on your hard drive.
GIMP is more powerful than Picnik, and it gives you a lot more control over your editing process.
If you’re interested, you can download GIMP for Mac here:
- gimp.lisanet.de/Website/Download.html (*NOTE* you may need to follow some different installation instructions if you’re using Mac OS Lion… I’ll work on getting updated installation instructions soon.)
Get GIMP for Windows here:
Don’t let the lack of Picnik stop you from making great photos. These are all just tools. Loads of people learn to use GIMP every day (there were something like 37,000 downloads of GIMP for Mac last MONTH!) If they can do it, so can you!!
Happy editing!
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