Picasa SIG

April 14, 2011

Picnik Revisited

Goal:

1.        To use Export to create a reasonably sized photo for Picnik

2.        To illustrate Effects> Matte

3.        To use features of Frames>Borders

4.        To use features of Frames> Museum Matte

5.        To Add Text

6.        To illustrate Before and After

7.        To return to Picasa and complete photo with collage

8.        To avoid using Premium features (they are labeled)

 

EXPORTING

  1. Select your photo. Check size. If over 1M then click Export
  2. Select 640 or one stop lower or higher
  3. Click Export to resize your photo. Note pathname(folder location)
  4. Navigate to folder with exported photo (Usually Export)
  5. Double click photo for Edit mode and click Picnik
  6. Wait.

EFFECTS>MATTE

  1. Click Effects Tab and cycle down to Matte or Vignette. ( I cant tell the difference yet) Choices are Size, Strength, Color, Fade. EXPERIMENT.
  2. Click Apply or Cancel. Whichever you want to do. Apply is permanent

 

FRAMES - BORDER or ROUNDED EDGES or MUSEUM MATTE

BORDER

  1. Click Frames and scroll down to Border. Choices are Outer Color and Thickness, Inner Color and Thickness, Corner Radius and Caption Height. Experiment. Note: On choosing a color, the color picker can be dragged to the photo to match a color on the photo. Click Apply or Cancel

ROUNDED EDGES

  1. Click Rounded Edges. Choices are Background Color, Corner Radius, and Transparent Background. Experiment Note: Transparent background will have white corners if brought back to Picasa and used in an application with a not-white background. Click Apply or Cancel

MUSEUM MATTE

  1. Click Museum Matte. Choices are Outer Thickness and Outer Color, Inner Color and Inner Thickness. By now you are an expert. Experiment. Click Apply or Cancel. Note: Can use color picker to match a color in the photo.

 

BIG NOTE: These may be done in any order but produce different effects. Also any feature may be repeated.

ADD TEXT

Hint: Text can be added here but it may be more useful to do that in Picasa where it can be edited. Picnik text on a photo is permanent after download

12.Click Text. Type your text in the upper left hand box. Click Add

13. On the right a whole box of choices opens up. Color, Size, Bold, Italics, Center and many more. Experiment. Right click the text to see more choices. Move text with double pointed arrow. Resize by dragging handles.

RETURN TO PICASA

Click Cancel (no changes saved) upper left or Save to Picasa (all changes saved) lower right when finished with the photo. Continue with any Picasa action.