Graphics+Activity

media type="custom" key="8872986" Improve Your Images -vs- Picnik media type="file" key="activity1.mp3" width="240" height="20" align="center"

For this activity, I chose an old family photo from 1972 to compare the two online image editors Improve Your Images and Picnik. The reference criteria for the comparison are listed in the table below.

lighting and temperature. ||= Auto-fix, rotate, crop, resize, exposure, sharpen, red-eye ||
 * = **Criteria** ||= **Improve Your Images** ||= **Picnik** ||
 * = **Tool Selection** ||= None ||= Yes ||
 * = **Interface** ||= Automatic ||= Intuitive ||
 * = **Speed** ||= Immediate ||= Immediate ||
 * = **Export** ||= Yes, download ||= Yes, to a variety of locations ||
 * = **Flash/HTML** ||= No,color correction engine ||= Flash Based ||
 * = **Maximum File Size** ||= Unknown ||= Unknown/final file size optional ||
 * = **Maximum Resolution** ||= Unknown ||= Unknown ||
 * = **Cost** ||= Free ||= Free, upgrades available $24.95/year ||
 * = **Layers** ||= No ||= Yes, pre-determined, optional ||
 * = **Effects** ||= Automatically adjusts color,
 * = **Effects** ||= Automatically adjusts color,
 * = **Killer Feature** ||= Quick and Easy ||= Variety of free effects ||

Improve Your Images [] Improveyourimages.com is a product that is provided by and through SoftColor, a color correction engine. In one step, your images are adjusted for color, exposure and temperature. The ease of use is its best feature. There is no need for a tutorial. When you access the free website, you have the option of uploading an image from your computer or opening an image with a URL (JPEG images only). Once the image is chosen, you select the Upload Image button and within seconds the original and the improved image are displayed side by side to reveal the improvements. To view the improved image in its full size, simply click on the improved image. At the bottom of the page is an option to download the improved image in its original size to your computer. Options for effects are not available; even so the results are impressive. I chose an old picture of my husband’s family that was taken in 1972. The picture is badly faded. In one step, Improve Your Images made a drastic improvement in the restoration of the background colors, the clothing and the subjects (skin, hair, eyes and teeth). Quite impressive for such an easy to use tool.

Results from the Improve Your Images Website



Picnik [] Picnik in a free photo editing website that does not require registration and offers a product upgrade for $24.95 a year. On the home page, you select the “Upload a photo” button. From there you can edit the photo by using the following options: Auto-fix, Rotate, Crop, Resize, Exposure, Colors, Sharpen and Red-Eye. Layers are an option, but are pre-determined. There is a help tab, but this is available only to those who are registered users. There are also terms that must be adhered to by the user concerning copyrighted materials and portions of the picnik software. To compare the output of this site with the Improve Your Images site, I used the Auto-Fix option with the results as seen below. The after photos of both are almost identical. There were many other options for adjusting the color, contrast, light, etc., but to fairly judge, I wanted to use the Auto-Fix. When saving the improved image, I was given a variety of options for format, dimensions, and compression quality (with picnik recommending the best options for the best quality). I then saved it back into my pictures folder on my computer. I was also given options of saving the photo to photobucket, MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Picasa Web Albums, Buzz, Email Photo, Flickr Slideshow or Print the photo. You also have the options of creating Holiday pictures, adding text, touch-ups, frames and many other fun embellishments.

Results of Picnik Both products were incredibly easy to use. The Improve Your Images site is really a no-brainer. Picnik has more tool selections and is therefore more complicated in terms of usability, but still quite easy to use. For speed, Improve Your Images is faster than Picnik. Both allow export; Improve Your Images to your computer only and Picnik to your computer as well as a variety of web sites and web photo storage sites. Picnik is completely Flash based while Improve Your Images is a color correction engine. I could find no maximum file size for upload. Improve Your Images saved the new image in its original size while Picnik had options for dimensions and format for saving/sharing the new image. Resolution adjustments for Improve Your Images was automatic. In Picnik, the resolution was optional (quick fix or manual) with no options for either when saving/sharing the final product. Both were free, Picnik having options to upgrade. Picnik offers pre-determined layers that are optional depending on registration or upgrade. I did not register and used layers with the third picture above (I really do like my father-in-law). There are many free fun layers from which to choose with options for greeting cards and a variety of holiday applications. Picnik also has a wide range of effects available with the free software and even more with registration or purchase. The best feature of Improve Your Images is it's simplicity. The best feature of Picnik would be the number of effects offered, as well as their ease of use and quality. According to the criteria, Picnik proves to be the better product for me. The available functions are those that I typically use even with Photoshop.
 * Original || Auto-Fix || Playing around with optional layers ||
 * [[image:262468033.jpg]] || [[image:262468033_picnik.jpg]] || [[image:262468033-1.jpg]] ||