Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Review: Irfanview




Web address:   http://www.irfanview.com/

Price:   freeware for non commercial use. Requests registration at US$12 donation for commercial use. Requires a download to PC.

How they describe themselves:  …one of the most popular viewers worldwide! Very fast, small, compact and innovative FREEWARE. It is designed to be simple for beginners and powerful for professionals.

Rating: This freeware had a bit of grunt. I suspect I felt that way because it feels similar to Photoshop (my usual choice of editor). It didn’t have any pretty stickers or creative frames however I wouldn’t write it off. It has a lot going for it. It has some fun effects, control to customise the settings on many things. The ability to add a layer/watermark. Once downloaded you don’t need to log onto the internet to use this.


Feature 
Feature Available
Comments
Rotate image  
Yes
Seems to have a lot of options available, once got focused on task found this easily.
Crop image
Yes
Not sure if it was me or the program. I got confused by the ‘cut area out of selection’. My canvas size was still too big. Changing the canvas size is done by typing in pixels, confusing. Eventually I found ‘edit crop selection’. Easy once I selected the right function from the menu.
Auto Fix
Yes
Auto adjust colours. Beanies looked very crisp. Background looked speckled (not necessarily bad).
Add frame/boarder 
Yes
16 options; all have a colour palette with 2 options. Nothing too creative about the borders. No rounded corners. It does the job. You can increase your branding by selecting the exact colour you want.
Add text

Fonts from my own PC were available. Fantastic if you have downloaded/purchased extra fonts.  
Collage

no
Photo Effects
Yes
Interesting – rain drops, emboss, explosion, sepia, 3D button, zoom blur, sharpen, etc. Be sure to select ‘Effects Browser’ for the preview and to alter the settings.
Stickers
no
There are multiple plugins available to download, stickers does not seem to be available.
Sharpen
Yes
It was automated and over did the effect. Using the mouse I was able to select just the front beanie to sharpen (which was okay). Later I found the customisable settings for sharpen under Effects.
Resize
Yes
Done via pixels, cm or percentage. Ability to change DPI. Some standard dimensions also offered.


The bad of Irfan View:

Downloading new software always makes me uncomfortable. I was able to do this via Cnet (that gave me some peace of mind).

I usually use my mouse wheel to zoom in/out. Doing that took me to the next photo (bit annoying). I also kept mistaking the next photo arrows for the undo/redo buttons. What ever I had done since the last save was lost.

There is an undo button, but no redo button. I often like to check what my adjustment did by using both of those.

Irfan View automatically made it self the ‘go to’ application for my photoshop files. I simply changed the properties for one file and they all changed back.

You can use Intanview if you have a mac.

The Good of Irfan View;

There is an extensive FAQ section and a forum available.

Has ‘add overlay/watermark image’ with a transparency option. I used 35% in the example.

Numerous plugins available. Those include face detect, extra effects, filters.

MANY many file types available for saving.

Love the 'save in original folder' option! No more wasting time looking for the folder you were working in.

You are able to turn on a 3x3 grid, or as photographs call it ‘use the rule of thirds’ grid.

Ability to use the fonts from my PC (including those I had downloaded/purchased). Helps to keep my brand/look consistent.

Relates to: The Picniks Over and The Mission

Jeanie is a blogger & maker of jewellery. She lives an hour outside Melbourne with her husband & two turtles. In her spare time you'll find her in the bead store, soldering or pouring resin. Jeanie has one wish - to inspire women to look & feel fabulous. 


Visit Jeanie at www.inspiredwish.com or follow her on Facebook.


Monday, January 30, 2012

Review: FotoFuze



Web address:   http://fotofuze.com/

Price:   free

How they describe themselves:  Make high quality product photography out of ordinary photographs from ordinary cameras.
Before
After FotoFuze
Rating:  This program is great if you have a photo that is dark and you need to digitally enhance it.  Unfortunately this is all it does.  It does it well as you can see above but it does not offer any more features.   It also lets you download resultant images in 3 different sizes, it supports Etsy and can be used to enhance images on your Etsy listings.

Feature 
Feature  Available 
Comments
Rotate image
No
Crop image
No
Auto Fix
Yes
It enhances the photo similar tot the Auto fix option in Picnik
Add frame /boarder  
No
Add text
No
Collage
No
Photo Effects
No
Stickers
No
Sharpen
No
Resize
Yes
Yes, they offer 3 sizes.



Christine is a Wife and a Mum of 3.  She is the owner of C Percy Designs, the co-editor of the Handmade Cooperative - Australian Handmade 4 Kids and is a little obsessed with all things crochet.

To find out more about Christine go to her blog - cpercydesigns.blogspot.com or follow her on Facebook.







Relates to: The Picniks Over and The Mission

Review: FotoFlexer

Web address:   http://fotoflexer.com/

Price:   free

How they describe themselves:  Creating dazzling photo effects for free in your browser. FotoFlexer is the world's most advanced online digital photo editor. It performs advanced effects previously only available to professionals using expensive software.

Rating:  It did the job and I’m happy with the end result. Referring to themselves as ‘the world’s most advance photo editor’ is a stretch of the imagination. Not being able to control the sharpen effect renders this basic not advanced. For personal photographs this is great.

Before
See the The Mission for control details

After using fotoflexer

Feature 
Feature Available
Comments
Rotate image
Yes
Easy
Crop image
Yes
Bit fiddly
Auto Fix
Yes
Not that impressed, thought the white would be whiter.  The end result was okay though.
Add frame /boarder
Yes
Only a few borders available. Would welcome more options.
Add text
Yes
Limited fonts. Glitter text available also.
Collage
No
I searched for this and couldn’t find it.
Photo Effects
Yes
At first glance these appear lame. Use the side arrows to find more effects. Discovered a few good ones, I like Pop Art & Ink Stamp. This would be idea for personal images.
Stickers
Yes
Butterflies, talk bubbles etc. Cute option. It may just be my personal taste, but I found the animated stars/hearts and stickers to be tacky.
Sharpen
Yes
No control over sharpen, it is automated for you. This option was hidden under the Beautify tab, I didn’t think it was available at first.
Found options for; Hue, Saturation, Lightness, or Contrast & Brightness
Resize
yes
By pixels, percentages or handy options like avatar, thumbnail, message board etc.  


My choice of editor is Photohop Elements. Before starting a review I needed to use Piknic for the first time. I can see what all the fuss is about! (It will be a shame to see Piknic go).

FotoFlexer wasn’t as pretty or friendly as Picnik but has all the basic features (minus the option to create collages). Fixing blemishes, smoothing wrinkles, rounding corners, applying vignette and borders were all available.

Working with FotoFlexer I wasn’t that impressed. It wasn’t until I opened my saved image that I realised it was actually a good photo and was usable. It did make a decent amount of improvement to the before image.

I am very PC savvy, however I ran into some trouble with saving my image. There are numerous options for saving and sharing. This gives the impression that is user friendly. I beg to differ.

1 ) Sharing options: receive photo via email, url/link or TinyPic.
2) Saving options:  Save to My computer, FotoFlexer, Photobucket, FB, Picasa, Flickr, Smugmug, or Myspace.

I tried ‘save to my computer’. The first time I renamed the photo which resulted in a file with no extension. I was unable to open the photo. Resaving attempts took a while, FotoFlexer ‘encodes frames’ which takes 1 to 2 minutes. Using the option to emailing the photo to myself failed (I’m not sure why). As a regular photoshop user this was now giving me the *bleep*. It seems to save the image, you best not change the suggest file name. Files are automatically saved as a gif file (there was no option to select jpg).

I had to know what the ‘poster’ option looked like and went back for another play. Hey I like this feature a lot! I can imagine people turning their photographs into something shareable via pinterest, facebook or twitter. Using the layers I was able to add a gif image of Christine’s logo for added interest and increased branding. The poster is a winner!



I was able to edit my photos without setting up an account. I was able to set up an account without loosing the photo I had been editing.  Both of those are a plus to me.

Before leaving I clicked on the big ‘download’ button at the top of the screen. I assumed I would be able to download FotoFlexer. It took me to another web page that had something to do with videos. I had just 20 seconds to abort the download. I assume that was an ad made to look like part of FotoFlexer.  Don’t fall for that (I did).

Relates to: The Picniks Over and The Mission


Jeanie lives in Geelong with her husband. She spends her week days as a Receptionist and her spare time exploring creative interests. Jeanie is a blogger, maker of jewellery, and a newbie photographer. 


Visit Jeanie at her blog inspiredwish.com or follow her on Facebook.





Friday, January 27, 2012

Review: Photobucket


Web address:  www.photobucket.com

Price:  Free.  They do have a paid Pro upgrade.  (The Free version of this online program has been reviewed.)

How they describe themselves:
Photobucket is the place to store, create and share photos and videos for life. Upload all your best pictures, images, graphics, icons, and videos and share them by email or link them to your favorite sites like Facebook and Twitter. Personalize your photos by using our photo editor or make slideshows to share with friends. Join our large community by entering competitions or searching our huge photo and video library. Use Photobucket on the Web or on your mobile phone.  
Rating: A good alternative without some of Picnik's hoopy effects.

Before
See the The Mission for control details
After

I’ve been a long time user of Photobucket because it has this cool feature where you can upload your images, movies, animated gifs etc and it gives you the html code which I can then use on my blog. 
Until this week I had never used its photo editor and I must admit that I was impressed because I was able to use all the features I would of used in Picnik to edit my image.   Photobucket isn’t as user friendly or as pretty as Picnik but it has all the basic features.   It is less intuitive and you do have to seek out the features you are looking for.  But after a while I got use to where everything was.  

And as much as I could edit my photo to my liking, Photobucket doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that Picnik has, they have a limited number of frames, effects, fonts and stickers.  You are able to smooth, sharpen, fix blemishes and smooth wrinkles under the Beautify tab. The Geek tab has some useful items such as curves, smart resize, smart recolour and smart cutout.  Actually I thought the smart cutout was very cool.  I also appreciated the FotoFlexer video tutorials.

The ability to layer images was easy to use.  They do offer a collage feature, which wasn’t that easy to find, in fact I thought they didn’t have one until I stumbled upon it.  There aren’t as many collage combinations as Picnik.

Collage I put together to the
Handmade Cooperative's Great Pillowcase Challenge


On the plus side, as mentioned before, the image hosting is great, you can sort your photos into albums and you can share your images easily.

Uploading can take a while, depending on your internet and the size of your image. It can be quiet slow for no reason at all, a bit like Picnik.

I also found it a bit tricky saving photos down to my computer, you need to download the album as a zip file.  I really had to search to find out how to save my photos to my computer  and in the end I googling the answer. 

Feature Feature Available Comments
Rotate image
Yes
Easy
Crop image
Yes
Easy
Auto Fix
Yes
Easy
Add frame/boarder
Yes
Easy - Limited number
Add text
Yes
Easy - limited font options.
Collage
Yes
Moderate - Limited options and a little tricky to find
Photo Effects
Yes
Easy - a number of effects on offer
Stickers
Yes
Easy - A number of stickers available
Sharpen
Yes
Easy
Resize
Yes
Easy


Relates to: The Picniks Over and The Mission

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

The Mission

My friend Jeanie from Inspired Wish and I will be reviewing various alternatives to Picnik over the next week.

Our mission is to make this not so great photo and make it worthy of putting in my online store, using each of the alternative image manipulation programs I mentioned in my last post ( The Picniks over).


To test each program we will be undertaking the following tasks:
  • Rotate the image
  • Lighten it/Auto Fix
  • Add some a rounded frame
  • Place a vignette around the image 
  • Add some funky text
We will also do an honest write up on the programs and give you our opinions.

Wish us luck!

Relates to: The Picniks over 


Sunday, January 22, 2012

The Picniks over

It was revealed yesterday that Picnik is moving over to Google+ in April (for more info go to their blog).  Thats all good for Google+ users but what about who don't want to go over to Google+ or if you have opened a Google+ account but found that not much is happening over there.

So what about us little handmade businesses that have been using Picnik because we can't afford or simply justify buying Photoshop or just don't have the time to learn how to do all the cool things Picnik does?

Well I've done some searching and I've come up with a list of online photo editing sites which might help you out when Picnik is no more.
* Only package that has a collage option.

Personally I haven't use any of these programs because I've always had Photoshop or Picnik.  Over the next few weeks the CHA will be reviewing these websites and we will let you know what we think.

UPDATE:
April 2012 - PicMonkey has been released.  Created by some of the original Picnik engineers this is another online editing program.  So far I'm impressed but I'll be even more impressed when they add their collage feature.

Christine

Friday, January 20, 2012

When Business is Slow: Example

Following on from our post on Wednesday, I wanted to share with you a great example of what you can do when business is slow in January.

The Handmade Cooperative - Australian Handmade 4 Kids, is hosting the 'Great Pillowcase Challenge'. The motivation behind this challenge is has been purely about giving back, as the majority of their members are Mums, its only natural that they would want to use their talents to help sick kids.

Unintentionally it is also a great way for the Cooperative to gain exposure for its website during what is traditionally a slow period.

The challenge is open to all Australian handmade businesses.  For more details go to the Handmade Cooperatives blog at www.handmadecooperative.com.au




Christine is a Wife and a Mum of 3.  She is the owner of C Percy Designs, the co-editor of the Handmade Cooperative - Australian Handmade 4 Kids and is a little obsessed with all things crochet.

To find out more about Christine go to her blog -cpercydesigns.blogspot.com or follow her on Facebook.


Wednesday, January 18, 2012

What to do when business is slow

Source: paddlock press
So its the the slow season.  Here in Oz many of us, including myself, have elected to close our online stores this January because the kids are on holidays, the days are too lovely to be inside crafting or being online, in some places its just too hot and well lets face it things get pretty quiet in the handmade world during January.


So what should you be doing during this quiet time?  


Here is a list of things that you might want to do to get you ready for the year ahead.
  • Set some business goals for 2012
  • Audit your storefront, including product descriptions, photos, policies, arrangement of items
  • Spend time revamping your facebook page, webpage, blog, online store ...
  • Spend time thinking about how you are going to market your business in 2012 
  • Get a pad and pencil and start writing down, or in my case sketching, designs and ideas of what you would like to do this year
  • Spend time photographing your stock, play with different styles, layouts, backgrounds etc.
  • Create a detailed 'to do' list
  • Read, read and read some more about things that inspire you, interest you, that will assist you with your business, life and family.
Update: 
It was also suggested that businesses could run competitions or giveaways during this time to keep your items in front of your social media followers. Thanks Butterflybees for the suggestion. 

I am keen to hear what you have been doing.  Leave a comment below.

Christine

Christine is a Wife and a Mum of 3.  She is the owner of C Percy Designs, the co-editor of the Handmade Cooperative - Australian Handmade 4 Kids and is a little obsessed with all things crochet.

To find out more about Christine go to her blog - cpercydesigns.blogspot.com or follow her on Facebook.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

An end... and a new beginning

Dear friends,

I have been talking craft and business with you via the CHA for a couple of years now. We have had some lovely conversations, looked at pretty pictures and even started a movement of honesty and integrity in handmade design. I was really quite thrilled to learn that many of you shared my opinions and benefited from my advice.

But as they say, all good things must come to an end.

{Sometimes however, if we are really lucky, there is an awesome new beginning too}.

You see I have LOTS of exciting new crafty things happening right now, that are taking up more of my time than I want to admit. Therefore I had to conclude that in 2012 I needed to downsize my commitments, re-allocate tasks and ask for help.

So I did. I found CHA a new home with Christine of C Percy Designs. Not only is she an awesome crochet chic, she really understands business as it relates to craft PLUS is connected to lots of other awesome crafters in business too.

Her fresh eyes and perspective on CHA are sure to breath new life into this blog/group/community and bring CHA back to the thriving centre for Aussie crafters that it has been in the past.

I had the pleasure of meeting her in person just last month. We talked solidly about craft for 4 hours. We only stopped because we had to. It is always such a joy to meet an online buddy in real life, to find that they are exactly who you thought that they were. We had an awesome time, and it was cemented in my mind that she is indeed the best person to take over from me here.

I am sure to pop in now and again with guest blog posts, comments and the like, and will stay connected to you all as a participant. I look forward to seeing it all from the other side of the fence.

Thanks to all my contributors, sponsors and of course, readers. Thanks for the company, comments and readership. I hope that you will follow me via my crafting label Chicken Ink. Creative. I have so much to tell you all about my new endeavours..... but that is a story for another day.

Cheers, Chicken