PicMonkey is an easy to use photo editor that should be in your blogging toolbox.
Adding visual interest to your website has never been more important.
PicMonkey gives you the ability to touch up your photos, add text overlays, and make collages for your website.
Why You Need Pictures
If you have a website you need photos. Period.
When I first started blogging – everything was text (those were the days!).
Then people started adding photos to their websites. They would just slap up a picture and call it a day.
Today we have Pinterest and Facebook and Twitter. (those are links to my profiles, btw – I would love it if you would give me a follow!)
Not only do you need pictures – but you need to add text to your pictures.
If someone shares your picture on Pinterest, for example, people that see it want to know what your article is all about.
So, You are Not A Blogger?
At the risk of sounding callous – who cares?
If you are a business owner and you have a website, you better have some good pictures.
A Quick Tour of PicMonkey
What Do You Want to Create
When you first land on Picmonkey you have a choice editing or touching up a photo, creating a design from scratch or making a collage.
Usually, I choose to design a project from scratch.
On the left hand side of your window you will see a column of gray icons – these are your top level menu options.
In the second column to your left are larger, colorful, rectangular buttons. These are the options available under each top level menu item.
Basic Edits
The first gray menu item looks like 3 lines with dots on them – these are your Basic Edits.
Here you can crop your design, choose your canvas color (and even select a transparent canvas), rotate your image, adjust your exposure settings, and resize your image.
Effects
The next menu item is an icon that looks like a magic wand – these are your effects.
Picmonkey has a bunch (too many to mention) of preset effects that you can apply to your photo.
It is really fun to play around in this section.
You can make a photo black and white, blur the edges, remove all color but keep color on one element only, add bokeh or flare, and much more.
Touch Up
The next option in the PicMonkey menu is called Touch Up.
Mostly you would think to use these options with photos of people – but you can use them on pictures of objects as well.
Here you can add eyeliner, whiten teeth, and even “Nip Touch” without ever visiting the plastic surgeon. 😉
I have removed years from some of my own photos – if only I could walk around that way.
For photos of objects you can use these options to remove something unwanted from the background or draw lines etc.
Text
As you can see, I use the Text menu item in PicMonkey quite a bit.
Picmonkey allows you to choose from one of their own fonts or pick a font that you already have on your computer.
Adding text to your photos is important. People can then look at your pictures and know right away what your article is all about.
Text also adds a branding element.
If you use the same fonts consistently, people will begin to recognize your brand as they see your images on different social platforms.
Overlays
The butterfly icon in your menu is one of the most fun things about PicMonkey.
The range is from your standard geometric shapes to things like Stars and Stripes, and Leaves, Hearts, and Pumpkins.
You can also upload your own images on this tab.
When you see images with text that have a colored background behind the text – usually this is accomplished with an overlay.
Frames
The Frames menu option is pretty self explanatory.
Here you can add a border around your project or photo.
Picmonkey also gives you the option to do a shape cutout as well.
Textures
The second to last item looks like a piece of mesh. This option allows you to add textures to your finished product.
Make your image look like paper or brick or fabric.
Whichever one you choose, a little texture adds some visual interest.
Themes
The last menu item is called Themes.
Here Picmonkey has created subsets of the features found in the other menu items and each each one of these subsets center around a theme.
Examples are “Trick or Treat” for Halloween, Santa Land for Christmas, and School U for back to school.
Easy To Use
If you are an advanced graphics user then you may want some of the things that a full featured program like Adobe Photoshop offers.
However if you are an average blogger like me, Picmonkey is more than enough.
I find it really easy to use and it has a ton of options.
How Much Does PicMonkey Cost?
You can see a detailed discussion about how much PicMonkey costs here or jump directly to their pricing page here. But in a nutshell …
If you are on a tight budget, PicMonkey can be your answer.
The cost of both levels is quite reasonable compared to other services.
I happen to use PicMonkey for a few reasons:
- Reasonable cost – Royale is $47.88 per year. For me, that is a great price given how much I use it.
- No ads – again, I use it all the time, so it is nice to have no distractions
- Extra Features – Royale members can use all those fonts, effects, and overlays etc that have that crown on them
- Picmonkey Hub – This new feature allows Premium members to save your projects and edit them later
The good news is that there is a free Picmonkey trial available if you want to give it a spin first.
Do Your Photos Need an Upgrade?
Take a critical look at your own website. Do your photos need a refresh?
If so, give Picmonkey a try. Even if you have zero photo editing skills, Picmonkey makes it easy at an affordable price.
What Photo Editor Do You Use?
I know that there are a lot of options out there. What photo editor do you use to create images for your blog or website and for your social media accounts?
Let us know in the comments below.
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More PicMonkey Articles:
- How I Use PicMonkey for Creating Images for My Blog Posts
- Yes you can save images in PicMonkey!
- PicMonkey Supremium – Upgrade to a whole new level.
Hey Neena,
I have been using Canva for a long time but now after reading this review, I think Picmoney can also be useful.
The effects and the layouts seem quite good than Canva. I would like to give it a try for sure. We all know that the images for a blog posts are important as people are attracted to the visual content.
Thanks for sharing with us.
~Ravi
Hi Ravi,
I am also a big Canva for Work fan. I really like the Magic Resize feature for creating the right size images for different social platforms.
However, I also use Picmonkey – the flexibility with the text is amazing. With so many good photo editing services it is hard to pick just one!
Hi Neena,
I dig the overlay option. Love my Canva but it comes up a bit short in the overlay department for creating eye-popping, seamless images that looks fabulous. Pic Monkey gives you a nice option to work with if Canva and other photo editors lack in 1 or 2 areas.
As for images, gotta have them. Blogging pictures speak 10,000 words because each image accentuates the post and enhances the experience dramatically. Supercharges the post. Unlike the good old days you note when text was more than enough to keep readers appeased or super happy. Ahhh….the good old days or no images with big blog traffic, black hat SEO and Page 1 of Google with stunning ease LOL.
Super review Neena.
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Ryan
Hi Ryan,
I too am a Canva fan – the Magic Resize feature and the brand palette in Canva for Work is such a time saver.
But you are right, you can’t beat PicMonkey for the overlays and for creating great text to add to your photos. I use both because each service has different strengths.
And those good old days – if only we knew how good we had it!
Canva is also a great free tool for everyone to use and it’s definitely effective when adding images create from Canva.
Size of the image is important and Canva is great with it.
Hi Louis,
I like Canva too. I am definitely in the “Can’t choose just one camp.”
Both photo editors – Canva and PicMonkey each have their own unique features. Like you said, Canva is great for different size images for blogs and social media.
Conversely, I find PicMonkey to be great when you want to keep the dimensions of the original photo and not lock it into a particular size.
So many choices – that is a good thing!