In a World without Picnik, What Happens to the New Fauxtogs?


Of course she was using the site to start off her “career.” It’s what all reputable photogs do, right?

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84 Comments

  1. LOL. I had to go and google what picnik was. Wow.Just wow. Photoshop was never an option?

  2. That is just one comment of the many … check out some of these:

    “I guess my Photographer dreams just went down the sh*tter. Thanks Picnik :(”

    “I use picnik seriously all the time to do my editing for my customers and now i’m going to have to go back to paying someone else to do it for me. Not cool!!!!! :(”

    “But i use it on my pix all the time and the model agency i work for uses it too!”

    “I am a professional photographer and though i do have photoshop picnik was and is my go to site… i guess i will no longer be able to edit my photos!!!?? This is seriously going to alter my life…”

    OH MY…..

    • Raye Quinn Photog

      i really wanted to just yell at everyone on that list T-T i was cracking up at quite a few comments though.

  3. The business for $50 pirated copies of Photoshop on Craigslist just picked up.

    • But some want to pay for Pic on disc.

      I went to use it back when and said WTF is this supposed to be? Good riddance.

  4. nospotcolor

    “please dnt close n its ok sme1 sayin whats all the fuss u get a full refund wow we r gonna lose money as we use this for our buisness as it has everything we need im gonna stugle now n i dnt like google+ they r blakmailin us to use google+ as they no we use picnik im at a loss refund aswell :'(“

  5. Here’s a lovely one from “Photography By Sharlee”: “GET RID OF PICASA.. IT HAS A LOT OF PROGRAMS.. CHARGE FOR PICNIK.. take it to new heights.. but don’t do away with it. I seriously love this program. I DO ALL OF MY EDITING ON THE PREMIUM FEATURE ! THIS DOES NOT MAKE ME A HAPPY PHOTOGRAPHER!” A quick click to her Facebook showed, you guessed it, terribly edited photos and already multiple statuses and links expressing her anger at Picnik. This makes me sick. Oh, and here’s another: “Very bad news. I’m a freelance photographer and I’ve been able to keep my overhead very low buy using picnik and not having to purchase expensive editing software. I’ve been completely satisfied with the creative functionality and have yet to hit a creative ceiling that would force me to purchase Adobe softwar. For some reason, I guess now you’re forcing everyone’s hand. Seriously, not cool.” Though I have to admit that I looked at this woman’s work and it wasn’t bad at all. She must just use Picnik for small tweaks. She knows how to use her camera very well.

  6. Sure, because there’s such a shortage of free/cheap photography websites…

  7. “This is pure craziness. People have businesses to run… we LOVE your site…”

    “Oh, & ps. …. Google+ sucks. Please come out with a Software version of Picnik – or I will be forced to use ADOBE!!! (I will NOT use Google+) !!!!!”
    Because Adobe is low quality?

    And this one just for kicks
    “My dad just left for another country, and I was crying all night, now this, picnik closing…way to make a day horrible.”
    Yes, because a website closing down is like losing your father…

    And the people demanding an explanation, begging them not to close… and signing petitions…. oh man, thanks YANAP, you made my day

  8. I had never heard of Picnik. But then again I have only been a photographer since 1971.

  9. I went to Picnik and posted some mean comments, but I don’t care.Those people need to hear the truth. Maybe if they are forced to buy real programs, their photography will improve too. I’m hoping it will.

    • oh my god. i wasnt going to go over there but now I did and I regret it! I can’t BELIEVE how many people say they are upset about it ruining their business! If you click on their pages they ALL SUCK! Then people are saying: Oh, just delete your g+ account and theyll listen… um really? google is a multibillion (i dont know i could be exaggerating.. but you get the idea) dollar business! They don’t give two sh*ts if 27 people delete their g+ accounts!

  10. How does it compare to Gimpshop?

  11. Christine

    Maybe that’s what they meant by 2012. The end of the world for Fauxtogs.

  12. I guess they are going to have to actually learn to use their cameras now.

  13. Here is another one
    Just got THE EMAIl. I’m premium because I use picnik so much. What is the alternative?

    feel free to give suggestions such as…..give up,use photoshop etc

  14. You can just see the photos now cant you

    Please don’t I was going to use it for all my wedding pictures 🙁

  15. Jesus christ they now have a petition to sign to stop it closing down.

    • Wsroadrunner

      I noticed that… this is the same “entitlement” attitude that the occupy group has.

      I, for one, would be perfectly happy about anything that makes the fauxtogs out there actually have to LEARN something about photography. Shut down all the freebie and low rent editing.

  16. I’m sure that most people using Picnik are not, nor do they claim to be, professional photographers (or fauxtographers.) Most of them surely can’t afford Photoshop and possibly not even PS Elements, although that is less than $100. I’m sure a lot of those posting comments are kids, too. Which, if you’re a tween or teen girl, then Picnik is perfect for you. I also know some bloggers use the site for photo editing, because they are bloggers and don’t claim to be photographers.

    • Suz ive seen a few comments today on fb saying,i have cs5 but its too hard and complicated,and picnik is wayyyyy better.So some of the die hard picnik users have access to much better software but are too lazy to learn anything new.What i found really funny is that some of them feel their photographic business threatened beacuse of this picnik situation.

      • As a twelve you old, with 430 likes on my page, i say picnik is good for us teens? I just got photoshop and i like it better, but i think the reason they go to that is because they can’t afford photoshop? Picnik inspired me to go to photoshop and learn all of the cool effects there.

      • Oh and btw the website, is a fauxtographer on my comment above is a really bad photographer that deserves to be on this website..lol.

      • Did you notice her prices? She’s never going to make any money anyway, so let her fizzle out, lol.

        $100 CHARGE FOR FAMILY PORTRAITS

        COSTS COVER:

        – ENTIRE DAY OF SHOOTING

        – PROOFS – LIMITED QUANTITY 100 PICTURES (4X6’s)

        – ANY DESIRED EDITING

        – ANY EXTRA PRINTS OR DIFFERENT SIZES:

        8X10’s – LIMITED QUANTITY 5 PICTURES

        5X7’s – LIMITED QUANTITY 10 PICTURES

        WALLETS – LIMITED QUANTITY 50 PICTURES

        4X6’s – LIMITED QUANTITY 100 PICTURES (ADDITIONAL AFTER PROOFS)

        ALL NEGOTIABLE

        (MAY VARY DEPENDING ON THE NEEDS OF YOUR PERSONAL SITUATION)

        *additional fees and other restrictions may apply

      • And for only $900 you can get all your whole wedding horribly photographed with all your photos on cd without watermarks!

      • And she has packages of varying prices that have NO variance in the amount of work….

    • My art business runs almost solely on the editing features and tools in Picnik that are not available options in other software platforms, even Photoshop and your comments are taken personally. If you understand the logistics of business, this is one that will negatively affect MILLIONS, not thousands of people.

      • Derpface

        Learn to use GIMP and other _free_ photo editors, you’ll have far more ability and options than if you were using Picnik, it won’t cost you a cent, and you won’t have to upload/download photos (all done on your computer at home). But that’d require learning something new…

      • You can do everything picnik can do and more in photoshop. You just have to learn how to do it.

      • Or Photoshop Elements, even. A much cheaper alternative that, in my opinion, works damn near as well as Photoshop.

        Alternatively, GIMP is free.

      • You probably shouldn’t be editing photos then. Photoshop, lightroom and elements can do everything Picnik can do plus a million other things without the tacky look. So I am glad our comments are taken personally. Just because you can take a photo doesn’t mean you are a photographer.

  17. “You guys don’t understand how important you guys are to me…. Why such sudden notice,this isn’t fair… I use my photography with you guys ,theres nothing else for me to use without paying thousands of dollars. Now I have to close my photography , which means the world to me…. you close this you close the other half of me, my inspiration, and my hope. So thanks for giving up on all of us!”
    You get your inspiration and hope from a simple photo editing program? How about being inspired to be better, to learn how to use your camera, take a class or two, learn how to use photoshop… Be inspired by photography masters not Picnik!

    • THOUSANDS?! What editing programs has she been looking at?!

    • I think CS is $1500 retail. At least it used to be. I don’t keep up. So that’s technically thousands, in that it’s more than one thousand. But methinks she’s being dramatic.

      • Anonymous

        The complete suite is maybe that much. Photoshop alone can be had for $500 or less depending on the retailer and the version

  18. I read some of the comments and they said something like this: “I have a career in photography and use picnik because I can’t afford Photoshop”. What the hell? If you can’t afford the most basic tool in digital photography how you can afford equipment (lenses, flashes etc.)? At least try Gimp…

  19. OMG! I use Picnik Daily for Professional purposes

    This is a contradiction lmmfao

    • That whole boondoggle is a hilarious mess of contradictions and fail. It’s almost sad.

  20. I have been to and tried a few other editing sites…and while they are ok…they offer nothing compared to Picnik…I take alot of animal pics and your red eye tool is amazing…no one else has that…you just cannot sell out…..still upset about this after hearing it Friday…

    • No one else HAS red eye tool???? Seriously???? If you’re such a “good” photographer anyway, how the hell do you even get red eye in your shots? Learn to use your flash. But if you MUST use straight on, on camera, flat lighting, photoshop does have ways to get rid of it. Take a tut, geez

  21. it can’t be!!!! Picnik is like my profession!!!

  22. I would PAY almost anything to purchase Picnik. My business depends on it! Please don’t close!

  23. If you are a “professional” photographer, there is no limit to the things you can write off as business expenses. Couple that with the fact my wifey is a graphic designer for over 30 years, and the mind boggles. You should see her new 27 inch iMac.

  24. Wsroadrunner

    So many fauxtographers on there blog crying that they will actually have to PAY for something and learn to use real editing programs. What a shame. I will miss all the creations Picnik has given us to laugh at…..

  25. lol! A friend of mine (Fauxtog that heavily used Picnik) messaged me via Facebook saying how her beloved Picnik was leaving and she needed new software and asked what I used. When I replied with Lightroom, she had never heard of it.

  26. Noooooooooooooo! SAVE PICNIK! I’m useless with Photoshop!

  27. Im going to miss you picnik you make all my pics wonderful :'(

    What they mean is they take shit photos and they try and cover this up with tons of awful effects.

    • Hey, if you apply enough effects, you can call it abstract art and sell it for a ton!

  28. Jesus f**king christ i almost couldnt believe this one

    I need someone to recommend a FREE photo editing website similar to picnik PLEASE! I teach digital photography and for the last year and a half I have been teaching my students how to edit on this site. A new semester starts tomorrow- what to do??? I need a free site please.

    • She says she teaches digital photography,so i had to check her photos out.Maybe she should take a good photo herself before having the audacity to think she is good enough to teach others.

      • Oh wow. I was asked to teach a digital photography class and turned it down because I didn’t know everything I thought I should know.

      • It’s simple. You have 5 digits on each hand. Use these to operate the camera. Voila! Digital photography…

    • Always the mark of a professional photographer who totally knows what she’s doing: Someone takes away a free tool on the web, and her career is ruined. Because, you know…good photographers don’t know of other software out there that serves their trade. Nor do they have anything else to do during a class but teach people about a website. Because only total dinosaurs worry about things like lighting and composition. We’re *digital* now, folks. Snap it with your cell phone and then spot-color it for free on the web! That’s a photo you can *charge* for, baby.

  29. I don’t know Picnik. I hadn’t heard of it before this site.

    I have CS4 at home, and I’m not a photographer of any description (not counting family or vacation shots). IMHO, there’s nothing that needs to be done that can’t be done in PS (alternatively, one can use Gimp or some other free tool). The key word there is “needs,” of course. A professional photographer shouldn’t even be doing that much to their photos. You know, because they take a good photo to begin with.

    Despite not being a photographer, I am somehow aware that a $500 camera and free “editing software” on the web doesn’t make a photo good.

  30. No, eye brighter, no mascara, no airbrush, no curves…. NOT fair. I dont even mind paying more for picnik, its awesome! I hate photoshop, what will I do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    OH NO!!!!! I don’t want to lose Picnik, it is amazing the way it is, I want to buy a Picnik CD to use instead of Photoshop for my photos. I have looked at the google thing and it looks too hard, no where as easy as Picnik is now. waaaah

    Picnik, I am so sad to hear that you are closing..I did a lot of my best work with you..

  31. Karla Broad

    You know what Darryl, I am one of the people you are talking about with a business and uses picnik. I DO not just put a vignette around my pictures, I don’t even use that tool, because it would be messed up anyway once they may or may not be cropped into 8×10’s or 11×14’s (whatever). Anyway I DO use photoshop for the more “formal” type pictures but when I am going through the 100’s of candid stuff I do I use picnik alot just to give them a little color tweek, blemish fix or something simple, it is easier and takes less time then doing all those in photoshop (at least for me). So please don’t start badmouthing everyone who claims to have a business and uses Picnik, we aren’t all bad!

    • This was her reply in answer to me.

      • Wsroadrunner

        lol

      • Has she ever heard of creating an action in photoshop… you could open multiple photos and the same edit would be given to all of them… and probably look better then picnic…

  32. Wsroadrunner

    LOL… They are still whining and crying over there. How sad that so many people have no life.

  33. I’m just getting annoyed at the people who are saying: “OMG PHOTOGRAPY PASSION IS LIK….RUINED FOR ME!!!!!!!!!” And I read more than one of these.

    Um…one photo editing program isn’t the end of the world. Do these people not understand the concept of life ‘before Picnik’? Before Photoshop? Before digital photography itself? I guess they just take an awful photo and cover it up with heavy edits. This is what photography is now a days. I am so so giddy that the fact that the site is closing. I know I shouldn’t be so happy over people’s pain, but….I just can’t help it. If that makes me a bad person then so be it.

  34. no other editing program can even compare to how amazing picnik is….

  35. Im really loving all these comments on fb about picnik,and talking about photoshop as if its a poor mans picnik.One person i had as a friend on fb actually uses picnik for all her photography work.Here( below )is a quote from her fb page and i honestly didnt know how to react when i read it,and maybe some of you will be lost for words.

    Did you take some nice photos last year but think ‘could they be better’? For £25 I will edit and improve up to 10 of your photos.

    Have a look on fb for va va zoom photography.

  36. so incredibly bummed! i hope they change their minds about this one…this is going to hurt a lot of businesses.

  37. is pepper serious? va va zoom…. wow…. I mean… wow..

  38. Yes jessica im serious,some people really are that bad.Im keeping myself really entertained with all the comments on the picnik page.

  39. Boogerwolf

    Hey Pepper, when you post a quote from the Picnik FB boondoggle PLEASE use quotation marks for clarification sake. For the late comer it seems like YOU are saying those things.

    But I know you aren’t after reading a few post.

  40. Ok will remember for future refrence,cheers.

  41. Adrienne

    Honestly, I have photographer friends that take amazing photos and have used picnik and I used it myself – why because I don’t have the money for photoshop – not everyone that uses a program that you (since you all apparently are “amazing” enough to talk shit) do…. and you probably stole it anyways. Work on your art and photography and stop talking shit about others, if they aren’t talented then I guess that decreases your competition – be thankful

  42. Why should i steal photoshop,thats quite an accusation and quite frankly bullshit.Ive never mentioned on here or anywhere for that matter that im an amazing photographer,im an amatuer.Ive also never accused anyone of stealing software.

  43. This one really made me laugh,aswell as confused me.

    “Isn’t there anything we can do to keep it up and running? This is the only program I use to edit my professional pics!!”

  44. Possibly the best quote of tyhem all

    “if picnik closes ill kill myself.”

  45. I meant them,and i guess thats one way of getting rid of shit photographers.

  46. “Dear Picnik, Because of you, i was inspired all the way to create my own photography site, blog even facebook…i was so shock for the closedown….”

  47. “please picnic .. i really need you for my onlineshop ..hikss hiks hiks without you my onlineshop is nothing ,how dare you leave us, that love you??i really need a simple and fast editing like you have..i dont like the other thats very complicated editing .. 🙁

  48. Foil Gamma

    Priceless as useless.

  49. “StephanieJo Van Der Hagen Has this got something to do with that censorship thing ? Seems like a lot of websites hv shut down lately. ”

    LOOOOOOLZ!

  50. Haha, great to see picnik going down. I use the GIMP for my pathetic shots.

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