Last week, I got a message from Jessica from Budget for Health, asking how I add text to my photos. The answer is PicMonkey, and it is so awesome that I thought I would tell everyone about it!
I mean, look at that logo, isn’t it adorable?
To sum up the awesomeness of PicMonkey, I will tell you one thing.
You Don’t Even Have To Create an Account to Use The Site.
No email address request.
No logging in.
Nothing.
Drag and drop. And I mean drag and drop!
Even better? It’s 100% FREE. Yes, Free!
There is a premium version, called Royale, which you can try for free for a day with this link. However, there is lots of functionality available for free!
How I Made the Picture for This Post
1. Get a Picture
First up, I went to MorgueFile.com. (A big shout out to Kathleen from For Profit Blogging for introducing me to both PicMonkey and MorgueFile awhile back!) All of their images are FREE and no attribution required. That means you can download them and use them to your hearts content, without being worried about properly attributing them, or copyright infringement. If you want to find these mythical free images, here is a massive list of free, no attribution images for your website. On MorgueFile, I did a search for “photos” and picked one with a pile of old photographs on a table. Then I clicked download, and it showed up at the bottom of my screen.
2. Open it in PicMonkey
From there, I typed in PicMonkey.com. The front page gives you 4 options: Edit an Image, Touch Up Image, Design and Collage. You can open a picture from your computer, Dropbox, Facebook or Flickr. I usually drag and drop from the saved files at the bottom of the screen, like this:
3. Edit the Picture
There is a toolbar on the left hand side, with lots and lots of options, including the handy “Auto Adjust” which usually brightens and crisps-up (technical term there) the image. I click it about half the time.
On Money Propeller, I use horizontal pictures, that are about 500×333. (Update: Now I use 500×750 so that they make better pins!) This one was vertical, but I could use a chunk of it just fine. First, I scaled it so that the width was 500.
Next, I cropped it to 500 x 333.
Now I have something I can work with!
4. How to Add Text to Pictures
Then, I add MoneyPropeller.com to the picture, an overlay to provide a backdrop, and the title of the post. The way you add text to pictures is pretty straight forward, you select the Text button menu (Tt), pick the font you would like to use and click the “Add Text” button at the top of the font list. Don’t worry, you can change the font later if you want.
That brings up a box on your image, that you can move around and play with, including setting the size, centering, and colour. If you want to pull a colour out of the image, to use in your text or overlay, click on the sample bar of colour on the right, and a dropper will appear. It starts as a beige bar by default and then displays whichever colour you have selected. The text colour changes dynamically, so you can move around on the picture until you find the colour you want.
If you click off of the text but then later want to change something, all you have to do is click on it again for the dialogue box to show up.
5. How to Add Overlays to Images
Overlays are accessed by clicking on the butterfly in the left hand menu. Oh, you want to know what an overlay is? They are the images you can put on top, like hearts and flowers and banners and swirls! The geometric blocks behind the text that I use on Money Propeller, for example. There are lots and lots of them, but I tend to stick with the boring ones.
Once you insert them, you can play with the size, transparency, colour and whether they are in front or behind other components on your image. You can right click to bring up a menu that lets you send things forward and backward.
Pro Tip: Make sure your text box is much bigger than your overlay, so that it’s easy to select!
6. Save and Use!
Then, save your image, naming it something nice, and picking the quality that you would like to use.
Violà!
That’s Just the Basics
The steps I took are pretty straight forward, and I’m confident that you can figure them out on your own! There are some tips and tricks that I have learned, but I’ll save those for another day!
Want to give it a try? Go visit PicMonkey!
Royale
When you are using the free version of PicMonkey, you will see a few advertisements, and you will see some of the choices have a little crown next to them.
Those fonts, layouts, frames, filters, etc, are in the premium version. Right now, PicMonkey Royale costs $33 for a year’s subscription. I edit at least five images per week (3 posts here and two on Unique Gifter), often more, so my cost per image is less than 12 cents. I am willing to spend that kind of money on my blogging!
Reasons PicMonkey is Awesome
This is a very short list of why it’s awesome:
- You can use it for free
- You don’t have to login
- The results are fantastic looking and professional
- It’s easy to use. So, so, so much easier than Photoshop, for example
- You can do oh-so-many things to images
- Royale is pretty darn affordable
Do you use a photo editor for anything? Have you tried PicMonkey out?
PicMoney is something i use everyday – edit photos, making flyers, banners and anything related to images. Their site is super easy and i love to use their themes. It makes editing so much faster and easy. No need to worry anymore about the photoshop commands too!!. And yes they are easy on pocket too for pro users.
Aashi recently posted…How Airlines Charge Different Prices for the Same Seat
Agreed, you can do so much with it! I’ve heard of people making invitations and having them printed, for example. It’s soooo easy. I get scared just thinking about Photoshop!
Anne recently posted…Blog Earnings and Stats – July
Thanks for the great tutorial. I’ve used PicMonkey before for personal projects and it’s real easy to use. For my posts I use Photoshop, but PicMonkey gets the job done faster.
Edwin @ Cash Syndrome recently posted…Hungry + Broke? Here’s 10 Ways To Get A Free Meal
Knowing how to use photoshop is a huge skill! PicMonkey is quick and simple, yes. Glad you enjoyed the tutorial.
I do this sometimes with some of my more important post’s photos, but I use Microsoft Publisher instead of PicMonkey. Thanks for mentioning MorgueFile. I had never heard of it and now I’m looking through it – looks great. I try to use my own images where possible but, it’s not always possible!
Daisy @ Prairie Eco Thrifter recently posted…A Raw Diet is Healthy, But Is It Practical?
Morguefile is soooo handy, I wish I knew about it years ago! I tried using Microsoft publisher for awhile, but once I discovered Picmonkey, I was a complete convert.
Ha! I’ve been using Picmonkey.com (Royal) for sometime now and it turns out I’ve been using very small part of what it can do. Thanks for writing this article; now The Money Principle will be arty as well as geeky :).
maria@moneyprinciple recently posted…Nine points about money you won’t hear from your financial adviser…
Excellent! I am sure that it does way, way more, but this is pretty much all that I use it for. Someone told me that they use it to design invitations and stuff, which I never, ever would have thought of.
I’m loving this! Thanks for helping me out 😉
Jessica @ Budget for Health recently posted…Whole30 Week 2 Update
No problem! I’m just paying it forward from other people telling me.
I love picmonkey! I tried using gimp which is a free software like photoshop but I found it too difficult to learn in a short amount of time.
debt debs recently posted…Money Lessons in Marine Life
Me too! GIMP is waaaaay more complicated than I need. I learned how to make transparent backgrounds with it, for the infographic going up tomorrow, though!
Hey, awesome tips Anne! I used PicMonkey before too in editing my pictures, but I didn’t know that there are lots of features that you can use.
Leah @ Financial Debauchery recently posted…When Should I Retire? How About When You Want To!
There are so many tips and tricks, I only know a tiny, tiny fraction of them.
I love PicMonkey. Another great, similar program is iPiccy and it has a lot of PicMonkey’s Royale features for free – especially fonts.
Mel @ brokeGIRLrich recently posted…A Diatribe Against the Starving Artist
Fascinating, I’ve never heard of that one, thanks for sharing.
I have used PicMonkey before, but I’ve used Photoshop for so many years that I’m so used to all the options it has! Royale is very affordable, though. I should probably play around with it more, though, especially when I don’t have access to Photoshop.
E.M. recently posted…Is There Ever a Legitimate Reason to Lease a Car?
You can do quite a lot, even without Royale. Photoshop is a valuable skill! I get intimidated just thinking about Photoshop!
Well, looks like I have a new time suck – Thanks Anne 😉
Alicia @ Financial Diffraction recently posted…My Credit Card Pickle.
Ha! You’re welcome, anytime 😉
Anne recently posted…How to Add Text to Pictures for Free (and make them awesome!)
I love pic monkey. I actually pay for the premium account because I use it quite often to make invites etc. I don’t k ow why I don’t use it for my blog more often (time…).
Catherine recently posted…Why Ignoring Your Debt is a Bad Idea
I have the premium version, too, because I love it so much! I never would have thought of using it to make invitations and such, thanks for the great idea!