The Monkey, The Picture Monkey - Formatting your Product Photos

I love the word monkey, that is what I sometimes call my little almost 6 month old daughter. Monkey,  monkey pants, muffin, walnut muff, the list goes on...all those sill baby names.  But I would like to introduce you to pic monkey.  The blog "oh my! handmade" posted a link on their facebook page that of course grabbed my attention: Grab Customer's Attention on your website in Less than 15 Minutes.   Lisa White, from Moxie Pear Design,  is the author of the post and she gives a great video tutorial on vimeo.

Anything to help make better pictures of my product I am interested in.  My camera is a Nikon P7700, which I know nothing about it.  I really would love to take a class but now with a baby it's kinda hard to get extra free time.    I  use photoshop elements or photoshop, bringing the photos first into iphoto.  I know Photoshop and Illustrator because this is what I use when I designed mens sportswear.  For those of you who don't know Photoshop, Pic Monkey is perfect!   It is pretty fun, very similar to photoshop, user friendly but it's free!  There is a Royale membership that is paid for and you will get access to more tweeking, fonts, and effects.

I did a quick collage just to experiment and show an example.  I do like the way the collage looks. I think it definitely is a good way to grab interest on your home page of a website.  I show 3 things that will assist in your kitchen; apron, tea towel and napkins.  It was much quicker to make a collage thru Pic Monkey than Illustrator or Photoshop.

 Here are the three images before collage and effects.

 

 

I rounded the corners, added the text, slightly changed the exposure.  I didn't want to add too many effects because I don't want to change the actual look of the fabrics.   However for photos of people, Pic Monkey has lots of air brushing effects to offer.

If you are looking for a quick way to improve and format your photos check out Pic Monkey.

It's worth the 15 minute tutorial from Lisa White.

If you do check it out, send me a link. I would love to see what your creative fingers will do with it!

Tracey Toole

http://www.etsy.com/shop/traceytoole

 

Coming up this week....

If you've got art or crafting skills, put them to use for the community this week:

--If you have some extra hours at home, volunteer to spend some time on art collection websites, tagging the art to make it more searchable by internet databases. See info here and here.
--Art + politics: create art for the Barack Obama Art for Change project, which is mobilizing artists as part of Obama's presidential campaign. Submit your art for possible inclusion in an exhibition in Soho. Some pieces at this exhibition will be auctioned with proceeds going toward Obama's campaign.
--Attend the Art for Change open house Friday February 22nd from 6:30 to 8:00. Find out how this nonprofit organization is connecting artists with social justice projects; sign up to volunteer.
--Volunteer to knit or crochet blankets for children in the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services residential treatment programs.

More going on around NYC:
--Learn intermediate Photoshop skills at a workshop Sunday February 24th at 3rd Ward in Brooklyn.
--Sewing classes Monday the 25th at the Make Workshop on the Lower East Side. Learn to use a sewing machine or make a pillow.
--If you have kids, take a trip to Central Park's Charles A. Dana Discovery Center at 110th Street on Saturday the 23rd for a free family craft event in honor of Black History Month. Using African fabric as inspriration, stencil a tote bag with a unique design.

--Joanne------