If like me, you want to kill google for shutting down our beloved Picnik read this…

It’s true blogging friends, picnik is expiring on April 19th and I am having the STRONGEST EMOTIONAL RESPONSE EVER.  Deep, deep breath.

I can’t tell if it’s because a BIG company bought out a LITTLE company and then shut it down like a bad habit or if I’m just deeply saddened at the loss of the best online photo editing software that was easy to use and remarkably cheap at $25 per year.

Sigh and double sigh.

After much heart-felt search I’ve found my sloppy seconds replacement.

What I’ve tried to replace Picnik with…

1. Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 – I’m on the trial period right now, and it’s a big, fat, raging NO.  If your like me, and have no idea what your doing, it’s absolutely useless and impossible to figure out after an hour.  And I know my way around, y’all.  An hour is my limit.  Also, the full version is $89.99.  Steep.

2. Pixlr Express – It does a few overlays, a few frames & a few fonts. As a Picnik replacement it’s the difference between my son’s bike with training wheels and a 10-speed.  If all you do is a few tweaks, and add a bit’o’text consider this your best FREE option.  Although, I have apps on my iphone that do more than this.

3. Pixelmator – Arrrrggghgh.  I confess to you I assumed after reading all the glowing reviews that this would be my silver bullet and I splurged $29.99 for the Mac version.  I have no doubt that it’s a wonderful photo editing tool, but I don’t know how to use it and there is no manual.  Yes, I looked.  The reviews compared it to the power of Photoshop with a $400 price tag.  So if your on that level, $30 bucks for Pixelmator is a drop in the bucket and it’s available in the Mac app store.  (Since I do own it, I’m guessing I’ll dive in eventually and see the wonderous miracles it can do for an amateur iphoneographer like me).

4. Collage Maker – Also available in the Mac store for the bargain price of $2.99 for Mac users.  It has 5 collage options.  Picnik had about 75. Boo. Boo. Boo.

What I am replacing Picnik with…

1. BeFunky -Same set up as Picnik, with some pretty cool overlays that Picnik didn’t have.  BUT…and this is BIG BUT…it doesn’t do collages!  Couldn’t you just die?!  A blogger without collages, I mean, seriously.  We can’t live this way people!  =)  It has many free options just as Picnik did and the upgrade cost is the same: $25 per year.  For now.  Rest assured though, we can add goodies, frames, overlays, texts, colors, etc.

2. FotoFlexer – This is what I am going to use to compliment BeFunky, because they DO HAVE COLLAGES! (YAY)! And it’s free, thank the Lord.

Friends, I hope you too can learn to get over the devastating loss of our beloved Picnik thanks to EVIL & MANIACAL google cronies.

What have you found that I failed to mention here?  What’s your photo editing plan shaping up to be?

Yours for fun & cheap photo editing,