Tools Guide: How to Edit Baby Pictures Like a Pro Using Picmonkey

Thursday, November 5, 2015

How to Edit Baby Pictures Like a Pro Using Picmonkey

Update: Now Picmonkey charges for some of their actions, but there is a free website called Ipiccy that has identical software.

I own Photoshop, but I actually prefer the simplicity of Picmonkey! Plus, most of the actions are free & it's so simple anyone can use it!

Today I am going to show you how you can make you baby photos (or really any photos) shine using this free software. One note: I have found that sometimes using this software compared to Photoshop decreases the pixels and thus the quality of your image, so keep that in mind if you want a super high quality photo.

Here is the Photo I started out with. Cute, huh? Well, we're going to make it cuter!

Quick Note:

I circled or highlighted every important move or action I made in pink (just in case you didn't notice ;) The pink box on the left side of the pictures will be where to find the particular effect I am using in each step.

So, first off, I cropped my image.

I wanted my picture to be lighter. I love using Curves for this. It gives pictures a pure creamy source of soft light & it is so easy to control and get the tone you want.

Next I wanted to sharpen my image a bit, so I used Eye Brighten around the main focus of my image. I prefer this tool over the Sharpen Tool Because you can control what gets clear and what stays blurred.

This is a close up of what she looks like after using Eye Brighten to sharpen her face.

I like to sharpen her dark features (bow & eyes) with Mascara just to make them stand out a little more.

Now I used Exposure to give more contrast (lighter lights and darker darks) I played around with the shadows & brightness until I liked it.

Now I cleaned up her skin (bug bites!) using Wrinkle Remover, because I am picky like that! :P

Next I used Cross Process to change the tint of the picture to a more creamy green. I faded it to about 70% so it would be very subtle.

Here's the before and after. It all comes down to your preference. Some people like the antiqued look and some like natural. I like a combination of them!