Photo Fun, Part II: iPiccy

Two weeks ago, I write a review of PicMonkey to help share what I’ve learned in my search for the perfect post-Picnik web-based photo editing tool. I love editing photos and such for my blog, and I can’t do it with these easy, free tools. This series of photos will explain the positives and negatives of each site, with the hopes of sharing what I’ve learned with the masses (aka: you).

The next site we’re going to look at is iPiccy.

iPiccy isn’t as visually appealing as PicMonkey, but it offers a few features that PicMonkey doesn’t.

Features

iPiccy divides its tools into categories: basic editor, photo effects, retouch, blender (layers, text, and stickers), frames, and textures.

Of course, iPiccy offers most of the basic editing tools: resize, crop, rotate, sharpen, basic color edits, exposure balancing, blemish fix, and redeye remover. In addition, there are nine frame styles, twenty-five fonts, and forty-one effects to apply to photos. Most of the effects are either simple (vignette, soften, fancy focus) or fun effects (adding snow, wanted posters, etc). The stickers are pretty basic, as are the overlays. iPiccy does allow users to play with layers on photos, a feature that PicMonkey (and Picnik) doesn’t offer yet.

The collage feature has a lot of options. There are various square and linear layouts, but there are also some cool layouts with trapezoids, diamonds, and triangles. These layouts literally add a new angle to the collage feature. I don’t have much use for that for my blog, but I can imagine that some folks might appreciate the unique feature.

My Opinion

iPiccy first caught my eye because it looks the most like Picnik. It also was the first web-based photo editor to offer a collage feature that was similar to the Picnik style. I needed to line up any number of book covers, and the site works well for that. It’s also easy to use — it’s my go-to editor for a basic edit. It is also the only site that lets me do a color gradient on a sticker, which lets me add interest and depth to my rectangle overlays behind my text. It’s such a simple, obscure thing, but it really makes a difference.

However, there are a lot of limitations. I am routinely frustrated with the layering, since the text and stickers are buried in this feature. When I go to add a sicker and layer on the text (as I do in ALL of my Quotetastic Friday posts), I have to finalize my changes before I go back to other edits. There have been multiple occasions where I have made a mistake in my text or wanted to move the text, but was unable to because the layers had been merged and changes were impossible.

A photo edited in iPiccy.

iPiccy is basic, and would be a great tool for a beginner. Most of the options are either really simple or really fun, and some are really cheesy. I prefer the more sophisticated edits of PicMonkey, because I really like the Instagram/Hipstamatic style of filters that they offer. iPiccy can also be a little bit buggy, making my computer run really slow and occasionally crashing (and making me lose my photo edits). Overall, though, it’s been a good stepping stone away from Picnik and it has unique features, such as layers and color gradients.

Next week I’ll feature a site that give all of them a run for their money. So join me then, same time and same place.

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