Like I said before, I am not aspiring to be a photographer. But I do like the idea that you can take a photo and make it look different. Better. Even artistic. I used Picnik for forever until it got sold to Google. Then I started using PicMonkey and absolutely love it. But I got curious. I wanted to try a better editor. Something that could enhance a photo and make a new image from scratch. Something that artsy photo editors and graphic designers use for their masterpieces.
Just not Photoshop. It's waaaaay too expensive, and I know I'm not exceptional enough with graphics to need it.
(And no, not GIMP, either. I've used it before, and it gives me a headache. Don't ask me why. It just does.)
Enter Pixelmator.
It cost me $15 from the Mac App Store, which is totally reasonable for a graphic novice like me. I spent all evening looking at YouTube tutorials and tutorials from their site before starting a project, and my brain is on overload. But I had to try out some of the things I learned before I slept for the night and forgot everything, so I pulled out a picture I took at my brother-in-law's wedding. Some of the tutorials were difficult to follow, and I realized that I'm better at reading instructions than watching instructions. Which is surprising because that's totally opposite in dancing. But when I followed the written instructions on Pixelmator's site, I found the process was much easier and I could remember it better.
I could've waited a few months to keep practicing until I got a really good product created, but this job took me so long to work on that I don't want to just leave it like it was nothing. Besides, this may be a good reference post for me to see my progress with utilizing this program. Like how you see on all those weight loss commercials testimonials with "Before" and "After" photos. Maybe this could be my "Before," you know?
Anyway, here is the original photo:
... and here is my first Pixelmator edit of this photo:
It's not much, but I'm proud. I have more photos of their wedding I want to edit and give to them, so I better hurry up on the others. Aren't my husband and his family so handsome? :-)
Pixelmator: so far, so good. I like all the features that I've learned it has so far, and I can't wait to see what else I can create with it.