2012 365 Challenge: going beyond the picture

After taking a year off I have decided to take the 365 Challenge again and take a picture every day for the next 366 days of the 2012 year.  I completed the challenge during 201o and one of the things I wrote about at that time was how wonderful it was to ‘see your year’ in pictures.  Since then I have gone back to that collection of pictures many times to find images for projects, blog posts, publications and decorations.  I also love the challenge because it makes me slow down and see my world differently.  It truly is amazing what you see when you are looking, and what you see differently when you take the time to look at your world in a different way or from a different angle.  I would strongly suggest everyone try to take the challenge at least once in their lifetime. I use Flickr to post my pictures and am a member of two #365 flickr groups 2012 Photo Challenge and 2012/366 photos. There are all kinds of #365 Challenge groups to join, you just need to find the one that fits you the best.

This year I have decided to try and go beyond just the shot. I’m working on my photography skills, as well as editing skills using some image editing tools.

Here are some examples of some photo editing tools that I’ve used so far:

BeFunkyPro  is a great app for android (and other platforms) that I learned about from one of my flickr group members.  It is easy to use, only costs $3.99 and makes it seamless for me to take a picture with my phone, add effects and upload to flickr.  It makes doing the 365 challenge even easier.  Here is one of the pictures I edited using BeFunkyPro:

BigHugeLabs is a great free tool online to create photo projects and add effects (check out FX application for an easy way to add cool effects to your pics).  You can also create photo puzzles and other projects, as well as mosaics, posters, frames and more. With this tool I created the mosaic below for day 14 of the 365 challenge:

The other great tool I have used is Sumo Paint.  This is one of the best free photo editors I’ve seen. Once you click on ‘open sumo paint’ a new window opens and you can create an image or open an image and edit it within the program. Once finished you can save as a png or jpg.  I was playing around with Sumo Paint this week and imported the photo below then went to ‘filters’, ‘distort’ and ‘kaleidoscope’ to create the image below it.  Pretty cool, and super easy.

As I work through the 365 (actually 366) 2012 Challenge this year I will be continuing to explore image editors and will be posting what I create here.  If you have a great editor that you use add it below, I’d love to hear what you think the best editing tool is out there.