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Zen & Spice | Dallas Dietitian Nutritionist | Food Photographer

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How to Edit Food Photos with PicMonkey

March 20, 2015

Happy Friday! Today I wanted to share how I quickly and easily edit my food photos.

I have Photoshop installed on my computer, but I haven’t had time to learn how to use it yet, especially for editing food photography. My favorite photo editing tool for this is PicMonkey, which is a free photo editor. I actually pay for the “Royale” version, which is $33/year, and opens up more fonts, overlays, and editing tools. I think it was definitely worth it to upgrade. However, you don’t need the royale version for this tutorial!

HOW TO_

My editing process takes about 45 seconds for each photo. It’s quick and easy and the outcome is always great! Let’s learn how to edit food photos with picmonkey. 

First upload your picture. Make sure it is high quality and large file format. Try to photograph in natural light. I plan on posting a tutorial later of my photo set up– but basically, I use my coffee table in the living room, which is by a large window. I draw the blinds all the way up to let sunlight in. I also use two white foam boards to help get rid of some of the shadows.

Under the first tool “Basic Edits”, click “Exposure”, then “Auto adjust”. 95% of the time this fixes any exposure issues (I take photos with my camera phone). You may need to tweak the brightness or contrast to help the photo look as natural as possible.

700exposure

 

original vs exposureNext, click “Colors”, and then “Auto adjust”. About 75% of the time it fixes it perfectly for me, sometimes I will need to adjust the temperature down. When you go down on temperature, the picture gets more of a cool tone that’s associated with naturally lit photos. 700colors

exposure vs colorsFinally, click the “Effects” tool, and then click “Boost”. This is one of my favorite PicMonkey effects, because it really gives my photos that extra color pop. I usually add 10-20% color boost to my photos. Play around with this until the image looks how you want it.

700boost

colors vs boostTa-da!  Finished product, and it only takes about 45 seconds.  I love this because I take anywhere from 20-50 photos per session, then I pick out ~10 of my favs, then it only takes 10-15 minutes to edit them.

original vs finished

Do you like PicMonkey?

What are your favorite photo editing tools? 

Emily Weeks, RDN, LD
Emily Weeks, RDN, LD

Hi! I’m Emily, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and self-taught intuitive chef. I firmly believe that cooking is the simplest and most important step we can take to improve our minds and bodies and build healthier communities. Join me and let’s bring food back to the kitchen!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine says

    March 20, 2015 at 9:56 am

    I do major editing in ipiccy since it’s free and has every photo editing feature, but then to make graphics and add text, I use PicMonkey!

    • Emily Hein, RDN, LD says

      March 20, 2015 at 12:16 pm

      I haven’t tried ipiccy, will have to go check it out!

  2. Kate @KateMovingForward says

    March 22, 2015 at 9:13 pm

    I didn’t know about the boost feature! That is cool! I just got photoshop and it is time consuming right now but I’m getting the hang of it and love the extra tweaks I can do. I’m still adding text in PicMonkey though cause I like using it for that better. :)

  3. Jessica @ Nutritioulicious says

    March 29, 2015 at 7:03 pm

    I just started using picmonkey for the overlays and to add text. Didn’t know there were editing features as well. I use iPhoto for that!

  4. Whitney says

    May 7, 2015 at 10:16 am

    If you photograph in natural light, you really shouldn’t have to edit the colors. If you’re looking for something easier than Photoshop, they also have Lightroom.

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Meet Emily

I'm Emily Weeks, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist. I believe the path to a nourished, happy life is to develop a healthy relationship with food, our minds and our bodies.

Follow along for delicious, easy recipes and simple strategies to learn how to become comfortable in the kitchen and embrace mindfulness. Read More…

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    • About
    • Contact Me
    • FAQ
  • Work With Me
  • COOKBOOKS
    • The Everything Easy Anti-Inflammatory Cookbook
    • Kindred Table: Intuitive Eating for Families
  • Recipes
  • Blog
    • Intuitive Eating
    • Cooking
    • Mindfulness
    • What I’m Loving
  • Portraits