Tuxpi.com – this site is simple to use. You don’t need to create an account. All you have to do is click on “Start photo editing” to select an image. With your image on the screen, this application has menus of buttons to allow you to add effects. It is simple and when you select an effect there are often additional controls that you can adjust. Examples of effects are framing, shape editing, recoloring, and different photomontages. With this tool, I took the image below and cropped it and faded the top so that I could add a quote above the book. One thing that I found frustrating was when I applied a border, the cropping and the fading disappeared.
The result of the editing was this:
With Pixlr.com you can create your own design, do photo editing, or create a photo mash. You need to create an account. This was the most complicated tool to use. It is a lot like the full version of photoshop both in terms of how you interact with it and what you can do with your images. This tool gives you a full array of tools for photo editing. There is a collection of editing buttons on the left but you can click on any menu item and see lists of tools for making adjustments, adding filters or animation, or working with layers. One thing that is really distracting on this site is the advertisements filling the right hand part of the screen. I found it easy to add text:
Pizap.com took a long time to load. But once it did it was fairly easy to use. On the left is a menu of buttons including filters, cutouts, text and one interesting thing was an option to create a meme. When adding text, you can also add thought/speech bubbles. This tool would have also been easy to use to add text to my image. One thing to note is that not all tools are free to use. In terms of use, it seems easier than pixlr.
Big Huge Labs (bighugelabs.com) is a lot of fun. You can create a sign-in with google. If you were looking for an application that students can use to create a project, this is your application. Among other things, you can create a magazine cover, trading card, poster, or a pocket photo album. I especially liked the trading card, for example, to highlight different Paris monuments with brief information about the place. If I wanted students to provide detailed information about a Paris monument, I would use the magazine cover where the students could list where it is located by metro, the cost of entrance, where in Paris it is located, hours of operation, its cultural importance, etc. Here is my trading card for the Louvre using the image at the beginning of this post:
I love the idea of using trading cards for students. Some people need a visual image to learn things, so having an image attached to pertinent information is a wonderful idea!
Great use of Big Huge Labs. I enjoyed your idea of the trading cards and the wanted poster.
That’s a creative idea to use the magazine feature as a way to pass on information. 🙂
Great work editing the image! I’m impressed by how you cropped the original image and faded the top portion so that your words would stand out.
Thanks! I was surprised how easy it was – but it was a little frustrating to have to use two different tools – one for the fade and another for the text.
I really like your ideas for the trading cards – this could be applied to many different subjects. I think kids will like Tuxpi the most, don’t you? I like that it has ready to go ideas. I agree with you, however, I wish you could layer the effects for a more sophisticated approach.
Karen
I also agree with Pixlr. It was very much a program that I could see myself over editing, which I am very guilting of doing, to the point of being BAD!
I love the idea of trading cards. I may need to go back and explore Big Huge Labs more than I originally did. I think the only downside to that site is how many ads there are!
-Sarah
I agree that the ads are bothersome. But I guess I just tuned them out at some point when I focused on what I was doing. Do you think ads would be a problem if you were using the tool in a class with students?
Great editing work. Honestly, your post helped to frame my thinking about pedagogical implications. I needed to backwards plan my student objectives and then consider how these tools support those objectives.
That’s a really good point! Backwards planning is always helpful to figure out what the best tool is for the learning outcome!
The trading cards and the wanted poster are great ideas for students to utilize! Your trading card example is a great edit. Tuxpi was such an easy tool for me to use and I believe it would be easy for students to pick up on.