Nerd Party: Using Pixlr to add text to a photo
Pixlr recently updated their site to include tons of Photoshop-style tools. And since I know not everyone had a billion dollars to spend on editing software I thought I’d do a series of tutorials on how to use their advanced editor. All those buttons and tabs can be a little intimidating, right? So, now is your chance to ask for specific photo editing/graphic making tutorials. Add a comment if there’s anything you’d like to learn!
First up – something easy to get you used to where everything is. Here are instructions on how to add an opaque box with text on a photo…
1. Open your image and resize it (to fit the width of your blog!)
2. Create a new layer. I put every new item in its own layer so if I need to change or move it in the middle of a project it’s not attached to the background.
3. Using the drawing tool, create a circle, then use the move tool to place it where you like. Note the toolbar that appears at the top where you can select square, rounded rectangle, circle or line. You can also change the opacity, fill color and add a border.
(A flaw I noticed with Pixlr is you cannot hold shift to create a perfect circle or line – gotta eye ball it. If you’re like me that will drive you bananas, so hopefully that’s on their list of fixes for the future.)
4. Adjust the opacity of the layer. Why do this in the layer and not when drawing the circle? Because if you set the opacity with the drawing tool you’re stuck with it, if you set it in the layer you can change it whenever. (In Photoshop this is not the case, you can change the opacity of your custom shapes at any time)
5. Click the text tool and then click onto your image to add text. There is no text alignment in this app (hopefully that will be added soon too!), so you’ll have to add a few spaces to get it centered.
6. Save your image as the highest quality jpg and add it to your blog. TA-DA!
If you’d like to figure out what the rest of those buttons are for, Wikihow has a helpful rundown.
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11.28.12 in nerd party
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Probably a silly question: any idea why I can’t open a photo I saved from Pixlr using my Picasa Photo Viewer? I saved it as a jpeg, so it should just do its thing, right? It keeps saying that it is an invalid image when I try to open it.
Hmmm…I’ve had this problem when adding jpgs to Google Drive speadsheets before. Seems like the file is fine, but I get an invalid image error when I go to upload it. I’m not sure what the issue is, but Pixlr does has a ‘save to Picasa’ option, so I would try that instead :)
Thank You sooo much! Im trying to use Pixlr, but i dont get it! this helps
I’m glad! If there’s anything you’re stuck on let me know :)
I honestly CAN’T wait until I get my new laptop so I can get all this cool software to FINALLY try all your smart tutorials.
Until then, i’ll still a fan and will keep reading to learn :)
Here’s a link to my blog and current giveaway if you want to check it out :)
Cathy Trails
Revlon Just Bitten Giveaway
Happy wednesday to you!
Thank you, I really enjoy using Pixlr but am a basic user at best so these tips are perfect!