Photo fun

Fiddling with photos is fun, isn’t it? Whether you’re an advanced Photoshopper or a casual photo snapper, it’s always nice to be able to have a bit of fun with your masterpieces. I won’t be talking about smashing free photo manipulation software in this article – that may be saved for the future – but I will be pointing out a couple of fun websites which let you style your photos in a more exciting manner by allowing you to turn a dull mugshot or landscape into something far more exciting. These  selected online photo tools come in the form of BeFunky, PhotoFunia, and Dumpr.

BeFunky allows you to apply a number of photo effects, in addition to adding items - such as this Halloween Mask and red lips.

Let’s begin with the first of these strangely named beasts – BeFunky. This is my personal favourite of the three, and it differs a bit from the other two. This site is more geared towards adding effects to photos of people, especially faces. There is a small selection of techniques which can applied – such as Warhol, charcoal, and patriotic. After choosing an effect there are also a bit of additional fine-tuning which can be done to the effect. There are sub-options within the main option. For instance, choosing ‘Patriotic’ will change your photo to a typical red and blue style, reminiscent of stereotypical presidential candidate posters. However, this base effect can also be changed by selecting other options within that category, one of which will add a star effect to the photo. Another rather smashing feature of the website is the ability to add extras to photos – anything from hats to red lips are available for your customising pleasure. After completing your masterpiece you can download it your PC for keeping, or send it to a friend so she can marvel at your handiwork. A feature I especially like about this site is that it’s incredibly easy to change the effect you’ve applied without losing the other additions you’ve made to the photo. Pop along to www.befunky.com/photoApps.php to begin your epic quest to change a photo.

Photofunia has a wide variety of backdrops for your photos

The second website is PhotoFunia. This one is more centred upon putting a face on landmarks or objects. For instance, you could have your mug carved into Mount Rushmore or printed on a dollar bill. Some of the effects come out better than others – a lot of it seems to be dependant upon the size of the photo; if it’s too small you might have trouble making it look right on some of the designs. However, when they do look right, they’re very good. I was especially impressed with how the dollar came out with Bill Gates’ head on it; it looked very realistic. You can test these out at www.photofunia.com.

Bill Gates has conquered the final frontier - the Rubik's Cube

Finally, we come to Dumpr, the most strangely named of all the strangely named websites. This one is a bit of a mixed bag. There’s some rather smashing photo effects – the Rubik’s cube being my favourite – which will make your images look rather dandy. There are also some more dull ones, which won’t really make them look very interesting at all – such as Lomo, which seems to some sort of faded film effect. Some of them are very clever though, such as the one which adds someone taking a photo of your photo as if they are a famous person (it makes more sense if you see it yourself.) You can test these at www.dumpr.net.