How to Paint a Portrait With Your Camera or Cell Phone

My two-year-old grandson CJ was getting very frustrated with Grandpa. While we were walking around an old barn yard, I told him that we'd see chickens. Pen after pen there were none. At one point, he turned and gave me a look that said "Where are the chickens? You said there would be CHICKENS!" 

I loved his expression and got a quick snapshot. Then, I decided to photo-paint a portrait from it. It was easy and fun, and I got something to frame for my office.

You've got shots like that too. Here's how easy it is to convert them into painting-like portraits at iPiccy.com, a free, online photo editor:

1. Go to iPiccy.com, hit the "Start Editing!" button and upload your snapshot from your computer or cell phone.

2. At the "Basic Editor" section (the camera on the tool bar), crop the photo to get a dramatic close-up of the face you want to use for your photo-portrait.

3. At the "Retouch" section (the head on the tool bar), enhance the image with iPiccy's easy-to-use tools. fix red-eye, remove blemishes, add more colorful eye and flesh tones and more.

4. At the "Photo Effects" section (the magic wand on the tool bar), find the "Artistic Painting" effect and hit the "Update effect" button.

5. Experiment with different settings and effects throughout iPiccy.com. You're sure to find some that improve your photo portrait and make it unique.

6. Hit the computer disk symbol on the tool bar to save your image. Give it a name that's different than the original photo's name and save it to your computer. From there you can use any photo viewing program or Microsoft Word to print your portrait.

I set my ink jet printer to the highest quality level and printed CJ's portrait on a good quality, matte photo paper. It turned out looking great. Every printer is unique, so you should experiment with different printer settings and paper types for your portrait. Jot down what worked best. You'll be creating beautiful portraits again and again.

Create Your Own Photo Portraits at iPiccy.com >>>

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