Wouldn’t it be neat if you could custom frame photo’s of your students or better yet give them an opportunity to frame themselves? I was thrilled when I came across some free applications that make it easy to adjust and work with various framing templates to generate photographs that could be used on websites, bulletin boards, or inserted as graphics in handmade books, PowerPoint shows, or homemade books. I’m sure you will think of many additional uses as you frame-up photos for classroom or home use.
Loonapix – this generator was simple and easy to use. It did not require registration. The site included photo framing effects in addition to Loonapic, photo trim, and face effects. Choose a category of effects, upload your photo, and follow steps 1-2-3 to create a beautifully framed image (hint: the save feature is at the very bottom of the page and not very obvious). Framed images can be saved to your hard drive or posted to a number of social sites. You can also easily email photographs to family and friends. You can also post photographs to the gallery, but I do not recommend that option if you are creating framed images of students. I have posted a sample framed photo below…
MyFrame.us – I enjoyed using this framing generator because of it’s simple interface. It’s very easy to resize and adjust photographs to fit in the diverse frames. No registration required…simply upload a photograph, select a frame, adjust your photo using the intuitive resizing and rotating tools, and voila! You have very cool photo that you can print, save to your hard drive or post online. I have shared a framed sample below…
My mother and her much loved Grandma D.
Photo Frame Show – this site offers a much larger selection of frames than MyFrame.us, which makes it desirable to use from the diversity standpoint; however, the site also incorporates social issues that in my opinion distract from the purpose of the site. You need to register for an account, but email verification is not required to begin using the frames on the site. After you register you can download up to 300 different frames, but must first install the Photo Frame Show AIR Desktop Application on your computer (personally, I was not keen on the idea of adding another program to my computer). I would suggest that you take advantage of the free e-card generating function. You can create an e-card, send it to yourself or a friend, and then save the e-card image as a graphic on your hard drive. You should peruse and review the frame and categories on this site to determine whether it should be shared with students. I have posted a sample e-card graphic I created below…
Photo Trix – this colorful, fun generator has some very nice features particularly in the area of framing or putting borders on images. Upload an image, select the frame or border option, and save the image to your computer. I have posted a couple of samples below (one frame, one border)…
FrameNview – this site is actually a site that is trying to sell framed prints, but it has a neat option that allows you to upload an image of your own. Then, you can edit the frame, mats, wall color, etc. and either purchase the print or save it for clipart use. This would be a great tool that would give young artists or photographers an option to virtually crop and frame their work. What a great way to present a virtual portfolio of work! I have posted a sample below…
If you liked this post you might enjoy the following past posts…
thank you! I really liked this post!
thank you! I really liked this post!