Picasa2 Packs Powerful Productivity
If you've become a digital camera aficionado, but haven't taken the time to organize your photos, Picasa2 is just what you need. It will also help you edit and share your digital photos, and, best of all, it's free.
Installation is easy and the interface is clean and simple. Although Picasa is easy to use, before you start using the application take some time to read the online Readme file available from the Help menu to get an overview of how Picasa works. After that, you may also want to read through the Getting Started Guide for additional information and step-by-step instructions for many of Picasa's features.
After installation, Picasa scans your hard disk for pictures and videos and catalogs them. Once your pictures have been catalogued you can change filenames, add captions, rate them, and even move them from folder to folder. One reason why reading the Picasa documentation material before using the program is useful is because changes made to your photos in Picasa do not change your original pictures, which can be somewhat confusing to the uninitiated.
Once you've organized your photos in Picasa, you can easily find them by searching on keywords, ratings, and dates. You can also email your photos to others directly from the program, save photos to an external drive, burn them to a disc, and upload them to popular photo-sharing Web sites. You can also create collages and slideshows. The print options lets you choose from several sizes ranging from wallet to full page. To use an edited Picasa photo in some other application you may have to export it to get the photo and the changes you made to it into a JPEG file.
Picasa's photo-editing tools are easy to use and impressive in their scope. You can crop, straighten, rotate, adjust contrast, and remove red eye. You can also apply several different effects like sepia, black and white, and soft focus. The Fill Light filter will make your background lighter while the Shadows filter will darken background. These last two options are very useful tools and not always found in inexpensive photo editing programs.
There are several features in Picasa that I found very interesting:- You can import photos directly from a digital camera to the Picasa program.
- Picasa's nifty Timeline lets you scroll through your photos in chronological order.
- The Gift CD feature lets you select photos and easily create a CD for friends without ever leaving the program.
- With the free Hello software, you can send pictures to your friends directly from the Picasa program.
- There is an "I'm Feeling Lucky" button in the editing area that will change your picture's color and contrast to what the program thinks is ideal. I found this button does a better job than the auto-adjustments in many other programs.
- If you use Gmail, Google's free email program, or you sign up for their free account, you can email your photos directly from the Picasa and they will be compressed automatically so your friends won't have trouble opening them.
- The Picasa logo on the main page will send feedback on the program directly to Google.
Don't let the fact that Picasa is free make you think it's a cheap program. This full-featured photo organizing and editing program is comparable to applications costing between $19 to $49, but you don't have to pay a cent.
Specifications
Product: Picasa2
Manufacturer: Google
Price: Free
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About the Author
Sandy Berger is a nationally-known author and has written several books on computers.
