Picasa - Great Software for Any Photographer

For the average and better than average digital camera user, Picasa digital photography software from Google, does all that is needed and is very easy and simple to use. For the average camera user, Picasa has to be considered one of the best bargains there is. First of all, it's free!

Did you even know that Google gives away a FREE and very powerful digital photography software program?

Now , you can produce some of the greatest effects with this powerful and easy to use program. And, it's FREE!	Easy to use commands and tasks on an easy to use screen.	Included in this great program is a powerful online photo album.

Picasa doesn’t do everything.

But, it does:

Download your images onto your computer

Organize your photos and let you add captions and keywords

Simple edits

Crop

Straighten

Improve contrast and color

Remove red-eye

Add special effects

Slideshows

Most of the tasks mentioned can be done with a simple click (two clicks at most)!

This is a sample of a photo edited in Picasa. This is the first of three samples of the same photo.	With one click of a button the photo can be brightened, darkened, sharpened, etc. For the average photographer, this is the program.	Cropping is one of the photo editing tasks that is as simple as pointing and clicking. Of course, photos can be printed and enlarged.

Picasa isn't for Pros

Picasa is a free download from Google. It isn't a tool for pros, but for the average digital camera user it is simple to use and does all that is needed. It starts by automatically finding the image files on your hard drive (except for any directories you exclude) and creates a database of your images.

You can then use Picasa to view, sort, print, edit and do most other things you need to with images, including sending copies by e-mail or uploading them to a Picasa web album for others to view.

With Picasa, you can produce some of the greatest effects with this powerful and easy to use program. Note the focus of the face and the gradient fade. One click!	Same photo. Almost the same special effect. In this one, the focus of the face is in color and the gradient fade is black and white. It's almost limited to your imagination!	Same photo in sepia tone. The program also allows the combining of all special effects. For the average photographer, Picasa is a great tool! It's free and very easy to use!

Picasa simplifies printing, makes gift CDs, etc.

The program makes it easy to print your photos, in standard or custom sizes to your own printer. It makes it simple to print more than one picture to a page if you want to. Among the creative features it provides is the ability to create several different styles of picture collages with groups of photos. And if you want a really big picture, it can make a poster image using multiple sheets of paper in your printer. You can also select pictures and connect directly to your favorite on-line printing service to order prints. You can also make 'Gift CDs' to give to other people.

Other options for sharing your work that are built intothe program include web albums and blogging. It took only a few minutes to set up a free Web Album, and perhaps another five to upload a selection of my latest pictures of Paris onto the the site. I made them public so that anyone can see them, but you can restrict access.

Setting up your own Blog is also very easy using Google's free 'Blogger' tool, and you can then upload images directly, too.

This great little free program also helps you avoid sending embarrassingly large images to your friends by e-mail, automatically resizing your images (the default is a sensible 640x480 pixels) and opening your e-mail software with them attached to a message.

You can also use the program to create simple movies from your pictures. Just choose the pictures you want, adjust the delay time, size and compression and the program will render a movie, complete with title graphics.

This great little program is a well-designed piece of software, with good context sensitive right-mouse menus that usually offer what you want to do next if there isn't an obvious button for it. For the average guy with a digital camera, the program offers everything that is needed and is simple to use.

With Picasa, you can produce some of the greatest effects with this powerful and easy to use program.	Easy to use commands and tasks on an easy to use screen.	Included in this great program is a powerful online photo album.