Organizing Photos
About two months ago I downloaded Picasa 2, Google's free photo organizing software. In that time, Picasa has become so natural and integral to my life that I don't know what I'd do without it.
Basically, it's the best free software I've ever used.
The first thing that happens after installation is Picasa searches your entire hard drive for every kind of picture file. It found photos that I had accidentally moved into miscellaneous folders and hadn't seen in years. Once the photos are accumulated, it's up to you to consolidate and organize them as you see fit. Within the graphic environment of Picasa you simply drag and drop the thumbnails into the folders of your choice. Once there, it's easy to tag and caption your photos.
But the best thing about Picasa is that you can easily manipulate your files without permanently changing them. You can crop, adjust tint and contrast, fix red-eye, straighten the horizon, and apply special effects such as black and white or sepia. Any changes you make to an image will stay with the photo in Picasa, but the changes will not affect the master file. No accidental "saves" that wipe out a beloved portrait. If you want to save the changes you make, the software always makes you save the file as a copy.
Picasa also allows you to quickly email copies of your photos (at any pre-set size) to friends and family through your own email application. You can create slide shows (with music) and mail those to people too. There are several other fun and creatives aspects to Picasa, including a button that lets you publish photos to your blog through Google's free Hello service.
I highly recommend Picasa 2 to anyone who has digital photos piling up on their PC. Along with Firefox and iTunes, I consider it essential free software.
Basically, it's the best free software I've ever used.
The first thing that happens after installation is Picasa searches your entire hard drive for every kind of picture file. It found photos that I had accidentally moved into miscellaneous folders and hadn't seen in years. Once the photos are accumulated, it's up to you to consolidate and organize them as you see fit. Within the graphic environment of Picasa you simply drag and drop the thumbnails into the folders of your choice. Once there, it's easy to tag and caption your photos.
But the best thing about Picasa is that you can easily manipulate your files without permanently changing them. You can crop, adjust tint and contrast, fix red-eye, straighten the horizon, and apply special effects such as black and white or sepia. Any changes you make to an image will stay with the photo in Picasa, but the changes will not affect the master file. No accidental "saves" that wipe out a beloved portrait. If you want to save the changes you make, the software always makes you save the file as a copy.
Picasa also allows you to quickly email copies of your photos (at any pre-set size) to friends and family through your own email application. You can create slide shows (with music) and mail those to people too. There are several other fun and creatives aspects to Picasa, including a button that lets you publish photos to your blog through Google's free Hello service.
I highly recommend Picasa 2 to anyone who has digital photos piling up on their PC. Along with Firefox and iTunes, I consider it essential free software.
Permalink posted by Idaho Dad at 7:22 PM
3 Comments:
Thanks for the information. I've been debating on downloading Picasa 2 for a couple of weeks now. I'm just so tired of trying out freeware that I end up removing or forgetting to remove anyway. I'll be downloading it tonight. It sounds like it has a lot of features I'm looking for. Appreciate it.
I downloaded it last month. It is absolutely great! Amazing! I also downloaded the Hello software that works with Picasa, which is a way to get photos onto blogger. The whole package is wonderful. You can crop a photo if you want to only post part of it, send it into blogger, and then undo the crop so you keep the original photo on your harddrive unchanged. It also automatically resizes the photos for web viewing...
This is some freeware that you won't regret downloading!
I also love Picasa and Hello...it is easy for a not so computer savy person like myself. However, does anyone know how to use it to post a file as a link within your post? The only way I seem to be able to do this to publish it directly to my blog, copy and past the website assigned to the picture, and then add it into my post, and then delete the picture post.....there has GOT to be a better way!
Post a Comment
<< Home