Organizing, Editing and Printing PicturesThese notes are to be read in combination with the Sandycove Computer Club’s presentation with the same name. A copy of the presentation can be found on the Club’s web site under ‘Meeting Summaries’ at www.scascc.wordpress.com.

ORGANIZING YOUR PICTURES

If you look in your Windows Explorer you will see a sub-heading called, ‘Libraries’. Under ‘Libraries’ is a sub-heading, ‘Pictures’. If you click on the ‘Pictures’ sub-heading there will be a further sub-division called ‘My Pictures’.

This latter folder is the default location into which your pictures will be downloaded from either your camera, a flash drive, DVD, etc. Within ‘My Pictures’ you can create your own folders to store your pictures. (You can see some of the names chosen by the author in which to store his pictures.) It is strongly recommended that you choose a general organizational method before starting with the choice of folder names. For

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Author’s Folder Names

example, if you wish to organize the pictures chronologically, the date (in the format yyyy-mm-dd) should be the first element of the folder name, followed by whatever description you choose to identify the contents for future reference. e.g. a folder called, 2014-06-25 – Day at Lake Muskoka might be used to identify a set of photos taken in the vicinity of Lake Muskoka on June 25th, 2015. Keep the names clear and meaningful to enable you to easily identify what you are looking for at a future date.

The fact that the ‘My Pictures’ folder is the default location for pictures in your machine does not prevent you from creating folders elsewhere within your filing system for picture-storage purposes. You can keep them anywhere you wish.

What is very strongly recommended is that you keep backup copies of ALL your pictures in an off-line storage location like a flash drive, external hard drive, DVD(s), etc. This will ensure that you always have access to your pictures – even if your computer should suffer a major crash. Ideally such off-line storage media should be made once you have done all the editing you want to your pictures. However, if you have made copies and later decide that you wish to make more changes, don’t forget to update your off-line versions.

Moving Blocks of Pictures. For various reasons you may want to move (or copy) blocks of pictures out of your ‘Pictures’ Library Folder on to a flash drive or a CD/DVD either for backup purposes or to enable you to take them elsewhere to show them on someone else’s TV or computer. We will now discuss how to achieve this . . .

First of all, identify which pictures you want to move (or copy) by highlighting each one. If the pictures are in one contiguous block, simply click on the first picture, then, while holding-down the ‘Shift’ key on your keyboard, click on the last picture in your block. All pictures between the two clicks will be highlighted. (If you want to select individual pictures which are not contiguous, click on each picture individually while holding-down the ‘Control’ (Ctrl) key.) The Picasa-3 screen will look something like this . . .

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You will see in this case that I have selected 31 pictures from this particular collection and they have been highlighted by putting a blue border around each one. Now place your cursor on any one of the selected pictures and right-click on your mouse. One of the options on the drop-down menu that is displayed is ‘Move to New Folder …’. Click on this option and fill-in the name you wish to give to your new folder. Note that this new folder will be created in your existing ‘Pictures’ library. Now look for the chosen name of your new folder among those listed on the panel at the left of your screen. It will appear like this . . .

You will see that I chose to call my new folder, ‘2017-06-18- Saved Pictures’ and that the number of pictures in this folder is shown in brackets after the name. You have now succeeded in moving your pictures to a new folder, but this folder is still in your computer – not on the flash drive to which you want it ultimately moved. Let’s now look at moving (or copying) the folder to the flash drive.

From the Task Bar (usually) at the bottom-left of your screen, select your ‘File Explorer’. (That’s the icon that looks like a manila folder standing in a rack.)

Click on file Explorer and display a depiction of everything that is stored in your computer. This will look something like the following diagram . . .

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New folder in Picasa-3

File Explorer Icon

Listed in the left panel are all the storage places on your computer. (You will have to scroll down using the ‘Scroll Bar’ to see everything there is to display.) In the right panel are details of the contents of whichever item is highlighted in the left panel – in this case, ‘This PC’. You will also see that some of the items in the left panel have a blue arrow to the left of the folder’s name. This means that the item in question has additional folder(s) within the main folder’s name. By clicking on this arrow all these additional folder names will be displayed. In the illustration above, the arrow belonging to the main ‘Pictures’ folder has been clicked to show the names of sub-folders inside ‘Pictures’. (Note also that some of the sub-folders may well have even more folders within them.)

Move the scroll bar down until you can see both the folder containing the pictures you want to move - in this case, ‘2017-06-18 – Saved Pictures’ - and the target destination for the folder - in this case, ‘BARRIE-64GB (H)’. The illustration on the following page shows both these folders . . .

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Left PanelRight Panel

This is the new folder we created to store the pictures

we wish to move/copy.

Scroll Bar

Place your cursor over the name of the folder containing the pictures you want to move, and right-click. Keep your finger on the right button of your mouse and “drag” the folder until the name of the destination folder is highlighted. Release the right button. A sub-menu will be displayed giving you the choice of either moving or copying the folder to its new destination. Our recommendation is that you should choose the ‘Copy’ option, since you then still have the backup of going back to the original in case anything should go wrong.

You have now successfully moved a number of pictures selected from one of the folders in your ‘Pictures’ library on to a flash drive (or other storage facility).

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Moved pictures

Target destination

EDITING YOUR PICTURESLet me make a couple of very important comments regarding the editing of pictures before we get into the details concerning any particular software package . . .

1. Before making any changes, make copies of the picture(s) you want to change so that you can always go back to the original version if anything should go wrong. (It’s true that you can usually ‘undo’ the changes you have made from within the software packages themselves – but play safe!);

2. When you have finished making the desired changes, make sure that you ‘Save’ the edited version, otherwise your changes may not be retained. Use the ‘Save as’ option so that you can give the revised version a new name to differentiate it from the original.

Editing Photos using ‘Photo Gallery’‘Photo Gallery’ is part of the software included with your Microsoft Windows Operating System and does not have to be purchased separately. You can use the editing tools in ‘Photo Gallery’ to improve a photo's composition, exposure, detail, color, and some other photo options. Not all file types can be edited. ‘Photo Gallery’ is made available when you open a file of pictures in your ‘Pictures’ or ‘My Pictures’ folders under ‘Libraries’. Select the individual picture you want to edit by double-clicking on it. If you click on the downward-pointing arrow following the ‘Edit’ tab near the top of your screen you will be given a choice of all the picture-editing software packages you have on your computer. Choose ‘Photo Gallery’.

To edit photos

1. Open Photo Gallery.2. Select the photo or photos that you want to edit, and then, at the top of the

screen, click the Edit tab.

3. Do one or more of the following:

o To automatically edit a photo or a batch of photos, select the photos you'd like to edit, and then, on the Edit tab, in the Quick adjustments group, click Auto adjust or one of the other editing options.

o To manually edit photos, double-click a photo to view it in one-up mode, and then, in the Adjustments group, click Fine tune.

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Note:

o If you can't edit a photo in Photo Gallery, one of the following reasons might be the cause:

The photo properties attribute is set to Read-only. To change a photo’s read-only property, right-click the photo and select Properties. Under the General tab, in the Attributes group, uncheck Read-only, and then click Apply.

The photo is stored in a read-only location like shared network file, a CD or DVD, or other location where you can’t change its properties. To save a copy of a photo to your PC where you can edit it, double-click the photo and then, on the Edit tab, in the Manage group, click Make a copy. Select a file type, choose a location on your PC to save the photo, and then click Save.

The photo is an unsupported file type. Photo Gallery can't open or edit all photo file types. To save a copy of photo and change it's file type to a format that you can edit, double-click the photo and then, on the Edit tab, in the Manage group, click Make a copy. Select a file type, and then click Save.

The photo might have been deleted or moved after you selected it for editing. Restore the photo to its original location, and then try to edit the photo again.

Adjust exposure

1. Double-click a photo to view it in one-up mode, click Fine tune in the Adjustments group, and then click Adjust exposure.

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2. Do one or more of the following: o To adjust the brightness, move the Brightness slider.

o To adjust the contrast, move the Contrast slider.

o To adjust shadow detail without affecting midtone or highlight detail, move the Shadows slider.

o To adjust highlight detail without affecting midtone or shadow detail, move the Highlights slider.

o To adjust the photo's white point and black point, under the Histogram, move the white and black arrows.

Note

As you apply effects to your photo, the histogram shows how your photo's exposure is being adjusted.

Adjust color

1. Double-click a photo to view it in one-up mode, click Fine tune in the Adjustments group, and then click Adjust color.

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2. Do one or more of the following:o To adjust the tone and make the photo look warmer or cooler, move the

Color temperature slider.

o To adjust the color cast, move the Tint slider.

o To adjust the vividness of the colors, move the Saturation slider.

Straighten a photo

1. Double-click a photo to view it in one-up mode, click Fine tune in the Adjustments group, and then click Straighten photo.

(You will notice that a grid has appeared over your picture to help you judge horizontal/vertical alignment.)

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2. Use the slider to straighten your photo manually.

Adjust detail

1. Double-click a photo to view it in one-up mode, click Fine tune in the Adjustments group, and then click Adjust detail.

2. To adjust your photo's sharpness, use the Sharpen slider.3. To reduce image noise, click Analyze, and then use the Reduce noise slider.

Crop a photo

1. Double-click a photo to view it in one-up mode, and then, in the Adjustments group, click Crop.

2. Do one or more of the following:o To change the photo's proportions, in the Proportion list, click a proportion.

o To select a custom photo proportion, in the Proportion list, click Custom, and then drag the corners of the crop frame until the photo has the proportions that you want.

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o To resize the crop frame, drag the corners of the crop frame. If you've chosen a standard print size, the crop frame maintains its proportions as it's resized. A custom crop frame can have any width and height. To maintain the proportions of a custom crop frame, hold down the Shift key while you resize the crop frame.

o To change the photo's composition, drag the crop frame to a new position in the photo.

o To rotate the crop frame so that the photo is cropped vertically or horizontally, click Rotate Frame.

3. Click Crop again to apply your crop.

Fix red eye

1. Double-click a photo to view it in one-up mode, and then, in the Adjustments group, click Red eye.

2. Drag a box around the eye that you want to correct, and then release the mouse button.

3. Repeat this step for each eye that you want to correct.

Note

If you can still see red eye after you use the Red eye tool, repeat these steps.

Apply a black and white effect

Double-click a photo to view it in one-up mode, and then select the effect you'd like from the Effects group.

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Save your edits. To save the changes to your photo, click Close file and your changes will save automatically.

Note

To remove the changes you've made to a photo, click Revert to original.

Resize photos

1. Select the photos you want to resize, and then on the Edit tab, in the Properties group, click Resize.

2. Click the Select a size list, and then select a size for your photos. For a custom size, in the Maximum dimensions box, enter the maximum width you want your photos to be.

3. Click Resize and save. To save resized photos to another location, click Browse, and then select an existing folder to save your resized photo in.

Change file type of a photo in Photo GalleryPhoto Gallery can display digital photos from cameras and scanners, but it can't display photos that use some file types. You can't edit all the file types that Photo Gallery can display.

To view or edit a photo that Photo Gallery can't display, you can change the photo's file type to a format that Photo Gallery can display or edit. We recommend that you use the JPEG file type.

1. Open Photo Gallery.2. Double-click the photo that you want to edit.

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3. On the Edit tab, in the Manage group, click Make a copy, select a file type, and then click Save.

Import photos into Photo GalleryYou can add photos to Photo Gallery by importing them from a camera, phone, or other device, CD or DVD. Imported photos are stored in your My Pictures folder. You can also add photos from an album on OneDrive, or from another location on your PC.

To import photos from a camera, phone or other device, CD, or DVD

1. Make sure that your device is turned on and connected to your PC, or that the disc is inserted into your PC's CD or DVD drive.

2. Open Photo Gallery.

3. Click the Home tab, and then click Import.

4. In the Import Photos and Videos dialog box, click the device that you want to use, and then click Import. If you're importing from a CD or DVD, select the CD or DVD drive.

5. Click More options to select the options that you want to use, such as where to save the files and what format to use for the folder and file names.

6. Click one of the following two options: Review, organize and group items to import or Import all new items now.

Review, organize, and group items to import

1. Click Review, organize and group items to import, and then click Next.2. Define, select, and name the groups that you want to import:

o Photos are automatically grouped according to when they were taken. To change the time interval used to define the groups, at the bottom of the window, move the Adjust groups slider.

o To choose which groups of photos to import, next to each group, select the check box.

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o To see all of the photos in a group, next to the group, click View all items. If you don't want to import all of the photos in the group, clear the check boxes for the photos that you don't want to import.

o For each group of photos that you want to import, click Enter a name, and then type a name for the group.

o To assign tags to a group, next to the group, click Add tags, type one or more tags separated by semicolons, and then press Enter.

Click Import. Each group of photos is saved to a different folder.

Import all new items now

1. Click Import all new items now, and then type a name for the photos or videos.2. To assign tags to the group of photos that you're importing, click Add tags, type

one or more tags separated by semicolons, and then press Enter.

3. Click Import.

To add other folders of photos into Photo Gallery (for example, from OneDrive or from another location on your PC)

1. Click File, and then click Include folder.2. Click Add, and then select the folder you want to add to Photo Gallery.

3. Click Include folder, and then click OK.

Note

When you remove your photos from your camera or other device, you might want to copy them to recordable DVDs or CDs, an external hard drive, or an Internet-based file storage service so that you have a backup copy.

Create panoramas/collages and fuse photosWith Photo Gallery, you can create a panoramic landscape photo by stitching several photos together, or put a group of related photos together in a collage. And you can create the perfect group photo by combining the best parts of two or more photos into one using Photo Fuse.

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To create a panorama

1. Take a series of photos from a single vantage point so that each photo overlaps the one preceding it and import them into Photo Gallery.

2. Select the photos you're going to use, and on the Create tab, in the Tools group, click Panorama. Photo Gallery will align the photos and combine them into a new composition.

3. To crop a finished panorama, on the Edit tab, in the Adjustments group, click Crop.

To create a collage

1. Select seven or more photos that you'd like to group together in a collage. 2. On the Create tab, in the Tools group, click Auto Collage.

– or –Click the Auto Collage dropdown menu to choose the collage size and layout you want.

To fuse photos

1. Select two or more photos taken from the same scene and vantage point.2. On the Create tab, in the Tools group, click Photo Fuse.

3. Click the area of the photo you want to replace, and then drag one of the points to adjust the size of this area.

4. Click the replacement photo that you like best, and then click Save.

Share and publish photos from Photo GalleryIf you have an email program installed on your PC, you can share photos and videos as email attachments from Photo Gallery. If you have Mail installed as your default email program and have at least one email account configured on it, you can send photos from Photo Gallery using photo email. A photo email allows you to share more photos than sharing photos as email attachments, because the photos you send are uploaded to OneDrive and not to the recipient's inbox.

You can also publish photos and videos from Photo Gallery to a blog, or to websites like Facebook and YouTube.

Share photos or videos as email attachments from Photo Gallery

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1. Open Photo Gallery, and then select the photos or videos you want to email.2. On the Home tab, in the Share group, click Email.

3. Select a size for the photos, and then click Attach.

Share photos with photo email from Photo Gallery (you must have Mail installed as your default email program and have at least one email account configured on it)

1. Open Photo Gallery and select the photos or videos you want to share with photo email.

2. On the Home tab, in the Share group, click Photo email.

3. Select Send photos as attachments, select a size for the photos, and then click Attach.

Publish photos and videos to a blog or website

1. Open Photo Gallery.2. Select the photos or videos you want to publish, and then click the Create tab.

3. Do one of the following:

o To publish your photos and videos to a blog, in the Share group, click Blog post. (See illustration above)

o To publish your photos and videos to a website, in the Publish group, select a publishing destination and then follow the on-screen instructions. To add another publishing destination to the Share group, click Add a plug-in, and then follow the on-screen instructions.

Undo changes to a photo in Photo GalleryWith Photo Gallery you can undo changes you make to your photos so they look like they did when you first imported them. When you edit a photo, the original photo isn't

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visible in the gallery. To see both the original and edited versions of your photo, you'll need to make a copy of the original photo before you edit it.

If you have difficulty finding your edited photos, see ‘Find recently edited photos in Photo Gallery’, below.

Undo changes you’ve made to a photo in Photo Gallery

1. Open Photo Gallery.2. Select the photo or photos that you want to remove changes from and on the Edit

tab, click Revert to original.

Make a copy of a photo in Photo Gallery

1. Open Photo Gallery. 2. Double-click the photo you want to make a copy of to open it.

3. On the Edit tab, in the Manage group, click Make a copy.

4. Name the copy of the photo and click Save. The copy you just made will appear in the gallery.

Find recently edited photos in Photo GalleryOn some PCs, after a photo is edited, or its date, rating, or other info is changed, the photo might be difficult to find.

To find hidden files on a PC1. Open Folder Options by clicking the Start button , then click Control Panel,

then click Appearance and Personalization, and then click Folder Options.2. Click the View tab.

3. Under Advanced settings, select Show hidden files and folders, and then click OK.

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Note

2011 McAfee VirusScan software has been known to change file properties of edited photos to Hidden, preventing them from appearing in Photo Gallery. Visit the McAfee website for more information on how to solve the problem.

Editing Photos using ‘Irfanview’‘Irfanview’ is a software package (program) which can be downloaded free of charge to help you with the manipulation of your pictures to produce the effects you want. (Note: To download the software make sure that you go directly to Irfanview’s own web site - otherwise you may be confronted with requests for you to download and/or purchase other items you don’t want!)

Having installed Irfanview, double-click on the desktop icon to open the program. You will be presented with a black screen with only the menu toolbar showing at the top of the screen. Click on the ‘File’ tab, then on ‘Open’ on the drop-down menu.

You will now be shown a list of all the files/folders in your computer which have pictures that can be edited using Irfanview. Find the picture you want and double-click on it to select it for access using Irfanview. The picture will now be displayed, together with the same menu tabs you saw before.

To edit photos. The majority of things you will want to do with the picture are made available by clicking on the ‘Image’ tab.

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The majority of the entries in the drop-down menu are self-explanatory and you are strongly advised to experiment with all the options so that you become familiar with exactly what they do.

Reduce File-size. One Irfanview option in this menu which comes-in very handy is the ability to change the size of your pictures in terms of their respective ‘file-sizes’. Bear in mind that this has nothing to do with the physical dimensions of your picture – just its file-size. Using today’s digital cameras this is usually measured in megabytes (MB) and falls within the range of approximately 2.5 MB to 7.5 MB. If you should want to attach a number of such photos to an e-mail message your e-mail software may not allow you to do so. This is because the overall size of an individual message is often limited to something like 5.0 MB. (If you look at the line across the bottom of your picture displayed in Irfanview one of the entries mid-way through this line tells you how big your picture’s file-size is.)

To considerably reduce this size without significantly affecting the quality of the picture, click on the ‘Resize/Resample’ entry. You will be shown a table describing the size-related features of your picture, including its current dimensions. These dimensions are expressed in pixels – e.g. 4000 X 3000 means that your picture is 4,000 pixels wide by 3,000 pixels deep. In the right-hand column of this table you are given a choice of new dimensions to which your picture can be changed. If you select either the 600 X 800 or the 1024 X 768 option you will find that the size of the new version of your picture has been reduced to something like one-hundredth of its previous size and that its new size is expressed in kilobytes (KB) instead of MB. You will thus be able to attach a number of your pictures to the message instead of just one. Click on the ‘OK’ button at the bottom of the table when you have finished.

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As stated at the beginning of this document, don’t forget to ‘Save’ the new versions of your pictures – otherwise the changes will be lost.

Put a Border round your picture. The second entry under ‘Resize/Resample’ is ‘Add border/frame’. As the sub-title suggests, you can use this option to draw a border of some sort around your picture. Click on ‘Add border/frame’ and you will be shown a list of choices together with a preview of your picture complete with its frame. Shown in the top, left quadrant is a list of the types of frame/border from which you can choose. By clicking on your choice the border around the image of your picture in the top, right quadrant will change to show you the effect. The list in the bottom, left quadrant lets you change the size of your frame by entering the number of pixels you wish to try. The entries in the bottom, right quadrant give you virtually unlimited choices of the actual colours you can use for your own frame. The defaults initially shown are the ones applicable to your selection from the list at top-left. However, the effects – particularly when you have chosen one of the ‘gradient’ options – can be changed to your heart’s content by clicking on the ‘Choose’ button for the outer and inner borders in turn and selecting the colour you want either from the Basic Colours at the left or by moving your cursor over the rainbow of colours at the right.

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Once again you are encouraged to experiment and see the effects you can create.

Black-and-white pictures. You may be interested in seeing what your picture would look like as a black-and-white photograph. To do this, click on the ‘Convert to Grayscale’ sub-heading and the conversion will automatically take place. (Note that if you do not like the result of having carried-out any of the editing options in Irfanview you can always ‘undo’ your last action by clicking on the blue, curved arrow pointing back to

the left in the line of icons under the main menu tabs.)

Correct Colours. When you have become more confident with the manipulation of various aspects of your photos you may want to explore what can be done to change the actual colours initially shown. By clicking on the ‘Colour corrections…’ sub-heading you will display two images of your picture – one entitled ‘Original image’ and the other ‘New image’. The sliding scales in the lower, left corner allow you to change the brightness of the picture, either in respect of its overall brightness or by concentrating on each of the primary colours (red, blue and yellow) one at a time. Slide the scales forwards and backwards and note the resultant change to your picture in the

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‘New image’ version. The sliding scales in the lower, right column allow you to do the same sort of thing with the picture’s contrast, gamma and colour-saturation levels.

Note that you are given the choice to undo/cancel/retain proposed changes using buttons at the bottom of this panel.

If you are unsure whether or not the colours in your picture should be changed in any way there is another choice called, ‘Auto adjust colours’. When you click on this option the program’s coding automatically examines the colour-balance of your picture and makes any changes deemed necessary.

Similarly, if your picture has fuzzy edges, the program may be able to correct the feature by sharpening the image. To do this, click on the ‘Sharpen’ line immediately below ‘Auto adjust colours’.

Eliminate any ‘Red-eye’ effect. Sometimes when you use the flash feature of your camera it can result in the appearance of people’s eyes to be red. Irfanview lets you reduce this effect by outlining the affected areas, then clicking on the ‘Red eye reduction (Selection)’ sub-heading. You select the areas to which you want this

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feature applied by holding-down your left mouse button and dragging it to draw a small rectangle around the affected eye(s).

Special Effects. By clicking on the ‘Effects’ sub-heading you are presented with a list of choices you can try to completely alter the appearance of your picture. Again, experiment with the various options once you have become more confident of your own abilities and potential.

Other options available with the Irfanview software can be explored at your leisure. Once again, don’t be afraid to experiment with these options to find out what can be done to change the appearance of your pictures according to your requirements / desires.

Editing Photos using ‘Picasa-3’‘Picasa-3’ is another software package that can be used in a manner similar to Irfanview. This program used to be available via the Internet; however, since the organization was purchased by Google you can no longer download a copy. (Ask Barrie where you can get it from!)

Picasa-3 is packed with powerful and useful features which will allow you to edit your photos according to your wishes.

The initial downloading and installation of the Picasa-3 software on to your computer may take some considerable time, depending on the number of pictures/photos you have in your machine. The reason for this is that Picasa-3 first finds all your pictures and lists them (using the folder names previously allocated by you) down the left-hand side of your screen. The default sequence in which they are listed is chronologically. If

you do not like this option, click on the ‘View’ tab, then on the bottom line entry (‘Folder view’) and choose the sequence you prefer from the list provided. Please note that Picasa-3 does not automatically make separate copies of your pictures. It uses the actual images in folders you have already created and simply lists them all in one place on your Picasa screen. In other words, if you should use Picasa-3 to change one of your photos, that same photo will be changed wherever you have access to that particular picture.

Use of the software is largely intuitive and user-friendly once you have been shown the basics of its capabilities, which are limited only by your own imagination. As mentioned in connection with alternative software packages discussed, you are strongly

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encouraged to experiment with all available features so that you become thoroughly aware of its capabilities and in so doing improve your own level of competence.

Now let’s have a look at the main Picasa-3 screen . . .

Across the top of the screen is the ‘normal’ Main Menu – i.e. ‘File’, ‘Edit’, ‘View’, etc.

The content of the drop-down menus associated with these tabs is self-explanatory and not primarily involved with the actual editing of your pictures, which is the main topic of this document. The same goes for the icons in the second toolbar immediately below the main menu.

(You can see what these icons do by moving your cursor over each one and reading the associated text.)

The left-most column on the main screen lists all your picture folders in much the same way as when using Windows Explorer. However, only folders containing pictures will be listed here. Since Picasa-3 finds ALL the pictures in your computer you may not recognize all the file names. For example, the desktop images included with the Microsoft Windows Operating System will be in a folder of their own.

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By clicking on any of the folder names you can display small images of the pictures in that folder in the larger column on the right of the screen.

At the top of this column is the name of the folder you’re looking-at, followed by the date on which that folder was created.

Immediately below this is a series of icons with various functions.

The green arrow pointing to the right allows you to display the photos in the opened folder in the form of a slideshow. The second icon allows you to create a collage of selected photos from this folder. The third icon guides you through the production of a video show of your slides and the fourth lets you record edited pictures to a disk. Provided that you are connected to the internet, the ‘Share’ button allows you to share your pictures with other parties.

We will now be looking at some (not all) of these features in more detail.

Having a Slideshow. To examine this feature at this time is perhaps out of sequence, since it assumes that all necessary changes have already been made to the pictures concerned. However, for the purposes of this document we will assume that those changes have been made.

Click on the green arrow . Unless otherwise specified, the first picture in the selected folder will be displayed in full-screen format. If you move your cursor towards the bottom of the screen a line of options will be displayed at bottom-centre. The first entry on this line (‘Exit’) allows you to return to the main screen. The slide to the right of the ‘Exit’ button changes the size of the image to be displayed and at the same time shows you how much of the original picture will be left-out by using this feature. The

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next two buttons (curly arrows pointing to the left and right, respectively) enable you to turn the displayed image through 90 degrees in an anti-clockwise or clockwise direction, if required. If you are viewing the first picture in the folder, the next, left-pointing arrow will be dimmed-out and not available for use, since it refers to the slide previous to the one being displayed. Otherwise, clicking on this arrow will take you back to the previous picture in your show. The main, right-pointing arrow in the middle of the line is used to start the actual slideshow, while the one immediately following lets you change to the next slide manually.

The star icon marks this particular picture for later reference when it is necessary to select only a pre-determined number of the slides in this folder. The next option has a drop-down menu giving you a choice of the methods of transition between slides during your slideshow. (Experiment with each of these options to see which you like best for the particular subject-matter of your slideshow.) The ‘Display Time’ button at the right-hand end of the line allows you to determine how long you want each slide to be displayed before proceeding to the next one.

Make a Collage using some of your pictures. The icon following the green,

‘Slideshow’ arrow (‘Create Photo Collage’) lets you select some of the pictures in the displayed folder for inclusion in a collage. A collage is a single picture with multiple images included within its borders. You are encouraged to experiment with this feature by following the instructions included to produce your own collages.

Make a Video show using your Photos. The third icon on this line (‘Create Video Clip Presentation’) guides you through the steps needed to produce a professional-looking video display of your pictures, complete with sound effects, etc. Once again you are encouraged to experiment with this feature to discover what can be done to help you achieve your aspirations.

We will now move-on to the main purpose of this document – to show you how to use Picasa-3 to edit your photos . . .

Double-click on any one of your pictures in the folder being displayed. This will cause an enlarged version of that picture on a new screen. It is from here that the editing features of Picasa-3 can best be used. We will concentrate first on the items in the highlighted column at the left of your screen. Here you will see a number of tabs, the first of which (“Commonly needed fixes” – the one marked with a wrench) is automatically displayed by default. This tab has 9 icons, each with a different function.

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The first - - is the “Crop” function. This is used if you wish to select only a part of the picture being displayed as your final version. To use this function, click on the Crop icon, then move your cursor on to the picture. Place the cursor at the top, left-hand corner of that part of your picture which you wish to keep, hold down the left button and drag the cursor to the bottom, right-hand corner of the selected part. Release the left button. The cropped portion of your picture will now be highlighted and a number of options displayed near the bottom of the left-hand column. Pressing the

“Preview” button results in the display for a few seconds of what your

cropped picture would look like. The “Reset” button cancels the results of your cropping and takes you back to the point at which you can repeat the procedure. The

“Apply” button saves the cropped version of your picture and returns you to the icons on the “Commonly needed fixes” tab. You will note that the text under the “Crop” icon has changed from Crop to Recrop. As you would assume, pressing this button now would allow you to do some more cropping on the same picture. Note

also that you now have a button below the icons (“Undo Crop”) which allows you to cancel the cropping. (Even if you were to leave this picture to work on another one, then return to this picture, you would still have the option to undo any changes you have previously made.)

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The second icon gives access to the “Straighten” feature. This is useful if you didn’t have your camera quite level when you took the photo. Click on this icon to display a grid of dotted lines superimposed over your picture, plus a slide and two

buttons underneath. Now place your cursor on the button in the middle of the slide and drag it to the left/right to see the effect it has on your picture. When you have the image in the desired position, release the left button and press the “Apply” button. The dotted lines will now disappear and the revised version of your photo will be saved. If you don’t like what you see, press the Cancel” button to go back to the original. (Once again, you have the opportunity to reverse your changes at a later date if so desired.)

The last icon on the top line is the one relating to the elimination of the effect called “Redeye”. This happens in some cases when a camera’s flash has been deployed in order to take a portrait and the reflection of the flash from the back of the subject’s eye(s) causes the eyes in the resultant photo to appear red. If you have a photo showing this feature, clicking on the “Redeye” button will cause the software to detect and correct the phenomenon automatically. If the software does not correct the effect automatically you still have the opportunity to identify the offending areas yourself and draw a small rectangle around the eye(s), then click the ‘Apply’ button. The redeye will disappear. (Note that many of today’s digital cameras have a feature which eliminates the occurrence of redeye when using the flash so that you don’t have to confront this particular problem.)

The three icons on the second row provide the ability to automatically correct minor

errors in your photos. The first of these is “I’m feeling lucky” . You can try this one if you are not quite satisfied with the appearance of a picture, but can’t identify the precise reason for your discomfort. The “I’m Feeling Lucky” feature considers mainly exposure, contrast and colour and makes any changes deemed necessary. Try it on a couple of your pictures and see what you think about the changes made. You can always undo the changes if you are still not satisfied.

The second option on the second line is “Auto Contrast” . As its name suggests this feature concentrates solely on the levels of contrast in your picture and makes any necessary changes. Obviously, if you have already used the “I’m feeling lucky” feature, then the “Auto Contrast” option will have no effect. The appropriate changes have already been made.

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The last option here is “Auto Colour” . This is again self-explanatory; plus the applicability of the previous comment regarding prior use of the “I’m feeling lucky” feature.

The same options to apply or disregard changes made by the system are available for all these features.

The first icon on the third row is particularly useful to correct blemishes in your picture. This is called “Retouch”. For example, this can be used to eliminate dark spots which may be on the copy of an old photograph you have scanned into your system. With the blemished photo displayed, click on “Retouch” and you will be shown a slightly-reduced portion of your picture. There is a smaller thumbnail to the right of the main picture showing the degree to which it has been reduced.

To make this feature more accurate you can use the slide-button shown

to the bottom-right of the picture to enlarge the part on which you

wish to concentrate. Also, the slide-button in the left-hand column controls the size of the “brush” you are going to use to make any changes. Sliding to the left makes it smaller; right makes it bigger. Now look at the blemish you wish to remove, choose the appropriate brush size and move the cursor/brush over the blemish. Left-click your mouse. You will see that the system has changed the appearance of the area on which you were concentrating to be the same colour as the background immediately behind the blemish. Left-click again to activate the change.

The last (“Text”) option on this line allows you to place text on the picture as you wish. You have a full choice of fonts, font-sizes, bolding, italicizing, underlining and justifying your text. It can be placed anywhere you wish on the picture, and can be slanted to produce the effect you desire. You can also choose the colour and style of your writing.

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The last item of interest in the left-hand column is the “Full Light” feature on the

bottom line . By sliding the button to the right you can increase the amount of light (brightness) of your picture. Try sliding the button and note the result.

(I personally rarely use this occurrence of the “Full Light” feature. If I want to play with different aspects of the picture’s brightness I use the capabilities in the second tab at the top of the left-hand column - “Finely-tuned lighting and colour fixes”.)

The chart shown at the bottom of the left-hand column – “Histogram & Camera Information” - shows the distribution of the most-used colours in your picture, together with data relating to the camera used to take the photo together with its settings at the time.

Click on the “Finely-tuned lighting and colour fixes” tab to display four slide-buttons relating to “Full Light”, “Highlights”, “Shadows“ and “Colour Temperature”.

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Sliding the “Full Light” button increases (right) or decreases (left) the overall brightness of your picture in much the same way as the “Full Light” feature at the bottom of the previous tab.

The “Highlights” slide lets you apply brightening to the lightest-coloured parts of your picture. You will see that the effects of using this slide are subtly different from the use of the “Full Light” slide.

Similarly, sliding the “Shadows” button right or left changes the depth of the shadows in your photo. This can be useful if you find that your picture was over-exposed and you want to reduce the brightness while bringing more detail into focus.

The “Colour Temperature” option allows you to alter the overall tints of your picture according to a recognized degree of warmth. Colours towards the red end of the spectrum are considered warm, while those towards the blue end are considered relatively cold. If you want to use this feature at all it will probably be to only a minor degree, unless you wish to deliberately create a more artificial effect – which is perfectly legitimate in some cases.

The feature below the fourth slide bar allows you to pick a neutral grey or white part of the photo to remove colour cast.

As was the case with the chart shown at the bottom of the left-hand column of the previous tab – “Histogram & Camera Information” – this shows the distribution of the most-used colours in your picture, together with data relating to the camera used to take the photo.

As previously recommended, experiment with all these features to get to know the various effects they have on your pictures so that you can use them with more confidence as your level of exposure increases.

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The third tab in the left-hand column is titled, “Fun and useful image processing”. Considering the degree of manipulation enabled by the twelve options on this tab, this is an understatement!

Some of the options (like “Sepia” and “B & W”) are self-explanatory and simply convert the pictures to what they say they will do – i.e. “Sepia” changes your colour picture into one with sepia tones to look like a photo taken many years ago, and “B & W” changes it to a black-and-white photo. Others give you a much wider range of application to enable you to edit various aspects of the picture. Don’t be afraid to move your cursor around the colour-charts, etc. to see how it affects your picture. You will be surprised by the extent to which you are able to produce professional-looking results. For example, the “Soft Focus” option allows you to control the proportion of your picture remains in sharp focus while the surrounding area becomes ‘fuzzy’. By using the “Focal B&W” feature you can choose to leave a part of the picture coloured while making the surrounding area a black and white image.

The “Fun and useful image processing” options provide you with a very wide range of ways to either improve and/or deliberately change the appearance of your photos. Be bold and experiment – remember, if you don’t like the results you can always change back to square-one!

Together the remaining two tabs “More fun and useful image processing”

and “Even more fun and useful image processing” - give you 24

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additional ways of more-radically changing the appearance of your pictures. Yet again, have a look at the alternatives and try using them to become familiar with the extent to which you can manipulate the images.

Now let’s go back to the main screen – the one where you have the two columns, the left one showing the names of your files with pictures in them and the right showing small pictures in the file that is currently highlighted.

Across the screen immediately below the pictures is a side-to-side blue line with white text. If no picture is selected from the displayed folder this text describes certain elements referring to the file displayed. It tells you how many pictures are in the file, the date range over which they were taken and the size of the space occupied on the storage medium (disk, flash drive, DVD, etc.) by all the pictures in the file.

If a particular picture is highlighted the information relates to that one picture.

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Once again, experiment with the additional features made available in the block displayed below this blue line. By moving your cursor over each of the icons you will display a brief text explaining its function.

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PRINTING YOUR PICTURESAny picture in your library can be sent to your printer for printing. You can also store the pictures you wish to print on a flash drive and take it to any one of a number of retail outlets with facilities to enable you to do the printing using their facilities. Some will actually do the printing for you (at a price!) However, we are going to concentrate here on the elements which should be taken into consideration when you are contemplating doing your own printing.

When learning about the characteristics and capabilities of your printer you will encounter an acronym ‘DPI’. ‘DPI’ means ‘dots per inch’ and is used as a measure of the ultimate quality of your finished product. (The same term also applies to video formats, TV screens, monitors, etc., but in this context we are concerned only with its association with printing.)

One of the artistic methodologies used in impressionist painting was called ‘pointillism’. Its purest practitioners used only the three primary colours – red, yellow and blue – and painted using tiny dots with only those pure colours. If they wanted to create an area that was to appear orange they would mix red dots with yellow dots and from a distance the effect would be that it looks orange.

The same principle applies to your ink-jet printer. It prints in a series of very small dots, the only difference being that the inks are actually mixed to produce the various shades as opposed to being printed separately. Nevertheless, the more dots per inch, the higher the quality of the output. Your actual printer itself will have a rating which includes the maximum number of dpi. The higher this number is, the better your printer.

You also have a choice of settings on your printer to determine the quality of printing you want to apply. Depending on the brand/model of your printer these qualities usually vary between draft and high-definition. Draft quality is the lowest and uses the fewest dpi, while high-definition is what you want for printing your photos. Yes – the more dpi, the more ink you are going to use – but that is the price you are going to have to pay for high-quality prints.

An ‘ordinary’ printer like the one you probably have at home for general printing is quite capable of producing acceptable prints. There will be a maximum size of the final print – usually 8-1/2” X 11” or 8-1/2” X 14”. You can, of course print bigger sizes by putting multiple pages together, but the effectiveness of this technique is limited by the degree of high-definition and therefore quality that can be achieved. Several factors should be considered when planning to do your own printing . . .

1. One factor which cannot be ignored is the quality of your camera. A $7,000.00 Hasselblad is always going to be capable of taking better pictures than a no-cost ‘phone camera – period! Having said that, and assuming that you are not a

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professional photographer, you don’t have to spend a fortune to buy a digital camera that will take beautiful photos in the context of our typical usage.

2. To state the obvious, if you don’t have a good copy of the picture on your computer to start with, you won’t be able to print a good printed copy. Photos taken by even the best cameras can be pretty awful if they are not taken properly in the first place. If you want to print a particular picture, use all the applicable editing capabilities we have been discussing in this document before sending it to the printer.

3. The quality of the actual printer will also affect the end-product. It is fair to say that you will usually get what you pay for! In other words, a $29.99 printer might not yield such good results as one for which you paid $150.00. The higher the dpi or HD Resolution rating, the better.

4. Similarly, the quality of the paper on which it is printed must also be considered. If you were to use normal stock paper it is likely that the inks will to some degree soak into the paper and blur the image. Real photo paper specifically designed for use with computer printers will give the best results and you can choose any finish from high gloss to matte finish. Most of our printers are of the ‘ink-jet’ variety, although some of us have laser printers. Make sure that the photo paper you choose is the correct type for your type of printer.

5. The quality of the ink will also have an effect on your prints. As a general rule-of-thumb the ink in the cartridges produced by the manufacturer of your printer are likely to yield better results than less-expensive refills. The aspect most often affected is the trueness of the actual colours.

You now have sufficient information to enable you to organize, edit and print the pictures in your digital photo library. As frequently stated throughout this document you are encouraged to experiment with all the different features available until you become thoroughly familiar with the alternatives offered and have sufficient confidence in your own ability to use them.

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