Photo Editing Redux

So I can almost bet that some people read the post on Photoshop and Wacom and thought - "$100!  This is supposed to be a BUDGET blog!!"  It is and I realize that everyone has a different definition of budget so today is about a FREE (as in beer) photo editor - Picasa.  

We have all heard that you get what you pay for.  Well with just about everything Google, free gets you a lot.  That said, Picasa is no Photoshop.  If your budget is zero, its pretty darn good.

If you downloaded Google Desktop, you have Picasa.  If not, go get it from Google.

FIRST AND ONLY WARNING!!!  Once you open Picasa it will scan your hard drive for pictures - ALL PICTURES!   You might want to think about that..... 

OMG, you found my boobie pictures!

This is what the picture screen looks like.  If you Right click/Control click on your "boobies" folder you can tell Picasa to never look for it again!

This is the default view for the size of the pictures and the folder structure.  You can modify them.  It pretty intuitive so play around with it.

Before I get to the "functional" stuff, a look at the "fun" stuff.  

This is the new (to me) collage tool.  It pretty cool and would be great for school projects, year books, posters, etc.  Again, its a pretty intuitive tool so play with it  :)

Next up is the slide show tool.  Again, easy to use, play with it. 

Im starting to sound like a broken record but honestly, Google has done a great job with this version.  In fact I would use Picasa just for these two tools because they are so fast and easy to use.  I love iPhoto but the 09 version seems bogged down by trying to do to much (I HATE the faces "feature!")

So now the meat of this program...

If you trust Google, they have automatic tools that do a very good job of making most adjustments to photos.  Each tool is pretty self explanatory.  You can add text, straighten and crop.  The crop tool is nice because it will allow you to constrain the crop to normal photo finishing ratios so you don't end up with stretched or cut prints.

So every silver lining needs a cloud and Picasas' cloud is the manual or "fine tuning" tool.  



For reasons unknown to me, the Picasa team decided to rename brightness and contrast "Highlights" and "Shadows."  Fill light is something close to "Levels."  I Highly recommend using a picture you KNOW how to fix as a reference and learning the quirks of the fine tuning tools.  It took me a bit to get used to what each one would do so that I could get what I wanted when I wanted.  

Final tool is a mix of fun and functional.  

The effects tool lets you do a whole range of things to your pictures.  It also allows you to toggle the histogram and information.  Useful but a little limited without a real levels tool in my opinion.  Again, play with the effects.  They are well done and well implemented.  

So what do you get for $0?  

A great and fast image browser.  If I just need to find an image fast, I use Picasa.  Just keep in mind that it will find EVERYTHING the first time.  

Fun collage tool and an excellent slide show/movie tool.  Again, for a quick and dirty slide show, it is best in class.  

Good automatic correction of common issues with images.  If you have "normal" white balance or contrast issues, Picasa will get them fixed in a click.

OK manual tools.  I am willing to admit I am biased because its not what I am used to.  I think they could have done better.

Good effects tools.  Just keep in mind these tools are kinda like having a blog on Blogger - there are going to be millions of other pictures with the same effect.

All things considered, Picasa is a great and relatively powerful tool.  If it were shareware, it would be a steal at $10.  At free its a no brainer.  Even if you have a version of Photoshop, get Picasa.  If you are on the road/in a hurry and just need to crop or resize a picture you can open an image, fix it and be done before Photoshop will finish loading brushes saving you time and battery.