Fun with new photo software

Posted on January 6, 2007 by throwingmarshmallows

I have recently started playing around with google’s Picasa and have been having a lot of fun! It is no photoshop, but for right now, it is just what I need. Not to mention that it is free!

I had tried another program PhotoPlus but found it was way to complicated and I just do not have the time I need to really figure how to use it. So I figure that I will stick with Picasa to do the basic stuff and when I have some time, I can try to figure out how to use PhotoPlus.

Picasa allows you to organize and edit your photos. Nothing too exciting, but enough to play around with and get started. You can fix red-eye, add fill light, play with contrast, saturation, fix crooked horizons, sharpen the focus and do lots of special effects like black and white. I really like the interface and found it really easy to get up and running.

Like I said, it is not near as powerful as Photoshop, but for right now it does exactly what I need.

It allows me to take a picture like this:

131_3154

And turn it into this:

131_3154

Or this:

131_3154-1

Or this:

131_3154-2

And did I mention that it is free?

Now I just need to figure out how long to keep the backups that it makes…I am going to start running out of disk space soon…

~Stephanie

About throwingmarshmallows

I am a homeschooling mom to two sweet, energetic boys although I am probably not exactly what you would expect (definitely NOT your stereotypical homeschooler, if there is really such a thing). I support progressive political causes (yes, liberals can and do homeschool!) and I have found a spiritual home in the Unitarian Universalist Church. I have no real idea of how I want to use this blog, but will probably focus on homeschooling, things that I am learning from my boys, personal thoughts and opinions and maybe some liberal politics thrown in, who knows!
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4 Responses to Fun with new photo software

  1. JoVE says:
    January 6, 2007 at 12:14 pm

    Cool. I have mac and iPhoto seems to do very similar things. Just about the right level for my needs and knowledge.

    I’m really enjoying your photos.

  2. Robin says:
    January 7, 2007 at 9:58 am

    That is SO cool!! You have such a great eye! :)

  3. JoVE says:
    January 7, 2007 at 10:46 pm

    OK, you inspired me. And now I’ve posted about it. I would have used a trackback but the link doesn’t seem to give me an appropriate URL, so you’ll just have to check out my January 8th entry.

    I had fun. Thanks for the inspiration.

  4. Pingback: Throwing Marshmallows » Exercising my perogative to change my mind…