Free Editing Software

Rob_Ant · 03-05-2006, 04:36 PM

For those of you that want to work on your photos, but don't want to spend big $.
There's a program from Google that allows you to view, organize, edit, backup, and share your photos.
Helps you turn your pics into movies, posters, collages, and screen saver.

I does basic photo fixes:
remove red eye, adjust color and contrast, crop, and add visual effects.
You can view photos info and RGB histogram using the EXIF display.

Best of all is FREE. free, oh man I love that word.

Take a look here.

~Rob.

bearcat7777 · 03-05-2006, 06:22 PM

I've been using Picasa to manage all my photos for a year and a half now. And I've found it handy. It can sort photos by date or orgazine them by categories I have assigned. You can also assign stars to photos you think are important, and attach comments to your photos.

It also handles photo editing, but I personally still use Photoshop. It does a decent enough job fixing contrast, brightness, tint, hue, and saturation. Or you can use the "I'm feeling lucky" button (which tends to overblow highlights but otherwise it does an amazing job for most images). It also has cropping capabilities.

If you're using RAW (at least in my experience), Picasa is still a little rough around the edges. But at least you can see your RAW image before you send it over to your RAW editor of choice.

The downsides are that its image sharpening is a tad too aggressive. Also the sizes at which it exports photos are hard coded, so you can't do a 760 pixel wide photo for example, you have to use the sizes it specifies, 640,800,1024.

Unfortunately, it also saves it's internal database on the boot (C:\) drive, so if you are running low on space you can't just move it to another drive or partition too easily. On my computer the Picasa database is weighing in at 2.1Gb.

On the upside, any edits you make to the photos are non-destructive. You can edit your photo to your hearts content, and undo it all without messing with the original file.

I have over 90gb of images managed by Picasa so I can attest to it's ability to handle large collections. And I recommend it to friends and family all the time.

Plus... it's free.

archman · 03-06-2006, 10:17 AM

Hey Rob! Thanks for the tip. Hope things are going well for you. Also hope we get to see some more of your awesome photos soon (although I know you have your hands full

)

03-05-2006, 04:36 PM	#1
Rob_Ant I see you. Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 153 Picture Attachments: 7 Video Attachments: 0 Credits: 100 Thanks: 0 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Free Editing Software For those of you that want to work on your photos, but don't want to spend big $. There's a program from Google that allows you to view, organize, edit, backup, and share your photos. Helps you turn your pics into movies, posters, collages, and screen saver. I does basic photo fixes: remove red eye, adjust color and contrast, crop, and add visual effects. You can view photos info and RGB histogram using the EXIF display. Best of all is FREE. free, oh man I love that word. Take a look here. ~Rob. __________________ "If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough." -- Robert Capa

03-05-2006, 06:22 PM	#2
bearcat7777 1 life down, 8 lives left Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 3,487 Picture Attachments: 0 Video Attachments: 0 Credits: 100 Thanks: 0 Thanked 4 Times in 4 Posts	I've been using Picasa to manage all my photos for a year and a half now. And I've found it handy. It can sort photos by date or orgazine them by categories I have assigned. You can also assign stars to photos you think are important, and attach comments to your photos. It also handles photo editing, but I personally still use Photoshop. It does a decent enough job fixing contrast, brightness, tint, hue, and saturation. Or you can use the "I'm feeling lucky" button (which tends to overblow highlights but otherwise it does an amazing job for most images). It also has cropping capabilities. If you're using RAW (at least in my experience), Picasa is still a little rough around the edges. But at least you can see your RAW image before you send it over to your RAW editor of choice. The downsides are that its image sharpening is a tad too aggressive. Also the sizes at which it exports photos are hard coded, so you can't do a 760 pixel wide photo for example, you have to use the sizes it specifies, 640,800,1024. Unfortunately, it also saves it's internal database on the boot (C:\) drive, so if you are running low on space you can't just move it to another drive or partition too easily. On my computer the Picasa database is weighing in at 2.1Gb. On the upside, any edits you make to the photos are non-destructive. You can edit your photo to your hearts content, and undo it all without messing with the original file. I have over 90gb of images managed by Picasa so I can attest to it's ability to handle large collections. And I recommend it to friends and family all the time. Plus... it's free. __________________ » Assorted NYC Shots » NYC Shots Features » Assorted NYC Faces » Team NYC Shots

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03-06-2006, 10:17 AM	#3
archman Banned Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 3,520 Picture Attachments: 192 Video Attachments: 0 Credits: 100 Thanks: 0 Thanked 25 Times in 20 Posts	Hey Rob! Thanks for the tip. Hope things are going well for you. Also hope we get to see some more of your awesome photos soon (although I know you have your hands full )