1 Gloucester County Library System
Gloucester County Library System 2 DIGITAL PHOTO ORGANIZING AND EDITING USING PICASA 3.9 FROM GOOGLE
To Download the FREE Picasa 3.9 Program from Google G O T O T H E W E B S I T E H T T P : / / P I C A S A. G O O G L E. C O M 3 C L I C K O N T H E B U T T O N F O R D O W N L O A D P I C A S A 3. W H E N G I V E N T H E C H O I C E O F R U N O R S A V E, C L I C K R U N, W H I C H W I L L I M M E D I A T E LY I N S T A L L P I C A S A 3 O N Y O U R C O M P U T E R. Y O U W I L L B E G I V E N T H E O P P O R T U N I T Y T O M A K E T H E P I C A S A P H O T O V I E W E R Y O U R D E F A U L T V I E W E R. C L I C K O N O K. I F Y O U F I N D T H A T D O N T L I K E I T, Y O U C A N A L W AY S T U R N I T O F F L A T E R B Y O P E N I N G P I C A S A 3 A N D C L I C K I N G O N T O O L S C O N F I G U R E P H O T O V I E W E R D O N T U S E
Go to the website 4 http://picasa.google.com for Windows XP/Vista/7 http://picasa.google.com/mac/ For Mac OS X 10.4.9+ Requires Intel CPU Free photo editing software from Google, now with name tags.
Digital Photo Organizing and Editing 5 Click on the button for Download Picasa3. Download Picasa 3.9 for Windows XP/Vista/7
Thank you for downloading Picasa 3.9 (Your download should start automatically. If it doesn't, click here.) If you have a pop-up blocker on your computer, the download will not start automatically. (Note in the illustration above, there is a warning that Internet Explorer blocked this site from downloading. ) In that case, click on click here to get it going. You ll get the following dialog box: 6
Click on Run. After Picasa is downloaded to your computer, you ll see the following dialog box: Click on Run. The next step will be the License Agreement. You must click on I Agree to proceed. Your computer will then ask where you want to save the files (Choose Install Location). 7
Generally, the default (what you see already selected in the box in this case, C:\Program Files\Picasa2) is the best place, so you can go ahead and click on Install. You ll likely next get a Set-Up screen such as the one below: 8
You can select or de-select any of these options, depending upon your personal preferences. Once your selections are complete, click on Finish. 9
Assuming you left the checkbox for Run Picasa2 checked, Picasa will now open to this screen: 10
Finding Photos on Your Computer 11 W H E N Y O U I N S TA L L P I C A S A, J U S T C L I C K O N C O N T I N U E ( A S N O T E D O N T H E D I A G R A M A B O V E ), A N D I T I N S TA N T LY G O E S T O W O R K, O R G A N I Z I N G A L L T H E P I C T U R E S O N Y O U R H A R D D R I V E B Y D AT E I N T H E " F O L D E R S O N D I S K " C O L L E C T I O N. I F P I C A S A F I N D S F O L D E R S Y O U D O N ' T WA N T, G O I N T O T O O L S F O L D E R M A N A G E R T O T E L L I T W H I C H F O L D E R S T O S C A N O N C E, S C A N A LWAY S O R R E M O V E. T O R E M O V E I N D I V I D U A L P I C T U R E S F R O M Y O U R L I B R A RY, S I M P LY S E L E C T A P H O T O A N D R I G H T- C L I C K T O D E L E T E I T P E R M A N E N T LY F R O M Y O U R C O M P U T E R O R S I M P LY H I D E I T F R O M P I C A S A.
Digital Photo Organizing and Editing 12 Using Online Help The best way to start using Picasa3.9 is to first read the basic topics listed on the Picasa3.9 Help page. Open Picasa3.9, then click on Help Help Contents and Index (or simply press the F1 key at the top of your keyboard) and it will take you directly to the Picasa3 Help page.
Picasa Tabs 13
Picasa Tabs 14
Picasa Tabs 15
Picasa Tabs 16
Picasa Right click to see the tool bar. 17
Importing Basics: Add new photos You can use Picasa to import new photos and videos into a scanned folder - from a camera, CD/DVD, memory card, camera phone etc. - in a few simple steps. 18 Connect the camera (or memory card, CD/DVD, scanner, etc.) to your computer. In Picasa, click the Import button. Select the source of your new photos (e.g. your camera) from the 'Import from' drop-down menu at the top. Small thumbnail previews will display in the import tray, divided into groups based on the time in which they were taken. On your computer: Select the destination folder from the 'Import to' drop-down menu. Use the 'Folder title' drop down menu to automatically save in a new folder by date taken, today's date or a custom folder name. If you choose 'date taken,' your photos will be saved in separate folders by date. The 'Import to' section lets you choose where you'd like the photos to end up.
Picasa s Photo Tray 19 What is the Photo Tray (picture tray) and where is it? The Photo Tray is located at the bottom left of the Picasa screen. It displays the photo or photos you currently have selected. The Hold button allows a viewed photo to stick in the Photo Tray. This function is useful when selecting photos from multiple Folders or Albums. The Add To button allows you to add the selected photo or photos to an existing or new Album. The output options buttons (Web Album, Email, Print, Order Prints, Blog This, Collage, Export) perform their respective actions using the photos currently in the Photo Tray. The Clear button will remove your currently selection of photos from the Photo Tray. You will receive an "are you sure?" prompt before the Tray is cleared.
Picasa s Photo Tray Moving Photos 20
Moving and Renaming Photos 21 It s very easy to move photos from one folder to another using Picasa. Select a photo. With your mouse, drag and drop the photo to its new folder. To select more than one photo, hold down the Shift key on your keyboard as you select photos. If you move a photo into a different folder on disk, Picasa will remind you that you re about to move the actual file on your computer s hard drive. Click the OK button to move the photo to its new location. Note: Moving photos between folders in the Folders collection will affect their physical location on your hard drive.
Renaming Photos and Folders 22 To rename an individual photo : 1.Select the photo to be renamed. 2. Click "File." (Or access the rename option by pressing F2.) 3. Click "Rename. 4. Type in the new name for the photo. If you wish, you can add Date or Resolution data to the filename using the provided checkboxes. 5. Click "Rename." To rename a group of photos, do the following: 1.Select the photos you wish to rename. 2. Click "File." (Or access the rename option by pressing F2.) 3. Click "Rename. 4. Enter the common name you wish to use for this group of photos 5. Click "Rename." If you selected 12 photos from a family picnic and selected to rename them "picnic", the files will now be named 'picnic.jpg' through 'picnic-11.jpg'.
Using Tags to help find photos You can make it easy to find your photos by attaching Tags to identify the photo s subject matter. 23 Select one or more photos with a particular subject and then click on the Tag button (or press Ctrl T). You can then enter one or more subject names that you can later use to search for photos For example, Tag photos with the names of each person shown in the photo.
Basic Photo Editing Editing your photos is easy with Picasa! To begin editing a photo, find the photo on which you d like to work and double click to open it in the editing screen. 24
Editing Overview: Editing features 25 'Basic Fixes' tab: Make simple fixes to your photos. Fixes range from removing red-eye to cropping photos to one-click fixes for color and contrast. 'Tuning' tab: Use these advanced editing features to fix contrast and remove color cast. Adjust shadows and highlights to add some dimension to your photos or brighten up the foreground with fill light to salvage otherwise dark photos. 'Effects' tab: Choose from The effects range from simple filters such as black and white coloring and sharpening to more advanced photographic filters.
Photo Edits: 'Basic Fixes' features 26 Use Crop to better frame you photo or to cut out parts of a photo that you don't want to see. For example, you can crop your ex-girlfriend out of your holiday photos. Select a cropping dimension like 5x7, 8x10, or create and save your own custom crop dimension. Then drag and drop the cropping box directly over the photo. You can adjust your cropped area by clicking and dragging the corners of the box, all the while maintaining the same dimensions. You can also choose one of the three crop suggestions provided by Picasa. Click the Preview button to get a sneak peek at what your new shot will look like.
Photo Edits: 'Basic Fixes' features 27 Crop Use Crop to better frame you photo or to cut out parts of a photo that you don't want to see. For example, you can crop your exgirlfriend out of your holiday photos. Select a cropping dimension like 5x7, 8x10, or create and save your own custom crop dimension. Then drag and drop the cropping box directly over the photo. You can adjust your cropped area by clicking and dragging the corners of the box, all the while maintaining the same dimensions. You can also choose one of the three crop suggestions provided by Picasa. Click the Preview button to get a sneak peek at what your new shot will look like. Straighten You can straighten photos taken with an off-kilter camera. Use the slider to align the photo against the boxed grid and click Apply.
Photo Edits: 'Basic Fixes' features 28 Redeye The Redeye tool will automatically correct red eyes that it detects in your photos for any photo file type that Picasa supports. Click the Redeye button to have Picasa auto-correct your photo. Then click Apply to accept these changes. I'm feeling lucky This is the one-click fix. Picasa adjusts your photo's color and contrast to produce the ideal photo. You'll see a change only if your photo isn't already color-balanced. If you'd rather make the edit manually, please click the Reset button. Click, hold, and drag the mouse around each eye to select it; try to draw as small an area as possible for better results. Redeye will literally only remove the color red. Any eyes that appear yellow, white, or green due to flash issues will not be corrected.
Photo Edits: 'Basic Fixes' features 29 Auto Contrast Retouch Automatically set the brightness and contrast to optimal levels, while preserving a photo's color values. A great way to fix a flat photo Use the Retouch tool to remove unsightly blemishes and improve photo quality. It can also help you to restore old photos with marks, water stains, and scratches to excellent condition. Use the following steps: Auto Color Automatically remove color cast and restore the color balance, while preserving contrast and brightness values. Click the Retouch button. Click once to highlight the area you'd like to retouch. A few tips:
Photo Edits: 'Basic Fixes' features 30 Picnik Picnik was thrilled to announce they d joined the Google family Picnik is photo editing online, in your browser. It gives real people photo editing superpowers. It s fast, easy, and offers tons of powerful tools, artistic effects, stickers, frames, touch-ups, scrapbooking tools and more. And that s all for free.
Picnik Basic Edits 31
Picnik Effects 32
Picnik Decorate 33
Picnik Text 34
Text Quickly and easily add text on top of your pictures. Once you click the Text tool, just click anywhere on your photo and type your desired text. You can edit the style, size, and angle of the text, as well as drag it to your desired location. Click Apply to accept the edit. A few tips: Use the Copy Caption button to insert any previously existing caption as text on the photo. 35 After you've applied text to a single photo, you can bulk apply that text to multiple photos in a single folder or album by using the Copy Text and Paste Text options available under the Edit menu. Fill Light At times, photos with bright backgrounds can darken or compromise the subject detail. Use the slider to add light to the foreground of photos, making them more balanced. Also, try the Tuning tab for additional lighting options.
Photo Edits: Tuning' tab features Fill Light 36 Highlights At times, photos with bright backgrounds can darken or compromise important details in the photo. Add fill light to the foreground of photos, making them more balanced. Increase the highlights to amplify the bright spots of your photograph. It can help make the whites in your composition more vibrant.
Photo Edits: Tuning' tab features Shadows Darken the shadows in your photo to provide additional depth or contrast. Use this in conjunction with the 37 Highlights slider to add contrast to a flat-looking photo.
Photo Edits: Tuning' tab features Color Temperature 38 Neutral Color Picker Make your photos warmer by sliding the ticker to the right. This can make your colors more vivid and help bring to life the composition of your photograph. Tell Picasa which part of your photo it should treat as gray or white. Photo Lab will then use that selection to balance the colors in the photo.
Photo Edits: Tuning' tab features Auto Color Fix 39 Undo/Redo Click this magic wand to have Picasa automatically remove color cast and restore the color balance, while preserving contrast and brightness values. These two buttons, only active when there are unsaved edits on the photo, undo and redo your edits in the order they were applied.
Photo Edits: 'Effects' tab features Sharpen 40 Sepia Make the edges of objects in your photos crisper and less fuzzy. Use the slider to adjust the level of sharpness. Learn more about sharpening images. Give your image an 'oldfashioned' effect. Sepia toning began as a printing method in the 1880s, and you can use this tool to digitally reproduce its effect. Your image will be re-cast in a reddish brown tone.
Photo Edits: 'Effects' tab features Black and White 41 Warmify Give your image a historic or nostalgic effect. Turn any color photo into a black and white photo. The stark contrasts can enhance your subject matter. Warm up a cool photo, improving skin tones. For a more manual control, see the Color Temperature slider on the Tuning tab
Photo Edits: 'Effects' tab features Film Grain 42 Tint Add a 'grainy' film look to any photo. Digital photography doesn't naturally exhibit film grain, but this tool allows you to simulate it. The effect can be subtle, but it looks great when you print. Strip the color out of your photo and apply a colored tint over the top.
Photo Edits: 'Effects' tab features Saturation 43 Soft Focus Use the slider to adjust color saturation. Slide it all the way to the left to make the picture black and white. Slide it all the way to the right to make it appear 'radio-active.' Soften the focus around a center point that you select. Use the sliders to control the size of the focused area and also the amount of softness applied.
Photo Edits: 'Effects' tab features Glow Brightens the white areas of a photo, causing a dreamy effect. Use the sliders to control the intensity of the glow and also it's shining radius 44 Filtered Black and White Add the effect of shooting black and white film with a color filter. The filter blocks or enhances certain colors in the photo depending on the color filter you choose.
Photo Edits: 'Effects' tab features 45
Saving Edits: Saving photos 46 Saving Your Changes Picasa3 automatically keeps track of your photo edits even if you don t save your changes. Any unsaved changes, however, cannot be seen by any program other than Picasa3.9. So if you make a change to a photo in Picasa3.9 without saving it, and then open that photo in a different program to print, email, or copy it, that other program will see only the original photo without the edits you made in Picasa3.9 For that reason, it is best to always save you changes. Just click on File Save after you make any changes in Picasa3.9 You can save individually after each photo you edit, or just let your changes accumulate until you have edited multiple photos in a folder, then select them all at one time using Edit Select All and click on File Save to save all of them at one time.
Exporting From Picasa: Exporting photos 47 Export If you'd like to easily create edited copies of a large number of pictures, you can export your photos to a location of your choice. When you export your photos, you can resize your photos and control the JPEG compression level when applying photo edits. Use the Export tool in Picasa to resize your photos or to otherwise create copies of your photos with all edits applied. When you export a photo in Picasa, you're creating a new copy of that photo with control over both the image resolution (the height and width of the image measured in pixels) and the image quality (JPEG compression). The original photo on your hard drive is never altered. Follow these steps to export copies of your photos:
Exporting From Picasa: Exporting photos 48 Select the photos you'd like to export. Click the Export button in the Photo Tray. In the 'Export to Folder' window, select your export settings: Choose an export location and enter a name for the exported folder. Customize your exported image size and quality: Image size options: You can choose between using the photo's original size or selecting a custom pixel size using the slider. The number of pixels you select with this slider determines the length or height of your photo (whichever is longer). The other dimension is determined automatically to maintain the aspect ratio of the photo.
Exporting From Picasa: Exporting photos Image quality: Select desired image quality for your photo using the Image Quality drop-down menu Automatic: Preserves the original image quality 49 You can choose to add a watermark to all of your exported photos. Click OK. Normal: Balances quality and size Maximum: Preserves fine detail for large file sizes Minimum: Yields some quality loss for small file sizes Your exported images are now saved on your hard drive in the location you specified. In Picasa, you can find these photos in the 'Exported Pictures' collection. Custom: Enables you to select your own value
Folders 50 Enter a description. You can also modify the folder s date, place taken, or description. Any descriptive information you add will be searchable in Picasa. Click the OK button. Changing the name of a folder in Picasa will change the name of the actual folder on your computer s hard drive. Double-click On the title of any folder to open the Folder Properties box Making an Album You can use albums to group and organize photos based on your own criteria and identified by a simple word or title. For example, you can create a album called Flowers to group all of your flower photos.
Create a new album There are several ways to do this. (1) Click on the Blue Create a New Album icon in the upper left, just above the Album listing. In the "Album Properties box, give your album a name; fill in the other information if you like. Click on OK. The album is ready for you to add photos. (2) Select one or more photos. Select File > New Album to create a new album in Picasa containing the selected photo(s). (3) You can do the same thing by choosing a photo, clicking the Add to button to the right of the Photo Tray, and selecting New Album on the popup list. 51 Add a photo to an existing album. The same photo can be assigned to many albums in Picasa. Select a photo, click the "Add to button to the right of the Photo Tray, and select an existing album from the popup list. Change an album description. Doubleclick on the title of any album to open the Album Properties box. Enter a new description for the album. You can also modify the album s date, place taken, or description. Any descriptive information you add will be searchable in Picasa. When you re done, click the OK button.
Create a new album Delete a photo from an album. Select a photo. Right-click with your mouse and select Remove from Album in the context menu or press the Delete key on your keyboard. Note: Deleting a photo from an album does not delete the original file from your computer s hard drive. Rearrange photos in an album or between albums. Click and drag a photo to change its order within a album or drag it into another album to add it to that album. This doesn t affect the order in which the original files are stored on your computer. Note: An album in Picasa is not the same as a Picasa Web Album. The Album collection does not show you the photos you may have uploaded to the web. 52 Viewing Photos in a slideshow You can easily view all the photos in a folder as a slide show on your computer. Select the desired folder or album. Click on Slideshow in the toolbar near the top.
Adding a Caption! 53 Start by adding a caption! At the bottom of the picture you ll see the words Make a caption! If you click on these words, they disappear and you can type in whatever caption you d like. When you re done, just click somewhere outside the caption area to set your caption. If you decide you don t like what you ve typed, click on your caption and try again. To the left of your caption, you ll see a small white box that allows you to toggle between showing or hiding your caption; to the right of the your caption, there is a small trash can: click on this to completely delete your caption quickly. When you create captions for your photos, they're saved along with the photos and stay with them, even when you upload them, export them, or send them by email. However, your captions will only be displayed in Picasa, Picasa Web Albums, and other IPTC compatible programs.
Add name tags in Picasa Picasa's face-matching technology lets you organize your photos according to the people in them. Name tags are turned on by default, so the first time you open Picasa, it will scan your photos for new faces. This can take a while, but while it's running in the background you can start tagging them. Just follow these steps: 54 Make sure you're signed into your Google Account Click Sign in to Web Albums at the top right of Picasa. This lets you add name tags faster by accessing your Google contacts. Add name tags in bulk or a few photos at a time. In bulk: Click on the 'Unnamed People' album in the 'People' collection to see all unnamed faces from your photos in the one place. Faces are grouped by similarity, so adding a name will apply it to all the faces in that group.
Sharing Photos with Friends and Family Emailing Photos using Picasa3.9 You can use Picasa3.9 to email photos using either the free Gmail program from Google, Or whatever is the default email program on your computer. When emailing photos, Picasa3.9 will automatically reduce the size of the photos 55 Automatically Resize Photos Even if you don t use Outlook Express or Gmail for email, you can still use Picasa3.9 to automatically reduce the size of photos that you plan to email. Just create a folder on your computer with a name such as Resized. Then in Picasa3 you can select the photos you want to email and click on the Export button. This will open a window where you select the destination folder, which will be your Resized folder, and you can use the slider to determine what size the photos are to be reduced to. Once they have been exported, open your email program and attach the photos from the Resized folder.
Printing at Home: Printing at home - the basics 56 When printing photos at home, it's possible to adjust layout, borders, captions, and printer settings, among other elements. Follow these steps to print your photos: Select the photos that you'd like to print. Click the Print button in your Photo Tray. On the next page, customize your printed photos: Select a print layout for your photos. For photos that are too big for the page, select whether you'd like to shrink them or automatically crop them to fit the page. Choose whether you'd like to add borders and captions to your printed pictures. Picasa uses your Windows printer settings. Click the Printer and Printer Setup buttons to adjust paper size, orientation, and print quality (Dots Per Inch - DPI). To print multiple copies of a photo on a page, use the - and + buttons for the 'Copies per Photo' setting. If you change your mind about printing a selected photo, click the Review button at the bottom of the screen. Select the photo you want to remove from the page you're printing, then click the Remove selected button. Click OK when you're done.
Printing at Home: Printing text and borders with photos When printing photos, you can choose to include borders, filenames, captions, and EXIF information. On the 'Print' screen, click the Border and Text Options button to access your settings. 57 Border Adjust the border width, color, and placement of your pictures. To activate all the border options, adjust the slider to provide some border width. Captions You have several options for printing captions: Choose to display the filename, caption, or EXIF information of the photo. Choose to display the caption on or below the image, or on the border you've set. Set the font, size, and color of the caption text. If your caption is too long, you can choose to 'Wrap text.' While you're editing the border and text settings, click Apply to preview how the font and format changes, and click OK to accept the changes.
Printing at Home: Multiple pictures per page When printing photos in Picasa, the size of the print you've selected determines how many prints you can fit on each page: Size Images per page 9 Wallet 3.5 x 5 4 4 x 6 2 5 x 7 1 8 x 10 1 Full page 58 Cropping versus shrinking to fit When printing your photos, you have two options for how your photo appears within the selected print dimension: Crop to Fit: This option crops your photo to match the selected print dimension. If you've chosen 8 x 10 as your print size, your photo will be cropped to ensure that this entire space is filled. Shrink to Fit: This preserves the original dimension of your photos for printing. These photos won't necessarily conform to your chosen print layout size.
Ordering Prints and Products: Ordering prints Picasa provides convenient print ordering options from a variety of print vendors in the U.S. and abroad. If you would like to order prints through Picasa, please follow these steps: 59 Sign in using your username and password for that particular site. This is not the same as your Google Account for Picasa Web Albums. If you don't have an account with that vendor, click the 'Create an account' link in the window. Select the photos you'd like to print. Click the file button. Select your location from the drop-down menu on the left side of the screen. If your country isn't listed, we don't currently have any print partners in your location. Once you sign in, Picasa transfers your selected photos to the print processor's website. Follow the instructions located on the website to complete your order. Click the Choose button for the vendor that you wish to use.
Thank You! We hope this Class was helpful. Remember to run updates on all programs Gloucester County Library System Freeholder Director Robert M. Damminger 60 Freeholder Library Liaison Lyman Barnes