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Picasa editing software
By Gail Bjork
I've been using Picasa before the software was purchased by Google. And while I do a lot of image editing with Photoshop, I often use Picasa for family and social photos -- and I take lots!
I've recommend Picasa to many others who have no desire to fuss with, or pay for, image editing programs that have more features than they they'll ever need.
Picasa seems to be a play on the name of the famous artist, Picasso. If so, it is quite appropriate as the software interface is both artistic and even dazzling.
Picasa is a delightfully easy way to organize, edit and share photos. It's basic, yet goes beyond the basics of the basic photo editing software that is ususally bundled with a digital camera.
What I like about Picasa
- Free!
- Easily upload images and video to Picasa Web Albums, free online web hosting.
- Beautiful and elegant interface including slideshow and timeline.
- Very intuitive and straightforward navigation.
- Excellent set of easy to use editing tools and filters.
- Robust set of features including labeling photos with keywords and star ratings, emailing images from within the program, Geotagging photos, creating Photo CDs and backups, support for RAW files and more.
- Manually set the program to "watch" specified image folders on your computer hard drive.
What I dislike about Picasa
- Can't fade most filters and effects such as sharpening.
- Can't permanently set your preferred size to upload images. Must manually select settings each session.
Picasa is included in the free Google pack:
Related reading: Picasa Web Albums