Picasa 3 - Logiciel audio/vidéo GOOGLE - Free user manual and instructions

USER MANUAL Picasa 3 GOOGLE

Google Picasa 3: The Basics

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Windows

©2009

About IT Training & Education

The University Information Technology Services (UITS) IT Training & Education program at Indiana University offers instructor-led computing workshops and self-study training resources to the Indiana University community and beyond. We deliver training to more than 30,000 participants annually across all Indiana University campuses. Our staff is comprised of enthusiastic professionals who enjoy developing and teaching computing workshops. We appreciate your feedback and use it to improve our workshops and expand our offerings. We have received several international awards for our materials and they are being used at universities across the country. Please keep your questions, comments and suggestions coming!

In Bloomington, contact us at [e-mail] or call us at [phone].

In Indianapolis, contact us at [e-mail] or call us at [phone].

For the most up-to-date information about workshops and schedules, visit us at:

http://ittraining.iu.edu/

Copyright 2009 - The Trustees of Indiana University

These materials are for personal use only and may not be copied or distributed. If you would like to use our materials for self-study or to teach others, please contact us at: IT Training & Education, 2711 East 10th Street, Bloomington, IN 47408-2671, phone: [phone]. All rights reserved.

The names of software products referred to in these materials are claimed as trademarks of their respective companies or trademark holders.

Contents

Welcome and Introduction....1

What You Should Already Know . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

What You Will Learn 1

What You Will Need to Use These Materials ..... 1

Getting Started....2

Today's Project. 3

Viewing the Results 3

Accessing the Exercise Files. 5

Launching Windows Explorer 5

Typing a Pathname in the Address Field. 5

Copying the Exercise Files to the Hard Drive ..... 6

Managing Pictures with Google Picasa 6

Choosing Picasa Options. 7

Using Folder Manager to Add and Remove Folders. . . 9

Viewing the Flat Folder Structure .....13

Viewing the Folder Tree Structure .....14

Customizing Picasa Albums ..... 15

Creating a Custom Album ..... 15

Assigning a Picture to an Album....17

Moving a Picture in Picasa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Putting More Pictures into Albums .....20

Changing Picture Names in Picasa. . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Changing a View in the Picasa Lightbox ..... 23

Rotating a Picture in the Lightbox .....24

Viewing and Editing Pictures in Picasa .....25

Straightening a Picture in Picasa....26

Adjusting the Fill Light in Picasa .....27

Using Auto Color in Picasa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Using Auto Contrast in Picasa Basic Fixes .....28

Saving a Picture in Picasa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Fine-Tuning a Picture in Picasa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Increasing the Contrast Using the Shadows Tool . . 33

Viewing a Picture at Actual Size. . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Using the Neutral Color Picker for Color Tones. . . 35

Printing in Picasa. 38

Correcting More Photo Defects .....40

Correcting Red Eye in Picasa .....40

Using the Tuning Tools in Picasa .....43

Cropping an Image in Picasa....44

Emailing an Image in Picasa .....46

Emailing an Image from Picasa: Demonstration. . . 47

Saving an Image for Email or Web .....48

Wrapping Up. 52

Contributions to These Materials .....52

Appendix: Getting Your Pictures from the Camera to the Computer. 53

Welcome and Introduction

Welcome to Google Picasa 3: The Basics.

What You Should Already Know

You should have already attended Windows: The Basics or have the equivalent skills. Specifically, you should be able to:

• use a mouse fluently, including press and drag functions
• create folders and manage files in Windows interface

What You Will Learn

This workshop introduces techniques for editing and managing digital photos using Google Picasa, and provides hands-on practice with how to:

• organize a group of images
• straighten an image
• crop an image
• correct red eye
  • correct poor exposure, lighting, and focus
• check for resolution and dimensions
• save images for print, email, or the web

What You Will Need to Use These Materials

To complete this workshop successfully, you will be provided with:

• the use of Google Picasa 3
- the exercise files in the Digital Photos folder: _DSC00481.jpg, _DSC05160.jpg, _DSC00482.jpg, including subfolders: Belgium, British Isles, France, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland.

Getting Started

These materials presume you will begin work from the desktop, and have any required exercise files located in an epclass folder there.

Getting the Exercise Files

Most of our workshops use exercise files, listed at the bottom of page 1 of the materials. In our computer-equipped classrooms, these files are located in the epclass folder, which should already be on the computer desktop. If you are using our materials in a different location, you may obtain the exercise files and detailed installation instructions from our Web site at:

http://ittraining.iu.edu/workshops/files/

Once you are logged on and have the needed files in an epclass folder on your desktop, you are ready to proceed with the rest of the workshop.

Finding Help

If you have computer-related questions not answered in these materials, you may look for the answers in the UITS Knowledge Base, located at:

http://kb.iu.edu/

Want to Learn More?

IT Training & Education offers many training options for extending your skills beyond this workshop:

- Self-study training: You may access computer-based training from leading commercial vendors, obtain the materials for other STEPS workshops, or access IT Training's own tutorials on a range of topics at:

http://ittraining.iu.edu/online/

- IT Training Tips weblog: Our blog has short tutorials and training posts on a broad range of topics and technologies. It’s written by training and support providers from across the entire IU system; you may read and comment on these at:

http://ittrainingtips.iu.edu/

Today's Project

With recent advances in digital photography, a growing number of hobbyist photographers are now using digital cameras. Since most people take simple pictures to share photos of family, friends, and vacation spots, the appeals of digital photography are many. We appreciate the ability to instantly see all newly taken photographs while they are still in the camera, because this enables us to keep just the ones we want. We can rapidly send vacation pictures home to friends and relatives, or print them to our own compact photo printers without taking them to a lab. We can also use computer software to organize, enhance, and correct our photos.

For this workshop, we will assume the persona of a traveler who has just returned home from a wide-ranging trip to Europe. While touring, we snapped a variety of pictures with a digital camera. Now, we have a collection of images of interesting places and people we met along the way. They have been transferred to the computer and placed into folders. We will need to print and email several of them. Before we do so, we will make them look their best. As we correct problems in our pictures, we will learn how to prepare them to share with others in several formats: print, email, web, and slide show.

For these tasks, we will be working with Google Picasa. Google Picasa is a free application that makes it easy to organize and improve pictures while working in a simple environment. We have chosen Picasa because it works well without damaging our photos, it is simple to use and is free. However, there are many more photo management applications available. Once a person has learned how to apply common techniques in one of the applications, these skills can be adapted to other photo-editing software.

Viewing the Results

Although it's very common to take pictures that are crooked or badly exposed, it is often surprising how a mediocre picture may be fine-tuned to perfection. Accordingly, before we get started, we will look at “before and after” views of the pictures to be improved in the workshop. Let’s open them now.

1. Launch a browser on your computer.

The browser opens. Now we need to open the photo comparison file.

1. Open the following location in the browser:

http://ittraining.iu.edu/workshops/picba/comparison.htm

The file opens. There are small images on the right and corresponding enlarged images in a larger pane:

Google Picasa: The Basics After presented by: Picocd... Barcelona fountain ("Before" version a park and crooked: "after" is light and straight.) First: Previous Picture (Next Picture Last)

We are looking at the first image we will correct. The original on the left is dark and crooked, and the right-hand one contains the corrections we will make.

1. To view the corrected image, above the main picture,

Next Picture link

We see the original and what the picture will look like when we correct it.

1. To view more originals and their corrected images, repeat step 3 as many times as needed.

We can now see how it is possible to turn some apparently ruined original photos into attractive images. We also notice that some quite presentable originals may be dramatically improved by editing. After we have completed the process, we will make a slide show of our pictures. Now that we see all that we can accomplish, let's get started.

1. Close the browser window.

Accessing the Exercise Files

The exercise files we will use today are located in a folder named Digital Photos, which is on a network server. Before we begin, we will use Windows Explorer to access the location of these files and place them on our local computer.

Launching Windows Explorer

Let's open Windows Explorer with a keyboard shortcut.

1. To open Windows Explorer, press:

Windows Explorer opens the My Computer window:

Between the toolbar and the Folder List is an Address field, which contains the text, "My Computer." We can use this Address field as a quick method to find the files we need.

Typing a Pathname in the Address Field

In Windows, we can gain access to files or folders on any networked computer to which we have privileges by entering the pathname of the files into the Address field. A pathname is the unique address of a given file or folder. It generally includes the computer's name, the folder's directory name, and the file's name.

Let's type the pathname of our exercise files now.

1. To position the cursor in the Address field,

1. To enter the pathname of the exercise files, in the Address field of the My Computer window, type:

\iu-uits-storage\Groups\iuep\class Enter

NOTE: Only the workshop demonstration accounts have privileges to access this folder. If you are logged in as another type of user, this method will not work. Instead, skip this section, Accessing the Exercise Files, and follow the directions for getting the class exercises on page 2 of these materials.

The Class window is displayed. The Digital Photos folder is in the folder area.

Now that we see the Digital Photos folder, we need to move it into the correct folder on our local hard drive.

Copying the Exercise Files to the Hard Drive

We'll copy the Digital Photos folder from the open window to the epclass folder on the desktop. Once the files are on our hard drive, we can work with them.

To copy the folder from the window into the epclass folder on the desktop, we need to see them both.

1. To view both the Digital Photos folder in the Class window and the epclass folder on the desktop,

the Class window's Title bar until the epclass folder is visible on the desktop

1. To copy the Digital Photos folder to the epclass folder, in the window,

Digital Photos folder on top of

epclass

NOTE: When the folder turns dark, and the cursor displays a plus sign the mouse may be released.

The Digital Photos folder is now in the epclass folder. We are ready to start working with the files.

Managing Pictures with Google Picasa

We will work with our European travel photos in Google's free product, Picasa. Picasa provides us with a powerful photo organizer and it includes many tools to improve and enhance digital photos. Picasa is a product made specifically for the Windows environment, and is also available for Linux. To learn more, visit:

http://www.picasa.com

Before we open any photos to edit, we need to view them as a group. We will open Google Picasa and begin to configure it to display our photos.

Choosing Picasa Options

If this is the first time Picasa has been launched, there may be a series of setup options.

1. Launch Picasa from the Start menu.

Depending on whether this is the very first time Picasa has been launched, you may see the following window. The first time Picasa opens, it will offer you the choice of scanning all photos or just the photos in several folders:

Picasa Picasa is ready to scan for pictures on your computer Completely scan my computer for pictures Choose this option if you have pictures stored in various folders across your computer, especially if you have pictures stored on more than one hard drive. Only scan My Documents, My Pictures, and the Desktop Choose this option if you only store your pictures in the above folders. Scanning for pictures never moves or copies files to new locations. You can choose which folders are displayed by Picasa by using the Folder Manager tool (available from the Tool menu) Continue

With this screen, Picasa gives us limited choices on what photos to view. For today's project, we don't want to see all photos on the computer. Instead, we would like to concentrate on just the images in our project. Accordingly, after we leave this set of options, we will be setting Picasa to display only the European vacation pictures.

NOTE: If Picasa has already been opened once, this option may not appear.

1. If necessary, to set Picasa to scan only My Documents, My Pictures, and the Desktop, if necessary,

Click Only scan My Documents, My Pictures, and the Desktop, Click Continue

NOTE: If Picasa has already been opened once, this step will not be available.

If this step was activated, images begin loading in, the Picasa Library appears, and some small images appear.

Next, also depending on whether this is the first time Picasa has been launched, we may see a dialog box that asks if we want to help improve the product by sending anonymous usage statistics to Google:

Usage Statistics Help improve Picasa Would you like to help make Picasa even better by automatically sending anonymous usage stats to Google? Privacy... Yes, send statistics No, thank you

NOTE: If Picasa has already been opened once, this option may not appear.

We will choose not to send statistics to Google.

1. If necessary, to decline the option,

Next, a new window may open, asking if we want to use Picasa as a photo viewer:

Photo Viewer Configuration Picasa Picasa now includes a fast, powerful photo viewer for when you want to view photos directly from Windows Explorer Use Picasa Photo Viewer as the default viewer for these file types: JPG (Windows Photo Gallery) TIF, TIFF (Adobe Photoshop CS4) BMP (Adobe Photoshop CS4) GIF (Internet Explorer) PNG (Adobe Filmworks CS4) JGA (Adobe Photoshop CS4) RAW Formats (Adobe Photoshop CS4) Default Select All Select None Don't use Picasa Photo Viewer Finish

NOTE: If Picasa has already been opened once, this option may not appear.

On our home computer, it might be nice to take advantage of this handy photo viewer that allows us to easily view photos in large format from Windows Explorer. However, we will not use the Picasa photo viewer today.

1. If necessary, to decline the Picasa Photo Viewer,

Click Don't use Picasa Photo Viewer, Click Finish

We are now ready to get started with Picasa.

Using Folder Manager to Add and Remove Folders

To keep the organizational structure of your photos simple, it is best to keep photos in a main photo folder, and then organize the main folder into subfolders.

By using the Picasa Folder Manager, we can choose which locations on our computer Picasa will monitor for photo files. Picasa allows us to add or remove folders to be viewed. Let's instruct Picasa to access only the photographs from our European vacation.

1. To add a folder and subfolders to Picasa, from the Menu Bar,

Click Tools, Click Folder Manager...

We see the Folder Manager window:

Folder Manager Folder List Desktop My Pictures My Documents X:\ X:\ R:\ X:\ For each folder, you can choose whether or not to have Picasso find pictures made it. You can also pick folders to watch for new pictures. For the current folder Scan Once Remove from Picasso Scan Always Watched Folders Path Desktop My Documents My Pictures My Videos OK Cancel Help

The left side of this dialog box contains the Folder List, which offers us a list of folders. On the right are three radio buttons that will set Picasa to scan or remove whichever folders we select on the left. There are three states we can set for each folder location:

Choice Action
Scan Once Scans	all compatible image types once; will not detect new photos added to this folder.
Remove from Picasa	Will never scan the selected location.
Scan Always Actively scans this folder for changes; accesses all compatible image types and also all newly added photos.

The files we want to work with are in the epclass folder on the desktop. First, to streamline things, we want to eliminate every picture on our computer from Picasa. Then after all have been eliminated, we will tell Picasa to scan only the European pictures.

1. To deselect the entire Desktop as a watched folder, in the Folder List,

Click Desktop, Click Remove from Picasa

The Confirm Remove Watched Folder appears:

Confirm Remove Watched Folder If you remove a watched folder, new items that you add to that folder on disk will not be automatically added to Picasa. Are you sure you want to do this? Yes No

1. To confirm removal,

A large, red X appears next to the Desktop folder, indicating that the Desktop images won't be scanned:

+...X Desktop

In a moment, we'll tell Picasa to return to this folder and scan only the pictures in the European vacation folder. Before we do that, we want to tell Picasa not to scan the My Pictures or My Documents folders, because we won't be using those folders today, either.

1. To remove My Pictures from the scanned photos, in the Folder List,

graph LR
    A["Click"] --> B["My Pictures"]
    B --> C["Click"]
    C --> D["Remove from Picasa"]
    D --> E["Yes"]

We see the large red X appear next to the My Pictures folder. Now, we want to quickly give instructions not to scan My Documents.

1. To remove the My Documents folder, in the Folder List,

Click My Documents, Click Remove from Picasa, Click Yes

There may be one more folder we need to remove. Some computers display My Videos in the Watched Folders area, in the lower part of the window.

1. If necessary, to remove My Videos, in the Watched Folders area of the window,

Click My Videos, Click Remove from Picasa, Click Yes

Now that all pictures have been deselected, we want to return to the epclass folder and make sure only the folders we want will be scanned.

1. To navigate to the folders containing the European vacation pictures, in the Folder List,

locate the epclass folder on your computer, Click next to Desktop, Click next to epclass

We can now see the Digital Photos folder listed below.

1. To select the Digital Photos folder and everything inside,

Click next to Digital Photos

Now that we have located the vacation folder, we want Picasa to scan it any time anything new is added.

1. To tell Picasa to scan it always, in the right side of the Folder Manager dialog box,

the "Scan Always" radio button

The path of the folder appears in the Watched Folders section, beneath:

Folder Manager Folder List × update × ACC_Basics × ACC_Forms × ACC_Queries × ACC_Relationships × ACC_Raports × Access Design × Acrobat_Collaborative × Acrobat_Enhancing × Acrobat_Forms × ActionScript Basics × Advanced Forms × CASCM × CASSM × Cling Web Resources × CSS Basics × daBears ○ Digital Photos ○ Dreamweaver_CSS ○ Dreamweaver_NayTempMed ○ Excel Advanced Macros ○ Excel Macros For each folder, you can choose whether or not to have Please find pictures inside it. You can also pick folders to watch for new pictures. For Desktop\ep... (Digital Photos) ✓ Scan Once ✗ Remove from Picasso ● Scan Always Watched Folders Path □ Desktop\epclass\Digital Photos\ OK Cancel Help

1. To finish and view the photos,

We are returned to the Picasa window. As Picasa scans all the pictures within the epclass folder, images appear in the window, organized into divisions. This is Picasa's organizer, called the Library:

Library Tools Folder List Photo Tray Lightbox Folder Separators Status Bar Output Options

The Library gives us previews of images and provides a number of tools. The Library is separated into several sections:

Section Function
Lightbox Displays	thumbnail views of pictures at different sizes
Library Tools Used	to add pictures to the Library, view and find pictures, make a slideshow, and burn pictures to CD
Folder List Displays	folders that contain images
Photo Tray Used	to collect images to be printed, published to web, emailed, or put in slide shows
Output Options Perform	forms actions on photos in the Photo Tray, such as printing or emailing
Folder Separator Separates the Lightbox pictures into respective folders
Status Bar Displays	information about active folder or picture

Now, we want to organize these pictures.

Viewing the Flat Folder Structure

In the Folder List, Picasa is showing us six folders with names of countries. They are divided into sections according to date. Digital cameras integrate calendar information with each picture, so these displayed dates have been picked up from that picture data.

Because people may have accumulated a complex or jumbled set of image folders, some prefer to view their photo folders by date. However, some of these folders say that the pictures were taken back in 1980. This shows us that during one of our excursions, we forgot to set our camera's date after we inserted its battery.

Many digital camera owners forget to reset the date or neglect to make date and time settings. Regardless of whether they have been configured correctly or not, digital cameras store a date and time in an encoded segment of every digital image file called metadata. Metadata is a set of information that describes the date a photograph was taken and details of the camera settings. We will look more closely at metadata later in this workshop and learn how to re-label pictures in a number of ways.

Viewing the Folder Tree Structure

Since our dates are all out of order and because most people are comfortable with the Windows folder structure, we will use Picasa's conventional folder structure to work with our photos. Picasa can organize folders in various ways. We can view our photos using either the flat folder structure, which we see here, or the folder tree structure, which is the same structure that Windows Explorer uses. In addition, we can use special labels that allow us to organize photos and files according to any category we want.

Let's work with the folder tree structure.

1. To activate the folder tree structure, at the top of the Folder List,

We see the My Computer folder in the Folder List in the Library pane:

Folders (12) My Computer (104) Desktop (104)

We no longer see the pictures in the Lightbox, because the folders are collapsed.

1. To view the European vacation pictures,

locate and -Double Click epclass, -Double Click Digital Photos

Here are the six folders arranged by country that we will use today. In the Lightbox, pictures are grouped according to their respective folders. Let's move through these pictures to view them.

1. To select the France folder,

1. To scroll to see more pictures, on the keyboard, press:

The space bar moves us down in small increments.

1. To scroll down to the next folder, on the keyboard, press:

1. To return to the previous folder, on the keyboard, press:

1. Repeat steps 5 and 6 as many times as it takes to view the contents of several folders.

NOTE: To scroll the view a shorter distance, a picture and press or . With a specific picture selected, pressing with these keys moves the view up or down to the next folder.

We can see that there are many interesting pictures of places, people, and animals. Let's return to the France folder.

1. To go all the way back to the top, on the keyboard, press:

The France folder pictures are now in view.

Customizing Picasa Albums

We will be working across several folders today, so it may be helpful to organize some of our pictures by subject, instead of by country. That way, we won't have to dig through so many folders to find just the pictures we want. An Album is a place to organize pictures that makes them easy to find. When we make an Album, we create a special place for pictures that we can arrange in any scheme we deem best, regardless of which folders pictures are stored in. To see the contents of an Album, we only have to click it once and it displays all the pictures we put there, even though they are contained in various folders. In fact, one picture may belong to several Albums at a time.

Creating a Custom Album

In this workshop, we will be creating only one special Album to contain people. However, if we had more time, we could create even more albums. For example, based on our collection of European photos, we might think of making Albums such as Castles and Animals.

Let's create a People Album in Picasa, which will contain photos of people we met in Europe.

1. To create a People Album, in the Library Tools section,

An Album Properties dialog box appears:

Album Properties Name: Untitled Date: 4/ 9/2009 Automatic Date Place Taken (optional): Description (optional): Use Music for Slideshow and Movie presentation None Browse...

1. To name the new album, in the Name field, type:

People

Here, we could type in some more characteristics, but in this case the subject matter is explanatory enough.

1. To create the new Album,

Now we want to see the new Album.

1. To expand the Albums, if necessary, in the Folder List,

Click Albums (1)

NOTE: When the Album section is expanded, the People Album is visible under the section header.

We see the new People Album, and we may also see some default Albums.

Assigning a Picture to an Album

This set of pictures contains several photos of people we met in Europe.

Because we will be editing some of these pictures, we want to find a way to quickly access them. Therefore, we will put all the pictures of people into the People Album.

Let's find the first person in the group of pictures.

1. To find the first instance of a person, in the Folder List,

Spain (15)

1. To see more pictures in the folder, on the scroll bar at the right,

Click

NOTE: Clicking the upper arrow once moves the window in a small increment. Clicking the lower arrow once moves the entire window to the next folder.

The very last picture in the Spain folder is one of a father and son we happened to meet at the zoo in Zurich. We can see that it has been incorrectly placed in the Spain folder. Hence, we will need to do two things with it. First, we will put it into the People Album and then we will move it into the Switzerland folder.

1. To assign the picture of the father and son to the People Album, in the Lightbox,

Right Click Click Add to Alarm, Click People

We cannot see any change in the picture, but soon we will see that it will be viewable by activating the People Album.

Moving a Picture in Picasa

Now that we have assigned the father and son to the People Album, we will divert our attention from our Album-populating task long enough to put this picture into the Switzerland folder where it belongs.

1. To move the father and son picture to the Switzerland folder,

Press &Drag Switzerland (28)

NOTE: When the Switzerland folder label turns dark, the picture is being added to it.

The Confirm Move dialog box appears:

Confirm Move Are you sure you want to move the file(s) to Desktop\epclass\Digital Photos\Switzerland\ ? Yes No

1. To finish moving the picture,

We believe the picture is now in the Switzerland folder. Let's make sure it landed there.

1. To move to the Switzerland folder, in the Folder List,

These preview pictures are so big they prohibit us from seeing them all. We need to fit more pictures in this window.

1. To zoom out, in the Output Options panel,

Now that we have changed our view, we seem to have lost our place in the Lightbox. We need to return to the Switzerland group.

1. To view all the contents of the Switzerland folder,

We see that the family picture taken in the Zurich zoo is now in the correct folder. However, the job of tracking it down in this folder was a bit bothersome. Perhaps this picture would be more convenient to find again if it were located in the top row. That way, when we look in the Switzerland folder next time, we would be jumping right to that picture, which would be situated at the top of the set.

Incidentally, while we are rearranging photos, we can save ourselves time later on by moving some other pictures into the top row. In this workshop, we will be editing all of the last three pictures in the bottom row of the Switzerland folder; ergo, it would help to move them all into the top row now.

1. To select the last three pictures in the folder, press and hold:

Ctrl and Click the last three pictures in the folder

All three pictures are selected, as indicated by the strong border around them.

NOTE: The pictures to be selected are a leopard, a dark image of a woman in front of water, and the father and son.

1. To move the pictures into the top row, in the Lightbox,

Point to any of the selected pictures, Press & Drag into the top row of the group of Switzerland pictures

Having accomplished that, the next time we click the Switzerland folder in Picasa, these pictures will appear first. By making this move, we have learned that we can change the order in which we view pictures in Picasa.

NOTE: Rearranging pictures in Picasa does not rearrange them in the Windows Explorer view or in other photo editing applications.

Putting More Pictures into Albums

Now that we have put one picture of people into the People Album and tidied up a bit, let's assign some more people pictures to the People Album. At the top of the Switzerland folder, where we put it, is a sideways picture of a figure standing in front of a small lake.

First, we need to deselect the three photos.

1. To deselect the photos, press:

1. To move the picture of the person in front of the lake to the People Album,

Press & Drag to People (1)

NOTE: When the Album label turns dark, the picture is being added to it.

It appears that we have assigned all the people we can see in this folder. Now, we will need to move to another folder.

1. To find the next instance of a person, in the Folder List,

1. If necessary, scroll down to see more pictures in the folder.

Here is a picture of a friendly woman posing in front of the River Tyne. Let's move it to the People Album.

Now, we'll assign the picture of the woman to the People Album.

1. To assign the picture of the woman to the People Album, in the Lightbox,

Press &Drag to People (2)

There is another picture to be added from the British Isles folder. In the last row of that folder is a picture of two girls on an amusement ride in Dublin.

1. To add the picture of the girls,

Press &Drag to People (3)

Now that we have added all the people to the People album, let's see how easy it is to view them as a group.

1. To activate the People album, in the Folder List,

We see that there are four pictures of people in the People Album. Even though we have kept them in their respective folders, we have created another way to find them. Later, we will use the Album feature to quickly access them.

Changing Picture Names in Picasa

All the workshop pictures have names that have been automatically assigned by our camera. These automatic file names consist of a confusing jumble of letters and numbers. However, it's easy to rename them in Picasa. Before we edit each picture, we will also assign a more memorable name.

Let's move to an image of a fountain in Barcelona, which will be the first picture that we edit. Before we improve the way it looks, we will view and change its file name.

1. To find the picture of the fountain, in the Folder List,

Spain (14)

The very last picture in the bottom row of the Spain folder is a sideways picture of a building. Right now, it is very dark, making it difficult to see that it is a fountain in front of a building.

1. To activate the Barcelona fountain picture,

Click

The Status Bar changes. We see that the information in the Status Bar is a file name with some other information:

_DSC00481.JPG 2/7/2007 10:34:20 AM 2048x1536 pixels 518KB

The first string of characters in the Status Bar is the file name the camera assigned to the picture. There is a date, a time, and some information about how big the file is in pixels and kilobytes.

This file name doesn't make much sense to us; differentiating names like this in a long list of files may be confusing. We want to rename the file.

1. To get naming information about the picture, from the Menu Bar,

We see the Rename Files dialog box:

Rename Files 1 file(s) selected for rename. Please enter a new name for these files: _DSC00481 Example: _DSC00481.jpg Include date in filename Include image resolution in filename Rename Cancel

1. To rename the file, type:

Barcelona fountain

There are some other options here, but since Picasa already includes that information in the Status Bar, we don't need to append that information to the file name. Hence, we will leave the other options unchecked.

1. To finish naming the file,

The file now has a new name, as reflected in the Status Bar.

Changing a View in the Picasa Lightbox

Now that our Library is somewhat organized and we have learned how to rename a picture, we want to get a better view of the photo to correct it. Right now, it is too small to tell much about it.

Let's temporarily magnify the view.

1. To temporarily see the picture in full screen view,

Point

press and hold: Ctrl and A/t

The picture completely covers the screen.

Now that our view is enlarged, we can see that this picture has been taken with the camera positioned in a vertical orientation, but the image here is horizontal.

1. To return to the Lightbox,

release the keys

To work with this picture, first we need to rotate it.

Rotating a Picture in the Lightbox

Most cameras take pictures with unequal width-to-height proportions. Good photographers know how to use this to their advantage. Subjects that are vertical, such as standing people, trees, or fountains, can be attractively emphasized by orienting the camera vertically, in portrait view. On the other hand, when taking pictures of terrain, the view can often be best represented by a horizontal, or landscape, orientation. This picture was taken in portrait view to emphasize the stature of the fountain and the building behind it.

We need to rotate the photo.

1. To rotate the photo, in the Output Options section,

The picture is now oriented in the proper direction:

Exterior view of a historic building with arched windows and a large illuminated structure (no visible text or symbols)

Now, we can better see that this image is crooked and dark. We can correct these problems using Picasa's View and Edit tools.

Viewing and Editing Pictures in Picasa

Picasa lets us fix lots of problems in our photos. In addition to basic corrections, we can also create some special effects. To do so, we need to open the photo in the View and Edit mode.

Let's view and edit the photo now.

1. To open the photo in View and Edit mode, from the Menu Bar,

Click Picture, Click View and Edit

The View and Edit screen appears, with the enlarged photo on the right and some buttons and tabs on the left:

Editing panel Active image area Output Options panel Photo Tray

The left part of the window contains three sections with tabs that are labeled Basic Fixes, Tuning, and Effects. Each tab contains a different set of editing tools. The lightest tab, Basic Fixes, is the active one.

Straightening a Picture in Picasa

Since this picture is obviously crooked, we need to straighten it. The Basic Fixes tools section features a Straighten button. Let's try this one first.

1. To activate the Straighten tool, in the Basic Fixes panel,

The Picture now has a grid overlay with a slider and two buttons:

Black-and-white cityscape photo showing a building with a large roof and silhouetted trees, overlaid with grid lines and a control panel at the bottom (no readable text or symbols)

1. To straighten the photo, in the photo editing window,

Press &Drag to the right until the vertical edge of the building aligns with a grid line

The picture is straightened along the grid. We need to apply the change.

1. To finish straightening,

The picture is now straight. Note that parts of the picture have disappeared from around the corners. Any time Picasa straightens a picture, it automatically removes the parts in the corners that do not fit within an optimal rectangle.

Adjusting the Fill Light in Picasa

Now, we need to brighten up this picture. There is an adjustment in the panel called Fill Light. Let's try the Fill Light slider.

1. To change the Fill Light, in the Basic Fixes panel,

Press &Drag Fill Light to the right

The slider should be about 1/3 of the way into the right half of the slider bar.

Although the overall picture is improved and now the Barcelona evening ambiance has come forth, it seems that we have lightened the shadows more than we wanted, and all parts of the picture still have a very purple cast.

Using Auto Color in Picasa

In the Basic Fixes section on the left is an Auto Color button. In digital editing programs, automatic color correction tools generally distribute colors around those that should be gray or white, creating an overall color cast. Sometimes, we need to tell the application to make a different guess and automatically redistribute the colors in another way. Perhaps Picasa's Auto Color will wash away some of the purple. Let's try this option.

1. To activate Auto Color, in the Basic Fixes panel,

Now, the lighted parts of the fountain exude a warm incandescent hue. The lights in the windows of the building are also warmer, and the sky now has a touch of peach sunset color.

Using Auto Contrast in Picasa Basic Fixes

Although this picture looks much better, when we adjusted the fill light, we removed some of the overall contrast. The Basic Fixes section has an Auto Contrast button. Let's see if we can easily rectify that with this tool.

1. To activate Auto Contrast, in the Basic Fixes panel,

The contrast improves, and the picture looks acceptable. Let's return to the Library.

1. To return to the Picasa Library, above the Basic Fixes tab,

The picture displayed in the library contains all our corrections.

Saving a Picture in Picasa

We have not yet saved this picture. We are simply seeing a temporary preview of our image with our adjustments. Although Picasa will display our unsaved picture just like this for as long as we want, if we were to view or open this file in any other photo-editing application, we would still be working with the original. Since this rendition of our Barcelona fountain is a dramatic improvement over the original, we want to save it to disk.

Picasa allows users to save in several different ways, each of which preserves the original file so we can return to it if necessary. In this way, Picasa always protects our original photo. It will never be completely overwritten. At any time, even years from now, we can return the image to its original state with Picasa's Undo commands.

We will use the Save feature to save this file. The Save button is at the top right corner of the folder.

1. To save our changes, above the pictures,

A dialog box opens, asking us if we want to save our changes. It also states that a backup file will be made:

Save Save changes to disk? A backup of this file will be made. Do not ask me again. OK Cancel

1. To confirm the changes,

The Save to Disk button disappears.

Picasa has replaced the original file on our hard drive with the one that contains the new adjustments. However, the original file has not been overwritten. Any time we use the Save Changes button in Picasa, a copy of the edited photo is created in the active folder, and the original picture is moved to a subfolder called "Originals," which is hidden within the same subfolder on your computer. This folder will not be visible in Picasa. The pictures in both the visible folder and the hidden folder have the same names.

Saving the originals in a hidden folder allows us to undo or revert our pictures later—even though we have saved them with the Save command.

NOTE: To retrieve the original in Windows, in the Windows Explorer Menu Bar, -Click Organize, -Click Folder and Search Options, -Click the View tab. Under Hidden files and folders, -Click the Show Hidden Files and folders radio button. The Originals folder will be visible in the Folder List, and can now be opened with Picasa.

Fine-Tuning a Picture in Picasa

Now that we have successfully corrected a picture in Picasa, we can open another photo and work with it. While we were putting our pictures of people into the People Album, there was a dark picture of a figure standing in front of a body of water. Let's open that one and try to correct it now.

1. To find the dark picture of the woman, in the Folder List,

The people pictures come into view, and we see the dark image of the young woman in a sideways position. First, let's give it a memorable name.

1. To select the picture for renaming,

Click

1. To rename, on the Menu Bar,

We see the Rename Files dialog box.

1. To rename the file, type:

Now we'll edit the picture.

1. To open the picture for editing,

the picture

The image opens. This is a photo of a young woman we met at a tiny alpine lake in Switzerland. The time of day in which we snapped the picture was quite late, with very little available light. To compound the problem, we had accidentally deactivated the flash on our camera, so it came out extremely dark. However, since the young lady asked us to mail a print to her once we returned home, we will try especially hard to save this picture.

Let's see if we can improve this picture with Picasa's editing features. First, we must rotate it into the correct upright position.

1. To rotate the photo, on the bottom panel in the Output Options section,

The picture rotates to the correct position, and its view size is reduced to fit in the window. The severity of problems in this picture may require more than Basic Fixes has to offer. Let's try using the Tuning tools.

1. To activate the Tuning tools,

The Tuning panel appears:

Basic Fixes Tuning Effects Fill Light Highlights Shadows Color Temperature Neutral Color Picker Undo Redo

We can see that Tuning is now the active panel because its tab is the lightest.

Here, there is a Fill Light slider, along with some other sliders that might help us to refine the image. Let's adjust the Fill Light first.

1. To improve the Fill Light, in the Tuning panel,

Press & Drag Fill Light to the right until the picture is lightened

In this case, the image brightness can be brought up to nearly daylight levels, even though the original was taken under very low exposure.

Increasing the Contrast Using the Shadows Tool

The image looks much better, but since we have brightened the fill light, we have also decreased the contrast; now the shadows are grayish. In our last photo, we were able to use Auto Contrast, but in the Tuning panel we can adjust the shadows manually.

1. To darken the shadows, in the Tuning panel,

Press &Drag Shadows to the right until the shadows darken slightly

The contrast is now much better, and the image looks sharper.

We have radically improved this image. There is one more color adjustment that might be of benefit. Before we do that, we want to zoom in on the image.

Viewing a Picture at Actual Size

When we zoom in on a picture, we are changing the way in which we view it. Digital pictures are composed of tiny colored squares called pixels, which are so small that they appear to blend together. A picture that has a large number of pixels is said to have high resolution. Sometimes, pictures can contain so many pixels that the computer cannot display them all. With high-resolution pictures, in order to fit the entire picture onscreen, the computer must hide some selected pixels from view. Conversely, when the computer displays a high-resolution picture at actual size, it is displaying all of the pixels in the picture, and not all of the image might appear on the screen.

Let's zoom in to actual size.

1. To display the picture at actual size, in the Output Options panel, near the Zoom slider,

We are zoomed into the girl's face, and now the cursor becomes a hand

Photo 1 File Edit View Album Picture Create Tools Help Back to Library Simple Flies Turning Effects Highlights Highlights Blushes Color Temperature Neutral Color Picker Uncle Turning Make a custom People 1: Ceramic Tree3PC 10/21/2006 7:19:28 PM 17:46:272 pixels 799KB (2.0K) Select from Upward Email Print Export Wrap Copy Print Collage Print Copy Top

In close-up view, the mottled and fuzzy appearance of this picture becomes apparent. Although we were able to dramatically improve it by enhancing the contrast, it retains some artifacts of the original photographic mistakes. This exemplifies what happens when photographs are taken in dim light. Nonetheless, we will continue to do the best we can to fix this photo.

Now that we have zoomed into this picture, we are unable to see the borders of the picture. To help us determine what piece of the photo we are viewing, Picasa displays a small inset on the lower right side of the image that indicates the zoom size:

Black-and-white photo of a person standing outdoors near a body of water, with a black arrow pointing to the right (no text or symbols visible)

This inset shows a thumbnail of the picture, with a rectangle inside the thumbnail that tells us what part of the picture we are viewing in the large window.

We can use the hand cursor to move to other parts of the picture.

1. To see the trees above the subject's head,

Point inside the large image,

Press &Drag until the road in the background is visible

We can see a roadway and some trees above our friend's head. Note that as we change the part of the picture we are viewing, the rectangle inside the inset changes. Let's use this preview rectangle to see a different part of the picture.

1. To view a different part of the picture, inside the picture's inset,

Zoomed to 100% Point , Press &Drag all the way to the right

The visible part of the picture in the large window changes. We can see that this picture contains an odd coloration. Now, let's fix the color cast.

Using the Neutral Color Picker for Color Tones

Digital editing applications can correct colors in a picture based on information about what areas of the picture should be neutral. A neutral color in an image is one that has no color cast whatsoever; it is absolutely gray or white. We can tell Picasa what should be gray, thereby changing the overall color cast of the picture accordingly.

Now we need to find a part of the picture that should be gray. We see a strip of road above the girl's head which should be gray. We will use this as our neutral color.

We see that the Picasa Tuning panel has a Neutral Color Picker, which allows us to choose an area in the photo that should be absolutely gray.

Let's use the Neutral Color Picker now.

1. To activate the Neutral Color Picker, in the Tuning Panel,

The cursor now becomes an eyedropper

1. To select the roadway as the neutral color, with the point of the eyedropper tool,

the roadway

The image changes color slightly.

Now let's look at the whole picture to see what has happened.

1. To fit the picture in the window, in the Output Options panel,

The picture is now entirely visible. Let's try another neutral point.

1. To find another neutral point, in the Tuning Panel,

another gray point in the picture

1. If necessary, to change the color tone again, repeat step 4, making sure to click the Neutral Color Picker before selecting an object in the picture.

At this point, it's hard to tell what looks best. We see a button to the right of the Neutral Color Picker that looks like a magic wand:

When we point to it, we see a tool tip that says “One-click fix for color.” Let’s try this.

1. To apply One-click fix for color,

NOTE: If the one-click color is unsatisfactory, you must use the Neutral Color Picker again, instead of the Undo Tuning button. Note also, the Undo Tuning Button will undo the entire set of Tuning settings.

This color cast is appropriate for a lakeside sunset. We can save it now.

1. To return to the Picasa Library, above the Basic Fixes tab,

We are returned to the Library, where we see the adjusted picture. The picture displayed in the People Album contains all our corrections. In the Output Options tray at the bottom of the window, notice that this picture is in the Photo Tray:

File Edit View Album Picture Create Tools Help Albums (1) People in Folders (12) My Computer (104) Desktop (104) episodes (104) Digital Photos (104) France (11) Solgians (11) Italy (17) Spain (14) British Isles (22) Switzerland (28) People April 6, 2009 Add a description Sect to Work Create France Am pl. Jima Add a description Sect to Work Share General Files.JPG 1921/2009 27/20/20 PRF 1756/273 pixels 755.02 Selection Upload Email Print Escape Shop Mag/Real Collage Movie Give Day

The photo tray shows us any images that are selected.

1. To save our changes, above the pictures,

A dialog box opens, asking us if we want to save our changes.

1. To confirm the changes,

The image is now saved.

Printing in Picasa

We will be sending our friend the picture of herself as a print. Before we print any picture, it must be selected, making it active in the Photo Tray. Since this picture is still selected, it is displayed in the Photo Tray, waiting for us to choose a button in the Output Options panel.

1. To activate Picasa print choices,

Click

The Print window opens. It displays a preview of the printed image and several layout buttons:

Photo 3 File Edit View Album Picture Create Tools Help Print Layout Market 5 x 7 3 x 5 4 x 5 8 x 10 Full Page Show to Fit Copy to 76 图层 Gender and Text Options Printer: Good-To-OneNote 2007 Printer Setup 300.0 dpi, 11.0 x 9.5 (Online) Copies per Photo + - Toples Preview 1 of 1 Review Print Cancel

Let's choose the printer now.

1. To choose a printer,

Click , Click the default printer

The printer is now chosen. Let's pick a layout.

1. To choose the 5 x 7 layout,

Click 5 x 7

The preview seems to indicate that we might be able to fit more of these on a single sheet of paper. Let's print two per sheet.

1. To print another copy on the same sheet, in the window under Copies per Photo,

Now, the Preview panel shows two pictures side by side:

Black-and-white photo split into two panels showing a smiling person standing by a calm lake with trees in the background (no text or symbols)

To print to our own printer, we would click the Print button at the bottom. However, since we are not able to print today, we will cancel.

1. To cancel the print job,

We are finished with this picture. Let's work with another.

Correcting More Photo Defects

The next picture we will revive is the one of the father and son at the Zurich zoo. During our time with them, we exchanged email addresses, we would like to email the picture to the father in Zurich, and we would also like to add it to our own collection of prints.

We remember that we put the picture into the People Album. Let's open this picture from there.

1. To open the People Album, if necessary, in the Folder List,

The four pictures of people appear.

1. To open the father-and-son picture for editing, in the Lightbox,

Double Click

We are taken to the View and Edit screen. As with the others, we must first rotate the picture.

1. To rotate the photo, in the Output Options panel,

The picture rotates, and its magnification changes to fit in the window. We can see that the subjects have reddish eyes, and the skin colors are a bit bluish. The background is very dark. We will start by fixing the red eyes in this picture.

Correcting Red Eye in Picasa

Red eye is a term used for the reddish color sometimes visible on the eyes of subjects in photographs. Red eye is caused by the light from a camera's flash, which reflects from the person's eyes. Many cameras attempt to prevent this

by emitting a preliminary flash to constrict the pupils of subjects before the flash picture is taken. However, in some lighting conditions, even this can be ineffective.

Since red eye is very common, most digital photo editing applications include a red eye remover.

1. To activate the Redeye tool, in the Basic Fixes panel,

The Redeye Repair panel appears:

Basic Fixes Redeye Repair Picasa has found and corrected red eye(s). Note: You can click on a box to delete a change. You can also draw a square around any red eye that Picasa may have missed. Auto Preview Reset Apply Cancel

This panel tells us to drag the mouse around each eye separately. To get a better look at the red eyes, let's zoom in on the picture.

1. To zoom in,

Press &Drag to the right

1. To center the eyes, if necessary, in the tiny navigator pane,

Zoomed to 85% Press &Drag upward

All of the eyes should be fully in view.

1. To select the first eye, in the image,

Press &Drag a rectangle around the father's right eye

The screen changes for a moment and then we return to the image. The eye shows no more red. Let's finish removing red eye from the other eyes.

1. To select the other eyes, in the image,

Press &Drag a rectangle around each of the other eyes in the picture

One by one, in this view, the redness in each eye is corrected.

NOTE: It may be helpful to repeat the action on each eye.

Let's apply this change.

1. To apply the red eye correction,

We are returned to the View and Edit Screen. The eyes look correct now.

1. If necessary, to fit the picture in the window, in the Output Options panel,

We see the whole picture now. We are ready to correct the color in this image.

Using the Tuning Tools in Picasa

When we took this picture, it was necessary to use the camera's flash because it was in a dark area of the zoo. Pictures taken with built-in camera flash mechanisms generally cast off-color light with very dark shadows. We can see that is the case here. In places, the skin of the father has a blue cast, and the shadows are very dark. Adjusting for these problems may take more than is available in the Basic Fixes panel. Let's try the Tuning tab again.

1. To activate the Tuning tools,

The father's skin color is a little cool. Cool colors are ones that contain a blue cast, often resulting from the camera's flash bulb. We can correct that here.

1. To remove the blue cast, in the Tuning panel,

Press &Drag Color Temperature slightly right

The skin color looks better now. We will want to save this picture.

Before we save it, let's give it a good name. This time, we can use a keyboard shortcut.

1. To open the naming options dialog box, on the keyboard, press:

We see the Rename Files dialog box.

1. To rename the file, type:

Family at Zurich zoo, ~Click Rename

Now we want to save the image.

1. To save the image, on the Menu Bar,

A dialog box opens, asking us if we want to save our changes, and verifying that a backup will be made.

1. To confirm the changes,

The image is now saved. Now, we want to get the best shot of just their faces so we can email that to the father. To do so, we will eliminate some of the picture's edges.

Cropping an Image in Picasa

Cropping is like using scissors; we simply cut around the borders to eliminate parts that are extraneous to our subject. To crop an image, we select a certain part of it and delete pixels outside the selected area. The effect not only makes the image smaller but decreases the file size as well. While cropping in Picasa, we can choose to resize images to one of several standard print sizes. Now, let's focus on the faces of the father and son.

1. To access the Crop button, in the panel to the left of the picture,

The Basic Fixes panel opens. The Crop button is there.

1. To begin the crop, in the Basic Fixes tab,

A new window appears, offering a panel with some preset size buttons on the left:

Basic Fixes Crop Photo Select a dimension below and then click and drag on the image to select the portion of the image you wish to crop. Manual Rotate Preview Reset Apply Cancel

These thumbnail images suggest various cropping strategies. First, we will manually select an area just around the heads of the pair, and then we will crop to a standard print size.

1. To select just the heads and shoulders of the pair,

from the left edge of the photo just above the man's hat, diagonally to the right edge above the baby's elbow

The excluded part is now grayed out. At this point, we may want to refine its boundaries.

1. To change the boundaries,

to the top boundary of the crop area, Press & Drag to the desired spot

Whereas images that have nonstandard width-to-height ratios may be suitable for web and email, at this point we remember that we want to print this picture as well. Therefore, it would be good to make it a standard photo size as we crop.

When cropping with one of the preset sizes, Picasa ensures that we have the proper height-to-width relationship for a final print. Let's choose 4" x 6".

1. To select a size for the cropped image, in the field above the small image thumbnails,

Click manual, Click 4 x 6: Small print

The size is now perfect for printing, but we may need to re-center it.

1. To re-center the cropped area, if necessary,

Point inside the crop area, Press &Drag to the desired spot

The area inside the borders fits the subject matter.

1. To accept the crop,

We now see an attractive image of just the faces of the family pair.

This time, we will not save this file. By leaving it as it is, we can come back at any time, even days or months later, and click the Recrop button or Undo Crop button in Picasa to restore our image to its original appearance.

NOTE: To save this image to a separate file, from the Menu Bar, -Click File, -Click Save As...

Emailing an Image in Picasa

In the Status Bar, we can see that this picture contains around 1728x1226 (i.e., more than two million) pixels. The large number of pixels indicates that it is a high-resolution image, as it came from the camera. In general, high resolution makes for good-quality printed pictures. While we want to preserve all the pixels in order to send the highest quality file to print or a photo lab, we also would like to send a lower resolution version of this image to our friends through electronic mail.

Even though printers work best with a large volume of pixels, computer screens can display only a certain number of pixels at a time; that number is much smaller than printers will handle. Furthermore, when we embed an image inside an email message (which will be displayed on a monitor) we have room for only about 640 x 480 (i.e., about 30,000) pixels.

All this information indicates that this image is much too big. In addition, the file size of the current image is 1.5 MB. This means that even if the email recipient is using a 56 K computer modem, it would take more than a minute

to download. Given this, we can see that if we were to attach this image in its present state to an email message, it would be likely to cause problems for its recipient.

Picasa takes care of this problem by automatically resizing and optimizing images when they are emailed. Resizing involves changing the number of pixels in an image. Optimizing is a process that keeps the file size to a minimum by adjusting colors and other pixel characteristics, while conserving the best quality possible.

Let's see how this works in the Picasa Email feature.

1. To activate email options, in the Output Options panel,

The Select Email dialog box appears:

Select Email Select how you want to email your phone. Microsoft Outlook Use my default email program. Google Mail Use my Gmail or Google account. Don't have Gmail? Get a free account. Remember this setting, don't display this dialog again. Help Cancel

Here, there are several applications and services from which to choose.

NOTE: On your home computer, your default email application may be available.

1. To close the Select Email dialog box without choosing an email program,

Emailing an Image from Picasa: Demonstration

In this workshop, no email profile has been set up, so for this workshop the instructor will demonstrate the remaining email steps through a Gmail account, which has been logged in already.

A. The instructor clicks the Gmail choice and logs in. There is an open email message with a thumbnail of the picture.

B. In the To: field, the instructor types the address of the workshop demonstration account ([e-mail]).

C. The instructor may also type a new subject line and a body. Embedded in the message is a thumbnail of the image:

(This information indicates that the image to be sent is now only around 40K, which is an extremely tiny percentage of the original size, and would take less than 1 second to download.)

D. The instructor clicks the Send button. In a moment, the message appears in the instructor's Gmail account.

E. The instructor opens the message.

F. To show that the smaller, resized image is still large and clear, the instructor clicks the View link.

G. After viewing, the instructor closes Gmail.

Saving an Image for Email or Web

It is clear that Picasa can effectively modify images to make them work for certain email applications. But what if we are not using one of the email programs offered by Picasa? In that case, we would need to manually prepare the image before we attach it to an email message.

As we discussed, we must always be aware of the dimensions and file sizes of images destined to be handled by electronic mail and computer networks. It is important to remember, as we reduce the file size of the image, that we also want to maintain the original, high-quality image in order to print it or send it to a photo lab. Accordingly, we want to keep the original intact and make a smaller copy of it to send across the internet.

The challenges of saving an image for both email and for web viewing are effectively the same, because both types of uses must be appropriate given the limitations of internet transmission and monitor display. Thus, if we prepare a copy of this image for the web, it will also serve as an email-friendly file.

In Picasa, when we want to resize and/or optimize an image, we use the Export option.

Let's export this image to a web and email-friendly format.

1. To activate the Export options, in the Output Options panel,

The Export to Folder dialog box appears:

Export to Folder Location of exported folder: My Pictures/Please Exports (People) Browse... Name of exported folder: people Image Size Options: Use Original Size Resize to: 800 pixels Image Quality: Automatic Preserves original image quality Export movies using: First Frame Full Movie (no reading) Add a watermark Stamp photos with your name, a web domain, or a copyright notice. OK Cancel Help

In the Location of exported field at the top, we see a path where the file will be exported. We want to put it in the folder on disk where the other workshop images are.

1. To choose the place to store the exported file,

The Browse for Folder dialog box appears:

Browse For Folder Select Folder to Export to Desktop JUMP029 Public Computer Network opclass picase screen shots OK Cancel

The location of our exported file should be within the Digital Photos folder, inside the epclass folder, on the desktop.

1. To choose the correct folder,

locate and -Click , -Clickals , -Click OK Digital Photos

We are returned to the Export to Folder dialog box. We can see that the "Location of exported folder" field has added a folder named People. We want our image to be in a folder by another name.

1. To remove the folder name from the "Name of exported folder" field,

In the “Location of exported folder” field, Picasa has now automatically created a subfolder named export:

Location of exported folder: Desktop\epclass\Digital Photos\export\ Browse...

We will accept this location.

Now, we need to resize the image. In Image Size options, there are two radio buttons that allow us to choose to Use Original Size or to Resize to a specified value. The Resize button is active. There is a slider available that allows us to specify a different number of pixels. For an email message, 640 x 480 is a good size.

1. To resize the number of pixels, under Image Size Options,

The field to the left of the slider now says 640 pixels.

NOTE: An arbitrary value may be typed into this field.

Now we want to set the quality to a smaller value. When we change the quality, we will be changing the number of colors and other characteristics about the file in a way that will reduce its file size. Choosing a lower quality setting will generate a smaller file, while selecting a higher quality setting creates a larger file size. For example, if we know that the viewer of our image has a large monitor and a fast internet connection, we might choose higher settings. However, in most cases, the middle setting usually offers a good compromise between quality and size.

Although in some applications this may take some trial and error, Picasa make this easy for us by giving us four choices.

1. To change the Image Quality, in the Image Quality drop-down list,

Under Image Quality, the text now says, “Good balance of quality and size.” Our file is ready to export.

1. To export the file,

The file is exported and a Windows Explorer window opens, with the new Export folder active. We can see that it is inside the Digital Photos folder. The file we just exported is suitable for either posting to a web page or attaching to an email message.

1. To close the Windows Explorer window,

1. To return to the Library,

We are returned to the Picasa Library. In the Folder List, we see a new folder named “export (1).” Let’s view the image we exported.

1. To view the exported image, in the Folder List,

Let's get a closer look.

1. To open the image,

the image

The quality of the image is quite satisfactory, and in the Status Bar we see that this new image is only around 60KB—a tiny fraction of the original file size. We could safely put this image into an email message or post it to the web.

We are now done using Picasa for today, so we will close the application.

1. To close Picasa, in the Picasa window,

Wrapping Up

We've reached the end of today's workshop. Please follow your workshop instructor's guidance and take a few moments to fill out the workshop evaluation form.

Also, before leaving, please log off your computer.

Thank you for participating in

Google Picasa 3: The Basics

Contributions to These Materials

Project Leader Carol Rhodes

Project Developer Carol Rhodes

Editors Sandra Doell

Andy Hunsucker

Jennifer Oakes

Rita Pavolka

Appendix: Getting Your Pictures from the Camera to the Computer

Before we edit digital photos, we need to move them from our cameras onto our computers. There are many ways to achieve this.

First, you need to connect the camera to the computer. Most digital cameras connect directly to a computer via either USB or Firewire cable. Wireless connections and card readers are also becoming increasingly popular. All cameras come with instructions for connecting the camera or media card to the computer, and these directions should be followed.

After physically connecting the media device to the computer, a software application may automatically open and begin to catalogue all the images stored on the camera. These applications vary in the way they organize images. Most of them copy the images to a folder somewhere on the computer. However, in many cases, the location isn't immediately evident. In the case where you don't know the location of your images, you may have to use the Windows Search feature to find them.

To avoid having to search for your photos, you can override the automatic copying features that are default behavior in many photo-organizing applications, and instead use the Windows Folder structure to place the photos where you want them. Today, we have shown you how to disable the automatic indexing feature in both Picasa and Elements. In doing so, we have chosen to manually use their photo organizers to view and catalogue the photos in the way we wish.

When any camera or media card is connected to the computer, that device may be visible in one of two places: by opening the My Computer icon, which is located on the Windows Desktop, or in the Portable Media Devices folder in the Control Panel. Just as your Hard Drive is labeled Local Disk (C:), the media device will have a name and a letter drive. The images can be found by opening that device icon and looking in folders there. Once you find your images, you can simply press and drag the files or copy and paste them to the folder you want. Typically, images are stored in My Documents\My Pictures. For more information about navigating Windows folders, please attend Windows: The Basics.

Where to Go From Here

You can use the resources listed below to further build your computing skills.

Taking Other IT Training & Education Workshops

UITS IT Training & Education offers hands-on instructor-led computing workshops aimed at a variety of skill levels, covering a broad range of topics. We teach hundreds of workshops on more than 80 topics every year! For more information, to see a detailed workshop schedule, or to register for a workshop, contact IT Training & Education:

Web: http://ittraining.iu.edu/

Email: (IUB) [e-mail]; (IUPUI) [e-mail]

Phone: (IUB) 812/855-7383; (IUPUI) 317/274-7383

Getting Help from Online Resources

University Information Technology Services – IU technology resources, services and support: http://uits.iu.edu/

IT Training Online – Self-paced IT courses you can take on your computer: http://ittraining.iu.edu/online/

UITS Knowledge Base – Searchable database of computing questions: http://kb.iu.edu/

IT Training Tips – Comment-enabled blog with training articles and videos: http://ittrainingtips.iu.edu/

Getting Help from Support Staff

Walk-in Support (All IU Campuses) Walk-in Support Center. Locations and schedules at: http://kb.iu.edu/data/abxl.html

(IUB & IUPUI) Consultants in the UITS Student Technology Centers

24 Hour Phone Support (IUB) 812/855-6789 (IUPUI) 317/274-4357

E-mail Support (All IU campuses) [e-mail]