Picasa: The Free Photo Editing Software from Google

Google has been a leader in innovation. It keeps on coming with unique ideas to be ahead of all its rivals. And all the ideas turn out to be an instant success. And that's no surprise. The simple reason for this is that they come up with the stuff that has potential to become immediately popular, and has mass appeal. And to ensure mass appeal, they ensure that their stuff is free. This seems like the perfect recipe for their success. And they have done this yet again, with Picasa.

Google understands that digital cameras are becoming more and more popular. And with that, the need to edit and organize images is increasing. There are lots of software out there which provide good image editing capabilities, and lot of software which provide good image organization capabilities. However, there are multiple problems with both: they are technically difficult to use, most of them are paid, and they happen to be two separate entities. Google addressed all this stuff with Picasa.

Google is marketing Picasa as an image editing, organizing, and sharing software. You can edit your images, then organize them, and upload them to web, all using Picasa. In this article, I will tread on just image editing part. We will talk about image uploading and sharing part in the next article.

As I already mentioned, there are lots of image editing software out there. However, they are kind of complicated, in the sense that they provide lots of advanced/technical functionalities. And it makes them difficult to use. And to top that, the good ones come at a hefty price. And this ensure disenchantment with these software. Google seems to have got it all correct with Picasa. The software is really simple to use. It provides all the basic functionalities that normal users need. And it is free!! Could you have asked for more?

You start by selecting the photo you want to edit. Picasa shows all the functions in form of three tabs: Basic Fixes, Tuning, and Effects.

Basic Fixes: The basic fixes tab provides all the basic and most commonly used fixes that can be done on an image. All the basic fixes are present in form of buttons. Basic Fixes include Crop (Cut photo to desired size), Straighten (Fix crooked photos), Red Eye (reduce red eye from your photographs), I'm Feeling Lucky (One click fix for lighting and color), Auto Contrast (Fix exposure without affecting color), Auto Color (Remove color casts automatically), and Fill Light (Adjust the ambient light in the photograph). All these functions are really easy to use. You just click on the button to select the function, and then it is easy to take it further from there. Once you start using these functions, you will be surprised to see the amazing effect these can have on your photographs. And the best part is that all this is too easy to do. No intelligence required. If I could do it, anybody can!

Tuning: This tab provides various tuning functions that you can apply on your photographs. It includes Fill Light, Highlights, Shadows, and Color Temperature. The best part is that all these functions can be controlled by simple sliders. You simply slide the slider you want to use, and simultaneously see the effect that it will have on your photograph. You can use combination of above functions to get the best possible effect on your photograph. It also provides a button for "One Click Fix for Lighting". This button normally takes care of all the lighting effects in your photograph.

Effects: This tab provides various effects that you can add to your photograph. You can choose to go Sepia or Sharpen or Glow, or any of the 12 effects that are available in this tab. It is kind of fun to use these and you may want to experiment with these to find the best one for your photograph. Anyway, it just takes one button click to add an effect.

As might have been obvious from above, Picasa is your one stop shop for all the image editing needs. You can use the amazing effects to turn so-so pictures into works of art. And it is so easy to use. And is totally free. If you have a digital camera, there is no way you can live without this software. Try it once. You will be totally addicted to it.