The advent of digital photography has made it so easy to take and share photos that we can lose sight of ways to make it easier, exciting and more fun. One way to do that is to use photo editing software.

Here are a few of the many features you’ll find in these programs:

Better viewing of emailed photos: How often do you get e-mailed photos that take forever to download and then require scrolling up and down and side to side to see the whole picture? This happens because the person sending the photo didn’t bother or know how to resize and/or change the resolution of the photo before sending. Enter the photo editor. Many photo editors offer simple resizing and resolution changes for web or email use by using just a few clicks to automate the process. For example, Kodak EasyShare (www.kodak.com, free) photo software asks what kind of Internet connection (cable, DSL, dial-up) the recipient has and picture size desired, with 4 x 6 inch being the default. Then you just enter the recipient’s e-mail address, add a note, click, and send the photo. More complex editors such as Adobe Photoshop Elements (www.adobe.com, $89) or Serif PhotoPlus X3 Digital Studio (www.serif.com, $69) provide more precise control but require more practice, patience and time on your part.

Remove Red Eye: Red eye in flash photos is very distracting, but can easily be removed by editing programs. Some do it one-click automatically, while others require some manual intervention. The Kodak EasyShare does red eye removal either way (you choose). Try automatic, and if that isn’t satisfactory do it manually.

Photo Cropping: Cropping can make an enormous difference in the appearance of a picture. By "zeroing in" on the important elements of a picture, such as a couple or a child’s face, and cropping out distracting backgrounds (or people, for that matter) you can greatly improve the look of your picture. All editing programs provide tools for this. Some programs have additional features that allow a circular or oval crop, which is especially attractive when used in albums, scrapbooks or cards.

Change Brightness or Contrast: Changing brightness and/or contrast of a picture can often make a dull or dark scene "pop," get rid of dark faces in strongly back-lighted pictures and more. This can be done automatically or manually in photo editors. Most provide a slide control and a preview feature that allows you to see the changes before accepting them.

Improve Sharpness and Color Balance: If your picture is a bit fuzzy, a tool called sharpening may help. Also available in most editors are tools for changing or enhancing color balance, allowing you to "warm up," or "cool off" the overall look of a picture and also for increasing or decreasing the color intensity (saturation).

You’ll find these and many more features in photo editing programs, all helping you to add a new dimension to your digital photography.