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May 4, 2005 Photo Editing Photo editing programs are a great help for photos that didn’t turn out the way you want, for correcting red eye or some other problems, for using photos in creative and interesting ways and much more. Many photo editing programs are available, but here is a quick look at three we’ve used. Kodak EasyShare Picture Software V4 (Kodak, Windows 98/Me/2000/XP, free download at www.kodak.com) offers very basic photo editing features in addition to a simple photo organizing tool. The program lets you crop photos, change brightness and contrast, adjust exposure, auto enhance to correct simple color problems and remove red-eye.
Photo
Explosion Deluxe Version 2.0
(Nova Development, Windows 98/Me/2000/XP, $45) offers many more features beyond
basic editing and photo organizing. Features include an album to manage and play
video and sound files as well as view photos. And
when removing red-eye you can choose the shade of color to replace the red-eye
with and even change eye color if you want. Another feature lets you fix
wrinkles or blemishes using a Beautify Skin Filter, repair old photos and
combine two photos into one. A choice of 200 layouts makes printing multiple prints from your pictures easy. Also included are more than 3,000 photo projects ranging from photo greeting cards to CD and Jewel case labels, calendars, photo albums with captions, screen savers, slide shows and even a slide show that will play on your Palm, Pocket PC or SmartPhone; you can also burn a slide show on CD that will play on most newer DVD players. Sharing options let you send photos attached to e-mails or create Web albums complete with music, video and animations as well as your photos. Other fun features will have you using an option that lets you morph a person’s face into that of an animal or create a photo montage made up of thumbnail photos in your library. The program is easy to use because it has only three operational modes (Browse, Photo and Projects), but it will take some time and patience to master its many features. Abundant help is available from several introductory tutorials, a 245-page printed user manual, on-line help and technical support. Multiple levels of Undo help with all your "oops" mistakes.
Paint Shop Pro 9 (JASC, Windows 98SE/2000SP4/Me/XP, $90) provides the ultimate in control and precision in editing photos and much more. This program is designed for advanced amateurs or professionals but is usable in its click-and-fix mode by novices.. The program features options for the usual rotate, crop and automatic fixes of brightness, color and contrast, but this newest version also has advanced features dealing specifically with digital camera photos. These features include a noise removal filter that can be adjusted for specific regions or color ranges, chromatic aberration removal filter to eliminate the colored glow appearing in high contrast areas of digital photos and the ability to use raw camera image formats from several popular camera models. Using this format eliminates any in-camera processing artifacts and gives you full control over editing and enhancements. In addition to photo editing, Paint Shop Pro 9 has graphic design and digital art features such as rectangle and ellipse tools, natural media brushes, batch processing, command recording, advanced text tools including vertical text and much more. If you’re serious about making the most from your photos, consider this affordable program. Help comes from a 500-page printed user guide, on-line help and a Learning Center with Quick Guides for common projects. Be aware that this many-featured program requires a steep learning curve for all but the simplest projects, but that learning will be time well spent.
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Also
included are some fun effects, such as those to change the photo to black and
white, create a sepia tone, make it into a coloring book outline that you can
print and hand color, create a cartoon-like effect or overlay a
"fish-eye" lens effect. And there are printing features such as
multiple photos on a sheet and optimization for various Kodak photo papers. You
can also burn a CD to archive your photos or create a slide show CD that will
run on most newer DVD players. The program integrates with Ofoto.com for on-line
picture sharing. Upload your photos and send an automatic e-mail to family
and/or friends by including a link to the photos. From Ofoto you can order
prints, posters and novelty items such as T-shirts, coffee mugs, photo albums
and more.
Many
enhancements are included, such as star filters, fabric, charcoal or colored
pencil effects; there are also 1,500 frames, borders and props such as flowers
to put in your hair or sunglasses to put on your pets. You can add simple or
colorful text, complete with textures, shaped paths, perspective or 3D. Create
photo collages with the cloning and transparency tools or a walk-through
panoramic scene from your series of photos using the automatic photo stitching,
alignment and color blending. Included are 5,000 high resolution photos that can
be combined with your own pictures to create exotic backgrounds for your family
pictures.