Editing_Pictures

=Editing Pictures=

Once you have taken a picture, you may use it as it is, or you may want to change it a bit. For example, there may be a person on the side of the image that you do not wish to include. In that case, you need to crop the image. Other changes you may want to make could be adding brushstrokes, modifying colors, or even combine two images into one. Below are some links to sites that explain how to use simple tools to change your images.

Windows Computers

 * Microsoft Paint**
 * //Microsoft Paint// is a free program found on all Windows computers. A simple tutorial for it can be found [|here]. For those who are already familiar with //Microsoft Paint,// more advanced tricks are documented [|here].
 * Microsoft Photo Editor**
 * People running earlier versions of //Microsoft Office// might still have access to the very capable //Microsoft Photo Editor//. Brief tutorials on using some key features can be found at [|Quickstart - MS Photo Editor] and [|How To Use Microsoft Photo Editor]
 * Microsoft Office Picture Manager**
 * People running later versions of //Microsoft Office// should have //Microsoft Office Picture Manager// //(MOPM)//, which has some basic photo image editing tools. Indiana State University has a good [|online tutorial] giving step-by-step procedures on using the most common tools found in //Picture Manager//. You can also check out Microsoft's help site: [|Working with Pictures - Help and How-to - Microsoft Office Online]

Mac OS X Computers
For Mac Users, //iPhoto// (part of the //iLife// suite) is a simple but effective tool to edit photos. Below are links some tutorials from Apple covering the most important functions of the software:
 * [|How to Import Photos into iPhoto]
 * [|How to View Photos]
 * [|How to Crop a Photo]
 * [|How to Enhance Colors and Retouch Defects]
 * [|How to Add Effects]
 * [|How to Adjust Brightness and Saturation]

NOTE: //iPhoto// has a basic slideshow creating function. A tutorial for that can be found [|here]. However, we do not recommend that you use //iPhoto// to create video slideshows to be shared over the Internet. Instead, please edit your pictures with //iPhoto// and then create your slideshow with //iMovie//. While it is possible to export an //iPhoto// slideshow as a //QuickTime// movie, //iPhoto// has not been designed to make movies and does not provide you with all the options you get when you use //iMovie//. Please consult the Apple [|iMovie tutorial] for more information on how to use //iMovie//. (This is a tutorial for //iMovie 06//. Since //iMovie 08// lacks many of the features that 06 had, we recommend that you use 06. If you have //iMovie 08//, you can [|download 06] from Apple for free. The two programs can coexist on the same computer.)

For both Windows and Mac OS X Computers: Google's Picasa (free to download and use!)
For both Windows and Mac personal computers, there is a free program from Google which has sufficient features for basic photo editing and is fairly easy to use: [|Google Picasa] (Windows and Mac OS X versions available, free to download and use!)
 * Picasa Tutorials:
 * [|Picasa Photo Editor Software Training] - Very clear, FREE streaming tutorial videos for Google Software from LearningElectric.com. (Check out in particular the section on **Editing Photos**)
 * [|Using Picasa - Part 1] (Free video tutorial, 7.15 mins) from HelpMeRick.com
 * See also Google's own help page on [|Editing Photos] in Picasa

Online Tools (Both Windows and Mac)
There are a number of tools that let you edit your pictures online. If you are interested, some of them are listed below. A more comprehensive list can be found [|here]. On the whole, there would not seem to be a compelling reason to use these tools because you can already edit your pictures directly on your computer. However, some of these tools allow you to edit pictures you have already uploaded to an online storage site such as [|Flickr] and [|Photobucket], so if that is what you want to do, they are indeed convenient. Unfortunately, none of these storage sites allows you to create narrated video slide shows.
 * [|FotoFlexer]
 * [|Picnik]
 * [|Pixenate]
 * [|Phixr]
 * [|pixer.us]