Free and easy, By Robert de Gast, Aug 4, 2006

Digital photography and its attendant software programs have not made life easier for many people. Most cameras and software programs are not (yet) user-friendly.

Thus, newcomers to the world of digital photography seem to think that knowledge of Photoshop or similar programs is a prerequisite to enjoying its pleasures. Nothing could be further from the truth. Photoshop CS software (about US$600) is a complex and difficult program with a daunting learning curve. It is suitable for professionals in the media business. A less complex version, Photoshop Elements (about US$100), is easier to use, but most people will simply not benefit from that, either.

Still, to get the most enjoyment out of digital photography, it is essential that you use a program to organize, edit and share photos. Most cameras come bundled with some kind of software-some good, some bad. Dozens more are available commercially, at prices ranging from US$30 to US$90. The best one, in my view, though, is free. It is called Picasa. Google, who made it available in July 2004, owns it. I'm not exactly sure how Google can do this for free, but I'm not worried about it, either: Last year Google saw revenues of 6.1 billion dollars!

You can download it in minutes by accessing www.picasa.com Picasa will automatically and seamlessly transfer all your photographs while keeping the originals intact in the "My Pictures" file. It is remarkably user-friendly. You can choose from 38 (!) languages. I use Picasa almost to the exclusion of everything else. It'll change your (digital) life. I know it changed mine.

Recently, Lars Perkins, Picasa's general manager, talked about the complexity of digital photography: "The challenge is to make digital photography as easy as it was in the analog era. We've made a dent in it, but we have a long way to go." Picasa has made digital photography a lot simpler for a lot of people because it's intuitive and easy to use.

Pictures can be organized into albums, and albums can be organized into collections. The photographs can be rearranged in albums by simply dragging and dropping. The program offers one-click effects such as color enhancement, red-eye reduction and cropping. Other features include slide shows, image timelines, automatic compression for emailing pictures and an automated back-up system. It has an intriguing one-click retouching feature called "I'm feeling lucky" that enhances your picture automatically, often exactly the way you'd choose if you did it manually.

You can add captions, pan and zoom. There are 12 lighting and color effects. You can save the photos to an external drive, upload them to popular photo-sharing websites and burn them to a disc. You can instantly adjust highlights, shadows, fill lights and color temperature. You can add all sorts of effects, including sepia, black and white and soft focus. You can easily crop and straighten, and if you change your mind, you can instantly undo things. Currently, Picasa is available for Windows only.

PC Magazine, in a glowing review, said, "It's intuitive enough for even the greenest of computer newbies." And it gave Picasa its Editor's Choice Award. Now that's my kind of program.

Robert de Gast is a professional photographer and author of nine books. His most recent book is Behind the Doors of San Miguel. He offers short tutorials and conducts workshops and tours. He can be reached at 152-7396 or robertdegast@hotmail.com