Organizing, Editing and Printing Pictures

What do I mean by ‘Pictures’? Straightforward photographs. Clip-art, cartoon-like pictures. Scanned images (e.g. of documents, drawings, old photo’s). Video clips. Etc. NOTE: Make this an interactive session

Examples of Pictures

Where do I keep my pictures? On my computer’s hard drive(s). On external hard drive(s). As part of your regular backup. On one or more flash drive(s) – memory sticks. On CDs / DVDs. On memory cards. As printed copies.

Whereabouts on my hard drive? Using your File Explorer, look under ‘Libraries’ and find ‘Pictures’. (Within ‘Pictures’ you may find ‘My Pictures’.) This is usually where you store your own pictures. This is also usually the default location for any pictures you put into your computer.

How do I Organize the Pictures on my Hard Drive? You can create your own Folders in which you want to keep your pictures. They can be organized in any way you choose – chronologically, by event, family members, friends, scenery, skies, animals, vacations, etc. We will be practising the sub-division of our own pictures.

Do I need special software? Everything you wish to do regarding the organization of your pictures can be done using Windows software that comes with your machine. Numerous alternative software packages are available – some of them at no charge. For more sophisticated users the purchased alternatives are better – i.e. you get what you pay for! We’ll be concentrating on a couple of ‘freebies’.

What about Editing my Pictures? As you would expect, the more advanced the software package you are using, the more sophisticated the editing you can do. You can compensate for over- or under-exposure by darkening / lightening your image. Pictures can be ‘cropped’ to taste. You may be able to sharpen or soften the picture. Numerous ‘special effects’ are often available. Text and/or frames can be added.

Can I print decent-quality pictures? Today’s run-of-the-mill printers are capable of producing extremely acceptable pictures – certainly up to the 8” X 10” range. Depends on: Quality of your camera; Quality of original picture; Quality of printer; Quality of paper used; Degree of ‘High Definition’ chosen from your settings.

What about those ‘freebies’? Two of the best-known (and loved) ‘freebies’ are Picasa-3 and Irfanview: Both are intuitive – easy to use; Plenty of functionality; Encourage ‘experimenting’ and use of imagination; Good control of file-size (for attaching to e-mail messages); Easy methods of printing; Lots of colour-flexibility; Special effects are available; Ability to ‘crop’ and/or frame your pictures.

Where do I get them from? Get Picasa-3 from Barrie! (It used to be available as a free download, but not since Google bought the organization and replaced the software with its own.) Get Irfanview at: http://www.irfanview.com/main_download_engl.htm Click on the first occurrence of “Download Now”.

We’ll now have a look at both packages, using your own machines . . .