Free Digital Photo Software

Some digital point-and-shoot cameras come with free digital photo software that can help you organize your digital photos and perhaps do a little editing on them. But once people get used to using their digital camera, they want more. But then they've heard that software can be expensive.

Fortunately, there are several choices in free digital photo software that will give the average amateur photographer tools to take their pictures from "snapshot" level to being worthy of framing and displaying. Three good choices are Adobe Photoshop Express, Google Picasa 3, and Picnik.

Adobe Photoshop Express

Adobe Photoshop Express is a free website that allows up to a generous 2 GB of storage space and provides a good set of image editing tools, some help sharing photos, and the ability to get prints through Shutterfly.

The user interface with Photoshop Express is totally different from the Photoshop Elements and Photoshop CS4 interfaces, but that's OK, because it's much easier to learn. You're allowed to upload JPEG photos with less than 4,000 pixels in each dimension - which translates to "smaller than 12 megapixels."

To edit a picture, double click it. When you do this, it takes several seconds for the site to prepare the photo for editing, so don't panic if it doesn't come up instantly.

The most basic tool in Adobe Photoshop Express is the "Auto Correct" filter, which "fixes" lighting and makes skin tones a little better. Other functions to alter brightness and color appear as six thumbnails. You basically click on a tool, then pick which thumbnail looks best.

The "White Balance" tool adjusts for sun, shade, clouds, and even fluorescent lighting. When you're done, you'll have the option of downloading the picture at different resolutions. This is a generous offering as far as free digital photo software goes.

Picasa 3

Picasa 3 is a free download from Google and is available for Windows and Linux, but not for Macs. When you're done downloading and installing Picasa 3, it offers to scan your hard disk, your "My Documents," "My Pictures," and your desktop for images. It doesn't count temporary Internet image files.

When you put your camera's media file into your computer, Picasa will show up as a choice in the dialog box to copy and view the pictures right off the card. You can also enter date and description data if you want. Picasa can also import images from a webcam or a scanner.

The editing tools in Picasa 3 include all the basics: fill light, color, contrast, cropping, and retouching. It also has an automatic red-eye tool that greatly simplifies what can be an involved task in pictures with lots of people in them. Picasa 3 will also straighten pictures, which can make the difference between an OK picture and a really good one.

People who use digital SLR cameras will be happy to learn that Picasa 3 supports RAW files, something not many free digital photo software packages do.

Picnik

Picnik is a favorite free digital photo software site that you use on the web. It has numerous web partners, including MySpace, Facebook, Picasa, Flickr, Photobucket, and Webshots. Using the site is free, or you can get a premium account for $24.95 a year.

People love Picnik because the interface is friendly and easy to use, and it has a good suite of tools. You start with five tabs: Home, Photos, Edit, Create, and Save and Share, and for the most part the options you want are logically located. While you can upload pictures from your computer, you can also access photos from online. Getting your images from the partner sites is easy, and you can also get photos from your own site by typing the URL into a box labeled "Get from Website" in the Photos tab.

The tools available through Picnik include all the usual suspects: red eye correction, sharpening, colors, exposure, resizing, cropping, and rotating. The options are easy to use and include pop-up information boxes for those tools you don't understand. And, you can always undo and redo steps and experiment with ease, which is an essential feature whether you're using free digital photo software or purchased software. You can also zoom in on places in your photo that need more detailed attention.

While there are other free photo editing software options, Photoshop Express, Picasa 3, and Picnik are three of the most popular. If you have the time to spare, you might as well experiment with some of the other free digital photo software packages out there, like Windows Live Photo Gallery (which comes with Windows 7), Pos Free Photo Editor and Pixia. All have something valuable to offer at no cost.


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