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Introduction to Digital Photography

Presented by Tom and Mary O'Haver
[email protected] [email protected]
http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~toh/adulted/
Last updated January 4, 2009

Table of Contents
1............... How to use the workshop CD-ROM
2............... Basic PC Operation
3-4........... Choosing a Digital Camera
5-9........... Using Picasa 3.6
10-11....... Practice Tasks for Picasa 3.6
12............. How to Order Prints from within Picasa
13............. Loading Pictures onto a Photo Frame
14-15....... Which Program Should I Use?
16-17........ The Different Kinds of Disks
18............. Using the Common Tasks menu in Windows XP and Vista
19............. Importing Images into Documents
20............. Overview of Digital Photography
21............. How to get your email from any computer
22............. Choosing and Using a Scanner
23-26....... Making Video Slide Shows to show on TV
27-28....... Adding External Storage to Your Computer
29-30....... Picasa Projects: Collages, Movies, and Posters
31............ Adding music to slide shows and copying music from CDs
32............ Finding and removing duplicate photos
33............ Appendix (Screen saver and desktop pictures)
34............ Troubleshooting
How to use the course CD "Introduction to Digital Photography"
1. Insert the course CD into your computer's CD drive, label side up.
2. Double-click (or right-click and select Open) on "My Computer".
3. Open (double-click, or right-click and select Open) the round icon called "Course disk".
Bring this CD with you to each class. It is yours to keep. Note: If you don't have this CD, you can
download the contents of the CD from http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~toh/adulted/ContentsOfCD.pdf. The CD
is used for three purposes:
A. Installing the Picasa photo program on your home computer. This disk contains an installer for
version 3.6 of the Picasa program (or you can download the latest version from picasa.com). This is
the software program that we will use in class. It is a free program that you can install on any other
Windows PC and Macs. To install it, open the CD as described above, double-click on "picasa36-
setup.exe", click Accept, then Install, then Finish. You can then remove the course CD. Once the
software is installed on your computer, you do not need to keep the CD in your computer in order to
use the software on your own images. This software can be used to view and edit any pictures
contained anywhere on your computer, not just the ones on this CD.
B. Images for the course activities. The CD contains sample pictures used in the course activities.
You can open these images in any image editor. To access these pictures, you must copy those
folders over to your hard disk (See page 10, #1).
C. Course Handouts are also on this CD. The latest version of this handout is also on our Web site at
http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~toh/adulted/Intro.pdf. If you loose or damage your paper handout, you can
always print out a fresh copy. Future updates will be posted at that site.

"So take the photographs and still frames in your mind. Hang it on a shelf, in good health and good time".
Green Day, "Time of Your Life", 1998.
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Review of Basic PC Operation

Turning the computer on. First, press the space bar on the keyboard or move the mouse to see if the
computer is just in the "sleep" mode. If it's really off, press the power button and turn on the monitor
also. (In the computer lab, the user name is ____________ and the password is ____________.)
Turning the computer off. Click Start (the green button in the lower left corner of the screen), select
Turn off Computer, then click Turn off. Switch off the monitor, too.
Clicking and double-clicking. Unless otherwise specified, "click" means "single-click" with the left
mouse button - that is, click and release the left mouse button once. Don't double-click unless the
instructions specifically say to double-click. "Right-click" means use the right mouse button; right
clicking is much less common than left-clicking. Hint: the active part of the on-screen mouse pointer
is the tip of the little arrow. Make sure the tip of the arrow is on the thing you want to click on.
Dragging. To "drag" means to hold the left mouse button down and slide the mouse pointer. "Right-
drag" means to drag with the right mouse button instead.
Moving and resizing windows (On-screen windows containing programs or documents, photos, etc).
Move windows by dragging the blue upper border. Resize a window by dragging the lower-right
corner (mouse pointer changes to a diagonal arrow). You can hide (minimize) a window temporarily
by clicking on the "-" box in the upper right. You can show a minimized window by clicking on its
tab in the taskbar at the bottom of the screen.
Opening ("launching") a program. Click Start (the button in the lower left corner of the screen),
select Programs, then select the program from the pop-up menu of programs.
Switching between programs. You can have several programs open at one time. Each currently open
program shows a tab in the taskbar at the bottom of the screen. To switch to a program, click on its
tab. To close a program, right-click on its tab and select Close.
Quitting (Exiting) a program. Click on the x box in the upper right of the program's window, OR
select File > Exit, OR right-click on its tab in the taskbar and select Close.
Opening a disk (hard disk, floppy, or CD-ROM) to inspect its contents. Double-click on "My
Computer" icon on the desktop, then right-click on the disk you want to open, and select Open.
Opening a file. Double-click on the file to allow the computer to decide what program to use to display
the file. To choose the program yourself, open the desired program first, then select File > Open and
navigate to the file. Or, in Windows, right-click on the file and select Open with. This displays a
short list of programs that can open that file type. Select one. Or select Choose Program... to choose
a program not on the short list.
Creating a new folder. Open the disk or folder where you want the new folder, then right-click on the
white area of the window and select New > Folder. Type a name for the folder and press enter. To
create a new folder on the desktop, right-click on the desktop (screen background) and select New >
Folder.
How big is a file? To determine how much disk space a file or folder takes up, right-click on the file
icon and select Properties from the pop-up menu. Or you can just "mouse over" the file without
clicking. This also works for discs listed in My Computer, to see how much space is left on the disk.
Re-naming a file or folder. Right-click on the item select Rename, type the new name, press Enter.
Deleting files. Select the the file(s) and press the Delete key. To restore (undelete) a deleted file, open
the trash can icon on the desktop, right-click on it, and select Restore. Caution: Don't delete folders
this way; if you delete a folder, you will delete all folders inside that folder!
Saving a document in another location. Select File > Save as.... Click on the "Save in:" menu at the
top of the box and select the desired disk or folder to save the file in. Click Save.
Moving a file to another folder. Open the folder containing the file you want to move, click once on
the file, and click Move this file in the left panel. In the little box that pops up, scroll and click + and -
to find the folder you want to move it to, and click on it. Then click Move.
© Tom O'Haver, December 2007
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Choosing a Digital Camera

1. Megapixels (MP). The first thing mentioned in digital camera ads is always the camera's resolution
in megapixels. Pixels are the tiny dots that digital pictures are made of; a megapixel equals 1 million
pixels. The more megapixels, the more dots in the image. How many you really need depends on
what size prints you plan to make. The rule of thumb is that you need 3 megapixels to make a decent
8 x10 print (the largest size that most computer printers can make). For 4x6 or 5x7 prints, email, and
Web pages, 2 megapixels is more than enough. A higher-resolution image won't necessarily make
small pictures look any better! Any camera now being sold has at least 3 megapixel resolution and
thus is adequate for basic snapshots. Higher resolution photos (5 MP and over) can give larger prints
(11x14 and poster sizes), but the main advantage of high-resolution cameras is that they probably
have better optics than cheaper cameras, plus you can blow up a small portion of a high-resolution
picture without sacrificing quality. The disadvantage of higher resolution is that the you can't take as
many pictures on one memory card, the pictures take up more space on your hard drive when you
download them to your computer, and they are slower to work with. But, those problems can be
avoided if you set your camera to a smaller image size when you're not planning to make huge blow-
ups. Bottom line: Resolution is overrated! Quality of optics is more important.
2. Zoom range. Most digital cameras come with a zoom feature that lets you change the image magni-
fication, so you can zoom in on a distant object. For example a 3X zoom lets you increase the
magnification 3 times. Zoom is especially good for outdoor, sports, and nature photography. "Optical
zoom" is the only real zoom. Sometimes cameras will also specify a "digital zoom" range, but that is
unimportant because it is simply equivalent to “cropping” the picture (and thus reducing the image
size), which you can always do after-the-fact using Picasa or other photo editing software. ("Total
zoom" is just the optical zoom times digital zoom). “Superzoom” cameras have an extended optical
zoom range of x10 to x24. On superzoom cameras, image stabilization is now standard, to help
compensate for camera movement when the camera is hand held.
3. Automatic or manual exposure control. All digital cameras have automatic exposure control; that
is, they change their lens opening and shutter speed automatically in varying light conditions. A good
feature on some cameras is the "spot metering" mode, which automatically adjusts the exposure for
the center of the frame only; this is good for "backlit" subjects (dark subjects in front of a brightly-lit
background) that would otherwise be underexposed. Some newer cameras detect peoples' faces in the
frame and automatically adjust the exposure and focus for those faces, a very useful feature.
4. Automatic or manual focus control. Some very simple cameras are preset to a fixed focus on a
specified range, perhaps 6 feet to infinity. But most digital cameras have "autofocus", which usually
uses a small spot in the exact center of the scene to automatically focus the camera's lens. This works
fine when there is something in the exact center of the scene that you want to be sharply focused.
Autofocus typically does not work well in low-light situations. The better cameras also have manual
focus, which allows you to override the autofocus when it does not do what you want. (Tip: One
important factor is the speed of the autofocus; if it's too slow it will create a slight delay between
pressing the shutter button and the instant when the picture is actually taken.)
5. Removable storage. Different cameras use different systems for storing images. The most common
system uses reusable "memory cards", small removable cards that store your pictures electronically.
Memory cards come in several different types, sizes, and speeds. You must use the type that is
compatible with your camera. Once your card is filled up with pictures, you have to replace it with
an empty one or download your images to your main computer's hard drive before you can erase and
re-use that storage card. The smallest-capacity cards (the ones often supplied with the camera when
you buy it) may hold only 20 or 30 pictures (depending on the resolution setting). You will probably
want to buy one or more cards of a larger capacity (e.g. 2-4 Gbytes), particularly if you plan to take a
lot of picture when you are away from home and can't get to your main computer to download the
pictures. Memory cards are getting cheaper all the time. High-speed cards are preferable but are
more expensive. (Some digital movie cameras use 3" CD-R or DVD-R disks for storage. The blank
.

disks are inexpensive, widely available, and can be read in most computer and DVD drives).
6. Cost of required accessories. Many digital cameras are sold stripped-down, without accessories that
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you might eventually need. For example, extra batteries are essential. Some cameras are sold only
with non-rechargeable batteries that drain very rapidly, so you may want to buy rechargeable ones
and a battery charger. Buy at least two sets of batteries, so one can be charging while you are using
the other. Also, digital cameras are usually sold with only a single memory card, usually of small
capacity. Buy some extra ones, and some larger ones, to carry with you.
7. Size and weight. Digital cameras can be remarkably small and light (4 - 8 oz). The smallest ones are
usually simple models without much zoom range; nevertheless, they often take great pictures.
Compact superzoom cameras combine small size with great zoom range. If you are an experienced
amateur who is accustomed to 35 mm film cameras, you may want one of the larger models with a
large lens, because they feel and act more like a 35 mm camera. The ultimate professional model is a
digital SLR (Single Lens Reflex) with interchangeable lenses, often with a resolution of 12 MP or
greater, which cost $600 or more. As with any camera, the quality of the optics is paramount.
8. Flash. Most cameras have a built-in on-camera flash. These are convenient, but an on-camera flash
does not give very good-quality flash pictures. If you find that you are taking a lot of pictures with
flash, consider getting a camera with a "hot shoe", which is a little mounting bracket on the top of the
camera that allows you to attached a "bounce flash" unit, separately available for about $100. This is
the type of flash that professional photographers use; it allows the flash head to be tilted up to bounce
off the ceiling, giving a much softer and more flattering look to the pictures - and no “redeye”! See
http://picasaweb.google.com/Tom.Mary.OHaver/FlashComparison# for a dramatic photo comparison.
9. Ease of use. This is an important but ultimately subjective factor. In general, point-and-shoot
cameras are the simplest to operate and are relatively inexpensive; they usually provide 3-8 mega-
pixel resolution, fully automatic exposure and focus (some - but not all - provide manual controls as
well), and most provide modest optical zoom (x3). More advanced cameras and professional cameras
are much more flexible, but they have many more buttons and controls, which may require that you
spend more time reading the manual to learn how to use them - and also increases the chance that
one of the controls may accidentally be set incorrectly (a common nuisance). If you are in doubt,
start out with an inexpensive point-and-shoot camera at first, and then if you want or need more,
migrate to a more advanced camera when you know what features and capabilities are important to
you. Always save your receipt; if a camera is too much to figure out, return it and try another model.
10. Speed of operation. You may notice a slight delay between pressing the shutter button and actually
capturing the image; it occurs while the camera clears the image sensor, sets white balance to correct
for color, sets the exposure, focuses the image, and finally fires the flash (if it's needed) and takes the
picture. Another delay occurs between pictures, when the captured image is stored on your
removable storage card and the flash is recharged; this delay can range from a fraction of a second to
as much as 1-2 seconds. These delays can be troublesome when you are taking fast-action pictures
(sports, etc). Newer models of cameras have reduced these delays considerably, but it's still a good
idea to try out a camera before you buy to see if these delays are bothersome.
Here's a trick for fast-action photography that will work on most cameras: when you have your
subject in the viewfinder, press the shutter button half-way down (which locks in the exposure and
focus), then wait for the right action moment and press the button the rest of the way down to snap
the picture instantly. Note: some cameras have a "burst mode" that can take a quick sequence of
several shots, maybe 5 shots in one second, which is also great for capturing fast action.
11. GPS locater. Some new cameras (like the iPhone) now have a "GPS chip" that records the exact
place each picture was taken. Afterwards, the locations can be pinpointed on Picasa's built-in map.
12. Video. Most cameras also take video, but not with as good quality as an actual video camera.
Resources and recommendations. For a very nice illustrated introduction to choosing a digital
camera, go to http://www.shortcourses.com. Good places to compare features and prices of various digital
cameras are http://www.digitalcamera-hq.com and http://www.imaging-resource.com. Consumer Reports,
December 2009, evaluates over 100 digital cameras; 26 cameras are recommended; those earning “best
buy” ratings are the Kodak Easyshare C160 and M320 ($90-100), Sony Cybershot DSC-H20 ($260),
and the Pentax K200D single-lens reflex ($600).
© Tom O'Haver ([email protected]), January 2010
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Using Picasa 3.6

Installing Picasa
1. Insert the course CD, double-click My Computer (or click Start >My Computer), double-click
the round CD icon labeled "Course disk", and double-click "picasa36-setup.exe".
2. Click Accept, then Install, then Finish. You can then remove the course CD. You can then run
Picasa by double-clicking the Picasa icon on the desktop.
First time use
The first time you run Picasa (and only the first time), it searches your hard disk looking for digital
photographs, creating an index of all your photos. If you have a lot of photos, this process may take
some minutes. Thereafter, Picasa automatically adds any new pictures that it finds. Note: Picasa doesn't
physically store or keep your photos. It leaves them where they were, and simply makes a index of
them, like a card catalog in a library. Any other software can also access those photos.
The main screen (Library)
The main screen of Picasa shows the master index of photos, called the Library. The left-hand panel
shows all the folders containing photos, and the right-hand panel shows small images (called
"thumbnails") of all the photos on your computer. The thumbnails are listed by date, with the most
recent at the top. You can scroll through the folder list or through the library of thumbnails by using the
mouse wheel or the scroll bars. (Note: the slider at bottom right changes the size of the thumbnails).
a. Click once on a folder listed in the left-hand panel to jump directly to those pictures.
b. To select a photo, click once on its thumbnail. A blue border indicates that the picture is now
selected. The blue bar just below the thumbnails shows the date and time when that photo was taken,
the pixel dimensions (height and width), and the file size (disk space used by that photo). Note: Make
sure the clock/calendar in your camera is set correctly so that these dates and times will be correct (if
not, look up how to set it). To select multiple photos from one folder, hold down the ctrl key and
click once on each thumbnail. To select multiple photos from more than one folder, click
(bottom left) after selecting each picture.
c. To delete a picture, select it, then press the Delete key. To delete a folder, click once on the folder in
the list and press the Delete key. This moves the picture or the folder to the computer's recycle bin.
d. To rotate a sideways picture, select it, then click one of the curved arrow buttons at the bottom.
e. To rearrange the order of the pictures, just drag and drop a thumbnail into the desired position.
f. To rename a folder, double-click on the folder name, type a new name, and click OK.
g. To sort the folders, click at the top left. To sort the pictures within a folder, right-click on that
folder and select Sort Folder by > Name, Date or Size.
h. To move pictures from one folder to another, scroll to the desired thumbnails, hold down the Ctrl
key and click each thumbnail once, then scroll the folder list (without clicking) to the destination
folder, and drag any one thumbnail to the left and drop it into that folder.
i. To move a group of pictures into a new folder, hold down the Ctrl key and click each thumbnail
once, click File > Move to New Folder...., type a name for the new folder, and click OK.
j. To divide one folder of photos into two folders, right-click on the thumbnail where the second group
begins, select Split Folder Here, type the name for the second group, and click OK.
Note: If Picasa does not immediately recognize a newly added folder, select File > Add Folder to
Picasa, find that folder in the left panel, click Scan Always and click OK.
Viewing pictures in a full-screen slide show
To view pictures full-screen, click on the folder or album of photos that you want to see, click the Play
button, then either let the slide show run by itself or move the mouse and use the buttons at the
bottom of the picture to view the next or previous picture in that folder or album. You can rotate
sideways pictures by clicking on the curved arrow buttons at the bottom. You can zoom in to pictures
just by holding the mouse button down and dragging the photo. To return to the library view, press the
Esc key (upper left corner of keyboard) or click the Exit button in the lower left of the screen.
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Importing new photos from digital cameras, card readers, and photo CDs.
1. Connect the camera or card reader to your computer, or insert a CD with photos into the CD drive.
2. Click the Import button in the upper left of the Picasa window.
3. Pull down the Select Device menu and select the desired device. Wait for the thumbnails to load.
(Pictures with a red X have already been imported and will be skipped).
4. At the bottom of the screen, use the Import to menu to select where you want the photos stored,
use the Folder title box to type an appropriate title for the pictures, use the After Copying menu
to choose whether you want the card erased automatically or not, then click the Import All button.
Note 1: It's safer to have Picasa "Leave card alone", and then to delete the photos for the memory
card later using you camera, so if anything goes wrong with the import, you won't loose photos.
Note 2: Do not Import photos that are already on your hard drive. That will just create duplicates.
Organizing and labeling folders
The first thing you should do after importing some new photos into your computer is to divide them
up by subject or event and label them appropriately so that you can find them more easily later. If the
imported photos were taken at more than one place and time, it's best to divide them up. The easiest
way to do this is to "split the folder": right-click the thumbnail where the second group begins, select
Split Folder Here, type the name for the second group, and click OK. Repeat until each group of
photos is in its own appropriately-named folder. You can change or add information at any time: just
double-click on the folder name, then type a new name, description, date, or place taken, and click OK.
Adding Captions and Text .
To add a caption below any photo, double-click on the thumbnail, type a caption in the space below the
photo, where it says "Make a caption!," and press the Enter key. Captions show in Picasa slide shows
and movies. (Note: If the captions don't appear below the thumbnails, select View > Thumbnail
Caption > Caption). To type something directly onto the photo, click "Text" in the left panel, type
anywhere on the photo (or click Copy Caption button), adjust the font, size, etc, and click Apply.
Searching for photos by keyword, folder name or caption
To search for photos by keyword, type in a keyword next to the magnifying glass icon at the upper
right of the screen. All the matching photos will be displayed instantly. Picasa searches for matches in
the folder names, descriptions, place taken, file names, and in any added captions. This is why you
should label your folders and/or caption your photos appropriately (see previous sections). Click the
green Back to View All button at the top to return to the full library display.
Making Picasa albums
In Picasa, albums are lists of favorite photos selected from different folders and gathered together for a
specific purpose. An album contains duplicates of thumbnails, not duplicates of photos. Because the
photos in an album are not actually duplicated or moved from where they were, they don't take up disk
space, you can create as many albums as you like, and you can use the same photo over and over again
in different albums, all without wasting disk space. You can do anything to an album that you can do to
a folder of photos: print, email, order prints, export, make a Gift CD, slide show, or shared Web album.
To create an album, click on the in the upper left, type a name for the album, and press OK. To
add photos to that or any other album, select the photos, then click at the bottom left and select the
desired album from the pop-up list. Note: putting a photo in an album does not remove it from its folder
or make a duplicate of that photo. Picasa shows the albums you have created at the very top of the
folder list, so they are easy to find. To delete an album, right-click on it and select Delete Album.
Deleting an album does not actually delete the photos; they remain where they always were.
Printing pictures on your own printer
1. Click once on the thumbnail of any picture that you want to print and click the Hold button
below the thumbnails. Repeat for each picture that you want to print.
2. Click the Print icon at the bottom of the screen. (There may be a delay of several seconds).
3. Select the desired Print Layout on the top left. (If you want multiple prints, click on the + and -
buttons near "Copies per picture".) Click Review to check print quality, then OK.
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4. Press the Shrink to fit and Crop to fit buttons and note the effect. Crop to Fit will cut off the
edges if necessary to fit the selected size exactly; Shrink to fit will show the entire print area.
5. Select the border and caption options.
6. Click the Printer button on the left panel and select your printer.
7. Click the Printer Setup button and select the paper type that you have loaded into the printer.
8. Click the Print button at the bottom right.
Note: It is often cheaper and faster to order prints from an online photo finisher than to print them
yourself. See How to Order Prints from within Picasa, Page 12, for a detailed procedure for Walmart.
Enhancing pictures and correcting photographic flaws
1. Open the picture for editing by double-clicking on its thumbnail.
2. Click the I'm Feeling Lucky button to auto-adjust the brightness range. Click the Undo... button
to remove the effect.
3. If the dark portions of the photo seem too dark, drag the Fill Light slider in the left-hand panel to
brighten the dark portions.
4. To crop the picture, click the Crop button in the left-hand panel, click, hold, and drag over the
picture to select the area. (The pop-up menu lets you select several standard formats for prints,
TV, photo frames, etc.) Click the Apply button to accept, or Cancel to exit the crop mode.
5. To fix red-eye, click the Red-Eye button in the left-hand panel, then click the Apply button to
accept the correction OR click Reset to remove the correction. You can also manually click, hold
and drag the mouse over each eye. Click Cancel to exit the Red-eye mode.
6. To retouch, click the Retouch button, click the picture to select the area to fix. If the blemish goes
away, click again without moving the mouse, otherwise move the mouse to improve it, then click.
Repeat. Click Apply button to accept.
7. Click the Tuning tab at the top of the left-hand panel to experiment with Fill Light (brightens the
dark portions of a photo), Highlights (brightens the light portions of a photo), Shadows (darkens
the dark portions of a photo), or Color Temperature - makes the color warmer (more red) or
colder (more blue). Try the Effects tab for special effects, such as "Sharpen"or "B&W".
8. To undo any of these operations, click on the Undo button on the left. Each time you press Undo,
it removes one operation, all the way back to the original photo.
9. To go to the next photo, click the right arrow button at the top of the screen. To return to the
thumbnails, press the Esc key on the keyboard OR click the Back to Library button.
Note: There is no need to save after editing; all edits are automatically saved within Picasa. However,
if you want to use a folder of edited photos with other software, click the button next to Share. (To
save a copy of the edited photo as a separate photo, pull down File and click Save a Copy).
Sharpening. Photos with lots of sharp edges may benefit from sharpening.
1. Double-click on a thumbnail to open it for editing
2. Click on the Effects tab, click the Sharpen button, move the Sharpen slider to control the
amount of sharpening, then click Apply. (If you overdo it, click Undo Sharpen).
Note: You usually can't see the effect on the screen if you are sharpening a original digital camera photo,
because computer monitors don't have sufficient resolution. Use the 1:1 button in the lower right to zoom
in to a detail so you can actually see the effect of sharpening. (Note: If you are planning to use that photo
in a reduced form, such as in an email, you should reduce it first, using Export function, then sharpen it,
before sending. The effect of sharpening on a reduced photo is much greater than on the original large
size. If you sharpen a large photo and then reduce it, the sharpening effect will be "washed out").
E-mailing pictures
To e-mail pictures directly from Picasa, open Picasa first:
1. Click on a thumbnail in the library, and then click the Email button at the bottom of the window.
OR if the picture is already open, just click the Email button. To email several pictures at once,
click once on the first thumbnail, click the Hold button, and repeat for each picture, then click the
Email button. The "Select Email" window is displayed.
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2. Click which email service to use. The one at the top is the usual email for that computer; use this if
you're on your home computer. To set your default email program, right-click on the Internet
Explorer icon on your desktop, click Properties, Programs, E-mail, and select the email program
you use.) If you're not on your home computer, choose Google Mail, type in your Gmail user
name and password (but do NOT click "Remember me on this computer"), and click Sign in. If
you don't have a Gmail account yet, click "Want Gmail? Get a free account...," click "Sign up for a
free account" on the next page, then fill in the form to create a free account.
Write your Gmail username _____________________ and password _____________ here!
3. Type in the e-mail address of the recipient (and optionally a subject line and message).
4. Click the Send button at the bottom. Sent pictures are reduced to fit on the recipient's screen.
Putting pictures and slide shows on a CD (“Gift CD”)
If you have a CD RW drive, Picasa can bur
n a slide show CD you can send to friends via postal mail:
1. In the left-hand panel of the Library, click once on a folder (or album) that you want to include on
the disk. Then pull down the Create menu and click Gift CD...
2. If you want to include more that just that one folder or album, click the Add more... button at the
bottom left, then in the folder list, click the check boxes to the left of each folder or album that you
want to include. (Each folder or album makes a separate slide show on the disk), up to 5 or 6.
3. Click Burn disk. Insert a blank CD-R (not a CD-R/W) and click the Write button.
4. When burning is complete, you can Eject the disk. Thereafter, when this disk is inserted into any
PC, a slide show menu will display automatically after a several-second delay. Click to play a
slide show. Also, this disk will play on most new DVD players for showing the photos on TV!
Sharing your photo albums and slide shows over the Internet
If you are having trouble emailing pictures, or you want to send more pictures and videos that email
can handle, use Share button instead of Email.
1. Select (Ctrl-click) on the photos that you want to share, and then click the Share button
above the thumbnails. (If the photos are in more than one folder, make an album first: Page 6).
2. Enter your Gmail password and click the Sign In button. (The first time you do this, and only the
first time, you will sign up for Picasa Web Albums; it's free; just follow the screen instructions).
3. In the ”To:” box in the center, type in one or more email addresses (separated by commas), add a
message if desired, and click the Send button. A good idea is to send the invitation to your regular
email address first, then go to your email and forward it to people in your address book.
4. The Upload Manager will now upload the pictures and display the upload progress, which may
take several minutes. When it finishes, you can click on the View Online button, or close the
Upload Manager window.
5. To view the Web album, click the blue “Web Albums” link at the top right of the Picasa screen.
6. Important: When you are working in class, click Sign Out in the upper right when you are done,
so other students using that computer won't interfere. (At home you can remain signed in).
Recipients will receive an email with the subject line “Invitation to view....”. They need only open
that email and click on the picture; they do not have to give their name or their email address, etc.,
and they do not need to have Picasa to see the photos. If you allow it, they can download the pictures
to their hard disk if they wish, by clicking on the “Download” button above the thumbnails).
Note: To add a photo to an existing Web Album, select that photo, click the Upload button ,
select the desired Web album under “Upload to this album”, and click the Upload button.
Backing up photos and albums to CDs, DVDs, or external hard drives
This is useful for restoring photos that have been purposefully deleted (to recover disk space), or that
have been accidentally deleted, or that have been lost because of a computer crash. It can also be
useful for transferring photos and albums from one computer to another. Here's what to do:
 Page 9
1. Click Tools > Backup pictures.
2. Click the check-boxes on the folders and albums you want to back up (or click Select All).
3. Click the Burn button.
4. Insert a blank CD or DVD into the computer's CD or DVD burner. You will be prompted to insert
other disks if needed. Label and store the disks carefully.
5. To restore the photos to your hard drive, insert the (first) disk into the computer, wait until the pop-
up box appears, click Next, and then click Restore. Wait until the restore is complete.
For further help, go to http://picasa.google.com/support/bin/topic.py?topic=16050
Resizing pictures for other programs (Powerpoint, word processors, photo frames, etc.)
1. Collect all the pictures that you want to resize into an album: See “Making Albums”, page 6, above.
If the pictures are already all together in one folder, go on to the next step. Note: to export a folder
without resizing, just click Save changes, then click the folder icon to open the folder.
2. Right-click on the album, select Select all pictures..., then click the Export button at the bottom.
3. Click Resize to button and set the desired photo size using the slider. For Powerpoint, I suggest
using 800 pixels; for digital photo frames, use 640 pixels; for word processors, 320 - 640 pixels.
4. Click OK. The pictures will be resized and exported into a folder in My Pictures/Exported
Pictures/. From there, you can drag and drop them into any other location on your hard drive, or
onto a CD-R, or attached flash dive, memory card, or photo frame, or import into Powerpoint, etc.
Face Detection and Recognition
Picasa 3.5 and above adds the ability to recognize human faces in your photos and to present them
to you for naming. (This function takes a lot of computer power; if your computer is not up to the
demands of this function and it runs too slowly, you can disable it by going to Tools > Options >
Name tags and un-checking the two check boxes. You can turn it back on later and it will continue
where it left off). For more information on how to use the face detection capability, Google "picasa
topic 24948" or "Picasa name tags".
Place tags
To view and set the location where photos are taken, click the Places tab in the lower right. You
can select photos, then type in a address or stick a "map pin" into the map where they were taken.
Some cameras (like the iPhone) have a GPS chip that adds the place tag to each photo taken.
Video
Most digital cameras can take short video clips as well as still photos. Picasa can handle the
videos, within certain limits. If you want to include videos in your Picasa library, click Tools >
Options > File Types and click Quicktime Movies and MOV. You'll need to update Windows
Media Player (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/11/default.aspx) and
Quicktime (http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download) to the latest versions. With most (but not all)
cameras, Picasa imports the videos along with the photos. If Picasa does not import your videos, try
the camera importing software that came with your camera or computer instead.
You can view, caption, email, export, and back up videos, and upload them to Web Albums or to
YouTube, but you can't edit, print, download them from Web Albums, or view them on Gift DC
slideshows. (Note: To email movies, click Tools > Options > Email and click "send movies as:
Full Movie").
You can capture still frames from a video by clicking the "Take Snapshot" button during play. The
frames will be stored in the "Captured Videos" album, in the Projects section (above the Folders
collection). Most cameras do not take very high-resolution videos, so the quality of a captured
frame is not as good as a regular photo.
© Tom O'Haver, created November 2006. Updated January, 2010
 Page 10

Practice Tasks for Picasa

1. Copy the "Example Pictures" and "Pics to Fix" folders to your home computer.
1. Close any open programs (including Picasa). Insert the course CD-ROM into the CD drive.
2. If a prompt menu appears, scroll until you see Open folder to view files and click it.
3. If a prompt does not appear, double-click on My Computer, then double-click the CD drive icon.
4. The CD window will open. Click once on the Example Pictures folder.
5. Click Copy this folder in the left panel, scroll until you see Desktop, and click on it. Then click
Copy. (Alternatively, you can drag the folder and drop it onto the blue desktop).
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for the "Pics to Fix" folder. (You can download both the "Example Pictures"
and the "Pics to Fix" folders from http://picasaweb.google.com/tom.mary.ohaver ).
2. Open Picasa, turn on the thumbnail captions, and sort the folders.
1. Open Picasa. Make sure you are in the Library (folder list on the left, thumbnails on the right).
2. Select View > Thumbnail Caption > Caption. Captions will show below each thumbnail.
3. In the folder list on the left, right-click on the Example Pictures folder and select Sort Folder
By... > Name. (This will sort the photos in the order that there are used in this activity).
3. Rotating sideways images.
1. Open (double-click on) the thumbnail "Kids".
2. Click the curly arrow icons at the bottom to rotate the image in the desired direction.
4. Sharpening. Photos with lots of sharp edges benefit from sharpening.
1. Click the button to go to "Swiss Village". Zoom in using the slider in the lower right.
2. Click on the Effects tab, click the Sharpen button, move the Sharpen slider to control the
amount of sharpening, then click Apply. If that not enough, click Sharpen again and repeat.
3. If you overdo it, click Undo Sharpen to remove one level of sharpening.
4. Click the Basic Fixes tab to return to the basic fixes.
5. Click the button to try this operation with "Bryce Canyon".
5. Fixing pictures that are faded or too dark.
1. Click the button to go to the next picture: "Scanned Photo 2".
2. Click the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button. This adjusts contrast, brightness, and color balance.
3. Click the button to try this operation with the next 5 pictures: "Grapes", "TinType",
"Rainbow", "Robert", "Tapestry".
6. Converting a color photograph to black-and-white.
1. Click the button to go to the next picture: "Faded Color". This was originally a color photo but
has faded and discolored over time.
2. Remove the unwanted color by clicking the Effects tab, then click B&W.
3. It's still a bit faded, so click the Basic Fixes tab, then click I'm Feeling Lucky.
4. Click the button to try this with "Family".
7. Color correction
1. Click the button to go to the next picture: "Faith". The picture is a little too blue. It needs to be
"warmed up".
2. Click the Tuning tab.
3. Move the Color Temperature slider to the right. Try for a natural look.
4. Click the button to go to try this on the next two photos.
8. Adding "Fill light" to brighten the dark portions of a picture.
1. Click the button to go to "Statue". Note that the statue in the foreground is too dark to see
clearly. The Fill Light control selectively brightens the darkest portions of a photo.
2. Move the Fill Light slider to the right until you can see the foreground face more clearly.
3. Click the button to go to try this on "Island Kids", "Fishing", and "In The Alps".
9. Straightening crooked pictures
1. Click the button to "Capitol". It's sideways, so rotate it as in #3, above.
2. It's still a little crooked, so click the Straighten button.
3. Move the slider under the picture to straighten it out, then click the Apply button.
4. This picture is also a bit dull, so click I'm Feeling Lucky to brighten it up.
 Page 11
10. Cropping a photo for a standard frame size.
1. Click the button to go to "Cute Baby". This is a nearly square image, and it must be cropped to
fit a standard rectangular print size or frame.
2. Click on the Crop button on the left.
3. Click on the pop-up menu and select one of the standard frame sizes (4x6, 5x7, or 8x10).
4. Imagine a rectangle covering just that portion of the photo that you want to show in the final
image. Click, hold, and drag the mouse diagonally from one corner of that imaginary rectangle to
the opposite corner, and let up on the mouse button. Then you can use the mouse to adjust the
position and size of the crop box as you wish. This takes practice until you get the hang of it.
5. Click on the green Apply button. The cropped portion automatically expands to fill the frame.
6. Just for the purpose of practice, click Undo Crop (left center) and repeat this procedure again
with another crop size. Note: for TV slide shows, use "4:3 Standard screen" or one of the
windscreen formats that fits your TV, and avoid taking photos in "portrait" format.
11. Removing Red Eye
1. Click the button to go to "Valentine Kids".
2. Click the Red-Eye button in the left-hand panel. The program locates and corrects the red eyes.
(If the program misses an eye, click, hold and drag out a small square that covers that eye).
3. Click the Apply button to accept the correction OR click Reset to remove the red-eye correction.
4. Click the button to practice this on the next 3 photos.
12. Retouching to remove small blemishes
1. Go back to "Bad red eyes" that you fixed previously. We'll try to remove some blemishes.
2. Click the retouch tool, click on one of the little blemishes on her chin. If the blemish goes away,
click again without moving the mouse, otherwise move the mouse to improve it, then click. Click
the Apply button. Try this on the dust spots on "Cute baby" or on one of the scanned photos.
13. Adding text directly onto a photo
1. Open any photo in the "Example Pictures" or "Pics to Fix" folders.
2. Click "Text" in the left panel.
3. Click and type anywhere on the photo (or click Copy Caption button to transfer the caption to
the body of the picture),
4. Adjust the font, size, and color, using the controls in the left panel.
5. Drag the text into position. You can also re-size and rotate the text using the little red dot.
6. Click Apply.
14. Printing multiple pictures on one sheet of paper
1. Click once on the thumbnail of any picture that you want to print and click the Hold button
below the thumbnails. Repeat for each picture that you want to print.
2. Click the Print icon at the bottom of the screen. (There will be a delay of several seconds).
3. Select the desired Print Layout on the top left. (If you want multiple prints, click on the + and -
buttons near "Copies per picture".) Click Review to check print quality, then OK.
4. Press the Shrink to fit and Crop to fit buttons and note the effect. Shrink to fit is better because
it doesn't cut off the edges. (Try this when you make an 8x10 of the photo "Wedding Group".)
5. Select the border and caption options.
6. Click the Printer button on the left panel and select your printer.
7. Click the Printer Setup button and select the paper type that you have loaded into the printer.
8. Click Cancel in the lower right to exit the Print screen without printing. (At home, you would
click the Print button at the bottom right, but please don't do that in class).
15. Fixing old scanned family photos
1. Return to the thumbnail display. Open "Scanned Photo 3".
2. Try to improve this pictures by a combination of Straighten, Crop, Auto Contrast or I'm
Feeling Lucky, Tuning > Highlight and Shadows.
3. Click the button to go to try this on Scanned Photo 4 and 5.
16. Practice makes perfect
Try what you have learned on the photos in the "Pics to Fix" folder, some of which could really use
your help. The captions on those photos suggest some things to try.
(c) Tom O'Haver ([email protected]), created November 2006, last updated November, 2009
 Page 12

How to Order Prints using Picasa 3

If you have lots of photos to print, it may be cheaper and faster to order prints from a printing
service rather than to print them on your own printer. You can do it right from Picasa.
1. Open Picasa (double-click on the Picasa icon on the desktop). If you have not yet trans-
ferred the pictures from your camera to Picasa, do so now (page 5, 14). Fix the pictures as
you wish (add fill light, "I'm Feeling Lucky", etc). Crop each picture to the intended print
size (4x6, 5x7, 8x10, etc). Note: Cropping is important because most printing services will
blindly crop your photos to fit exactly the size that you ordered, even if it means cutting off
the edges. Better that you crop them yourself as you wish, so that there will be no surprises.
2. Start from Picasa's Library:
a. To print all the pictures in a folder, click on that folder in the folder list on the left and
click Edit > Select All. Or hold down the Ctrl key and press A.
b. To print just a few pictures from one folder, hold down the Ctrl key and click once on
each picture that you want to print. The selected thumbnails are surrounded by a blue
border.
c. To print several pictures scattered over different folders, drag the thumbnails into the
"Picture Tray" at the bottom left corner and click Hold. Repeat for each photo.
3. Click the Shop button at the bottom of the Picasa window. A list of currently-available
photo printing services will be displayed (scroll down to see all of them). You can choose
any of these services. Some (like Shutterfly, SnapFish, Kodak) will deliver prints and other
photo products by postal mail. Others (like Walmart, Walgreens and Ritz Camera) will allow
you to pick up prints at your local store in one hour and pay then). For the purposes of this
exercise, we'll use Walmart. Click the Choose button right under WAL*MART.
4. A login window will be displayed. The very first time you do this (and only the first time)
you'll have to create an account (it's free). Click the blue Create an account... and follow the
instructions to choose a user name and password for this account. Thereafter when you order
prints from Walmart, all you have to do is enter this user name and password and click OK.
Write your Walmart user name ________________ and password _______________ here!
5. After entering your user name and password and clicking OK, Picasa will automatically
upload the selected photos to Walmart. This may take anywhere from a few seconds to
several minutes, depending on the number of photos, the size of the photo files, and the
speed of your Internet connection.
6. Once the pictures are uploaded, your Web browser will display a page of thumbnails of your
pictures. Click where it says Order Prints on the upper right. In the next screen, click the
check boxes for each photo you want to print and click Choose These Photos. In the next
screen, scroll down to select the print size for each photo. You can also specify how many of
each picture you want. The estimated price of your order is computed and displayed at the
top right of the page. (Don't worry about delivery options yet - that's in the next step).
7. Click the orange Proceed to Checkout button. Choose a crop option. If asked, sign in to your
account. This takes you to the Delivery Options page, where you can click on either 1-hour
in-store pickup, free in-store pickup, or home delivery by postal mail. If you chose in-store
pickup, you'll be given a list of local Walmart stores in your ZIP code. Choose the store
where you wish to pick up the prints. Then click the blue Continue button at the bottom.
8. In the next screen, type in your name and a phone number where you can be called if there is
a problem with your order. Then click the blue Continue button at the bottom.
9. The next screen is for billing information. If you want to pre-pay, enter your credit card type,
number, expiration date, and billing address. (For postal mail delivery, you also need to give
a delivery address). Then click the blue Place Your Order button at the bottom.
10. An order confirmation page will be displayed that you can print out. You can take that to
the store for in-store pickup.
(c) Tom O'Haver ([email protected]), November 2005. Checked and updated November 22, 2009
 Page 13

Loading Pictures onto a Digital Photo Frame

Digital Photo Frames are electronic picture frames that show a continually-changing slide
show of pictures. You can hang them on a wall or put them on a table, just like any picture
frame. Most have a slot on the side where you can plug in a memory card containing
pictures. Makes a great gift, especially when you pre-load them with pictures. They range in
price from $40 - $150 depending on size, and they are sure to drop in price in the future.
You'll need a memory card that is compatible with your photo frame and also with your
computer's card reader (but it does not have to be compatible with your camera). An old 128
or 256 MByte memory card is quite adequate (and cheap - usually less than $10). Some
frames optionally support a USB flash drive.
1. Plug the memory card into your computer's card reader slot.
2. If a pop-up menu of choices appears when the device is connected, click "Open folder to
View Files".
3. Otherwise, open My Computer. Locate the memory card (it will be labeled "Removable
Disk".) Open (double-click on) it to see if there is anything already on that card. To remove
unwanted files, select them and press the Delete key on your keyboard.
Note: If the memory card does not seem to work, it may need to be formatted:
1. Right-click on the memory card's icon ("Removable Disk") and select Format...
2. In the Format window that appears, pull down the File System menu and select FAT32.
3. Click the Start button. You will be warned that this will erase any images or other files that
were on the card.
4. Click OK. Formatting will be complete in only a few seconds and need not be repeated on that
memory card if you add or change pictures in the future.
Transferring pictures to the frame. Here is how to use Picasa to collect favorite pictures,
transfer them to a memory card, and get them to show on a photo frame:
1. Collect all the pictures into an album: See "Making Albums", page 6 above. Rotate any
sideways pictures. For best results, edit the pictures (Page 7) to improve them, and crop
all photos to the orientation and proportions of the photo frame, to make faces bigger and
easier to see and to avoid black bands on the edges of the screen. Because the screens
are so small and are often viewed at a distance, close cropping will look much better,
especially for photos in "portrait" (vertical) format. People usually want to see faces.
2. Right-click on that album and select Select all pictures..., and then click the Export
button at the bottom-right. The "Export to Folder" window will be displayed.
3. Click Resize to and set the photo size to 640 pixels using the slider. (Doing this reduces
the file size of the photos so that many more of them will fit onto the memory card).
4. Click the Browse button and select the memory card (it will be labeled "Removable
Disk".)
5. Click OK. The pictures will be resized and exported to the memory card. This may take a
few minutes.
6. Once the copying is complete, you can remove the memory card from the computer' card
reader and plug it into the photo frame, then turn on the frame. Some frames will
automatically play a slide show of the pictures on the card when it is turned on, but on
some frames you may have to active the frame's menu and make a selection. See the
instructions that came with the frame if a slide show does not automatically start.
Note: You could have two or more cards full of pictures that you swap out when you get
tired of one set of pictures. Also, at any time you can plug a memory card back into the
computer and copy some more pictures onto it (see steps 1-5). You can fit about 500
pictures on a 64 Megabyte card, 1000 pictures on a 128 Megabyte card, proportionally
more on a larger card, especially if you resize then as in step 3, above.
(c) Tom O'Haver ([email protected]), November, 2009.
 Page 14

Which Program Should I Use...?: A quick reference guide

There is more than one way to perform most photo tasks: use whatever is easiest for you.
To transfer pictures from my digital camera to my computer:
· You can use any software to transfer pictures from your camera to your computer; it can be
the software that came with your camera (but it does not have to be), or you can use Picasa,
or the Scanner and Camera Wizard. Once the pictures are on your computer, Picasa will find
them, no matter how they got there. Use whatever works. There are two ways you can
connect the camera to the computer: (a) connect the camera directly to an available USB port
with the supplied cable, or (b) remove the memory card from the camera and insert it into a
card reader slot (on the computer, on the printer, or in an add-on card reader). If a pop-up
menu of choices appears when the camera or camera card is connected, you can use any one
of these three techniques: (a) click "Copy pictures to your computer and view them using
Picasa", or (b) you can click "Copy pictures to a folder on my computer" and follow the
instructions in the Scanner and Camera Wizard window, or (c) you can click "Open folder to
View Files", select the pictures you want to transfer, click "Copy the selected items", select
My Documents > My Pictures in the pop-up box, and click Copy.
· In Picasa: Click the Import button, then pull down the Select Device menu and select the
desired device. After the little thumbnails have finished loading, select (Crtl-click) the ones
you want to import, then click Import Selected. Or click the Import All button to import
them all. Some thumbnails have a red “X” on them; that means they have already been
imported previously and will be slipped (unless you un-check “Exclude Duplicates”).
To view pictures:
· In Windows, open a folder of pictures and double-click on a thumbnail to view that picture.
To go to the next picture in that folder, click the blue button below the picture.
· Using Picasa: Click (above the thumbnails) to see the pictures full-screen. See "Viewing
pictures full-screen", page 5. Or double-click a thumbnail to open a picture for editing.
To print pictures on my own printer:
· In Windows, you can open a folder of pictures, select (Ctrl-click on) the ones you want to
print, click Print, and follow the instructions in the window.
· Using Picasa, click once on a picture that you want to print, click the Hold button below
the thumbnails, repeat these two steps for each pictures that you want to print, then click the
Print button . Picasa's printing capabilities are similar to Windows. For directions see
page 6. (To order prints from a photo store, see page12),
To show a slide show of pictures on my own computer:
· In Windows, you can open a folder of pictures and then click the Slide Show button. To go
to the next picture, click the mouse, or use the  and  arrow keys on the keyboard. To exit
the slide show, press the Esc key on the keyboard (upper left corner).
· In Picasa, click on the folder of pictures, then click the button at the top. See Page 5.
To make a computer slide show of pictures on a CD-R to send to friends:
· Use Picasa to make Gift CD. Run Picasa, click on the desired folder or album of pictures,
insert a blank CD-R, click Create > Gift CD and click Burn disk. See page 7 instructions.
· In Windows, you can open a folder of pictures and then click the Burn button, then click
Next and following the on-screen instructions. When that disk is inserted into a computer
running Windows, select the desired action from the pop-up menu.
· Note: Neither Picasa nor Windows CDs will automatically show videos along with the
pictures. To play a videos, open the disk in Windows and double-click on the video file.
To make a slide show of pictures to view on a TV :
· If you have a digital TV with a PC input, you can hook it to your monitor output to the PC
input with a long monitor cable to show Picasa slide shows on your TV (see Page 30 for
details). Extra-long monitor cables (aka “VGA” cables) are available from computer stores.
· Make a CD of pictures and play it on your DVD player. Most recent DVD players will play a
 Page 15
simple slide show of pictures on any CD-R that has JPG images on it. Page 7.
· Make a Picasa Movie with music and video effects (Page 30) and burn it to a DVD bt
dragging the Movie file from Picasa's library onto Windows DVD Maker, then cl
·icm Burn. Or use Photo Story 3 (Page 23) or Memories on TV (Page 25). (Alternatively, you
can order a simple slide show DVD with music from Shutterfly , $20-30).
To manually shrink (re-size) photos:
· In Windows, right-click on the photo and click Open with > Paint > Image, select Stretch/
Skew, set both the Horizontal and Vertical stretch to 50% or 25% or whatever, and click OK.
Then use File > Save as... to save the reduced image under another name.
· In Picasa, you can shrink a whole folder of pictures at once. Click Edit > Select All, and
click the Export button (bottom right of the window). In the pop-up window, click
"Resize to" and select the desired photo size (640 is good for email). Finally, click OK. The
photos will be copied, resized and placed in a folder in My Pictures/Picasa Exports. Page 8.
To e-mail pictures:
To set your default email program, open Internet Explorer, click Tools, Internet Options,
Programs, E-mail, and select desired program. (Note: Before you can send email, you have
to be connected to the Internet; if you use a dial-up Internet connection, connect as you
usually do, then minimize (but do not close) your Internet software to use other programs).
· In Windows, open a folder of pictures, click on a thumbnail, then click the E-mail button,
click "Make my pictures smaller" and click OK. Windows will open your usual email
program. Type the address, subject, and message and click Send.
· Starting from Picasa, click on a thumbnail, then click the E-mail button at the bottom. See
"E-mailing pictures", page 7, for details. Note: Picasa automatically shrinks pictures that are
too big to fit on the screen. To change the size of emailed pictures, click Tools > Options,
click the E-Mail tab, and select the desired size there (640 pixels will fit on most screens).
· Starting from your own e-mail program: Compose a message as usual, click on the
"Attach" button, click in the "Look in:" menu, select the folder containing the picture that
you want to send, click on the picture and click Open. Then click Send.
To save a picture from an e-mail message or a Web page.
Right-click on the picture, select Save Image As..., click on Pictures, and click Save. You
can treat that photo just like any other picture.
For photo editing and enhancement:
· Picasa can do the most common photo editing tasks. Page 7.
· A professional photo editing program (e.g. Paint Shop Pro or Adobe Photoshop is really
needed only for the more advanced photo tasks, such as photo restoration, colorizing B&W
photos, cutting people out and putting them into another picture, changing backgrounds,
painting, color separation, etc. See the folder "Advanced Techniques (beyond this course)"
on the Course CD or go to http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~toh/adulted/ImageWorkshop/
To back-up photos (requires CD-R or DVD-R drive):
· Using Windows: See bottom of Page 17 for instructions.
· Using Picasa is more convenient: See Page 9 for instructions. Picasa keeps track of which
photos you have already backed up, so you can create a new back-up disk containing just the
photos added to your computer since your last back-up.
To restore deleted photos that are in the Recycle Bin.
Open (double-click on) the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop, click View > Thumbnails so that
you can see more easily which photos you are restoring, right-click on the photo you want to
restore, and select Restore. (Note: If Picasa is open when you do this, the photos will
instantly appear back in Picasa from whence they came. But if Picasa is not open at the time,
the next time you open Picasa, you have to click Folder > Refresh Thumbnails before the
thumbnails of the restored pictures will be displayed).
(c) Tom O'Haver, November 2005. Revised January, 2010
 Page 16

The Different Kinds of Disks

A Hard Disk (or Hard Drive) is the basic fast read/write storage device. The main one in your
computer is the built-in "C:" drive, but you can buy big external add-on hard drives for less than 10¢
per Gigabyte. They hook up easily via a USB port. Useful for backup and storage of photos or music.
A Floppy Disk (3.5" floppy) is the oldest, slowest and smallest disk in current use. Can hold about 400
pages of text, but not even a single digital photo or MP3 song. Erasable and reusable. Many new
computer models don't even include them - they use a CD-R or CD-RW instead.
A CD Data disk or CD-ROM ("Compact disk - Read-Only Memory") is a CD that may contain any
mix of computer programs or data (text, pictures, music files, computer programs, etc). Can hold up to
700 Mbytes (equivalent to 486 floppy disks, enough to hold roughly 150,000 pages of text, or hundreds
of digital photos or MP3 songs). Can be used on any computer with a CD drive. CD-ROMs can not be
erased or modified in any way. You can make your own data CD-ROMs if your computer has a CD-
burner and the software that comes with it. Use any blank CD-R (but not CD-RWs), about 10¢ each.
A CD-R (CD - Recordable) is a CD created with a computer's CD-RW drive (often called a CD
"burner" or "writer") using a CD-R blank. It has the same capacity as a CD-ROM. The blanks cost
about 10¢ each and are available in any computer or office supply store. A CD-R can not be erased or
modified in any way once it is recorded. All recent computers come with CD-RW drives, but older
computers have only CD readers that can read but not burn CD-R disks. If your computer didn't come
with a CD-burner, you can add an external one for $30 - 40 that easily attaches to a spare USB port.
A CD-RW (CD - ReWritable) is a CD created with a computer's CD-RW drive using a CD-RW blank
(available in any computer or office supply store). It has the same capacity as a CD-R, but it can be
erased and re-recorded just like a floppy or hard disk. However, CD-RW disks can only be read in CD-
RW drives, not in the ordinary CD drives of older computers. It's useful for computer data back-ups,
especially for data that changes often. CD-RW drives can burn either CD-Rs or CD-RWs, depending on
the type of blank disk you put in. If your computer didn't come with a CD-burner, you can add an
external one easily for $30 - 40; it hooks to a spare USB port.
An Audio CD is a regular ordinary CD containing music or audio book recordings. It plays about 1
hour maximum and holds about 20-25 standard 3-minute songs. It can be played on any ordinary CD
player, DVD player, boombox, car CD player, or on your computer. You can make you own custom
audio CDs using an ordinary CD-burner, Windows Media Player or similar software, and any standard
blank CD-R (not CD-RW - you can not use a CD-RW disk to make an audio CD). You can also copy
(or "rip") your commercial audio CDs to your hard drive (converting the songs into MP3 files in the
process) using software such as Windows Media Player. The songs can be re-assembled into custom
audio or MP3 CDs or used to add music to slide shows and home movies. You can also transfer MP3
files to a portable music player (like an Ipod) with a USB cable.
A MP3 disk is a CD containing songs or an audio book in MP3 format. It can play about 10-12 hours
maximum - about 200-250 standard 3-minute songs. Plays on MP3 disk players, recent models of DVD
players, and on some new car CD players. You can make you own MP3 disks with your computer's
CD-burner. Use any standard blank CD-Rs (not CD-RWs). You can create MP3 files from your audio
CDs by "ripping" them with Windows Media Player or other software. (Some audio books are now
being sold in MP3 format, which often allows the entire book to be fit onto one CD).
A Photo or JPEG disk is a computer CD-ROM containing digital photos in JPEG format. The newer
JPEG-compatible DVD players will play JPEG disks, showing a simple slideshow of the pictures on
the TV. You can also view the disk on your computer (using Window's built-in picture viewer or any
other picture viewer software you may have). Note: Photo CDs from a photo processor have built-in
"auto-run" software that automatically runs when you insert the disk and will put the photos on your
computer, usually in the My Pictures folder, where Picasa will find them. It's often better to let that
software put those photos on your computer rather than using Picasa's Import function.
The DVD (Digital Video Disk) was originally developed for playing movies. It looks like a CD but
requires a different player and disk media. Video DVDs are used for movies, data DVDs for data
storage (pictures, music files, or any other kind of data). Data DVDs holds up to 4.7 Gigabytes (4700
 Page 17
megabytes, the equivalent of over 6 CDs or 3263 floppy disks, enough to hold 1800 digital photos or
1200 MP3 songs). Double-layer DVDs hold twice that. Video DVDs hold 3 hours of video. DVDs are
playable in your computer's DVD drive or in a stand-alone DVD player. Picasa burns only data DVDs.
You can make data DVDs using DVD/R or DVD/RW blanks and a DVD burner, available as an
external USB plug-in for less than $100 (in 2008). Blank DVD disks at computer stores typically cost
$0.25 - $1 each. You can make video DVDs with Windows DVD Maker, Sonic, Nero, or Roxio.
There are two types of DVD blank disks, DVD+R and DVD-R (also DVD+RW and DVD-RW). Most
older burners and players can only create and play one kind; the latest "dual mode" equipment will
handle both types. When you buy a DVD burner, look for one that does both DVD+R and DVD-R.
VCD (Video CD) and SVCD (Super Video CD) are CDs with video content; useful if you don't have
a DVD burner. They contain up to 1 hour of full-motion video with sound. SVCDs have better video
and sound quality that VCDs, almost as good as a DVD. Both can be made with an ordinary computer's
CD burner using ordinary blank CD-Rs, using software such as Memories on TV or Photo Story 3 (Page
23-26). Can be played on recent DVD players (even the cheapest ones), but not on older models.
A Mini Disk (3") is the same uses as regular CD disk, but holds about 1/3 as much stuff. It's used in
some digital cameras, video cameras, and portable music players. It may contain computer data,
pictures, music, etc, and it's playable in your computer's regular CD-ROM drive (they fit into the little
3" circular depression in the center of the CD drawer). You can also create these with an ordinary
computer CD burner and mini CD-R blanks. The little disks fit into the recessed circle in the center of
the CD drive's tray. There is also a mini 3" DVD; it looks the same as a mini 3" CD. It holds more than
a full-size CD but less than a full-size DVD. It can be used in most DVD burners.
A Flash Drive is not really a disk, but it acts like one. These are small portable electronic gadgets that
plug directly into one of your computer's USB ports. They are erasable and re-usable and very fast.
They come in various sizes, up to a few GBytes, and typically cost $10 - 60. They require no batteries
or power supply. Very handy for moving groups of files or folders from one computer to another.
Note: To find out how much free space is left on any disk, open My Computers, pull down the View
menu and select Details. Look at the entry for the desired disk and look at the Free Space column.
How to copy files to a CD-RW drive
1. Put a blank disk (CD-R or CD-RW) into the CD-RW drive. A CD-RW blank is erasable and re-
usable, but is slower and not compatible with many ordinary CD readers and CD players. CD-Rs
are cheaper, faster and are compatible with ordinary CD and DVD players.
2. If the computer displays a menu of choices, select "Open writable CD folder...." Otherwise, open
My Computer > CD-RW Drive.
3. Open the folder containing the files you want to copy and drag them to the CD-RW window.
Alternatively, you can click once on the file or folder that you want to copy, then click "Copy this
file (or folder)" in the left-hand panel of tasks.
4. Once all the files have been copied, pull down the File menu in the CD-R window and select
"Write these files to CD".
5. The CD Writing Wizard opens. Click Next and follow the remaining instructions.
Note 1: To check to see whether you have a CD or DVD burner, double-click My Computer on the
desktop and look for the round CD icon. If it says "CD Drive", then this is a CD reader only. If it
says "CD-RW Drive", then it's a CD burner that can burn CD-Rs or CD-RWs. If it says "DVD/CD-
RW", it's a DVD player and CD burner; and if it says "DVD-R" it can burn both CDs and DVDs.
Note 2: To check to see if your computer is set up fp; or CD recording, open My Computer, right-
click on the CD-R drive, select Properties, click on the Recording tab, and make sure that "Enable
CD recording on this drive" is checked.
Note 3: An alternative to the above procedure is to use specific CD-writing programs such as Sonic,
RecordNow, Nero, or Roxio, etc. Such programs are often supplied with new computers and with
external add-on CD or DVD burners. Look for the Help menu, or click ?, or press F1.
(c) Tom O'Haver, December 2007
 Page 18

Common Tasks in Windows XP and Windows Vista

The common tasks menu in Windows XP is a panel on the left of every open folder window that lists
common tasks. In Windows Vista the common tasks are listed at the top, along with "Organize" and
"View". These menus make it much easier to do the most commonly performed tasks, like renaming,
deleting, printing and e-mailing files, viewing pictures in a slide show, playing music files, copying and
moving files and folders, burning CDs, etc.
Showing the Common Tasks menu in Windows XP
If Windows XP does not show a menu of common tasks on the left-hand side of every open folder,
perform the following steps (you only need to do this once).
1. Open any folder by double-clicking it (e.g. the My Documents folder on the desktop).
2. Pull down the Tools menu
3. Click on Folder Options.
4. Click where is says "Show common tasks in folders" at the top.
5. Click OK. Windows applies this setting to every folder.
Note: You only have to do this once. Windows will remember this setting.
Using the Common Tasks menu
To perform one of the tasks listed, just click it and Windows will perform this task. The tasks that are
listed will change depending on the types of files in the folder and whether you have one or more files
selected.
·To select a file, click on it once, so that it is highlighted.
·To select two or more files, click once on the first file, then hold down the Ctrl key (lower left corner
of the keyboard) and click on the other files that you wish to select while holding hold down the
Ctrl key. All the selected files will be highlighted.
·To select all the files in a folder, pull down the Edit menu and click Select All. Or type Ctrl-A.
So, for example, if you want to rename, or delete, or print a file, select the file (by clicking on it once)
and then click Rename this file, or Print this file, or Delete this file in the common tasks panel.
For another example, to move a file to another location (for example, to another folder or disk), select
the file (by clicking on it once) and then click Move this file in the common tasks panel. Windows
displays a box in the middle to the screen that asks you to select (click on) the place (folder or disk)
where to want the file moved, then click the Move button to complete the task. You can also move
folders this way.
Changing the folder type for photo and music files
Pull down the View menu and select Customize this folder.... Click the pop-up menu at the top
("What kind of folder do you want?") and select "Pictures" or "Music" and click OK. This setting
will change add Picture Tasks or Music Tasks to the top of the common tasks.

Six ways to copy or move files from one location to another

A. Drag and drop files between open folder or disk windows.
B. Copy and paste files between open folder or disk windows.
C. Windows explorer: Click on the Folders icon at the top of any folder window (e.g. My
Documents), then drag and drop (or copy and paste) files between the two scrolling panels.
D. Windows XP's "common tasks" menu, which contains Copy file and Move file commands.
E. Right-click on a folder or file, click Send To... , and then select the desired destination.
F. Open the file, then click File > Save As... , select the desired destination, click Save.

© Tom O'Haver, February 2005, updated December 2008

 Page 19

Importing Images into Documents

You can add any kind of image, digital photo, or clip art into a text (word processor) docu-
ment. This is great for making illustrated reports, newsletters, customized greeting cards,
signs, etc. The images can come from anywhere: Picasa, the Web, clip art, etc.
A. Importing from Picasa into a Microsoft Word document using Copy and Paste
1. Open Picasa and double-click on the thumbnail of the desired photo.
2. Pull down the Edit menu and select Copy.
3. Open your document in Microsoft Word.
4. Click in the document where you want the image to go and select Edit > Paste (or
type Ctrl-V).
5. Click once on the picture. You can now re-size the image by dragging the tiny squares
on the edges.
6. Right-click on the picture and select Format Picture.
7. Click on the Layout tab.
8. Click on "Square". Click OK.
9. Drag the picture to position it. Drag the tiny corner markers to change the size.
10. To delete a picture, click on it and press the delete key.
B. Importing from Picasa into an Open Office* document using Copy and Paste.
1. Open Picasa and double-click on the thumbnail of the desired photo.
2. Pull down the Edit menu and select Copy.
3. Open your document in Open Office.
4. Click in the document where you want the image to go and select Edit > Paste (or
type Ctrl-V).
5. Click once on the picture. You can now re-size the image by holding down the Shift
key and dragging the tiny squares on the edges.
6. Right-click on the picture and select Wrap.
7. Select Optimal Page Wrap, or whatever other wrap style you wish.
8. Drag the picture to position it. Hold down the Shift key and drag the tiny circles in the
corners to change the size.
9. To delete a picture, click on it and press the Delete key.
C. Importing any graphic into a document (works with almost all graphic formats).
1. From within the document, click where you want to graphic to appear.
2. Pull down the Insert menu and click Picture > From File... (or Clip Art).
3. Navigate to the desired graphic, click it, click Open. Resize as in step 5... in A or B.
D. Importing an image from a Web page into a document.
1. Right-click on the image on the Web page and select Copy Image.
2. Open the document and go to step 4 in section A or B, above.
E. Sending Open Office documents by email (while leaving the formatting intact).
1. From within the OpenOffice document, select File > Send > E-mail as PDF.
2. Type the name or email address of the recipient and click Send.
Note: Anyone can open and print a PDF document sent via email, as long as they have Adobe
Acrobat Reader or other PDF reader installed. This program is usually pre-installed on most
computers, or you can download the free Foxit Reader from http://www.foxitsoftware.com/
* Open Office is a superb free set of programs, compatible with Microsoft Office, that you can
download from http://openoffice.org/. It has a full-featured word processor (like Word), a spreadsheet
(like Excel), a database, a presentation program (like Powerpoint). Highly recommended.
© Tom O'Haver, December, 2008
 Page 20

One-Page Overview of Digital Photography

Where can pictures come from?
1. Digital Camera, by downloading your pictures to your computer's hard disk from the
camera or card reader. See "Importing new photos from digital cameras..." on page 5.
2. Scanner: This is best for getting prints, old family photos, flat artwork, even slides and
negatives, into your computer. Scanners cost less than $100 to over $300. See page 22.
3. Saving pictures from email or from the Web. In most cases, you can right-click on
any image or photo displayed in your Web browser and click Save Picture..., select the
desired location in the "Save in" menu, and click Save.
4. Photo CD. When you take a roll of film (or your digital camera storage card) into a photo
processor, ask them to make you a "Photo CD" (a CD that has all your pictures on it).
Costs about $2-3. Insert this CD into your computer and follow the prompt. Usually these
disks come with built-in software that will automatically run and will put the photos onto
your computer's hard drive, in the My Pictures folder, where Picasa will find them.
What can I do with the pictures on my hard drive?
1. Organize them: separate them into named groups, add captions, etc. See "Organizing and
labeling folders and photos", on page 6.
2. Edit them: Use Picasa to crop, straighten, improve contrast and color, add fill light, etc.
See "Enhancing pictures and correcting photographic flaws", on page 7. (Note: to repair
and retouch damaged photos, use a full-fledged photo editor such as Paint Shop Pro or
Photoshop).
3. Print them on your inkjet printer. See "Printing pictures on your own printer", page 6. Or
send them out for 1-hour printing at a nearby store (see page 12).
4. Display them as a slide show on your computer. See "Viewing pictures full-screen" page
5. (You can also view slide shows on TV if you have a digital TV with a PC input).
5. Email them to friends and family. Use Picasa (see "E-mailing Pictures", page 7).
6. Put them on a Web photo album for friends and family to see, without clogging up their
email with giant photos. See "Sharing your photo albums and slide shows over the
Internet", page 8.
7. Insert them into letters, newsletters, greeting cards, etc., using a word processor. Most
programs can insert photos from elsewhere on your hard disk. See page 19.
8. Order prints, bound photobooks, posters, T-shirts, coffee mugs, and other merchandise
with your pictures on them from clarkcolor.com, shutterfly.com, webshots.com,
winkflash.com, blurb.com, scrapblog.com or other on-line photo services.
9. Make a slide show to watch on TV: Connect your computer to your digital TV to show
a Picasa slide show on the big screen (Page 30); Or play a "Gift CD" on your DVD
player (See "Putting pictures on a CD" on page 7). Or use separate software to make a
DVD with video effects and music that plays on all DVD players (pages 23-26).
10. Make a CD-R disk to archive and back up your photos, send to friends via postal mail.
See "Putting pictures on a CD" on page 7.
11. Load them onto a photo frame. Photo frames (electronic picture frames) are widely
available for about $50-$100. You can export selected pictures from Picasa, transfer them
to a memory card, and plug it into a photo frame. See page 13.
12. Make a creative project. Printer manufacturers often have neat creative projects on the
Web: for example, http://www.hp.com/#Explore, or google Create with Canon.
13. Make a custom photo greeting card to print or email. On the Web at
mycardmaker.com or to usagreetings.com
© Tom O'Haver ([email protected]), March 2007, updated December 2009
 Page 21

How to get your email from any computer

Most email accounts can be accessed from any Internet-connected computer, using only a
Web browser, if you know your user name and password. So you can read and send email
even when you are away from your home computer, in a library, cybercafé or visiting friends.
Find your email provider on the list below, go to the indicated Web address, and follow the
instructions. If your email provider is not on the list, Google your provider; they will usually
let you know if you can access your mail via the web and give instructions on how to do it.
But even if you don't have an email address, you can always get a free one from Google or
from one of the other free email providers listed on http://www.emailaddresses.com/
NetZero Verizon
http://www.netzero.net/ http://netmail.verizon.net
Enter Member ID and Password at top. Enter User Id and password
Earthlink ATT
http://www.earthlink.net/membercenter http://www.att.net
Click on the words "Webmail" Select the e-mail tab on top
Then type in email address and password Enter email id and password
AOL MSN
http://www.aol.com http://www.msn.com
Click on the Mailbox then "Sign In"` click on the word "SIGN IN"
Enter email address and password
Comcast
http://comcast.com Juno
Enter your user name and password http://www.juno.com
Look for "Current Members"
Hotmail Enter MemberID and password
http://hotmail.com
Enter email and password Compuserve
http://compuserve.com
Yahoo Enter your screen name and password
http://www.yahoo.com
Click on the "Mail" button on top Prodigy
Enter Yahoo ID and password http://myhome.prodigy.net/
Click on Mail
People PC Enter e-mail address and password
http://peoplepc.com/
Click on "Member Login" Lycos
Enter Member name and Password http://mail.lycos.com/
Type User Name and Password on left
Google Mail ("Gmail")
http://googlemail.com Free Email Address Directory
Enter Username and password http://www.emailaddresses.com/
Important note: When you are finished reading your email on someone else's computer, be
sure to log out (sign off) before closing the Web browser. If you don't, then next time some-
one else uses that computer, your email may still be signed in and open, allowing that person
to have access to you email (they could delete you mail or send bogus messages). To prevent
this, always log out or sign off after doing your email on someone else's computer.
Note 2: You don't really need a computer to read and send email and photos; “smart” cell
phones can do it also. The most famous of these, and arguably the easiest to use, is Apple's
iPhone. With these, you can take a photo or a video with your cell phone, then send it to
someone right on the spot via email, using only the phone.
Last updated, January 2010
 Page 22

Choosing and Using a Scanner

Buying a scanner
The most useful scanners are the "flat bed" type. You can use them for scanning collections of
flat items (old family photos, pages from books, newspaper clippings, credit and ID cards, flat
artifacts). Sheet-feed scanners are more limited. Scanners come with their own software on CD
that you install on your computer. This software will be different for every scanner brand. (I
suggest that you save your receipt; if the scanner proves too difficult to use, return it.)
For scanning photographic prints, look for a scanner with a resolution of at least 600 dpi (dpi
"dots per inch".) Typical scanners and all-in-one printer/scanners in the $50 - $150 range meet
this requirement. They often come with software that can scan printed text and convert it into
editable text for use in a word processor; this is called OCR ("Optical Character Recognition".)
Some dedicated scanners in the $150 - 200 range can also scan 35mm slides or negatives (black-
and-white or color) and convert then into photos; they come with a light in the top and a set of
frames to hold the slides or negatives in place. These scanners typically have an optical
resolution of 2400 dpi or even greater, which will allow you to get high-resolution images from
even the smallest slides and negatives. Some scanners (such as the HP ScanJet G4050) allow
you to scan as many as sixteen 2"x2" slides or thirty 35mm negatives at one time.
Using a scanner
1. Turn on the power to the scanner, if it has a power switch.
2. Open the software that came with the scanner. (You can leave Picasa open if you wish).
3. Follow the instructions the scanner's software, which will be different for every scanner
brand. Set the controls to save images in JPG format into the Pictures folder. Set the
scanning resolution, if that's possible with your scanner and software. Common settings are
75, 150, 300, 600 dpi or higher (dpi = "dots per inch".) The higher the dpi, the finer the detail
that will be captured, but the larger the picture will appear when viewed in email or on the
Web, and the larger the file size will be when the image is saved (taking up more disk space).
If you plan to print the image later, perhaps after some digital manipulation, set to a
resolution of 300 - 600 dpi. You can always reduce the image size later for email or Web
display. For scanning slides and negatives, set the resolution to at least 1200 dpi. (To create a
screen image that is the same size as the original, set to 75 - 90 dpi).
4. Place the item(s) to be scanned on the scanner glass, face down, as many as will fit.
5. Click the Scan button on the scanner control screen. Each scan will usually take a minute or
so. You can then replace the photos with another set and click Scan again. While each set of
photos is scanning, you can continue to use Picasa to edit, add captions, or any other task.
6. Each scan is saved as a separate image, with an automatically created sequential file name
such as "image001", "image002", etc. You can rename them afterwards. Scanned images
are placed in the folder specified in step 3. They can be edited in Picasa (or other photo
editing program), just like any other image, as you did in pages 10 and 11.
Practice task: What to do if the scanner fails to separate photos scanned together.
Some scanners can automatically separate multiple small items that are scanned together (as long as
they don't overlap), but some can not. If yours can not, here's an example of what to do:
1. Open "Old Photos" in Example Pictures. These old photos were scanned together in a single scan.
2. Click on the Crop button and select "manual" (or one of the standard print sizes).
3. Drag out a rectangle over one of the images as you did in cropping (above).
4. Click on the Apply button. The cropped portion automatically expands to fill the frame.
5. Pull down File and select Save a Copy. This saves that portion as a separate photo.
6. Click the Crop button (now labeled Recrop). The entire scanned image will show again.
7. Repeat steps 3 -5 for each image. Each separate photo will be saved in the same folder, with the
numbers 1, 2, 3., etc added to the original file name. (e.g. "OldPhotos1", "OldPhotos2", etc).
(c) Tom O'Haver, December 2009
 Page 23

Using Photo Story 3 to make Video Slide Shows of your Picasa Pictures
Requires: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP, CD-RW or DVD-RW drive to make disk to play on TV.
(c) Tom O'Haver, March 27, 2008

A. Downloading and installing the latest version of Photo Story 3.

1. Open Internet Explorer and go to cnet.com.
2. Click once on the green Downloads tab.
3. Type "photo story 3" into the Search field at the top and press the Go button.
4. Scroll down and click once on "Photo Story 3 for Windows".
5. Click once on the Download Now button.
6. Click Run. If there is a Security Warning, click Run again.
7. The "Photo Story 3 for Windows setup Wizard" will be displayed. Click Next.
8. Follow the Wizard's on-screen instructions, clicking Next, etc, until the installation is
complete. Click Finish.
B. Making a music video slide show
1. If Picasa is running, minimize it. Double-click on the "Photo Story 3 for Windows" icon on
the desktop, or click Start > Programs > Photo Story 3 for Windows.
2. Click Begin New Story, then click Next.
3. Leaving Photo Story 3 running, open Picasa, select the desired pictures, fix them, then
click the "Save Changes" button at the top of the thumbnails in Library view.
4. Drag Picasa's window half-way down the screen so that you can see the top half of Photo
Story 3. You can switch between programs by clicking the tabs at the bottom.
5. Drag thumbnails from Picasa (on the bottom half of the screen) onto Photo Story 3 on the
top half of the screen. When you are finished adding pictures, minimize Picasa.
6. Arrange the order of the pictures by dragging and dropping within the filmstrip of Photo
Story 3. (Check to make sure all the pictures are upright. To rotate a picture, click on a
picture in the filmstrip and then click the green curved arrows).
7. If you want to automatically remove the black borders from all the pictures, click "Remove
black borders" button on the right of the window, above the filmstrip. Photo Story will
analyze your picture and suggest a cropping rectangle for that picture. You can either
accept the suggested crop by clicking Yes, or you can reject it by clicking No, or you can
move the crop rectangle on the picture on the left by dragging it or you can resize the crop
by dragging the handles in the corners, then click Yes.
8. Click the Next button at the bottom. This displays the "Add a title to your pictures" screen,
where you can optionally add a text to one or more of your pictures. Click on the picture in
the filmstrip and type a title into the text box on the right. Use the buttons above the text
box to change the position of the text and to change the font size and color. You can click
on another picture in the filmstrip to add a title to that one, or go on to step #9 when done.
9. Click the Next button at the bottom. This displays the "Narrate your pictures" screen,
where you can optionally narrate your story as you step through the pictures by clicking on
the picture in the filmstrip. But first, attach a microphone (preferably a microphone head-
set) to the computer's headphone and microphone connections and then click the little
round button with a picture of a microphone to start the "Sound Hardware Test Wizard" to
make sure your setup is correct. Once the setup is complete, begin recording by clicking on
the red Record button and speaking onto the microphone as you step through the pictures
by clicking on the picture in the filmstrip.
 Page 24

10. Click the Next button at the bottom. This displays the "Add Background Music" screen.
If you already have music on your computer in the "My Music" folder, you can add that
music by click on the Select Music... button and double-clicking on the desired music file
(it must be in MP3, WMA, or WAV format). Note: You can download free music from
freeplaymusic.com or you can copy ("rip") songs from music CDs onto your computer
using Windows Media Player 10.
Alternatively, to let Photo Story create background music for your slide show, click the
Create Music... button. Select the Genre, Style, Band, Mood, Tempo, and Intensity,
then click the Play button at the bottom to audition the music. Click OK to accept the
music or Cancel. To preview the slide show with music, click the Preview button.
11. You should save your project often as you work, just in case the computer freezes or
crashes, so you won't loose all your work up until then. Click the Save Project... button at
the bottom of the window, then click Save. The default save location is My Documents.
You can open up the saved project later, edit it in any way (add or delete pictures or change
anything), and generate a new video.
12. Click the Next button at the bottom. This displays the "Save your story" screen. First,
select what you want to do with your story from the top menu. For example, to save your
story for playback on your computer, just click Next at the bottom. To send the slide show
via email, click "Send the story in an email message", then click Next. The program
generates the video (takes a minute or so), then displays the "Completing Photo Story..."
screen. The video is saved in My Videos as a WMV file. If you are sending via email, your
email program will be opened and the slide show attached. All you have to do is to address
it and click Send. (If your email program does not open automatically, click "Save a copy
of your story to your computer", give it a file name you will remember, then open your
email manually and attached the resulting file).
13. To burn a DVD to view on TV, you'll need to have a DVD burner on your computer. You
can use the video mode whatever DVD software came with your computer - Windows
DVD Maker, Sonic, Roxio, or Nero, to name a few popular ones. Open My Document\My
Videos and drag the WMV file(s) to the window of that program. Alternatively, you can
purchase the Sonic DVD plug-in that adds "Save your story to a DVD" to the menu in step
12 above. Go to http://www.estore.sonic.com/enu/photostory/default.asp Hint: for best
compatibility with common DVD players, use DVD-R disks, not DVD-RW.
Note 1: Photo Story 3 automatically applies panning and zooming effects on each photo. To
manually control the panning and zooming effect on any photo, you can go to the "Narrate
your pictures" screen and click on the Customize Motion button below the picture. Click
"Specify start and end position of motion" and drag the corners of the "Start position:"
photo on the left to define the start of that frame, then drag the corners of the "End
position:" photo on the right to define the end of that frame. Click Save when finished, then
click Close. To preview the slide show so far, click the Preview button.
Note 2: Photo Story 3 automatically applies a fade transition between the photos.. If you want
to change the transition effect between the slides, you can go to the "Narrate your pictures"
screen, click on the Customize Motion button below the picture, then click the
Transitions tab. Select the desired transition for that picture. Click Save when finished,
then click Close. To preview the slide show so far, click the Preview button.
Note 3: If you need a more flexible and complete video slide show program, check out
Memories on TV ($50). It includes a built-in CD and DVD burner, can include video clips, has
more flexible text labeling, and has DVD menu creation. See page 23.
 Page 25

Using Memories On TV 4 to make Video Slide Shows of your Picasa 3 Pictures

Requires: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP, CD-RW or DVD-RW drive to make disk to play on TV.
© Tom O'Haver, December 2008

A. Downloading and installing the latest version of Memories On TV.

1. Open your Web browser and go to memoriesontv.com.
2. Click once on the download tab in the yellow strip at the top.
3. Click once on the "Download from CNET".
4. Click once on "Download Now".
5. Click once on the Save File button. The installer, named "motv404cnet.exe" or something
similar, will be downloaded to My Documents. When finished, open My Documents.
6. Double-click on the file that you just downloaded.
7. The "Welcome to Memories On TV Setup Wizard" will be displayed. Click on Next.
8. Click "I accept the agreement" and click Next until you get to the Select Edition screen.
9. Select Home Edition, then keep on clicking Next until you get to the screen that has an
Install button. Click Install, then click Finish. Finally, reboot your computer.
B. Making a video slide show with music
1. If Picasa is running, click on the "MOTV" icon at the bottom of the Picasa window.
2. Click Evaluate. (If you decide to purchase the program, click Get Now and follow the
instructions). Close the "Tip of the Day" window.
3. Leaving Memories on TV running, open Picasa, select the desired pictures, fix them, then
click the "Save Changes" button at the top of the thumbnails in Library view.
4. Drag Picasa's window half-way down the screen so that you can see the top half of
Memories on TV. You can switch between programs by clicking the tabs at the bottom.
5. Drag thumbnails from Picasa (on the bottom half of the screen) onto Memories on TV on
the top half of the screen. You can include both still pictures and video clips (movies).
6. Arrange the order of the pictures by dragging and dropping within the top panel of
Memories on TV . (Check to make sure all the pictures are upright. To rotate a picture,
double-click it, click the Transform tab, and click the desired rotation).
7. To preview the slide show so far, click the purple Preview button, then click on the small
thumbnail picture to view the slide show. Click the close box to cancel the preview mode.
8. If you want to add background music, click the Music button near the center of the win-
dow. Click the + button in the bottom left corner of the window, navigate to the "My
Music" folder, and double-click on the desired music file (it must be in MP3, WMA, or
WAV format). Note: You can download free music from freeplaymusic.com or you can copy
("rip") songs from music CDs onto your computer using Windows Media Player 10.
You can also add a previously-recorded narration or sound affect to an individual slide, on
top of the background music: double-click that picture and click the Music tab. Click the
[...] button to select a sound file, click Open, adjust the volume, then click OK.
9. If you want to crop a picture (show only a portion of the picture), double-click that picture
and click the Transform tab at the bottom. Click the Crop button on the right. Click
Constrain to TV Aspect Ratio. Drag the small black squares in the corners of the picture
to define the desired picture area. You can drag the center of the area. Click Next or OK.
Note: to set screen size, click Edit > Preferences, Standard or Wide screen, and click OK.
10. If you want automatic panning and zooming effects on each photo, click the Effects
button, select Random Pan/Zoom for the Picture Effect, and click Apply > Apply to all
 Page 26

Slides. To manually control the panning and zooming effect on any photo, double-click
that photo and click the Pan/Zoom tab at the bottom. Use the Zoom slider and drag the
photo to define the start of that frame, then click the little > button and use the Zoom slider
and drag the picture to define the end of that frame. Click OK when finished.
11. If you want to add a title or text label to any picture, double-click that picture and click
the Text tab. Click the + button, then double-click the blue line. Select the desired font,
size, and color, and type the text. Drag the text to the desired position on the picture. Click
Done. To add another text label to the same slide, click + and repeat. When you are fin-
ished adding text labels that that picture, click OK. (Optional: You can also assign ani-
mation effects to each text label, like Powerpoint. To do this, double-click any slide that
has text labels, then click the items under the column heading "Start Time", "Effect",
"Duration", "Effect Duration" to choose text effects and set timing for that label).
12. If you want to change the transition effect between the slides, click the Import button
near the center of the window and then click the Timeline button near the top of the
window. This displays the slide show in timeline mode. Click on the little icons between
two slides and select the desired transition from the pop-up menu. To preview the effect,
click the previous slide and click the Start button (triangle in the circle). You can also
change how long each slide is displayed by editing the number displayed below each slide.
13. If you want to add more pictures, click the Import button near the center of the window
and drag more pictures into the slide show. If you want to have another group of pictures
that has different background music, click on the small + button at the left center of the
screen and select New Track from the pop-up menu. Then add pictures and music as
before. Tracks play sequentially without pause. (When you play it on a DVD player, you
can skip to the next track by pressing the skip or next button on the remote control).
14. If you want to make another slide show video on the same disk, click on the small +
button at the left center of the screen and select New Album from the pop-up menu. Each
slide show is called an "album". They are initially named "Album 1", "Album 2", etc, but
you can re-name them by clicking on the name in the top left panel and typing a new name.
You can have up to 12 separate albums on one DVD. Each album is displayed on the DVD
menu as a little thumbnail picture that can be played separately. Note: you can also add a
new album easily by clicking Import and dragging a folder of pictures to the top panel.
15. You should save your project often, just in case it freezes or crashes, so you won't loose
all your work up until then. Select File > Save, type a suitable Filename, and click Save.
The default save location is My Documents\MemoriesOnTV. You can open up the saved
project later, edit it in any way (add or delete pictures or change anything), and generate a
new video and burn a new video disk (but you can't edit the disk itself after it's burned).
16. If you want to create an MPEG file of your video (for viewing on a computer screen or
Web page), click the blue Burn button, and select “Generate video disk image”. Finally,
click the Start button. No CD-RW burner is required. The MPEG file will be in My
Document\MemoriesOnTV\Filename\_cache (using Filename you selected in step 15).
17. To burn a disk to view on TV, you'll need to have either a CD burner (to make VCD or
SVCDs) or a DVD burner. Click the Burn button, click VCD, SVCD, or DVD at the top
of the screen, and click “Generate new video and burn onto disk”. Put in a blank CD-R
(or DVD-R) disk into your CD-RW (or DVD-RW) drive, select that drive from the Disk
Writer menu, and click Start. Once you have burned the first disk, making additional
copies is very quick; just put a blank disk in, click "Burn existing video onto Disk", and
click the Start button. Hint: for best compatibility, use DVD-R disks, not DVD-RW.
 Page 27

Adding External Storage to Your Computer

Worried about running out of room for digital photos on your hard disk? The easiest way to add
large amounts of storage to your computer is to get an external add-on hard drive that connects
to your computer with a USB cable. They are very easy to hook up and use - no software is
needed, and they come with a USB cable. You can get 100-1200 Gigabyte drives for about $50
- $150 from office supply and consumer electronics stores. These will be large enough to house
your entire photo collection for years to come. The smaller ones do not even need a power cord
- they get all their power from the USB cable. Note: for conveniently and quickly moving up to
a few hundred photos from one computer to another or to a photo printing kiosk, you can use a
"flash drive" or "USB drive", available in capacities of 1 - 16 Gbytes, at prices down to $10.
Connecting a new external hard drive or USB drive.
1. Open (double-click on) the My Computer icon on the desktop (or click Start > My
Computer) and take note of which drives are already listed there - certainly the Local Disk
(C:) and probably a CD Drive (D:), maybe others. Your new external drive will automatically
be added to this list when it is connected.
2. Connect the new external hard drive or USB drive (and turn on the power if it has a separate
power cable).
3. If any sort of auto-run software automatically starts, close it (click x in upper right corner).
4. If you get a pop-up window that says "Windows can perform the same action each time you
insert a disk or connect a device with this type of file:," click Cancel.
5. Look at the My Computer window and note which new icon appeared when you connected
the new drive. It will automatically be assigned the next drive letter in sequence (it might be
E: or F:, depending what other drives are already mounted on your system).
6. Double-click on the new drive icon in the My Computer window. Its window will open up,
displaying its contents (if any).
7. If there is anything on that drive that you do not want, you can delete it now by selecting it
and pressing the Delete key on the keyboard. Leave this window open for the next step.
Transferring photos to an external hard drive or USB drive.
1. Open Start > My Document > My Pictures to display your folder of photos.
2. To transfer photos to the new external drive, you can drag folders from My Pictures and drop
then onto the window of the new external drive. Or you can use "Copy..." in the common task
menu on the left-hand panel of the My Pictures window (page 18) to copy the folders.
3. Note: To transfer finished (fixed) photos to a USB drive for use outside of Picasa (for
example in a photo frame or a photo printing kiosk), click the button in Picasa (at
the top of each group of thumbnails in the library) before copying each folder.
Adding the photos on an external hard drive to the Picasa library.
1. Open Picasa.
2. Pull down the Tools menu and click Folder Manager.
3. You should see a window with a scrolling folder list on the left. Scroll to "My Computer" and
click on the + sign in front, locate the newly added drive on that list, and click it once.
4. Click "Scan Always" on the right and click Yes on the warning message.
5. Click OK. Picasa will scan the external drive and add the photos to the library.
6. If the new external hard drive will normally be left connected, you can now delete those
folders from My Pictures that you just copied to the external drive. Select and press Delete.
7. If you disconnect the external hard drive or turn it off, the photos on that drive will not be
displayed in the Picasa index while the drive is disconnected, but if you reconnect it, those
photos will appear. It's best to leave the external hard drive connected all the time so that
Picasa will not loose track of those photos.
 Page 28

Copying photos from a temporarily connected USB drive or CD.

1. Insert the USB drive or CD.
2. If you insert an auto-run CD (like a Picasa Gift or Backup CD, or a commercial photo CD
from a photo processor), see if it has a item in its menu for saving to disk and choose that.
3. If you get a pop-up window that says "Windows can perform the same action each time you
insert a disk or connect a device with this type of file:," click "Open folder to view files
using Windows Explorer". If not, open (double-click on) the My Computer icon on the
desktop (or click Start > My Computer). then open the icon of the USB drive or CD.
4. Open Start > My Document > My Pictures and drag the folders of photos from the USB
drive or CD window over to the My Pictures folder on your hard drive (or onto your external
storage drive). You can remove the USB drive or CD once the transfer is complete. Note:
Do not use Picasa's Import function to copy pictures that are already organized into named
folders; it will lump all the pictures all into one folder and spoil the organization.
Optional: Hiding, removing, and deleting photos and folders in Picasa.
There may some photos or folders that you do not want to see in Picasa. Here are three ways
to get rid of them, in increasing order of severity:
a. Hiding. Hiding a picture or a folder simply moves its thumbnail from the main Folders
section in Picasa's library; it does not move the photo file itself or move it from its actual
location on the hard drive. Use this to hide photos and images that may be needed for other
software but that you do not want to see in Picasa. To hide a picture, right-click on the
picture in the library and click Hide. To restore hidden pictures, pull down the View menu
and click Hidden Pictures, then right-click on the hidden picture and click Unhide. To hide
a folder, right-click on the folder in the folder list on the left of the Library and click Hide
Folder. Hidden folders are listed in a separate section at the bottom of the folder list labeled
"Hidden Folders". To restore hidden folders, right-click on the folder in the hidden folder
section and click Unhide Folder. (Hidden pictures and folders can still be found by Picasa's
search facility).
b. Removing. You can remove a folder of pictures from the Picasa library, so that it does not
appear anywhere in Picasa and can not even by found by Picasa's search facility, but it still
remains on the hard drive in its original location, in case it is need by other software. To
remove a folder, right-click a folder in the folder list in the library and click Remove from
Picasa. To restore a folder that has been removed, pull down the Tools menu, click Folder
Manager, click on the folder that you have removed, then click "Scan Always" on the right.
Caution: DO NOT remove the My Pictures or the My Documents folders from Picasa, unless
you have a very good reason for doing so - remember that all your photos are in those folders
and they won't appear in Picasa if you remove them.
c. Deleting. To actually delete a picture from the hard drive, right-click on the desired picture
and click Delete from Disk. To delete a folder from the hard drive, right-click on the folder
and click Delete Folder. These actions will actually remove the picture or folder from its
location on the hard drive and move it to the Recycle Bin on the desktop. The computer will
warn you that deleting a folder also deletes all it sub-folders. Caution: DO NOT delete the
My Pictures or the My Documents folders - remember that all your photos are in those
folders! To restore deleted photos that are in the Recycle Bin, open (double-click on) the
Recycle Bin icon on the desktop, click View > Thumbnails so that you can see more easily
which photos you are restoring, right-click on the photo you want to restore, and select
Restore. Note: If Picasa is open when you do this, the photos will instantly appear back in
Picasa from whence they came. But if Picasa is not open at the time, the next time you open
Picasa, you have to click Folder > Refresh Thumbnails before the thumbnails of the
restored pictures will be displayed. Once you empty the Recycle Bin (right-click on it and
click "Empty Recycle Bin"), the hard drive space occupied by its contents will be recovered,
but there is no easy way to get back those contents.
(c) Tom O'Haver, December 2009
 Page 29

Fun Picasa Projects: Collages, Movies, and Posters

(c) Tom O'Haver, December, 2009
Picasa makes is easy and fun to create these special photo projects.
A. Collages
A collage is an assemblage of different photos that is merged into one image file.
1. Select several photos by dragging them into the "photo tray" at the bottom left of the
Picasa window. Or select a whole album or folder by clicking it in the left panel.
2. Click the Collage button at the bottom of the window.
3. You can drag the individual pictures around the collage, re-size and rotate them with the
little red dot, and right-click on a photo to delete it, change the border, bring it to the
front or send it to the back of the pile, etc.
4. The left-hand panel has a menu of options for changing the design of your collage:
a. The top menu, which starts with "Picture Pile", lets you choose the style of collage
from six choices. Click on these to see how your collage would look in that style.
b. The Picture Borders selection (the last one, "Instant Camera", leaves room for
captions at the bottom of each photo).
c. Background Options lets you choose a solid color or a photo as a background.
d. Page Format lets you choose a collage size that fits standard print and page sizes
as well as TV screen sizes.
e. You can click the check boxes to show the picture captions or not and to add "drop
shadows" for a 3D look if you wish.
5. Once you have the collage as you like it, press the "Create Collage" button in the bottom
left of the window. Picasa takes a few seconds to create the collage and then shows it in
Edit mode so you can zoom in to check that it is OK. Picasa places it in the "Collages"
album in the Projects area of the Library, between the Albums and the Folders. You can
do anything with a collage that you can do with a regular photo: print it, order prints
from a photo processor, email it, share via Web albums, etc.
B. Posters
A poster is a printed photograph that is larger than a single 8.5 x 11" sheet of paper. The
poster function in Picasa enlarges a single photograph and prints out segments of the
picture on several sheets of paper that you can then tape together into a poster-size image.
1. Select a photo.
2. Pull down the Create menu and select Make a Poster....
3. Set the Poster size (e.g. 200% makes a poster twice as wide and twice as high as the
original photo) and Paper size (4x6 or 8.5x11). Here's a table showing the overall poster
sizes and the number of sheets of paper required for each:
Poster size Sheets of paper required Overall size in inches (using 8.5 x 11 paper)
"200%" 4 17" x 22"
"300%" 9 25.5" x 33"
"400%" 16 34" x 44"
"500%" 25 42.5" x 55"
"1000%" 100 85" x 110" (7 x 9 feet!)

4. Press OK. Picasa then enlarges the image by the specified percentage, divides up the
 Page 30
enlarged image into segments that fit on the specified paper size, creates a new image for
each segment, and places those images in the same folder as the original photo.
5. Print out that set of new image segments and tape or glue them together into a poster.
Note 1: Obviously, posters can use up a lot of ink to print on your ink-jet printer. To save
ink, consider making the image lighter and avoiding images with lots of dark colors.
Note 2: Alternatively, you can order single-sheet poster prints from many discount
photofinishers. A 20"x30" poster costs about $25.
C. Movies
A movie in Picasa is a single file containing a slide show of photos with optional
accompanying music, captions, and title slides. You can show them on your computer, upload
them to Web albums, email them to friends, and watch them on TV.
1. Select a group of photos (and/or videos, in AVI, MPG, or WMV format, but not MOV).
2. Click the Movie button at the bottom of the screen.
3. In the Movie Maker screen, the movie is previewed on the right. You can play the movie
by pressing the button, play it full-screen by pressing , you can rearrange the order
of the slides by dragging and dropping the thumbnails within the file strip at the bottom,
and you can add text slides by clicking .
4. To add background music to your movie, click the Load button on the top of the left
panel, then click the "Look in" menu and select the location of you music file, select one
and click Open. Or use the "Royalty-free music for slide shows" on the Course CD. Under
Options, you can choose to fit the slide durations to the music. Only one song can be used.
5. To select the transition effect between pictures, click the Transition Style menu.
6. The Slide Durations slider is used to control how long each slide will be displayed.
7. Click on the Dimensions menu to select the desired size. If you plan to email the movie to
someone, choose the smallest size (320x240) to keep the file size small. For playing on
standard-definition TV, 640x480 is adequate. For HD TV, use a larger size. The larger the
dimension, the higher the quality of the video, but the larger will be the file size of the
resulting video file, and the longer it will take to generate.
8. To show the captions in the movie, click the Show Captions check box. The click the
Slide tab to choose the font and the "Template" (caption position and motion).
9. To generate the movie file, click the Create Movie button, but if you plan to upload the
movie to YouTube (a free video sharing site), click the YouTube button instead.
10. It may take several minutes for a movie file to be generated (depending on how many
slides); when complete, it's saved in WMV format and placed in the the "Movies" album
in the Projects area of the Library, between the Albums and the Folders. You can treat
them just like any other Picasa file: you can show them on your computer, upload them to
Web albums, email them to friends, but you can't use with the standard photo edit tools.
11. To watch your Picasa movies on TV, you have two possibilities:
(a) The best option, which works if you have a digital TV with a PC input, is to connect
this input to the monitor output of your computer using a long monitor ("VGA") cable,
and play the video full-screen from within Picasa. This option will give you the best
quality display if you have a HD (High Definition) TV. Plus, you can display any other
computer program on your TV (Video games, Google Earth, YouTube, etc).
(b) The second option, if your computer has a DVD burner, is to burn a DVD in video
mode containing your movie files, using whatever DVD burning software program was
supplied with your computer (e.g. Windows DVD Maker, Sonic, RecordNow, Nero,
Roxio). Then play that disk on your TV's DVD player. (If you don't have a DVD burner,
you can buy an external USB plug-in unit for less that $100 from consumer electronics
sources). Note: Picture quality is better using (a) if you have a high-definition TV.
 Page 31

Adding Music to Slide Shows

If you have music files on your computer (they are usually in My Documents\My Music), you
can add that music to any Picasa album or folder, so that when you play a full-screen slide show
on your computer ( button), the music plays while the slide show runs.
To add music to a folder or album
1. Open Picasa.
2. Double-click on the name of the folder or album. (Make sure it's the name that you click).
3. At the bottom of the box, click "Use Music for Slideshow and Movie presentation".
4. Click the Browse button. The "My Music" folder opens.
5. Double-click the folder containing the desired music.
6. Select (click once on) the music file that you want to play and click Open.
Now every time you play a full-screen slide show of those pictures, the music plays.
Copying audio CDs to your computer to use in slide shows, etc.
1. Note: If you use dial-up, connect in the usual way and then minimize your Internet software.
(This is done to allow the automatic CD lookup to function. Otherwise the proper artist,
album, and track names will not be automatically applied).
2. Open Windows Media Player: Start > (All) Programs > Accessories > Entertainment >
Windows Media Player. Note: you must have at least version 10 or later.
3. The first time you do this (and only the first time), you have to change some settings. In the
Windows Media Player window, pull down the Tools menu and select Options. In the
Options window, click in the Rip Music tab, click on the "Format" menu and select "mp3".
Then check "Eject CD when ripping is complete" and un-check "Rip CD when inserted".
Then click OK. (Note: these settings are automatically saved).
4. Insert an audio CD into the computer's CD drive. The CD will start to play after a few
seconds delay. Click the Stop button at the bottom of the window to stop playing.
5. Click on the Rip tab at the top of the Windows Media Player window and click the Rip
music button at the top right. The copying process will begin. Note: You will not hear the
music while it copies, because the program spins the CD much faster than normal. Copying
a CD takes much less time than playing the CD normally, usually only 5 minutes per CD.
6. Once copying is complete, the audio disk is ejected. Each selected track on the CD will have
been saved in mp3 format (assuming you selected mp3 format in step 3) into a folder in "My
Documents" > "My Music". The files will be in folders that Windows Media Player
automatically creates and names for each album that you record. To play any of these files,
just open the corresponding folder and double-click on one of the mp3 files.
Sharing slide shows with music
Unfortunately, in the present version, the music added to a folder or album is not
automatically added to Gift CDs. To get around this limitation, first create a slide show
"Movie" (see page 30 for step-by-step instructions). You can show these movies on your
computer, burn them onto Gift CDs, upload them to Web albums, email them to friends,
watch them on a TV connected to your computer, and even burn them to a video DVD disk
(using the software that came with your DVD burner). Note 1: most slide shows are too big
for email, but you can share them via web albums instead (page 8). Note 2: movies on a Gift
CD won't play automatically; you have to open the disk in My Computer and then double-
click on the WMV file. Note 3: For a good source of royalty-free music for personal use, see
http://freeplaymusic.com/
For more information and instruction about music on your computer, see
http://www.wam.umd.edu/~toh/adulted/SoundandMusic/
© Tom O'Haver ([email protected]), updated December 2009
 Page 32

Finding and Removing Duplicate Photos

Duplicate photos are a common problem. They can be hard to find and they take up space on
your hard disk. Here are some ideas that might help. (Note: putting photos in Picasa albums
does not duplicate them and does not take up any space, so don't worry).
Duplicate Folders Names
Picasa's folder list (on the left) lists all folders containing photos in a "flat" directory, no matter
where they are located. So if there are two folders of photos with the same name, you can easily
find them by sorting the folder list by name, so that identical folder names will be listed next to
each other and will stand out. Of course, there is no guarantee that folders with the same names
will have the same photos, but this will help determine whether they do or not:
1. Pull down the View menu and select Folder View > Sort by Name.
2. Scan through the list looking for pairs of folders with the same name next to each other.
3. Click on each duplicate folder to check its contents. If they have identical photos then it's
safe to delete one of them (right-click > Delete Folder...). If they have some duplicate
photos then it's safe to delete the duplicates (right-click > Delete from Disk).
Duplicate photos within a single Folder
The above strategy can also be used to locate duplicate photos within a single folder. It's
common that duplicate photos within one folder have similar names, differing only in the last
few letters (such as DSC0001.jpg and DSC0001-1.jpg, or myphoto.gif and myphoto.tif) There-
fore, they will appear next to each other in an alphabetical listing, making them easier to pick
out. This will most often be the case if the photos came from a digital camera and have not been
re-named manually.
1. Right-click on a folder and select Sort Folder by... > Name.
2. Scan through the thumbnails looking for identical photos next to each other.
3. To delete a photo, select it and press the Delete key. Or you can right-click on it and
select Delete from Disk.
Using the "Show Duplicate Files" command
1. Pull down the Tools menu and select Experimental > Show Duplicate Files.
2. This command is supposed to show only the thumbnails of those photos that have exact
duplicates somewhere else (not shown). So, in principle, these are all "extra" photos that
you can delete (unless you want to keep the duplicates for some reason). However, I
suggest that you use this command with caution, because this function is still under
development, and, in any case, your idea of a duplicate may not be the computer's idea of
a duplicate.
3. To delete a photo, select it and press the Delete key. Or you can right-click on it and
select Delete from Disk. To delete several photos in a row, click once on the first one,
then hold down the Shift key, click once the last one, then press the Delete key.
Note 1: You can avoid getting duplicates in the first place by using Picasa's Import function to
download pictures from your camera, IF you check the "Ignore Duplicates" box. Then
Picasa keeps track of what you have already downloaded and downloads only the new
photos added since the last download.
Note 2: Deleting photos puts them in the "Recycle bin". To restore photos that are still in the
Recycle bin to their original locations, open the recycle bin, click View > Thumbnails (so
that you can see more easily which photos you are restoring), right-click on the photo you
want to restore, and select Restore.
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Appendix
Adding Picasa pictures to your screensaver
1. Open Picasa.
2. Pull down the Tools menu.
3. Select Configure Screensaver....
4. In the Screen saver menu on the left, select "Google Photos Screensaver".
5.Click the Settings button.
6. In the "Display photos from..." section, make sure Picasa is checked.
7. Click OK.
8. Set the Wait time: how many minutes to wait before the screensaver comes on.
9. Click OK.
Picasa will now have a new green album in the top left called "Screensaver". Any pictures that you
put in there will show up when your computer goes into screensaver mode. Add pictures to this
album as any album (see page 6).

Adding a Picasa picture to your screen background

1. Open Picasa.
2. Click once on a picture that you want to be your screen background.
3. Pull down the Create menu and select "Set as Desktop...".
4. Click YES.
Typical procedure when working with Picasa
1. When you have new photos on your camera that you want to put onto your computer, import them
using the procedure on page 6 (top) or page 14 (top). Once you are sure the pictures are on your
computer, you can erase your camera's memory card.
2. If the pictures that you just imported are from more than one event, split the folder into two or more
folders (right-click and select "Split folder here...", page 6). Be sure to name the folders
appropriately so they'll be easier to find with Picasa's search function.
3. Now is a good time to add descriptions for the new folders (double-click on the folder names). Add
people's name, places, anything that will help Picasa's search function find that folder in the future
when it's no longer at the top of the list.
4. Look over the pictures and see if any can be improved by editing (page 7, top). Note: it's best to
crop first, then use the other editing tools.
5. You can now make albums (page 6), add captions (page 6, bottom), print photos on your own
printer (page 6, bottom), order prints and other photo merchandise from photo processors* (page
12), make a Gift CD (page 7, bottom), email a few photos* (page 7, middle), share an album or
folder* (page 8), make a collage or a movie (pages 29-30).
6. If you have not done so yet, make a backup of your folders and albums (page 9).
7. If you want to show your pictures to visitors, you can easily play a nice full-screen slideshow with
the button, or show them on your TV (page 30, page 14 bottom).
8. If you expect to use an album or folder of photos in another computer program, click the "Save to
Disk" button for that album or folder (above the thumbnails, on the right).
9. If you want to save a picture attached to an incoming email, save the attachment to My Pictures, or
right-click on the photo and click Save Image As..., then click Save.
*
If you use dial-up, connect in the usual way and then minimize your Internet software.
 Page 34

Troubleshooting
Finding missing pictures in Picasa
Generally the best way to find particular pictures in Picasa, especially of you have lots of them, is to
use the search field in the upper right (see page 6, middle). This will search for matches in the folder
names, descriptions, place taken, file names, and in any added captions. That's why it's so important
to label your folders and/or caption your photos appropriately.
If Picasa does not recognize one of your folders containing photos, select File > Add Folder to Picasa,
select that folder in the left panel, click Scan Always, and click OK.
For more help, go to http://picasa.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=32690
Quitting and re-starting Picasa
If you open Picasa one day and find that all the thumbnail pictures have been replaced by identical
cartoon icons, quit Picasa and immediately re-start it. Repeat if necessary.

Uninstalling and re-installing Picasa

If you notice persistent oddities in the appearance and placement of your photos within Picasa,
captions on the wrong pictures, missing folders and albums, distorted pictures, etc, you may need to
perform the following procedure:
1. Click on the Start menu on your computer taskbar.
2. Select All Programs.
3. Select Picasa 3.
4. Click Uninstall.
5. In the confirmation window that opens, click the Uninstall button.
6. Click the Yes button to remove your database. This is important!
7. Once you've successfully uninstalled, restart you computer.
8. Open your Web browser, go to http://www.picasa.google.com
9. Download the latest version of Picasa.
10. Install it (Page 5, top)
Note: This process won't affect your photos, captions, or edits, but rather rebuilds the database that
stores the information about your photos. Just in case something goes wrong, we recommend that you
back up your photos and albums to a CD/DVD or to an external hard drive before starting the
rebuilding process (Page 9).

Fixing email problems for Outlook users

1. Open your Control Panel.
2. If you have the "Classic View" of the Control Panel click directly on the Mail icon, if you have
the "Category View" of Control Panel click "User Accounts" then click "Mail".
3. In the "Mail Setup - Outlook" dialog (window) select "Show Profiles".
4. Change the setting for "Prompt for a profile to be used" to "Always use this profile".
5. Select a default email profile to be used from the drop down menu.
6. Click "OK".

Where to go for help

There is a very active on-line discussion forum for Picasa users, where you can ask questions about
Picasa and they will be answered by other Picasa users. From within Picasa, pull down the Help menu
and click "Picasa Forums...". Or open your Web browser and go to http://www.google.com/support/
forum/p/Picasa. Anyone can ask questions there; no question is too basic. Use the search field first
to see if your question has already been discussed. There are separate sections for questions about
Picasa, Picasa for Mac, and Picasa Web Albums.