The all-new Google Picasa keeps the same interface structure of previous versions, but features new enriching options to manage, edit, and show off your photos in an even more comfortable way, both offline and online – thanks to the Picasa Web Album syncing tool.
Picasa displays all your indexed photos in a handy folder structure. You can let the program scan the whole drive in search for pictures or select specific directories. A double click on any image will display it in full screen and let you access to a handful of basic editing tools: cropping, straightening, adjusting color and light or fixing red eye, among others.
The latest version of Picasa includes a couple of exciting new features: facial recognition and geo-tagging. The first one means that Picasa can now scan your photo library, recognize and extract people's faces, and finally let you add a name to them. The process takes a while to get started – loads of faces to tag and names to write down – but if you go to the Unnamed tag under the People album, you'll be able to add new names and faces in batches and get the job done much quicker. As for the geo-tagging function, it's now easier to use thanks to the embedding of Google Maps in Picasa: simply select the photos you want to geotag, open Google Maps by clicking on the 'Places' button, navigate to the appropriate location and click OK.
We especially like Picasa's Photo Viewer, which you can configure to replace the original Windows default image viewer. It offers more tools and displays photos on a much nicer interface when viewing them directly in Windows Explorer, so when Picasa asks you if you want to use it, don't hesitate!
But Picasa is not only about viewing and fixing images. You can also give free rein to your imagination with its tools to create posters, collages, screensavers and even movies. The greatest thing about these tools is not only the fact that they give you the ability to create something unique and original with your photos; it's also that they're surprisingly easy to use, and don't require any tech abilities or photo editing skills at all.
The all-new Picasa has successfully completed what seemed a difficult task: improving a software app that was already very good.
· Pros
Nice interface design
Simple yet effective editing tools
Great Photo Viewer to use in Windows Explorer
Share photos by email, on your blog or in Picasa Web Albums
Support for face recognition and image geotagging
· Cons
Face recognition takes a while to configure
License:
Free
Language:
English
Developer:
OS:
WinXP/Vista/7
