Do More With Your Photos

Sometimes photos don’t turn out the way you thought they would. They’re too dark, too light, too red or there’s too much background. A photo editing program will make quick work of those problems and add polish to your snapshots before you share them. You can even get creative and add special effects or text to your photos. Check into these popular programs:

• Adobe Photoshop is the heavy-duty photography program that professionals love, but it’s overkill for most home hobbyists. Adobe Photoshop Elements is a consumer version stocked with tools for editing, altering and cleaning up photos. A guided mode helps beginners through the process.
• Google’s Picasa is a free download that helps you manage and edit your photos through a simple interface. Red-eye removal, resizing and a selection of easy-to-use photo effects are a few of the handy features.
• Picnik is a fun, online photo editor that works in your Web browser. It handles most of the basic editing tasks as well the addition of text and effects. Certain higher-end features are accessible if you upgrade to a paid plan.

Get Organized

The great thing about digital photography is that you don’t have to worry about using up film and paying for processing. The flip side is that you’re likely to end up with hundreds of photos scattered all across your computer. When you find yourself scrolling through thumbnails for five minutes looking for what you want, it’s time to pause and get a grip on photo organization. Try these tips for taming the unruly masses:

• Delete! Weed through your photos on your camera or when you first load them onto your computer. The less you have to deal with from the start, the less work organizing will be.
• Name your photos. Real names make photos a lot easier to find than the seemingly random letters and numbers that cameras automatically assign to snapshots.
• Make folders. It doesn’t take long to place a batch of photos into a folder. Then you’ll be able to locate your photos down the road without having to name each individual file.
• Use online galleries. Popular sites that handle organizational duties include Flickr, Picasa Web and Snapfish. Pick out your favorites from your computer files and upload them to the site. This makes it easy to locate and share photos with your friends online.
• Back up. This isn’t the most exciting step in the world, but you do need to protect your important pictures. Online galleries can help with this task. Also consider burning your photos onto CDs or DVDs, or using an external hard drive for storage.

Get Creative

Not sure what to do with all those fantastic photos? Try out these easy projects:

Print them: It may sound obvious, but we get so wrapped up in taking photos that we forget to make real copies. You can print out photos at home using a photo printer. Alternately, most photo development shops accept digital photos online for store pickup.

Make a movie: String together your favorite images in a slideshow format with music. Upload to YouTube and share with your friends.

Archive your physical photos: Take a Saturday afternoon and digitize your collection of physical photos. You just need your computer and a scanner.

Make a motivational poster: You’re familiar with those silly motivational posters that feature a tired saying and a soaring nature picture. Make your own version and say whatever you want with Big Huge Lab’s Motivator tool.

LOL it: LOLs aren’t just for cats. You can add snarky comments to your photos with the roflbot macro maker. Just upload a photo from your computer, add the text and save the result.