Sunsets and Picasa

Sunsets and Picasa, two of my favorite things in the world.

Just kidding but two things I like a lot. Picasa is a great free photo editing tool that you can download through Google. I use it a lot because it is quick and easy to use. When you are just starting out you need an editing tool that isn’t complicated. I’ll show you a few tips I’ve learned but feel free to explore on your own.

I started photography as an amateur obsessed with two things, water and sunsets. I dreamed of traveling the world and shooting magnificent photos of waterscapes and sunsets. Well unfortunately I haven’t traveled the world like I wanted to but I still snap away whenever I see a good water feature or sunset. The other night was no exception.

I was driving home from work and I had my Nikon S3000 with me and the sunset was just too beautiful to pass up. I pulled over to the side of the road and snapped away. The first picture here was off of FM 471 just west of San Antonio.  The second is my view from Medina Lake, TX along FM 1283 on my way home. Where I parked they used to have a Scenic Overlook before they rebuilt the road. I really wish they had left it because the views of the lake are just beautiful right there.

I did do some editing to the photos but only minor changes to the contrast and shadows and I did it using Picasa. Picasa is a simple photo editing tool that you can download for free from Google.

Here are the easy steps to download.

So, you’ve downloaded Picasa. Now you are ready to begin editing! Play around with it. Upload some of your photos and explore how the filing system works. Use the help functions too as they provide a wealth of information.

To give you an example of what I did with my sunset photos here is an example in the video below.

So there you have it. Some simple editing tools to begin working on your photos. Play around with Picasa and get to know its tools. There are many functions that we will go into in future posts. Let me know what you think.

Until next time! Happy shooting!

-Robert Hillis