Picasa and Google+

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You Can Share to your Google+ circles
If you've joined Google+, you can use Picasa 3.9 to share directly to the circles you've created in Google+.
They'll see your photos and videos in their Google+ stream.
People that don't use Google+ aren't left out. They'll get an email to view your album in Google+, and they don't have to join to do so.

Picasa name tags on Google+
If you've joined Google+, you may have noticed that name tags have become more social.
With the release of Picasa 3.9, you can now upload and share your name tags on Google+.
Note that if you choose not to join Google+, name tags won't change at all.

Picasa for Mac's?

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Some people may not know that you can get a mac version of Picasa!
Simply click here and download: Picasa for Mac

It's pretty much the same as the PC version, so get editing!

Saving vs Exporting

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As you know, when you make any changes to your images in Picasa those changes apply to your images only when you view them in Picasa.
If you want to use a changed/edited image outside of Picasa (on the web/blog/photoshop/etc) you will need to do one of two things:

  1. Save or
  2. Export

What's the difference?
Firstly, Save.
When you Save an edited image in Picasa it saves the image in it's present location on your hard drive. It then also creates a sub-folder in that location and places the original image in there for safety, in effect giving you a backup of your original image. You will then need to either export the image, or right click it and open it in another editing program like Photoshop.

Secondly, Export.
When you have edited an image in Picasa you can choose to Export it to another location. You can place it anywhere on your computer. You can also choose a new size and quality, as well as applying a watermark in the bottom right of the image if you want.
By Exporting you are creating a new, edited version of your image which should be the right size to use. If you need to further edit the image in Photoshop or Gimp then you can do that easily.

Which is best?
It's entirely up to you which one you do, depending on your needs.
I tend to use the export function rather than save personally as it's faster for my needs.

Tell me...

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What section of Picasa would you like me to focus on next?
Is there something you want to know?
Confused by all the new buttons and sections?

Just let me know by adding a comment below this post and I will create a personalised tutorial just for you :)

Create a Facebook Timeline Banner

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This post aims to help you create awesome Timeline Banners for your Facebook page.
There are several sections to it, just follow each one, click on the images to see them larger.
If you have any questions just let me know in the comments.

Firstly we need to create a specific crop ratio.
  1. Select an image (any image will do)
  2. Double click it to open the edit section
  3. Click "Crop"
  4. On the "Crop" tab, click the drop down menu and scroll to the very bottom until you see "Add Custom Aspect Ratio..."
  5. Click "Add Custom Aspect Ratio..." and when the pop up box appears enter these ratios: 851 width - 315 height, then call it "Facebook Timeline" and save
You now have the correct crop to use for your Timeline images

Secondly
  1. Choose the image you want to use for your Timeline
  2. Double click it to open the edit section
  3. Click "Crop", choose "Facebook Timeline" in the Custom Aspect Ratios section and draw a box on your image
  4. When you are happy with your crop click "Apply"


Thirdly
Export your image to the desktop with an image size of 851 pixels


That's it done!

All you need to do now is to upload it to Facebook and start using it...

If you have any questions just ask.

Watermarks - How To

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How to add a watermark to your images.

Select an image

  1. In the "Basic Fixes" tab, left click "Text"
  2. Click anywhere in the image on the right and start typing
  3. To enter more than one line of text just use the "Enter" or "Return" key on your keyboard
  4. A rounded edge box will appear around your text (this box will not be visible when you finish)
  5. To move the text, left click on the rounded edge box and drag the text where you want it
  6. To change the font, use the drop down box labelled "Font"
  7. To change the colour of the Text, click the circle next to the Grey T, this brings up an eyedropper which allows you to pick a colour in your image or use the pop-up box to choose your colour
  8. If you just want your text to be an outline (not solid) click the white box with a red line through it
  9. To change the colour of the text OUTLINE, click on the "hollow" T to the right of the white box with the red line
  10. To make the outline thicker or thinner use the slider next to the hollow T
  11. You can have solid colour text with a different colour outline by using a combination of the above buttons and sliders
  12. To change the size, rotate and make the text opaque see below
  13. When you are happy with your watermark click Apply
  14. Don't forget to EXPORT or save the image with the watermark when you upload it

To change the size of the text there are two options:

  1. Use the Size drop down under the Font drop down

or,

  1. Hover your mouse over the MIDDLE of the text you have placed and a circle will appear with an orange dot to the right. Click and drag the orange dot to SCALE the text  up and down as required.
  2. TIP. If you only want to scale the text and not accidentally rotate it, press and hold the left CTRL key on your keyboard.
To rotate the text, hover the mouse near the middle of the text and a circle will appear with an orange dot to the right. Click and drag the orange dot to stretch and rotate the text.

Once you have your chosen text, at the right size, with the right font and in the right place - click and drag the Transparency slider to around 60%. This makes the watermark less visible and thus allows the viwere to see the image better, while still protecting your image.

Try to place the watermark near the centre of the image if possible as this will be the most difficult to remove or crop out.
If you want to place a copyright watermark it MUST be in this format: "© 2010 R HORSFIELD" the year is the date of creation, followed by your name.

TIP: to get a © symbol...
Press and hold the left ALT key (the one to the left of the space bar)
Using the right hand numeric keypad (not the numbers at the top of the keypad) type 0169
Release the ALT key and a neat little © symbol appears!



Retouch (New Picasa 3 Tool)

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Having had Picasa 3 now for a few days, I thought I'd post on some of the new features, firstly the "Retouch" tool.

If you have ever wanted to remove a spot or blemish from a face in a photo, this is the tool for you. It works on the same cloning principles used in PhotoShop or Paint Shop Pro - but it's a heck of a lot easier and more intuitive to use.

Basically, all you need to do is click on the area you want to remove/alter in your picture, then click on another part of the same image to replace it. The funky thing is that Picasa then has a quick whizz at blending the edges of the new area with the existing image, then "Hey Presto", job done.
It's certainly not on a par to the perfection that you can manage with PS, but it is pretty remarkable nonetheless.

One other application for this tool...
You can have fun placing eyes onto foreheads, removing noses, getting rid of basically anything. Just experiment and have fun.

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