<DOC>
<DOCID>Google_Picasa_and_Apple_iPhoto.doc.txt</DOCID>
<AUTHOR>Doug Anger</AUTHOR>
<TEXT>
Computer users with digital cameras often tend to accumulate large quantities of pictures on their hard drives. If these pictures arent kept organized, the results can be chaotic and difficult at best, and potentially hazardous to your photos at worst. This weeks column reviews in brief two solutions for organizing photos: Googles Picasa, and Apples iPhoto.



Picasa is a free download for Windows and Linux (provided you have an x86 processor) available at http://www.picasa.com/. Apples iPhoto (http://www.apple.com/iphoto/) is part of the iLife suite available from Apple for $79. Most Macs ship with iLife preloaded.



iPhoto and Picasa have similar layouts for viewing photos. Both have the actual photos organized in some way in the main part of the window with a menu bar above, a list of albums to the left, and a list of actions at the bottom of the screen.







Both programs allow the user to assign keywords and information to their pictures. Photos with this attached data can be searched by the location where they were taken, who appears in them, and almost any other conceivable set of keywords.



Both iPhoto and Picasa have basic editing functions as well. Brightness, contrast, and other color settings can be adjusted. Photos can be rotated, straightened, and cropped, and basic effects can be applied. While Picasa offers a greater variety of effects, its cropping constraints are limited to 4x6, 5x7, and 8x10. iPhoto allows the user to choose a custom constraint to fit any page size.



After editing and organizing photos, users of iPhoto and Picasa can share them in creative ways. Picasa can post pictures to the web and allows the user to order prints from a number of locations. Apple iPhoto restricts where prints can be ordered from, but also allows the user to order photo books, custom greeting cards, and custom calendars with iPhoto pictures and events from iCal.



iPhoto also works with Apple Backup to automatically keep your pictures safe in case something happens to the computer theyre stored on. Users should always back up important data to a CD, DVD, flash drive, et cetera, regardless of what software they use. Backing up to a connected external hard drive will not protect data from a lightning strike or other major power surge.



Both programs were stable and had very good response times even for complex editing operations on the machines I tested them on. Both can theoretically handle as many pictures as your hard drive can hold. I was able to put several thousand into iPhoto without any problems. Both programs offer a solution to many problems of digital photographers.

</TEXT>
</DOC>
