Simplicity – 13

I was very happy with the way my roses turned out this time. I first got rid of the thin black irrigation pipe that was snaking out of the wine barrel using Retouch in Picasa 3. You can view my previous pictures to see what it looked like. I’m curious how many people actually noticed it before I took it away. The Retouch application takes a little getting used to. If you apply a lot of patches and then decide you did too many patches, you can click Undo Patch quite a few times. This application seems to have a long memory. If you undo more than you meant to, then you just click the Redo Patch until you’re happy. If you don’t want any of your changes, then just click Reset and start again. Once I was satisfied with the Retouch application, I added Cross Process and that was it.

Simplicity – 12

In my previous post, I turned my roses black and white using the Holga-ish application in Picasa 3. Here they are also in black and white, but with a different application. This time I used the B&W application and added a bit of Boost. I think this combination worked better on my photo.

Simplicity – 11

Here are 3 images using the same application as a starting point. I achieved the white roses with shadowed borders using Holga-ish in Picasa 3. When you click on Holga-ish, you will see 3 slide-bars, Blur Edges, Grain and Fade.

If you want a black and white image, then don’t use any of the Fade slide-bar. To get my roses in black, I added Invert Colors.

If you want your roses to have color, then use the Fade slide-bar. I adjusted mine to the middle. Then I added Sharpen and a bit of Vignette for the shadowed borders.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my 3 images in Holga-ish. Don’t forget to choose a favorite application in this series once I’m done. I'm looking forward to reading your comments.

What is Picasa?

Picasa is photo editing, desktop software that runs on Windows and the best part is that it’s for free. Go to download if you want it on your computer and learn more if you want to read a review on it.

Simplicity – 10

Do your kids like to read comic books? You can create their own personalized comic books by using photos that tell a story about their lives and apply the Comic Book photo editing tool in Picasa 3 to your images. You can add Text to your images as well. Then print the pictures and scrapbook them or bind them together another way. This would make a great birthday gift idea too.

Here’s how I applied the Comic Book editing tool on this image. I clicked on Comic Book, which opens up to show three slide-bars. The slide-bars are for adjusting Color Brush, Dot Density and Dot Fade. I adjusted all three until I was happy with my result. Now, let's start making some memories!

Simplicity – 9

To get this effect, I used Neon and then added Saturation in Picasa 3. I was quite impressed with the result. Both Neon and Saturation have a slide-bar for you to adjust how much of the application you want to use on your image. The point to photo editing is to have fun.

Simplicity – 8

How to Make Your Own Coloring Paper:

Today I’m going to share with you how to make coloring paper using your own images. You can do this easily in Picasa 3. Not only is it easy, it’s also for free, except for the ink and paper that you will use to print on. What makes this a cool editing tool is that you can give your child personalized coloring pages. It can be pictures of your son, daughter, grandchild, favorite pet, or a holiday you took together. All you need is a special child in your life, a story in your photograph and the rest is making memories by coloring.

Here’s what you do: click on the Pencil Sketch button in Picasa 3. It will open to reveal three bars, one for Radius, one for Strength and one for Fade. You can adjust any of these three to get the effect that you want. I did not use the Fade bar on my image, as it brings the original color back into the picture. I wanted to keep my photo in black and white.

I wish you lots of fun making your own personalized coloring paper!

If you want to get the free download for Picasa 3 or read a review on it, then go to my post “Being Herself – 3.”

When I’ve completed this series, please let me know which your favorite picture was. You can do the same with my earlier posts. I have a series on “Being Herself” and another one on "Kids with Animals.” Perhaps you have a favorite amongst those as well. I’d love to hear from you.

Simplicity - 7

These four colorful images were all done using the same editing tool. I used Heat Map in Picasa 3 to get these results. There is a Hue bar for Heat Map that when moved from left to right changes the colors of the image. I chose just four pictures to share with you from the many different options available using this technique.