What Program Should I Use?

To transfer pictures from your digital camera
Insert the camera memory card into a card reader slot (on the computer, on the printer, or in an add-on card reader), or connect the camera to an available USB port with the supplied cable.  
•	In Windows XP: If a pop-menu of choices appears when the camera or camera card is connected, you can either click "Copy pictures to a folder on my computer" and follow the instructions in the Scanner and Camera Wizard window, or you can click "Open folder to View Files", select the pictures you want to transfer, click "Copy the selected items", select the desired location, and click Copy. 
•	In Picasa 2:  Click the Import button, then pull down the Select Device menu and select the desired device. After the pictures have finished loading, click the Finish button.

To view pictures
•	In Windows XP, open a folder of pictures and double-click on a thumbnail to view that picture. To go to the next picture in that folder, click the blue  button below the picture.

•	Using Picasa 2: Double-click a thumbnail to see a picture.  Or click Slideshow (at the top) to see the pictures full-screen.

To print pictures:
•	In Windows XP, you can open a folder of pictures and click  on the left. Then click Next and follow the instructions in the "Photo Printing Wizard" window.
•	Using Picasa 2, drag the pictures that you want to print into the Picture Tray at the bottom left of the screen and click the Print button. Picasa's printing capabilities are similar to Windows XP Photo Printing Wizard.  See "Using the Picasa 2 Photo Organizer". 
•	In a photo editing program (e.g. Paint Shop Pro): Open the picture and click File => Print.

To show a slideshow of pictures on my computer:
•	In Windows XP, you can open a folder of pictures and then click  on the left.  To go to the next picture, click the mouse, or use the ® and ¬ arrow keys on the keyboard. To exit the slideshow, press the Esc key on the keyboard (upper left corner).
•	In Picasa 2, click on the folder of pictures, then click the Slideshow button at the top.

To make a computer slideshow of pictures on a CD-R to send to friends:
•	Use Picasa 2 to make an auto-run slideshow. Click on the folder of pictures, insert a blank CD-R, click the Gift CD button at the top (if you want more than one folder of pictures included, click the Add more... button at the bottom, then in the left-hand folder list, click the check box to the left of each folder that you want to include. Each folder makes a separate slideshow on the disc). Finally click Burn Disc. 
•	Use Windows to make a JPEG disc (see last item below).  When the disc is inserted into a computer running Windows XP, select "View a slideshow of the images" from the pop-up menu. Or you can open the disc (in My Computer), double-click on the first picture, then click the Start Slideshow icon at the bottom of the screen.

To make a slideshow of pictures to view on a TV with a DVD player:
•	Use Windows to make a JPEG disc. Many recent DVD players will automatically play a simple slideshow of pictures on a CD-R (but with no music or video effects).
•	Use Memories on TV ($40, from memoriesontv.com) to make a DVD video slideshow with music and video effects.  See the handout "Using Memories on TV..." for full instructions. You need a DVD-R burner on your PC to make actual DVDs (that will play on almost any DVD player), but even if you have only a CD-R burner, you can make VCDs and SVCDs that will play on most recent models of DVD players.

To  manually shrink (re-size) photos for e-mail.
•	In Windows XP, open the folder containing the picture, then right-click the thumbnail and select Edit. This opens the image in Paint. Pull down the Image menu and click Stretch/Skew.  In the top half of the box, type in 25 for both horizontal and vertical, then click OK.  Then click File => Save As..., add the word "small" to the end of the file name, and click Save. (This makes the picture 25% of the original size; adjust this as needed).
•	In a photo editing program (e.g. Paint Shop Pro): Select  Image => Resize. Select "Pixels" from the pop-up menu "Pixel Dimension". Set the pixel size of this image to 600 pixels wide (a good size for e-mail) and click OK.  Select File --> Save as..., type a slight modification to the file name (e.g. add an "small" to the and of the file name), and click Save. 

To e-mail pictures:
Note: Before you can send email, you have to be connected to the Internet.  Dial up as you usually do, then minimize (but do not close) your Internet software to use other programs. 
•	 In Windows XP, open a folder of pictures, click on a thumbnail, then click  on the left. Windows offers to shrink pictures that are too big to fit on the screen.
•	In Picasa 2, click on a thumbnail, then click the E-mail button at the bottom. Picasa automatically shrinks pictures that are too big to fit on the screen. See "Using the Picasa 2 Photo Organizer" for details.
•	Using your own e-mail program: Most e-mail programs will not automatically shrink large pictures; therefore you have to shrink (resize) it before sending (see above).  Then compose a message as usual, click on the "Attach document" button (or whatever it is called in your email program) , click in the "Look in:" menu and select the folder containing the picture that you want to attach, click on the picture and click Open.  Then click Send.
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To save a picture from an e-mail message or a Web page.
Right-click on the picture and select Save Picture As..., choose the save location in the Save in menu, and click Save. You can then view, print, or edit the photo just like any other picture.

Photo editing and enhancement.
•	Picasa can do cropping, brightness/contrast and color enhancement, add fill light, etc.
•	A photo editing program (e.g. Paint Shop Pro or Adobe Photoshop Elements) is needed only to do the more advanced photo tasks, such as retouching (smudge,  clone, and scratch remover), layering (cutting people out and putting them into another picture).  

To Make a JPEG disc (requires CD-RW drive).
•	Using Windows: See the last page of the handout "Digital Photo File Basics" for instructions.
•	In Picasa: Insert a blank CD-R, click the Backup button, click the little boxes in the left-hand panel in front of each folder that you want to include, then click the Burn button.