Part 2 of 3: Picasa

PART 2 of a 3 part series on Picasa will focus on creating a slideshow, editing it, adding music, and sharing it out.

STEP 1: CREATE AN ALBUM
I'm not usually one to immediately organize my photos when I download them onto my computer. They're usually all over the place, sometimes with folders named appropriately, sometimes not. That is why the first step is to create an album in which we can organize our slideshow photos into. Creating a slideshow is usually to capture the essence of an event or to showcase a personality. Most likely you will already have some idea of what pictures you would like to use. The next step is to organize these photos into an album for ease of use.
Before we get to the steps, I'd also like to take this opportunity to discuss musical numbers. If you have a few songs in mind that you would like to use for your slideshow, you will need to place the music files into a folder that's easy for you to find. You can place as many songs as you want, but keep in mind that you may need to pick and choose between the them later as you probably won't have a slideshow more than a couple songs long.

1. With Picasa open, click on the top Menu bar "File"
2. Select "New Album" at the top of the list
3. Name your Album when the pop-up window prompts you for one
4. Set a date or leave it
5. Fill out any of the optional details you want
6. Ignore the part where it asks: "Use Music for Slideshow and Movie presentation" This will only allow you to pick one song, not an entire folder. If you are only using one song, then you can pick it now. Otherwise, follow the next steps.

You now have an album, entitled appropriately. You should see it appear in your Album list on the Right hand side, upper corner as seen below.

NOTE:

If you want to use a folder full of songs, click on your new album. Select on Tools on the top menu bar. Select Options. Go to the Slideshow tab and click on "Play music during slideshow". You will see "Select Folder of Music (MP3 and WMA), this is where you will browse for your previously created folder.

STEP 2: ADD PICTURES TO YOUR ALBUM
Once you have your album, you of course have to add pictures. This step is very straight forward. Browse through Picasa on the left hand side and when you see a picture you want in your slideshow, drag and drop it onto the new album.

Once you have all of your pictures, you can go one of two ways. You could create a very quick and easy yet impressive slideshow for emailing, watching on the tv or posting online or you could get more advanced and make it into more of a movie presentation.

If you want to stick with simple: click here for very clear instructions from Google's Picasa website.

If you want to get more advanced and create a movie presentation click here for Google's instructions.

STEP 3: FINISHING OFF BY SHARING OUT
Once you have finished your project you are now free to share it with the world. I will cover the different ways you can do this:

1. With your album selected, you should see the below options immediately above your pictures. Select the one that looks like a little CD to burn this slideshow to a CD and gift it. When you select this option, Picasa will present you with more options for the creation of the CD. You can include the photos as their original size or you can make them larger (think large computer screen). You will need to name your cd, include Picasa, and then Burn the Disc.


If you have selected to make a movie, you will have more options once you have completed your movie. See below for an example of the options you will have on your sidebar.

Upload to YouTube - you will need a YouTube account to do this.
Take Snapshot - Takes a capture of the current frame
Export Clip - Saves out your movie as a .wmv file for emailing or burning to CD or DVD


That's all for now folks. Tune in to part 3 later this week, focusing on some of the fun features in Picasa.

Part 1 of 3: Picasa

PART 1 of a 3 part series on Picasa will focus on what the product is, installation and set-up.

Use Picasa (a free download) to organize your photos, create slideshows, share photos, make collage posters, and easily edit your precious pictures without having to be a pro. Tutorials will focus on PC users. For more details on the features, click here.


STEP 1: DOWNLOAD PICASA

If you have Windows XP/Vista, use the below link:
Picasa

If you are using an older version of Windows, download from one of their options here:
Picasa for older versions of Windows

Need help determining which one - add a comment, I'll help.


STEP 2: INSTALL

Download the application, as it specifies.


Select Run or Save when the download window pops up. "Run" will automatically bring up the install whereas "Save" will allow you to save the .exe file wherever you want. You will then need to browse to your specified location and double click the .exe file to run through the installation.


The image below displays the options you will see once installation is complete. Below the image is an explanation of your options:


1. Create Shortcut on Desktop - this will put an icon on your desktop that you can double click to open the application with. If you later decide that you don't want the shortcut there, you can delete it - it will NOT delete the application itself.

2. Add Shortcut to Quick Launch: That is the bar at the bottom of your screen. It will add a shortcut in that bar, again, something you can delete later if you don't use it.


3. Set Google as my default search engine in Internet Explorer: I would click this off, you can decide to leave it on if you want. It's there because Google owns Picasa (just like they own everything else nowadays) and they want to push Google products.


4. Send anonymous usage stats to Google: Turn it OFF.


5. Run Picasa: Leave this on if you want to launch Picasa immediately.

STEP 3: SET-UP
When you first open Picasa, it will ask you if you want to scan your entire computer for pictures or just designated folders. Picasa is not going to move or copy these pictures, it will have pointers to them and will allow you to organize them in a user friendly, visual way. If you want it to scan your entire computer you may end up with a lot more than you bargained for - in that it will show you every picture including icons and sample photos.

Once you decide where you want it to scan, select it and click continue. Picasa will now start scanning and displaying found pictures. It will also come up with another question to define if Picasa will be your default viewer for picture files. Right now you probably have some Windows picture viewer pop up when you double click a picture or photo. By selecting Picasa as the default that will change. It's all up to you. You can always change it back.

When it is all finished, this is similar to what you will see:

Part 2 will focus on creating a slideshow, editing it, adding music, and sharing it out.

Tutorial 1: Blogging

Blogging 101
This weeks topic will be about blogging. This comes out of a need to explain blogging to those out there that wish to do it for their business or for their own personal use but need an explanation on the what, why, and how.

What is a blog and why would I use it????
The definition, as sited in wikipedia is "is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video." Depending on who is posting, the blog may be a personal diary or something for family members to keep abreast of what's going on with your world. Businesses have jumped on board as a way to keep loyal customers involved with behind the scene progress or soon to be released items. It's also a huge creative outlet for many individuals. If you are using this as a business related tool, you will be more successful if you update your blog OFTEN. If people are coming to see what wit and wisdom you have to share today and all they get is a week old entry, chances are they'll move on to something else pretty quick. That's the way of the world today, if computer users don't get it now, they move on.

Some examples of blogs:

Personal (reads more like a diary):
http://mlogosphere.blogspot.com/

Travel (reads like a travelogue):
http://lostgirlsworld.blogspot.com/

Business (gives tips, advice, and updates):
http://www.theblackapple.typepad.com/

Personal but purposeful (fashion, design, computers, etc):
http://fancyisland.blogspot.com/


Setting up a blog on blogger.com:
My first tip is to watch this very handy tutorial done by blogger. Watch the entire video as it will walk you through exactly how to set one up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnploFsS_tY

As mentioned in the video, these are the steps you will follow:
1. Create your username and password if you do not already have a gmail/google account. Do this by going to www.blogger.com

2. Create a Blog by adding your title (which will display for all to read) and your address (the url you will type in the address bar). If the address is not available, it will suggest others for you.

3. Choose your template. This is the general appearance for your blog.

4. Start Posting. Add your text and upload an image if you want.

5. Save, view, and Publish when ready.

Please forward questions for advanced features or check bloggers help. Just so you know, there are many other sites on which to set up a blog, I am just explaining how to do this on blogger.com for ease of use. Please send me an email if you need tips or tricks on something else you may want to use.

That's all for today folks.