What's New In Picasa 3?

Nearly every updated feature in Picasa is totally great! One of the things I missed most in the previous version was the ability to retouch an image. Now we can. Just click on the retouch tool and airbrush away unsightly blemishes.

One of my favorite features is that we can now add text to a photo. Wow, this comes in so handy and it works like a charm! In addition, new printing features allow you to print captions either on or below a photo.

Several new video features : the ability to trim a clip, export it to YouTube, take a snapshot of a single frame, and play in full screen. You can "scrub" through the video, then use the . and , keys to look at the video frame by frame and identify an exact frame location.

Other new features are the ability to sync Picasa pictures with web album edits, create and edit movies, do a screen capture, set your desktop picture, make a screen saver, print captions, and much more.

There are also things that we knew and loved before that are even better now. The collage maker has been expanded and works much better. (A real boon to bloggers!) You can upload an album to Picasa Web Albums and email invitations to friends and family with just one click. Red eye removal is automatic. No need to draw the little boxes around the eye like we used to.

They have fixed one annoying thing: that you could only put one word in a word tag. Now you can do multiple words.

More features have been added to the slideshow creator--lots more transition styles, and the ability to include video in the slideshow.

In addition Google has increased the number of photos it can keep organized to one million.

For a list and explanation of all new and updated features, click here. Be sure and check out "Picasa Community Videos" on the left side. Some of them are quite good.

The only thing I didn't like about the new features was the movie maker. Very lame. You can only use MP3 or WMC music. You can only choose one transition, and it is applied to every picture. If you include a video clip, it plays the sound from that over the music you have chosen. If you're not into video and don't care about these things, then be my guest. I'm not going to use it.

Fun New Fonts

I recently bought these fonts from scrapnfonts.com. I have used them quite a bit already. Just type LD into their search engine to find them fast.

Picasa for the Mac!

Picasa finally came out with a version for Mac users. Check it out here. It's an AWESOME photo organizing program with many extra goodies!

Fun New Templates

My good friend and designer Jill, owner of Legacy Digital Designs, has some new psd templates for sale (and some free ones) on her web site. They are fabulous! So classy looking and easy to download and use.

And even better yet, she has created a coupon for my blog readers. If you type in HOTSPOT in the coupon section of the check out, you'll receive 10% off.

Above are a few pages that I did using her Versailles kit. I randomly grabbed some photos, turned them black and white and plunked them down onto these pre-made pages by Jill. It took me about ten minutes.

As soon as my cute little baby girl is born in a few weeks, I'm going to do a mini-book (3.5x3.5) through viovio.com. It's so CUTE and would be the perfect gift for grandparents. I've never used the site before, but Jill has and she really likes it. They have a lot of options and the prices are INCREDIBLE. Jill has posted some really good printing tips and a link to viovio on her site. If you decide to try it out, go through her link - she gets credits for passing people through.

Some more quick pages I made using Jill's Paris Kit. Too fun!

Family Proclamation Templates $1

One of our most asked questions is "Where can I get templates to make a Family Proclamation book?" Finally we have an answer, thanks to our friend Jill Means who is a professional graphic artist. She has designed a beautiful set, including some extra pages in alternate styles. You can download them from her website Legacy Digital Design for $1. Here are some sample pages Ann made in minutes. On the left is the page designed by Jill. On the right is the page with pictures slipped underneath it on another layer. Easy and beautiful! If you need help, refer to the Beginners post on this blog. We made our book 12x12 and had it printed by Shutterfly. But you can make your book any size as long as it's square. Just resize before you start or after you're done. 8x8 is a nice size and can easily be printed on home computers. (Note: if you downloaded before 11-20-08, do so again. Jill has changed the color slightly for a better look.)

GREAT CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEA!