Ready, set, show off your summer pics

Use simple tips and techniques to edit your summer snapshots

By Elissa Brown

Who said summer days are lazy? Whether it’s a wedding, a new addition to the family or a fun-filled vacation, summer is often packed with activity. And if you’re like many people, you’ve been capturing those memories on your digital camera. Once you get those photos off your camera, you’ll need some tips to make your photos ready to show off to friends and family.

Experiment with software

One of the best aspects of digital photography is that it enables you to manipulate and enhance photos on your PC. A few years ago, the options were limited: professional-grade software was available, but it was intimidating to many novices and time-consuming to learn. These days, you don’t have to be an expert to enhance your digital photos on the PC.

Vista comes with a built-in photo management tool called Windows Photo Gallery that lets you crop photos, reduce red-eye, and adjust colour, contrast and brightness. Windows Live Photo Gallery — a free download — is also a great tool for basic photo editing. Here are some ideas for easily enhancing your photos.

Combine black and white and colour. Black-and-white images bring out details that may have been missed in traditional colour shots. Create a stunning effect by using a black-and-white image with certain elements in colour, such as the flowers in a bride’s bouquet.

Fix camera phone pictures. Quick shots captured with your cell phone’s camera can often be blurry. Make the most of these shots with the one-click Auto Adjust. This function can be found in the left-hand column.

See the big picture. When the view is too large to capture in your camera’s viewfinder, try taking a series of shots and later stitching them together on the PC. Windows Live Photo Gallery allows you to easily stitch together several photos in a pretty panoramic view.

Bind images in a photo book

Telling stories is an art. So when the summer has ended, why confine the experiences to a pile of photos? Display your album as a beautiful piece of art on your coffee table without going to the fuss of cutting and pasting prints into an album. A number of web sites make it easy to create beautiful photo books. Photo book services are offered at retailers such as Future Shop’s Future Photo and Black’s.

Use your images to tell a story

Another good way to preserve summer pictures is to create a slide show and burn it to a DVD for your friends and relatives. They will love sharing the memories with you. Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Live Photo Gallery and Windows Movie Maker make it easy to put your pictures together and add text and fun effects.

The hot days of summer are busy ones filled with wonderful events and experiences. Don’t let your digital memories fade. With the right tools, you can help this summer last a lifetime.

Adapted from an original piece from Microsoft At Home