project home page
• introduction
• background & more information
finding the images you need
• on-line galleries
• scanning
• making your own
• taking your own
digital image sizes
• digital image sizes
• resolution
• file size
• e-mail
• copyright
adding images to documents
• position
• cropping
• enhancement
• paper size
• posters
image file types
• jpg or gif
• transparency
screen prints and clip art
• screen prints
• clip art
the problems with text
• fonts
• line length
• emphasis
• text boxes
• text images
free tools
• text
• drawing
• image editing
• web page design

Things are changing very rapidly in this field – no doubt due to the ever-increasing number of digital cameras being used. Microsoft have tried hard to get in on the act with Picture Manager™ which is supplied with Office 2003. You'll find it buried away in your Start, All Programs, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Office Tools folder - small wonder few people know it's there.

However, don’t go and buy Office 2003 to get it and, even if you have it, and even if you can find it, you may not want to use it after seeing what Google’s stable-mate Picasa can do. A stunning screen display and a wide range of quick fixes for photos (as well as more controllable ones) are making it much talked about in a way which may not leave it free to download and use for long.

Get it at http://www.picasa.com

If you’re looking for a quick download, or something you can take into class on a floppy disk to help someone on a machine with no image editing available, then IrfanView™ is worth trying out. It is particularly good at handling things like screen prints and fires up rapidly and gets on with the job without asking you a million questions or confusing you with too many options. It is also excellent for opening files which people send with strange formats or incomplete file names. Again it’s quite free, has no time limit or extra advertising software bundled and can be used in non-commercial activities.

http://www.irfanview.com

Adobe PhotoShop is probably the preferred choice of those who are regularly involved in this type of work but it isn’t cheap. You may have its little sister, Adobe PhotoShop Elements™ on your system and that is easier to use and very effective.

Serif PhotoPlus™ is a cheaper, and easier to learn, alternative. Like DrawPlus, you may find free older versions on the site mentioned above. The later versions (currently 10) are transforming the company’s image as much as they will your photos but with acceptance comes higher pricing. Watch out for their special offers.