Picasa Tip: Use Captions

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a few words attached to a photo can say a lot too. Picasa makes writing captions so easy, you have no excuse not to identify them. Simply click in the space below the picture and type. No need to save - Picasa does that automatically when you move on or press Enter. All you need to do is just type ... you're done.(Member Tutorial Video: Add Captions to your Photos)

If you take just a moment to write a couple words with each of your important photographs, you will love yourself for it. Here are just some of the benefits of having captions written on your pictures:

1. Every word in the caption is searchable


2. Captions can be printed when you print the photo (new in 3)


3. Captions appear in slide shows of your photos


4. Captions will display with your photo when you upload them to Picasa Web Albums


5. You can have captions display below the thumbnails of your photos in the Library view


6. Captions are stored with the picture file itself, so are visible in many other programs.

If you like to share your life's stories and pictures with family and friends, but writing a blog is not for you, you may find that adding captions to your photos is all you need. I generally type a caption on every photo I upload to my Picasa Web Albums. Here is a sample:



If you click on the image above, it will take you to the actual web album. Then, find that picture of Jim teaching Google Earth and click on it. You will see that captions don't have to be limited to a few words. I typed a whole paragraph on that one!

This tip brought to you by Geeks on Tour

Geeks on Tour is a membership website with hundreds of Tutorial Videos on topics of interest to travelers, such as managing digital photos with Picasa, Route-Planning with Streets and Trips, and sharing your travels with a website using Blogger or with friends on Facebook. You can subscribe to our free e-newsletters, or become a paid member and be able to view all of the videos in the Learning Library.

Members may want to view the following tutorial videos.  Not a member?  Join now.

• Upload Photos to the Web


• Searching for Pictures


• Single Picture View


• Using Tags aka Keywords

Picasa Tip: When your pictures get "All Messed UP"

It does happen. I saw it just this past week while private tutoring someone on Picasa. I double-clicked on a thumbnail photo of a little girl, and what appeared was a photo of a boat! What the .... ?!#%*!

This can be a scary experience if you don't know what's going on. It appears that your pictures are missing or garbled. All that has actually happened is that Picasa's listings of them have become corrupted. Your photos are fine. It's like you're trying to read a book with someone else's eyeglasses. Nothing looks right, but the book is fine.

What I referred to above as Picasa's 'listings' is actually a database, and it needs to be rebuilt. The built in method to accomplish this is to hold down the Alt, Ctrl, and Shift key as you launch Picasa. Make sure to launch Picasa from the start menu however, not from a desktop icon.

So, hold down Alt, Ctrl and Shift; Click Start and Picasa 3. Once you see the Picasa 3 logo, you can let go of Alt Ctrl Shift. It will take a minute, but you should eventually see:

Click Yes, and it will rebuild it's internal database. When it's done, your pictures should all be back to normal.

If you don't want to trust this built in procedure and you'd rather do it yourself, let me tell you how. The database is actually a set of folders found within a folder called Picasa2. Yes, even in Picasa3, the database is found in a folder called Picasa2. That folder is located along with other program settings in your Windows user settings folder. Specifically, in Windows Vista it is:

C:UsersChrisAppDataLocalGooglePicasa2

In XP it is:

C:Documents and SettingsChrisLocal Settingsapplication datagooglePicasa2

Where it reads 'Chris' above, you would substitute your user name. (thanks to a comment below for reminding me to tell you that this is a *hidden* folder. You will only see it if you have your system set to view hidden folders - Tools, Folder Options, View, Show Hidden Folders) The easiest way to make Picasa rebuild it's database is to remove the current one,then it has no choice but to build a new one the next time it opens. I like to just rename the Picasa2 folder to something like Picasa2-backup, just in case something goes wrong, I can always return to how it was. Then I open Picasa. It will come up with the same message it displayed when you first installed it ... "Do you want me to scan your entire computer, or just My Documents / My Pictures?" I choose the 'My Documents ... " option. When it's done with it's scan everything should be back to normal.

GOT Class Members can watch tutorial videos on:

First Time Using Picasa 3 - scan for photos

Search for Pictures

Rename, Move, Delete Pictures

Removing a Folder from Picasa's View

Picasa Tip: When your pictures get "All Messed UP"

It does happen. I saw it just this past week while private tutoring someone on Picasa. I double-clicked on a thumbnail photo of a little girl, and what appeared was a photo of a boat! What the .... ?!#%*!

This can be a scary experience if you don't know what's going on. It appears that your pictures are missing or garbled. All that has actually happened is that Picasa's listings of them have become corrupted. Your photos are fine. It's like you're trying to read a book with someone else's eyeglasses. Nothing looks right, but the book is fine.

What I referred to above as Picasa's 'listings' is actually a database, and it needs to be rebuilt. The built in method to accomplish this is to hold down the Alt, Ctrl, and Shift key as you launch Picasa. Make sure to launch Picasa from the start menu however, not from a desktop icon.

So, hold down Alt, Ctrl and Shift; Click Start and Picasa 3. Once you see the Picasa 3 logo, you can let go of Alt Ctrl Shift. It will take a minute, but you should eventually see:

Click Yes, and it will rebuild it's internal database. When it's done, your pictures should all be back to normal.

If you don't want to trust this built in procedure and you'd rather do it yourself, let me tell you how. The database is actually a set of folders found within a folder called Picasa2. Yes, even in Picasa3, the database is found in a folder called Picasa2. That folder is located along with other program settings in your Windows user settings folder. Specifically, in Windows Vista it is:

C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Google\Picasa2

In XP it is:

C:\Documents and Settings\Chris\Local Settings\application data\google\Picasa2

Where it reads 'Chris' above, you would substitute your user name. (thanks to a comment below for reminding me to tell you that this is a *hidden* folder. You will only see it if you have your system set to view hidden folders - Tools, Folder Options, View, Show Hidden Folders) The easiest way to make Picasa rebuild it's database is to remove the current one,then it has no choice but to build a new one the next time it opens. I like to just rename the Picasa2 folder to something like Picasa2-backup, just in case something goes wrong, I can always return to how it was. Then I open Picasa. It will come up with the same message it displayed when you first installed it ... "Do you want me to scan your entire computer, or just My Documents / My Pictures?" I choose the 'My Documents ... " option. When it's done with it's scan everything should be back to normal.

GOT Class Members can watch tutorial videos on:

First Time Using Picasa 3 - scan for photos

Search for Pictures

Rename, Move, Delete Pictures

Removing a Folder from Picasa's View

Picasa Tip: Out of Focus? I meant that!

I took a photo this weekend that I really liked. My Mom came with us on a short RV trip and she was enjoying our cozy cab-over bunk and the view out the front window. It was kind of dark and I didn't want to use a flash, so I hand held a timed exposure to get the shot. Not surprisingly, it came out a little blurry.

I almost deleted it, then I decided to embrace the out-of-focus quality of the picture instead! I used the Soft-Focus effect to make the edges even more out of focus. Then I used the 'Glow' effect to lighten it up a bit and give it even more of a dreamy look.



When you click on Soft-Focus, you will see your photo get out of focus, all except for a circular area in the middle, around the crosshairs.



You will also see options for size and amount. Size refers to the size of the circular area to keep in focus. Amount refers to just how out-of-focus you want the rest to be. Just drag them one way or the other and watch your picture. You can also drag the crosshairs around in the picture itself to move the focused part around. When you like the look, click Apply.

For my picture I also clicked on the Glow option which softly brightens up all edges, making it look somewhat dreamy. You also have some sliders to adjust the amount of glow. Click Apply for this effect to take place as well.

Here's my finished photo:

You may have pictures where these effects create a more dramatic result, but for me, this just makes it look like I intended it to be out of focus!

Geeks on Tour Members can view a video that explains all 12 of Picasa's special Effects.

Picasa Tip: Scanning Old Photos

Do you have a scanner and some old photos you want to scan? Have you started to read the manual and given up on figuring it out? I have good news for you! You don't have to figure out the software that came with the scanner, because Picasa can handle it all for you, it's just like importing from your camera but, instead of camera, you import from the scanner.

Using Picasa's Import Command with Your Scanner

I was visiting my Mom's and we started looking at old pictures. Between the two of us we could identify most of them and I wanted to preserve them. She has one of those all-in-one printer-copier-scanners. So, here's what I did:

1. Make sure everything is connected and turned on!


2. Put the photo on the glass of the scanner - face down


3. In Picasa, click 'Import'


4. Click the arrow for the drop down list of devices. You should see your scanner listed ... select it


5. Now you will see a screen that depends on your scanner. There should be an option to 'Preview'. Click that.


6. You should now see your picture, there may be some settings you want to change here, but if it looks OK then


7. Click the button to Scan


8. When it's done scanning, you're back at the standard Picasa Import screen. Click Import all.


9. Select a folder to put it in. I made a folder called 'Old Photos' for the first one, then, for each subsequent scanned photo, I selected that existing folder from the drop-down list.

I scanned 53 old photos in this manner. It took me somewhat over an hour. Then I just took another few seconds to use Batch Edit and do an 'I'm Feeling Lucky' and 'Sharpen' to all 53 at once. I think the results are great. What do you think?

This is a photo from circa 1962 - me at 10 years old in Alaska. It looks better than the original!



GOT Class Members can also view related videos:

Importing from Camera
Sharpen and Batch Edit
Basic Editing Features
Retouching