Making a Banner Picture

I keep a personal blog, and I like to have a personalized top banner.  Here’s what my blog looks like today.  Notice the top banner with the title and picture at the right.  I made that using Picasa and this tip will tell you how.

Create a Collage

I used Picasa’s collage feature to make that banner.  You might not think to use the collage feature when you’re only working with one picture.  That’s why I decided to write this tip.  I started by selecting that photo of Jim and me and Odie in front of our Visited States Map.  With just that one pictures selected, I clicked the collage button.  I set the background to a solid red, and move the picture over to the right side, and create the collage.

Add the Text

Once the collage is done and I’m back at the Picasa library, I use the Text Tool to type ‘Geeks on Tour Blog.’  Using all the text formatting tools, I choose our special ‘geeky’ font (Coolvetica) and set the colors so they look good against the dark red background.  After applying that, I add another block of text for the blog description.

Crop and Export

Now I have all the elements I want in my banner, I just need to make it banner-size.  So I crop it.  And finally, I export it to a separate folder that I use for uploading to my blog.



The export feature allows me to specify a size.  The instructions for Blogger header images tell me to make it 910 pixels, so that’s what I specify:



There’s a lot you can do with Picasa’s collage feature … get creative!

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.

Quick Collage

Collage Tip – Framing a Picture

Adding Text to Pictures

Crop Size Options

Basic Edits

Exporting Pictures for Use in Another Program

Resizing Pictures to Width and Height

 

 

 

 

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Where did I put those Pictures?

How often have you just imported pictures, and the next time you sit down at your computer and open Picasa – you can’t find them?

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just ask Picasa, “Show me those Pictures that I was just working with please.”  Guess what?  You can.

Picasa Shows you the Latest Pictures Added to your Library

It’s called ‘Recently Updated’ and it’s an automatic album.  Just look at the top of the left column, you should see it there right by the Starred Photos Album.



Whenever you add new pictures to Picasa, either by importing from your camera, or by making a new Collage, Movie, or Screen Capture, they will appear in this album.  I could have sworn that recently edited pictures showed up here to … maybe that was a previous version … but they don’t.  It would be more precise to call it ‘Recently Added’ than ‘Recently Updated’, but there ya go.

Remember, an Album is NOT a Folder

So, that’s the first step – you look at the recently Updated Album and you see your most recent pictures, but they don’t actually live there.  An Album is NOT a location on your computer, it is a feature of Picasa.  Think of Picasa as your picture secretary, the ‘Recently Updated’ folder is simply her way of answering the question, “What are the most recent pictures that we added to the Picture Library?”  The next question is most likely, “Where are these pictures located?”  The answer to this question will be an actual folder on your computer’s hard drive.

Locate Pictures on Disk, or in Picasa

In order to find out *Where* these pictures are, you right-click and choose either “Locate on Disk’ or ‘Locate in Picasa.’  Either one will show you what folder houses the picture in question.  The difference is that choosing ‘Locate on Disk’ will open a new window and use Windows Explorer (or Mac Finder, I presume, on Macintosh) to display the folder.  If you choose “Locate in Picasa” no new window will open up, you will simply be repositioned in the Picasa library so that you are viewing the home folder and the actual picture in question.



If yours just read’s ‘Locate’ rather than ‘Locate on Disk’, that means that you have edited and saved your picture.  The ‘File on Disk’ will be the edited version and the Original on Disk will be the original version that Picasa tucked away in a safe, hidden folder.

Can you Remove the Recently Updated Album?

Yes and No.  You can click on it, press the Delete key and then confirm to delete the Album.  It will disappear – all the pictures will still be located in their respective folders -  but, the album will be gone.  But, it won’t be forgotten!  The Recently Updated Album will be recreated the next time you open Picasa.  It’s an automatic album – that’s what the green color means.  Picasa thinks you should always be able to find the last bunch of pictures.  She is very diligent and will always keep track of the last 250 pictures that were added … whether you want her to or not!  So, you may as well take advantage of it and look there whenever you need to be reminded about your most recent photos.

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.

Starring Pictures

Folders and Folder Collection

Searching for Pictures

Using Search to Create a Temporary Album

Using Albums for Organizing

 

If you’re a beginner, the best way to learn is with our ‘Beginner’s Guide to Picasa’  Only $10 for the 60 page eBook *plus* access to 2 hours of Show-Me Video linked from the eBook.

 

 

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Using a Digital Picture Frame

You’d think I see my pictures enough on my computer since I’m sitting at my computer at least 10 hours/day and I almost always have Picasa open.  I also upload pictures to my Web Album and post them to my Blog every few days as well.  We travel all the time, I LOVE pictures, I never get tired of looking at them.

With all the above ways to view my pictures, it never occurred to me to buy a digital picture frame, so I was not that excited when last year, a friend gave us a frame as a gift.



What a surprise!  We put a thousand pictures on it, set it on the dinette table, and now I often find myself glancing at the picture frame and dreaming wonderful memories.  And, they look SO good the way the slideshow is displayed!  That picture frame quickly became one of my most treasured possessions (thanks John!)

How to Transfer Photos to the Frame

For me, it was easy, most all of my good photos I have uploaded to a Web Album.  So, in Picasa, I just filtered to those pictures which had been uploaded, then I use the Export command to send the pictures to the CF Card for the Photo Frame.  If you have a Photo Frame, it may have different devices to store the photos.  Some frames can even connect to the Internet and get its photos there.



Here’s a video to show you all the details:

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.

Putting Pictures on a Digital Photo Frame



If you’re a beginner, the best way to learn is with our ‘Beginner’s Guide to Picasa’

del.icio.us Tags: Digital Photo Frame,Picasa

You can buy it as an eBook for $10 or have a printed book with DVD mailed to you for $29.95.