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Photo management programs
- Thread starter CharityB
- Start date
Pauline
Forums Admin
Picasa closed! What is it with Google? They start things, promote them, wait a bit, and then close them. Picasa is what I recommend to everyone.
I use Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom, but I pay $10/month to use them and Photoshop is more powerful than I need. But I love Lightroom for organizing.
Windows 10 comes with a photo app that lets you do basic editing and organizing. Macs also have basic photo editing that comes with them. I found this article on PC Magazine about Windows 10 photo app.
I use Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom, but I pay $10/month to use them and Photoshop is more powerful than I need. But I love Lightroom for organizing.
Windows 10 comes with a photo app that lets you do basic editing and organizing. Macs also have basic photo editing that comes with them. I found this article on PC Magazine about Windows 10 photo app.
Roz
500+ Posts
If you upload your photos to Google's website, you do get some minimal editing tools there. I actually like Google Photos, as a good way to back up all my pictures free. Your photos can stay private unless you choose to share them.
The old Picasa app still seems to work on my Mac, although Google has moved all the photos previously stored online with Picasa to Google Photos.
For editing I generally use an old version of Photoshop Elements (sort of the light version of Photoshop), which works fine for my needs, and I don't have to pay a subscription fee. I hate the trend of making you pay by the month to use an application.
The old Picasa app still seems to work on my Mac, although Google has moved all the photos previously stored online with Picasa to Google Photos.
For editing I generally use an old version of Photoshop Elements (sort of the light version of Photoshop), which works fine for my needs, and I don't have to pay a subscription fee. I hate the trend of making you pay by the month to use an application.
Wendy&Rob
100+ Posts
Charity, I will answer here the next question, Rob and I have gone full Apple/i products and we find their editing just fine for us. As in, highlighting, cropping, squaring... But, we back up our images on to our desktop/laptop, and as I wrote to you, I keep my memory cards like I would negative. I do not erase, but keep each MC. Rob backs-up and clears his cards. W
PS. Oh, and there is always the Cloud
PS. Oh, and there is always the Cloud
Picasa is not exactly "closed". If you have it on your computer, you can still use it for free editing - it's just that Google has stopped developing it. But all the functions work fine, I still use it sometimes.
Another option is Flickr, Yahoo's photo storage service. If you click on any of your photos, you get a row of icons that appear at lower right - one of them is an editing option (the one with the pen icon), done with "Aviary", a photo-editing software, which is very easy to use. I use Flickr to store my pics (for free), and am generally pleased with it.
Another option is Flickr, Yahoo's photo storage service. If you click on any of your photos, you get a row of icons that appear at lower right - one of them is an editing option (the one with the pen icon), done with "Aviary", a photo-editing software, which is very easy to use. I use Flickr to store my pics (for free), and am generally pleased with it.
I have a paid subscription to Flickr (just $25 a year) because I use it so extensively. It's part of yahoo. I like it a lot. As Joe says, there's an editing option included.
But I have Photoshop Elements (software on my computer) that I purchased a few years ago. That's what I use to edit photos.
But I have Photoshop Elements (software on my computer) that I purchased a few years ago. That's what I use to edit photos.
Pauline
Forums Admin
I only use Dropbox to hold documents that I want someone else to download. I don't put anything else on there. But I know people who love it and use it for other things. (I don't trust it because it is free.)
If you are all Apple now, use iCloud to store your photos. You can pay a small amount per month for a lot of storage. I keep all my phone photos on there.
For my "real" photos I keep them on an external drive hooked up to my computer. I have Amazon Prime and they give you unlimited storage for photos (yes!) so I copied all my photos up there and put the new ones up each year. But I don't access them from there.
I use a PC and have MS OneDrive with tons of storage. That links with your computer so the files look like they are on your computer, but they are in the cloud. I can then get at them from my iPad. I keep my favorite photos there so I can access them from my iPad or iPhone.
If you are all Apple now, use iCloud to store your photos. You can pay a small amount per month for a lot of storage. I keep all my phone photos on there.
For my "real" photos I keep them on an external drive hooked up to my computer. I have Amazon Prime and they give you unlimited storage for photos (yes!) so I copied all my photos up there and put the new ones up each year. But I don't access them from there.
I use a PC and have MS OneDrive with tons of storage. That links with your computer so the files look like they are on your computer, but they are in the cloud. I can then get at them from my iPad. I keep my favorite photos there so I can access them from my iPad or iPhone.
CharityB
10+ Posts
Wow! A lot of suggestions. I had service work down on my laptop several months ago--a new hard drive was installed. Subsequently, I lost the ability to access Picasa, I lost the free Windows 10 (because the repairman said I would have to pay for a new subscription, so he arbitrarily installed Windows 8), and I have stumbled around trying to find some other stuff. I also have trouble with Adobe Shockwave Flash crashing frequently--very, very frustrating! I'm beginning to hate my computer.
My pictures are in files on my Windows 8, but I can't really manage them conveniently like I did with Picasa.
Pauline, thanks for the link to PCmag. There were several articles in there that were helpful in thinking about a photo management program. I think I will upgrade to Windows 10, again, and try their photos program. PCmag reviewer said it was a reasonably decent photo program.
I recommend Pauline's link to others who want more info on the topic of photo management programs.
My pictures are in files on my Windows 8, but I can't really manage them conveniently like I did with Picasa.
Pauline, thanks for the link to PCmag. There were several articles in there that were helpful in thinking about a photo management program. I think I will upgrade to Windows 10, again, and try their photos program. PCmag reviewer said it was a reasonably decent photo program.
I recommend Pauline's link to others who want more info on the topic of photo management programs.
Roz
500+ Posts
I stopped using Flickr because I didn't like the ads they put in the free version. I use an adblocker, so I never saw them. But people who didn't have the adblocker complained about the ads -- which came through as full-sized photos stuck in the midst of an album. Google Photos doesn't have any ads -- at least not that I've seen.
Kathy, you must have had your paid version of Flickr for a while and been grandfathered in to the $25 price, since it now costs $50 a year for the Pro version. Google Photos is free, with unlimited storage, although there is a limit on the size of the photos. I'm not a professional photographer, so the size they allow is fine for me.
Charity, I think you could still download Picasa for your PC here: Techradar. It's worth a try anyway. Also, Flash is generally considered obsolete. You might want to uninstall it. Instructions and more info here.
Kathy, you must have had your paid version of Flickr for a while and been grandfathered in to the $25 price, since it now costs $50 a year for the Pro version. Google Photos is free, with unlimited storage, although there is a limit on the size of the photos. I'm not a professional photographer, so the size they allow is fine for me.
Charity, I think you could still download Picasa for your PC here: Techradar. It's worth a try anyway. Also, Flash is generally considered obsolete. You might want to uninstall it. Instructions and more info here.
Roz
500+ Posts
For people with lots of photos on your iPhone, you might find this article about backing up to an SD card interesting:
http://bgr.com/2016/05/19/iphone-external-storage-app-device-microsdxc/
I haven't tried this device because I don't take all that many photos with my phone. I still prefer my Canon camera for "good" pictures. Any photos I care about I put on my computer and back them up to an external drive. But that Lexar reader looks like a pretty easy and affordable way to back up and store lots of photos from your phone.
http://bgr.com/2016/05/19/iphone-external-storage-app-device-microsdxc/
I haven't tried this device because I don't take all that many photos with my phone. I still prefer my Canon camera for "good" pictures. Any photos I care about I put on my computer and back them up to an external drive. But that Lexar reader looks like a pretty easy and affordable way to back up and store lots of photos from your phone.
Pauline
Forums Admin
I use my iPhone for my everyday photos and am trying to copy them into Lightroom and keep them with my other photos, but have to get better organized about this. At some point I will need to delete them off my phone!
We are getting ready for a trip and I will take my good camera. I like the iPhone photos, but it is fiddly using it. I still like a camera that you can hold.
We are getting ready for a trip and I will take my good camera. I like the iPhone photos, but it is fiddly using it. I still like a camera that you can hold.