Photo Story

I don't usually praise Microsoft for their software but I have to give it to them on this one. If you haven't tried Photo Story (PS) then you are missing out. You can find the software at: www.microsoft.com/photostory

To see a quick example of what this software can do, check out the "See it in Action" section on the bottom of the website. PS allows you to import digital pictures and do lots of cool stuff: animation, annotation, slideshows, rotate and crop, add voice narration or music (imported or make your own), remove red-eye, and apply filters. I'm sure there are more features that I haven't discovered yet.

I have used the animation feature on a few pics including adding my own scores of music. The output is a WMV file (video) that plays in Microsoft Media Player. Of course you can opt for different qualities levels for the WMV file. To play the WMV file you may have to download a new codec. If a new codec is needed, Media Player should help with this task.

Unfortunately, it appears that this software will only work with Windows XP.

Another piece of software that I really like is Picasa. This can be found on Google's website or at this location:www.picasa.com. This is a free piece of software offered by Google that will index all photo's and graphic files on your computer. It allows for lots of adjustments to your photos without changing the original photo. The color correction and lighting adjustments are great and very easy to use. The red eye removal tool is absolutely spectacular. The ability to create a "gift" disk in the form of a slideshow makes this software that much more complete.

Hat's off to these two pieces of software.