Edit Photos Like Pro With Paint Shop
In addition to marking the 20th anniversary of the IBM PC, this month is also the 10th anniversary of Jasc Software’s Paint Shop Pro, a remarkable graphics and photo editor I have been using since it was released as a shareware package in 1991. It’s no longer shareware, but you can download a fully functional free trial version that expires in 30 days at https://www.jasc.com.
The program, now in its seventh edition, has more power than I know what to do with. This $99 program is a direct competitor of the leading graphics program, Adobe Photoshop ($609), but it’s a lot cheaper and easier to use. It’s more expensive than Adobe’s PhotoDeluxe ($49) and other consumer-level photo-editing programs, but it’s almost as easy to use and far more powerful. To be fair, Adobe recently introduced a streamlined version of Photoshop called Photoshop Elements ($99) that’s competitively priced and a bit less complicated than the professional edition of Photoshop.
What I like about Paint Shop Pro is you can generally get started right away, without having to wade through too many complex options. Most people just want to capture images from digital cameras or scanners, resize them if necessary, crop out any extraneous elements (such as that ex-boyfriend), remove red eye, clean up a few blemishes and print them out.
You can do that with just about any photo-editing software, including the software that typically comes with digital cameras and scanners. But with Paint Shop Pro, you also have room to grow in case you want to do something more sophisticated, such as make subtle changes to the color of portions of the images or create collages by layering one image over another.
The program’s editing tools are displayed in a toolbar as icons that aren’t always self-descriptive. But if you hold the cursor over the icon for a second or two, the tool’s name pops up.
I do have one complaint about the help system. Sometimes it fails to tell you how to access a particular tool that it recommends. You can figure it out, but it would be nice if they made the process easier. Also, the text in the help system can be a bit complicated. The 501-page manual and 146-page Getting Started guide are reasonably friendly and very comprehensive. At a time when many software vendors have eliminated printed documentation, it’s nice to see that at least one company still recognizes the value of the printed word.
One of my favorite features is the ability to capture all or part of what’s on your screen. I’ve used it extensively to illustrate a book about PCs as well as to capture screens for training purposes.
Like all image-editing programs, Paint Shop Pro lets you edit photos and also allows you to insert drawn objects such as circles, squares, lines and text that can be moved, resized and otherwise modified at any time.
Paint Shop also lets you automatically post graphics to StudioAvenue.com, a free Web page operated by Jasc.
I like the Print Multiple Images command. Glossy photo paper is expensive, and I like to get several pictures per sheet. The software lets you drag multiple pictures or several copies of the same picture to a page. You then press the Auto Arrange Images button so that the images are neatly laid out on the page.
With the new version you get automated correction features (such as color balance and contrast) as well as a tool to remove the dreaded red eye. It also has a semiautomatic feature for removing scratches from old photos. If you’re using the program to create photos for a Web site, the Preview in Web Browser feature will show you exactly how it will look to viewers in any Web browser.
The newly released 10th anniversary edition of Paint Shop Pro 7.0 also comes with Animation Shop, a tool for creating animated Web graphics as well as a media center for organizing your graphics, filters for adding special effects and a hands-on tutorial.
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Technology reports by Lawrence J. Magid can be heard between 2 and 3 p.m. weekdays on the KNX-AM (1070) Technology Hour.
