Better Photo Managing with Windows Live Photo Gallery

Many free software you can view your photos, index, classify and to apply simple edits. For example, there Picasa , Google's software, XnView , or the Windows Live Photo Gallery. If you use Windows XP, you can install the free gallery. It is in fact part of the overall free Windows Live, which includes, among other Windows Live Messenger (you do not need to install). The gallery is included by default in Windows Vista but you can reinstall from the Windows Live package to provide new tools for online publishing.

The gallery is very simple to use and provides, in addition to traditional tools of retouching and organizing several unique features: presentation images in several ways (by date, folder or keywords), creation of panoramic pictures, simplified printing, sharing by email ...

Here's how well you use it to manage and organize all your photos.

Install Gallery:

If you have Windows XP, the gallery is absent. It is part of Windows Live package that you can download for free. Note that you do not have to install other software package (which also includes Windows Live Messenger): you can only install the Photo Gallery.

If you use Windows Vista Photo Gallery is present. However, you can reinstall the package with Windows Live. New options for publishing online (to Windows Live Space for example) will be available.

First steps with the Photo Gallery:

Once gallery is installed, you can use it to manage your photos. Here is how to do so :

• To launch the gallery, click the Start button, click All Programs, then click Windows Photo Gallery Live.
  
• At first launch, the software prompts you to associate with the file formats JPG, TIF, WDP, BMP and ICO. Click the Yes button to open them with the gallery after a double click on the images in these formats.
  
• To the left of the interface is the list of filters in the gallery. You can choose to display your images on the record where they are on your hard drive, according to their shooting dates or following keywords attributed to them.
  
• So click on the filter of your choice to apply to the images displayed. Feel free to refine the settings. For the date of shooting, for example, you can select year, month and even the day!
  
• At any time, you can change the size of thumbnails. Just click on the Zoom button at the bottom of the window.
  
• Drag the slider until the desired size.
  
• Use the mouse wheel
• If you have a wheel mouse, press Ctrl and while holding it down, please turn the dial. Depending on the direction, the stamps will be enlarged or reduced.
  
• To view details on your photos: weight, dimensions, date of the shooting, click the Show Details button.
  
• Click on this button again to restore the previous display.

Add Folder:

By default, the My Pictures folder is present in the gallery. You can also add pictures folders of your choice.

• To add another folder, click File then Add Folder to Gallery.
  
  
• In the window that appears, select the folder containing the images to add and click the Open button.
  
  
• Then click the OK button. Your images are now available in the gallery.

View Slideshow:

To make a presentation with your photos, you can view them as a slideshow.

• In the gallery, select the photos to view a slideshow.
  
  
• Then click the Slideshow button at the bottom of the screen.
  
  
• A slideshow of your photos will be displayed in full screen.
  
  
• The images run automatically (every 7 seconds). You can also move from one image to another using the arrows left and right and your keyboard.

Edit image:

Photo Gallery allows you to perform basic edits on your image.

• In the gallery, double click the image to edit.
  
  
• Click on the button Correct.
  
  
• Use the buttons on the right pane to change the brightness, contrast, adjust color, remove red eye and crop the photo.
  
  
• The changes are applied immediately.
  
  
• Return to the original image
  
  
• Photo Gallery allows you to undo your changes and return easily to the original image. Just click on the File menu and then click Revert to Original.
  
  
• To rotate an image, use the buttons on the Rotate Left or Rotate to the right following the direction desired.
  
  
• Click the Back button at the gallery to save your changes.

Photos Tagging:

To more easily find your photos, you can assign tags or keywords.

• In the gallery, click the Info button to bring up the right pane.
  
  
• Click on a photo.
  
  
• In the right pane, click the Add keywords.
  
  
• Type a keyword and press the Enter key.
  
  
• Do the same way to add more keywords.
  
  
• To filter the photos by keywords, click the word in the left column. All photographs share this keyword are displayed.
  
  
• You can also use the search box in the gallery to enter a keyword and view the corresponding pictures.

Creating a panorama:

Photo Gallery lets you easily create panoramic views from several photos taken at the same place, with a different angle.

• Hold down the Ctrl key and select the photos that should compose your panoramic photo.
  
  
• Then click the right mouse button on an image selected. In the menu that appears, choose Create a panoramic picture.
  
  
• Name the view and click the OK button.
  
  
• Your panorama is created!

Send picture by email:

The photo gallery allows you to easily send photos to friends by email. The tool automatically resizes images to make them lighter and faster to send / receive.

• Select the photos to email.
  
  
• Click the Send button.
  
  
• Scroll size photo and select the picture size to be sent. A size of 1024x768 is perfect for a display screen.
  
  
• Click the Attach button.
  
  
• Your email software will open a blank message with attachments in your pictures resized.
  
  
• Fill in the email with the address of the recipient, a subject and message. Finally, click on the Send button to send email and photos.

Printing Photos:

Photo Gallery you can easily print your photos and choose their organization on paper.

• Select photos to print.
  
  
• Click the Print button and then click Print.
  
  
• In the right list, select the distribution of your photos.
  
  
• Select your printer and click Print.