Picasa Tip: Out of Focus? I meant that!
I took a photo this weekend that I really liked. My Mom came with us on a short RV trip and she was enjoying our cozy cab-over bunk and the view out the front window. It was kind of dark and I didn’t want to use a flash, so I hand held a timed exposure to get the shot. Not surprisingly, it came out a little blurry.
I almost deleted it, then I decided to embrace the out-of-focus quality of the picture instead! I used the Soft-Focus effect to make the edges even more out of focus. Then I used the ‘Glow’ effect to lighten it up a bit and give it even more of a dreamy look.
When you click on Soft-Focus, you will see your photo get out of focus, all except for a circular area in the middle, around the crosshairs.
You will also see options for size and amount. Size refers to the size of the circular area to keep in focus. Amount refers to just how out-of-focus you want the rest to be. Just drag them one way or the other and watch your picture. You can also drag the crosshairs around in the picture itself to move the focused part around. When you like the look, click Apply.
For my picture I also clicked on the Glow option which softly brightens up all edges, making it look somewhat dreamy. You also have some sliders to adjust the amount of glow. Click Apply for this effect to take place as well.
Here’s my finished photo:
You may have pictures where these effects create a more dramatic result, but for me, this just makes it look like I intended it to be out of focus!
Geeks on Tour Members can view a video that explains all 12 of Picasa’s special Effects.
Related posts:
4 Comments to Picasa Tip: Out of Focus? I meant that!
Leave a Reply
Subscribe to Weekly Picasa Tip
Search
Categories
- ▼Edit/Improve Photos (17)
- Better Pictures 10/14
- Dark Photo? Use Fill Light 09/09
- Do you take crooked photos? 11/24
- Picasa Tip: 4 Clicks to Dramatically Improve your Photos 06/10
- Picasa Tip: Blue Skies 05/06
- Picasa Tip: Cut thru the Haze 08/20
- Picasa Tip: Flipping Photos 03/19
- Picasa Tip: I'm Feeling Lucky 04/07
- Picasa Tip: Make a Banner Collage 12/23
- Picasa Tip: Out of Focus? I meant that! 01/13
- Picasa Tip: Outdoor-Indoor Collage 03/24
- Picasa Tip: Picture Information 09/02
- Picasa Tip: To Save or Not to Save 02/11
- Picasa Tip: Using the text tool 04/22
- Picasa Tip: What happened to Sharpen? 05/28
- Resizing Photo Files 07/22
- Webinar for Beginners to Picasa 11/29
- Getting Started (13)
- Organizing (31)
- ▼Photo (4)
- ▼Picasa (75)
- Backup and Tree View 03/03
- Backup! Backup! Backup! 09/15
- Better Pictures 10/14
- Capture One Shot from a Video 01/30
- Combining Stars and Tags 09/22
- Congratulations on your eBook Purchase! 11/19
- Cover Slides and Collages 12/10
- Dark Photo? Use Fill Light 09/09
- Do you take crooked photos? 11/24
- Don't Delete your Original Photos 05/17
- Don't Delete your Original Photos 05/17
- Emailing Photos with Picasa 05/02
- Five Deadly Sins of Picasa 01/07
- Framing a Picture 12/29
- Importing and Folders 02/02
- Managing Digital Photos with Google's Picasa 01/15
- Moving Folders with Picasa 10/28
- People Albums – View Whole Picture 02/08
- Picasa 3 and Video Files 12/04
- Picasa 3.5 Import Screen 10/06
- Picasa 3.5 released 09/23
- Picasa 3.5: How to Turn Off Face Recognition 09/29
- Picasa Book updated to Version 3.5 11/19
- Picasa Tip: “Cancel unfinished operations?” 04/14
- Picasa Tip: 4 Clicks to Dramatically Improve your Photos 06/10
- Picasa Tip: A Picasa Plug-In for Live-Writer 07/14
- Picasa Tip: Add a Watermark to your photos 11/11
- Picasa Tip: Automatic Updates 11/19
- Picasa Tip: Blue Skies 05/06
- Picasa Tip: Cut thru the Haze 08/20
- Picasa Tip: Different ways to Save 08/04
- Picasa Tip: Download photos from a Web Album 06/24
- Picasa Tip: Fill-in Preprinted Forms 03/10
- Picasa Tip: Finding Duplicate Pictures 01/13
- Picasa Tip: Flipping Photos 03/19
- Picasa Tip: Folders and Subfolders 06/03
- Picasa Tip: How folders get Dated 03/04
- Picasa Tip: I'm Feeling Lucky 04/07
- Picasa Tip: Import from Camera 02/17
- Picasa Tip: Keeping Pictures in Order 05/13
- Picasa Tip: Make a Banner Collage 12/23
- Picasa Tip: Make a Movie 07/29
- Picasa Tip: Make your own Photo Holiday Cards 11/04
- Picasa Tip: Moving folders to a USB Hard Drive 11/25
- Picasa Tip: Nested Folders 12/02
- Picasa Tip: Out of Focus? I meant that! 01/13
- Picasa Tip: Outdoor-Indoor Collage 03/24
- Picasa Tip: Photos as Wallpaper 02/03
- Picasa Tip: Picasa to Facebook 06/19
- Picasa Tip: Picasa Web Albums 02/24
- Picasa Tip: Picture Information 09/02
- Picasa Tip: Printing options, White Borders 08/12
- Picasa Tip: Save Edits and Resize with Export 10/28
- Picasa Tip: Scanning Old Photos 01/06
- Picasa Tip: Screen Captures 04/01
- Picasa Tip: Search by Color 07/08
- Picasa Tip: Synchronized Web Albums 04/28
- Picasa Tip: To Save or Not to Save 02/11
- Picasa Tip: Use Albums 12/30
- Picasa Tip: Use Captions 01/27
- Picasa Tip: Using the text tool 04/22
- Picasa Tip: Web Albums default settings 12/16
- Picasa Tip: What happened to Sharpen? 05/28
- Picasa Tip: When your pictures get "All Messed UP" 01/20
- Picasa tip: Your photos as Screensaver 12/09
- Picasa Tip:Making a Panorama 05/20
- Professional Prints 10/14
- Resizing Photo Files 07/22
- Sharpening Photos with Picasa 07/23
- Storing Pictures on an External Hard Drive 06/30
- Taking Video with your Laptop’s Camera 01/22
- Upgrading to Picasa 3.6 12/11
- Using Albums and Temporary Albums 02/18
- Webinar for Beginners to Picasa 11/29
- You have a Digital Camera ... Now What? 10/25
- picasa web albums (7)
- Sharing Photos (11)
- Show-Me Video (4)
- Special Features (6)
- Videos (12)
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
- Chris Guld on Picasa 3.5: How to Turn Off Face Recognition
- Nicky on Picasa 3.5: How to Turn Off Face Recognition
- Mile on Picasa 3.5: How to Turn Off Face Recognition
- Chris Guld on Backup! Backup! Backup!
- Anna on Backup! Backup! Backup!
Thanks, great tip.
I use Picasa on all my pictures and getting better after reading your tips.
Regards
Danny
I learn from all your tips. I have a complication which I am reluctant to fix on my own. Recently my photos have started appearing out of order often from other folders, with different pix showing when I select them. Picasa’s Troubleshooting questions suggest that the Data Base needs repairing. The “fix” instructions include a preliminary Back Up process which for me is rather complicated. Since I have thousands of edited pix in many folders, and don’t want to loose them, I need some advice. Perhaps you could address this.
Thanks,
Judy
I attended your sessions in Wilmar, Mn. Loved every minute. Had Picasa downloaded, had never used it.
Question: Are ALL those pictures – repeated as they seem to be – on my computer all those times as they seem to somehow get into different folders and files I didnt think I put them in?
Does that ‘clog up’ the performance of my computer?
I thought Picasa was easy to use, my new PC has a picture thing of its own, so does my new printer – now what?
Keep this info coming, love it.
Marian
Judy, Hopefully you read my next article on ‘When your pictures get all messed up’
Marian, I have no way of knowing whether your pictures are truly repeated without looking at your computer. If you see two photos exactly alike in your folders (the yellow folder icons) then, odds are they are duplicates, and you should delete one. If you see duplicates in your ‘Albums’ – the blue book icons) they are not duplicates.
The way to know for sure is to see where exactly they are on your disk. Just right-click and choose ‘locate on disk’.
See this Geeks on Tour Newsletter for an article on preventing duplicates:
http://www.geeksontour.com/newsletters/200805/geeknews-20080521.htm