Microsoft Picture It! Photo Premium

Microsoft Picture It! is a very good option for fixing common mistakes in photos and for sharing them. It is basically a scaled-down version of Microsoft’s Digital Image Suite. The only differences are that Picture It! does not come with the Digital Library that allows you to organize and search for photos. It also lacks the ability to archive photos to a CD and lacks most of the effects that come with the Suite. It comes with only 2500 instead of 5000 templates. There are some advanced editing features it lacks as well compared to its big brother Digital Image Suite such as “face touchup”. Overall, it is very easy to use with a lot of hand-holding. It comes with several templates for you to use and has all of the basic features for editing common photo mistakes.  However, it lacks some key features that may limit your creativity.

You’ve got the camera; now enjoy a better digital imaging experience. Microsoft Picture It! Premium 10 makes digital photography fun and effortless by giving you advanced tools to enhance, organise and share your photos. From fixing red eye, to quickly organising your shots for better viewing and sharing, we’ve made it easier to get more from digital photography.

Features Include: * New! Accomplish more - Picture It! Library gives you easy access to shots you’ve collected, so you can view, arrange and edit them more quickly.
* New! Get organised - With more ways to catalogue your photos (choose by date, size, favourites, 5-star ratings, and more), you can store and retrieve your photos faster than ever before.
* Make instant improvements - Do away with nagging problems like red eye with simple fixes, or use the New! one-click Auto Fixes to help you adjust Colour, Exposure and more—even make adjustments to Camera Phone pictures!
* Multitask - The improved Mini Lab lets you edit multiple photos simultaneously, so you can quickly get on to other tasks.
* Make precise edits - Selection tools give you greater control as you choose just the features you want cut, moved, or enhanced in your photos. Create the images you desire!
* Create sharper prints - Share photos you are truly proud of with print guides and templates that ensure your photos come out right every time.
* Be Creative - With over 1,500 high-quality templates and 2,400 existing images, you can pour your creativity into cards, calendars, collages and more; it’s a great way to share your favourite pictures with people you care about.
* Save time loading your pictures - Picture It! Premium’s import file wizard helps you quickly and easily access your photos from digital cameras, hard drives and removable media.

The opening screen is broken down into 5 major functions: Open, Open from Camera, Scan a Picture, Edit Multiple Pictures, and Create a Project. There are also links to view a tour, get additional help, or view online tips. It's a great way to start. When you open a photo for editing, the layout is well designed and intuitive. There is a column on the left that displays shortcuts to common tasks such as Touchup, Format, Effects, etc. Most of the functions are broken down into simple steps. Some of this hand-holding can become annoying as you get better at using the program. I found it cumbersome to simply zoom in on an area that I wanted to edit.
 

Picture It! has most of the features to fix common photo mistakes. You can adjust the brightness and contrast, color, fix red eye, sharpen or blur, fix blemishes or scratches, crop, or straighten. There is no auto-color fix as in Photoshop Elements 3. This would have been a good feature to have because so many photos taken with digital cameras are negatively affected by artificial lighting. The fix red eye tool is simple but not very customizable.

The layer feature is primitive compared to several other programs we reviewed. There are virtually no layer options. It functions just like separate images that you can stack on top of each other. You can apply a transparency filter to an image in the stack but once you change it you can’t go back after you close the program or exhaust your undo capabilities. You also can’t hide the layers as you work. This isn’t necessary but it could be problematic if you want to adjust something on an image at the bottom of the stack.

The text tool is much better than average. You can type right on the image instead of it opening up a separate text entry tool. You can also edit it at anytime because it puts the text in a separate layer. You can also insert text that appears in pre-determined shapes you can choose from. For instance, text that has 3D warp effects or text that follows a circular pattern.