A large part of the April issue of  Smart Computing magazine is devoted to digital imaging. It contains a series of  interesting articles, the first of which is entitled "Buying Digital Cameras", the next "Using Digital Cameras", then comes "Electronic Memories", followed by "Editing Your Photos", "Printing Great Photos" and finally "A Developing Trend". It isn't my purpose here to review all those articles but I would like to share with you some of the information I found most interesting to me. As most of us have, through the years I have accumulated many snapshots, some in albums but most of them loose in cardboard boxes. Those snapshots can now be transferred to a PC by a scanner. The article on "Editing Your Photos" outlines the ways in which those photos can be altered and improved. The images can be cropped, rotated and resized. They can be sharpened, the color, brightness and contrast can be improved. They can be retouched: dust  and scratches and "red eye" effect removed and they can be saved. Beyond improving the appearance of an image however photoediting programs provide the ability to add text to photos, change the texture of an image, add backgrounds, borders and edges, in other words, completely alter the content of a photo. The easiest photo-editing programs let users make quick fixes to images with just one click. Other programs present side by side comparisons of an original image and the new-and improved image to give users the option of approving the changes or reverting to the original.
   Several photoediting programs are reviewed by the authors. Adobe Photoshop is considered the ultimate photo-editing system. It is used primarily by professionals and advanced users. Novices would find it difficult to use however and they would also find that it has many features which they would never use. The more than $600 price tag would certainly scare me away. They mention other programs in the under $100 price range: Adobe PhotoDeluxe, Paint Shop Pro, PhotoGenetics, and Microsoft Picture It! Not mentioned in the article is a program which I use: Print Shop 10. I use that and Microsoft Picture It. PhotoGenetics is mentioned as being especially easy for users with almost no digital imaging experience.
   The article entitled "A Developing Trend" deals with how pictures are stored. The old fashioned way of course was in photo albums or shoe boxes. Then using digital cameras or scanners it became possible to store pictures on a hard drive or at one's personal web site. Hard drives however have the bad habit of running out of room and creating a web site is not something a computer user of my ability feels comfortable with and maintaining that site adds one more chore added our list of things to do. The alternative could be photo-sharing services available on the web. These services allow the user to upload photos as e-mail attachments where they can be sorted to albums of your own creation. Your site is password protected so that only your friends and family can access your pictures. The price of these services is also attractive: they are free. GatherRound at www.gatherround.com has a 50MB storage space limit which should house 30 to 300 pictures depending on their resolution. Your pictures will be kept online if your account is accessed at least once every 120 days. Zing at www.zing.com, Shutterfly at www.shutterfly.com, Kodak PhotoNet Online at www.photonet.com, Photo Works at www.seattlefilmworks.com are other sites mentioned and they each have their own advantages and disadvantages.
   As mentioned earlier, this information came to me by way of Smart Computing magazine. It is published monthly and it has been very useful to me. I have been receiving for several years now and the information it has provided me has more than saved me  the cost of my subscription. I'm sure there are many other useful publications on the market and many of you probably have your own favorites. If you'd like to evaluate Smart Computing yourself, and see for yourself what the magazine has to offer,  they're at www.smartcomputing.com.
   To those of you who are interested in digital imaging, please be aware that on the second Thursday of each month there is a SIG meeting which will cover digital cameras and scanners. The meeting is at the library in the Terrace Room from 6:00 to 8:00 and is open to members and as room will allow to visitors. We plan to have hand-outs on this subject available at the next meeting.