Pictures tell a lot about people. They tell stories about certain events, places, and people. Pictures help keep lasting memories. But with today’s digital age, printing pictures has already become faux pas. What people usually prefer doing today is uploading pictures to a picture-sharing website like Flickr or in social networking sites to easily share with friends those memories like Facebook. Uploading in such websites has enabled anyone to easily store pictures, keep them forever, and share them with people. Another good website you can check out is Picasa Web Albums. The great thing about this is that it is Flickr and Facebook combined. You get to share your pictures and connect with your friends at the same time.
Features of Picasa Web Albums
Aside from enabling you to share, upload, and connect with friends, this Google application offers users even more features other photo-sharing. Here are some of the newest features you can enjoy using from Picasa:
· Add captions : this feature allows you to caption your photos. You can place certain memorable quotes or lines you remember from the picture or simply
describe it.
Labeling and tags : this feature allows you to easily organize your photos into certain categories. This makes finding certain pictures easier.
Photo Mapping : you can easily map your photos and locate where the pictures were exactly taken. This makes it easy for other people to know the exact
location of the photos in case they want to visit it themselves as well.
Photo Embedding : this feature allows users to easily insert slideshows, an album, or an image to their blogs or other websites by simply copying and pasting an
HTML code. This makes uploading easier because you only have to upload everything in one website and you can use it on multiple
websites.
Sync Changes : when you make changes to a photo/s in Picasa, you can also immediately make changes to the same photos in your Picasa Web Albums by
synchronizing the two applications. This will make things easier if the pictures are already uploaded in the album and you find that you still
need to make a few changes. This eliminates re-uploading which can definitely take a lot of time.
Creative Commons: this is a helpful feature if you want to prevent other people from stealing or using your pictures without your consent. This is a licensing feature
that allows you to protect your pictures and keep them private.
Automatic Upload : all pictures you upload to other Google enabled applications like Blogger, Latitude and Orkut will be automatically uploaded to your Picasa
account as well. This makes uploading pictures easier because you only need to upload once and all your accounts will automatically store
those pictures.
Explore Page : if you are curious to see what other people from all over the world are uploading, you can easily view them in Explore Page. This allows users
from all over the world view public photos uploaded by various people in different parts of the world. There are also featured photos you can
find here handpicked by the Picasa team. You can also view the Recent Photos to see a stream of photos that are recently uploaded.
Google Storage : Picasa already offers a lot of storage amount to users. But if you still find it lacking, you can always purchase more web space for a larger
memory to store all your pictures.
Benefits of Using Picasa Web Albums
With the many features offered by this Google-enabled web album, it is no wonder why many people are opting to use this already. This allows sharing, connecting, and uploading pictures easier. But aside from having numerous features, Picasa also offers a multitude of benefits to users including:
· Easily Available : Picasa Web Albums is free to use which makes it easily available. Anyone can use it as long as you are registered on Google. Just visit
the website, sign up, and you can already start using it for free!
· Integrated Accounts : one of the benefits of using Picasa as opposed to other photo-sharing websites is the fact that you only one account for all your Google
accounts. If you have a Gmail account, you can already use that to login to your Picasa account. Everything is integrated and all you really
need is one account to access all of your other Google accounts.
OS Independent : no matter what operating system your computer runs on, you will still be able to use this Google-enabled album. Whether you have a Linux,
Mac, or Windows operated computer, you can still access Picasa and upload and share pictures there.
Photo Editing : the website is also packed with various photo editing features users can enjoy. You can edit pictures to make them brighter and more
dramatic. You can even add filters and other effects to give more depth to your pictures. No need for you to use various software
programs and different websites just to achieve the effects that you need and to also share your pictures with everyone because Picasa
allows you to already do all that.
Room for Creativity : this web album allows users to freely express their creativity not just in editing and putting effects in their pictures but also in creating them.
You can create collages, posters, and even album covers using the pictures you have uploaded and the creative features the web album
has to offer. This makes using Picasa more fun and enjoyable as users get to explore all the creative possibilities this web album can
offer.
While it is true that there are so many photo-sharing websites already available out there, it is very important to consider the features and benefits people can get from using one. This is probably why Picasa Web Albums has become one of the most used photo-sharing websites. It offers numerous handy features that makes using Picasa more convenient and provides users a lot of advantages that other photo-sharing websites do not offer.