Picture It! 7.0

Picture It! also makes it easy to cut out a section of a picture to use in another photo. You can also add text, format it as you would with a word processor, and then apply textures, rotate it, increase the size, and so on. As you add new elements to a photo, the program displays each one in a stack at the right of the screen. Because each item in the stack occupies its own layer, it can be moved in front of or behind other layers to create interesting effects.

Budding artists will appreciate the simple drawing features that allow users to embellish photos, while those with no artistic talent get a wide range of predrawn shapes and colourful photo-quality stamps that can be pressed into service.

There are some clever batch processing features where you can, for example, rename an entire folder of photos with a single title and have Picture It! automatically add an identifying number after each one. Similarly, the Mini Lab lets you adjust the balance, colour, contrast, tint, and size of a number of photos at the same time.

Picture It! Photo Standard conceals considerable functionality beneath its friendly face and is a good choice for home use. --Rob Beattie

Amazon.com Product Description
Picture It! Photo 7.0 guides you through the process of photo capturing, correcting, and creating from start to finish. Built-in wizards and how-to videos make it easy to get started quickly, while automated photo editing tools help make photos look their best. Show off photo projects through e-mail, the Web, and in prints.

With Picture It! Photo 7.0, you can use photos from just about anywhere--digital cameras, picture CDs, scanners, hard drives, the Web, or MSN Photos. Helpful wizards and guided templates makes using Picture It! Photo a snap. Multiple undo and redo options provide the flexibility to try multiple edits and effects. This version also includes all of the basic touchup tools you need to make every photo look its best. Automatically repair your photos to eliminate scratches and dust. Smart correction tools automate difficult editing tasks such as red-eye brightness, contrast, and tint correction, making it easy to obtain professional-looking results.

Store favorite memories on MSN Photos, powered by Microsoft Picture It! Share your photos with family and friends through online albums, prints, gifts, cards, and more. Picture It! Photo also includes 500 pre-created templates for photo cards, frames, calendars, and more.

There are few, if any, bells and whistles on it. For somebody who is just starting photo editing, that could be a plus: You have basic cropping and red eye reduction features.

The low points are that the selections of what you can do with the photos is severely limited: you can change a color photo into black and white or give it an antique look. This is nothing special as most digital cameras (see Hewlett Packard) come with software you can load that perform this trick. The antique look isn't sepia, just a washed out affair that makes you wonder why they even bothered giving it to you.

Picture It! came with my version of PUBLISHER, which happens to be an excellent program. So, if you got it as an add-on, explore it and learn the basics before you move onto a more sophisticated program. If your digital camera came with software for photo editing and printing, you'd probably be better off using that. This isn't a bad program - just one that does little but waste disk space.


Frustrating   February 24, 2003
"Miss Music Teacher" (New Bern, NC United States)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful

My new computer came with Picture It! I was used to using Addobe PhotoDeluxe, but you can't get it anymore. So, I decided to give Picture It! a try. Right from the beginning I was frustrated. The tools and commands are easy to use, but I had trouble saving my work. I tried over and over again to save and my system kept freezing. I lost 3 hours of work on the first night. Then I tried reinstalling the program. That helped, but I still kept getting "runtime error, abnormal program termination." I lost more work. I have also not been able to perform touchups with the "freehand painting" the way I want. For some reason, despite everything I try, I cannot get ANY tool or ANY custom painting options to give me a sharp, crisp line. All my painting looks blurry and airbrushed. I have tried my computer manufacturers support but they could not help. I am now trying Microsoft's help, but after several days of correspondence, they have not been able to help either. I've decided to dump Picture It! and see if I can get an old copy of Adobe PhotoDeluxe from ebay.


Good program easy to use   January 26, 2003
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

Very good application, easy to learn if you take the time to try and with a little practice and a digital camera you will never again pay anyone to develop or print your photos. All the features are straight forward and easily understood. It has every editing feature the average user will ever use.