Fun with Picasa’s Photo Effects

When I saw this picture of my friend Sue, with a bright green Praying Mantis on her finger, I just had to get a copy and play with it using Picasa’s editing tools. Thanks Sue!

Notice how most of the picture is Black and White while the bug is bright green. Also notice how most of the picture is out of focus and the bug is quite sharp.

Here are the four simple Picasa tools I used to accomplish it:

This is the original picture.
Step One: Apply the Soft Focus effect from the 3d tab. Move the center of focus (crosshairs) to the bug.
Step two: Apply the Focal B&W effect (Also on the 3d tab) and also move the crosshairs to the little green guy.
Step Three: Click Sharpen (also on 3d Tab) and move slider to about the center to make the bug really sharp.
Step Four: Click the Boost tool (on the 5th tab) to brighten the green color. Drag the slider to about the 1/4 mark to back off the effect a bit.

To learn more about Picasa’s Effects, join Geeks on Tour and watch these videos:

• pics15.How Picasa Handles Edits #45
• pics24.Picasa’s 12 Effects #121
• pics24a.More Effects 13-18 #253
• pics24b.More Effects 19-24 #254
• pics24c.More Effects #25-30
• pics24d.More Effects 31-36
• pics53.Picasa 3.9 and Side by Side Editing

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