Windows XP [Electronic resources] : Visual Quickstart Guide, Second Edition

Chris Fehily

نسخه متنی -صفحه : 247/ 128
نمايش فراداده

Viewing and Managing Photos

Windows XP's official storage locations for photos are the My Pictures folder and any subfolders that you create for it. You can store your pictures elsewhere, but My Pictures is easy to open from the Start menu and Explorer's task pane. It's also where most programs and wizards assume that you'll save and open image files.

My Pictures offers many options for viewing and managing digital pictures. From within this folder, you can view photos at different sizes, view a slide show, rotate photos, print them, email them, or publish them on the web. Don't miss the list of special tasks in the task pane on the left side of the window (Figure 9.10 ).

Figure 9.10. The Picture Tasks links give you quick access to common image tasks. You also can right-click an image icon (or group of icons) to see specialized photo tasks, as well as the usual file tasks (Copy, Rename, Properties, Delete, and so on).

To view photos as a filmstrip:

1. Choose Start > My Pictures.

2. Double-click subfolder (if any) containing your photos.

3. Choose View > Filmstrip (Figure 9.11 ).

Figure 9.11. The enlarged image shows the selected photo. To select another one, click the left or right arrow below the large image; click one of the smaller images in the bottom row; or press the left- or right-arrow key.

[View full size image]

Tips

If My Pictures doesn't appear in your Start menu, right-click the Start button; choose Properties > Customize > Advanced tab; then choose Display As Link (below My Pictures) in the Start Menu Items list.

In step 3, choose View > Thumbnails to see the images presented as miniatures arranged in rows and columns (Figure 9.12 ).

Figure 9.12. You can drag and drop photos to rearrange their order in Thumbnails view. If you're viewing 50 photos, for example, you can drag your favoritesone by one or in groupsto the top of the folder. When you reopen that folder, you still see all 50 photos, but the first few are your favorites.

Setting a Screen Saver" in Chapter 4.

Edit photos in Paint or an alternative image-editing program; see "Using the Free Utility Programs" in Chapter 6.

For more information about viewing images in Explorer, see "Viewing Files and Folders in Different Ways" and "Customizing a Folder" in Chapter 5.

To start a slide show:

1. In the task pane on the left, in the Picture Tasks section, click View As a Slide Show (refer to Figure 9.10).

Your screen fills with a self-advancing slide show of every picture in the folder.

2. View the slide show, using the appropriate controls.

As the slide show begins, an onscreen toolbar offers controls to start, pause, advance, reverse, or stop the show. You also can use the left- and right-arrow keys to move backward and forward, or click the photo itself to advance. To stop the show, click Exit on the toolbar or press Esc.

To rotate a photo:

In Filmstrip or Thumbnails view, right-click the photo that you want to rotate; then choose Rotate Clockwise or Rotate Counterclockwise.

or

Double-click the photo to open it in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer; then click the Rotate Clockwise or Rotate Counterclockwise button at the bottom of the window (Figure 9.13 ).

Figure 9.13. If your photo is sideways (because you held the camera sideways when you took it), you can rotate it in 90-degree increments.

Tip

Sometimes Windows warns that rotating a photo may reduce its image quality. The change usually is imperceptible, but if you're worried, make a copy of the image before rotation.

To zoom in or zoom out on a photo:

In My Pictures, double-click the photo to open it in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer; then click the Zoom In or Zoom Out button at the bottom of the window as many times as you need to.

Tips

When you click Zoom In, the pointer becomes a magnifying glass. Wherever you place the pointer before you click becomes the new center of the displayed image when you click. This method is handy for examining details before you edit an image.

Microsoft's Photo Story is a free program that lets you create "video" stories by adding music, narration, pans, zooms, and other effects to your photos. Download it at www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/photostory/.

Windows Picture and Fax Viewer

Windows Picture and Fax Viewer (refer to Associating Documents with Programs" in Chapter 6).

At the bottom of the Viewer window are buttons for advancing, reversing, rotating, zooming, printing, and deleting images, among other things. To learn what a button does, hover the pointer over it for a pop-up tip. When you view a TIFF file, the toolbar sprouts extra buttons for navigation, drawing, and annotation.

Windows Picture and Fax Viewer is quick and convenient but too lightweight for serious use. If you manage a lot of photos, look into Picasa (free;