Is Picasa Still a Good Choice for Beginner?

[jdag]

My niece is interested in photography and going to be taking a class shortly. The class focuses on the art and camera, but not the management and post-processing components.

I use Aperture, and will soon move to Lightroom. But my niece has a Windows PC, so cannot use Aperture or Photos. And Lightroom is likely overkill to start (not to mention she'd have to purchase or join Adobe CC).

Is Picasa still a reasonable choice? With Google's recent announcement of their Photos platform, are they maintaining Picasa or is it a dead end? Any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance, John

 

[SnappingShark]

I don't think lightroom is overkill - it's extremely simple and she could just use presets if she wanted

I'm not a fan of Picasa, but YMMV

 

[jdag]

Thanks for the quick response. She is very bright, and I am sure could pick up Lightroom. Honestly, it is a matter of me buying it for her (I bought her the D3200 to start, so already pushing this gift!).

That being said, if LR is the best bet, I can likely get a copy of LR5 for $50ish, so it is not out of line.

 

[The_Traveler]

Or actually join the Adobe PS/LR subscription plan for $10/month and give it up when she is finished the class.

 

[jdag]

I would not want to give it up...the plan is to use the software into the future.

 

[The_Traveler]

Picasa is really a low end solution.

 

[jdag]

Picasa is really a low end solution.

Thanks...I will eval the other feedback as well...looks like I might just try to get a copy of LR then.

 

[MOREGONE]

Thanks for the quick response. She is very bright, and I am sure could pick up Lightroom. Honestly, it is a matter of me buying it for her (I bought her the D3200 to start, so already pushing this gift!).

That being said, if LR is the best bet, I can likely get a copy of LR5 for $50ish, so it is not out of line.

You're one heck of an Uncle!

I still routinely suggest Picasa to my picture taking friends (not photographers necessarily) Sounds like she is just starting her road down photography so it certainly would be an adequate place to start. Get familiar with photo management in general and basic editing plus filters.

 

[jdag]

Thanks for the quick response. She is very bright, and I am sure could pick up Lightroom. Honestly, it is a matter of me buying it for her (I bought her the D3200 to start, so already pushing this gift!).

That being said, if LR is the best bet, I can likely get a copy of LR5 for $50ish, so it is not out of line.

You're one heck of an Uncle!

I still routinely suggest Picasa to my picture taking friends (not photographers necessarily) Sounds like she is just starting her road down photography so it certainly would be an adequate place to start. Get familiar with photo management in general and basic editing plus filters.

Thanks for the compliment. My nieces/nephews know how to play me up, that's for sure! What the heck...I can't take it with me when I am gone (not that I plan to leave anytime soon).

 

[DarkShadow]

Picas is simplified to be user friendly and to start off with maybe but for any decent or serious editing then No.Forget any kind of noise reduction or recovery options.Gimp would probably be a better alternative.

 

[AceCo55]

Thanks for the quick response. She is very bright, and I am sure could pick up Lightroom. Honestly, it is a matter of me buying it for her (I bought her the D3200 to start, so already pushing this gift!).

That being said, if LR is the best bet, I can likely get a copy of LR5 for $50ish, so it is not out of line.

You're one heck of an Uncle!

I still routinely suggest Picasa to my picture taking friends (not photographers necessarily) Sounds like she is just starting her road down photography so it certainly would be an adequate place to start. Get familiar with photo management in general and basic editing plus filters.

Thanks for the compliment. My nieces/nephews know how to play me up, that's for sure! What the heck...I can't take it with me when I am gone (not that I plan to leave anytime soon).

Hey Uncle jdag, long time no see since I had to move to Australia. I still remember how funny and generous you are. My favourite uncle for sure - probably even ahead of my parents (for naming me AceCo55 - I still haven't forgiven them for that!). I spent so many wonderful afternoons listening to your stories - you are such an interesting man!

I was thinking about getting into wildlife photography. I've been doing a bit a research and it seems like the Nikon 600mm f4 lens is a good way to start for a beginner like me. It has been my dream for over a week now - I just have this urge to learn about taking animal pictures. Australia has lots of great animals but people say I should not get too close as they are all lethal. That's why they suggested a Nikon 600mm f4 lens to start with - much safer.

Mum and Dad are no help - both of them can't work. Mum got attacked by a kangaroo and she is still recovering. Dad is in the hospital bed next to her after being bitten by a funnel web spider. So I'm on my own.

If you can see you way to buy me that 600mm f4 lens, it would make such a difference to me learning about wildlife photography (in a safe way) - oh the people here say that a Nikon D4s is the only camera that it can attach to. So if you can see your way to buy that for me as well, it would be "bonzer" (that means swell in Australian). Remember, you can't take it with you ... and I'll tell all my friends that you are still my most favourite Uncle.

Lots of love and hope from your nephew, AceCo55

 

[jdag]

AceCo55...I would normally gladly fulfill your wishes, but with the news of your parents' health, I feel I need to focus all financial support toward their recovery efforts. Maybe next birthday.

 

[AceCo55]

Always the most thoughtful in the family!
You're still my favourite!!!

 

[soufiej]

My niece is interested in photography and going to be taking a class shortly. The class focuses on the art and camera, but not the management and post-processing components.

I use Aperture, and will soon move to Lightroom. But my niece has a Windows PC, so cannot use Aperture or Photos. And Lightroom is likely overkill to start (not to mention she'd have to purchase or join Adobe CC).

Is Picasa still a reasonable choice? With Google's recent announcement of their Photos platform, are they maintaining Picasa or is it a dead end? Any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance, John

How old is your niece? I suppose this could have something to do with the software she might prefer. And, naturally, whether the course instructor has any preferences. Are you even certain she will be using a digital camera? I know of several photography instructors who insist their students shoot film so after the fact processing is not a factor in what the students show as their actual work.

IMO Picasa is a fine, basic, semi-automatic editor best used for simple, basic, semi-automatic functions. I use Picasa for quick touch ups and photos that don't require or benefit from extensive editing. I shoot almost exclusively in RAW capture which always gives me an original to return to later. I am, though, an older photographer who learned to get the image pretty much as I want it before I release the shutter. Many up and coming shooters tend to see their computer as the final say in what an image should be. I rather detest sitting at the computer making corrections and "creating" a shot that wasn't in my viewfinder.

Possibly, because I don't "fully appreciate" the editing process, I will say there are times I can do almost anything I feel necessary to a good shot with Picasa's rather limited set of options. Crop, touch up contrast and sharpen and I'm basically done when I use Picasa.

I also don't print anything beyond 5X7 without more extensive editing. Could be that, should I want a 20x30 print, I wouldn't think Picasa was worth the minimal amount of time required. I don't so I don't even think about that really.

In the case of a student photographer I'd say Picasa is analogous to moving the camera to "P". The software still does the bulk of the work yet still leaves enough of the photographer's thinking in the final product to be satisfactory. As skills increase, move the settings one more time.

Besides, Picasa is free - if you don't count giving all of your information to Google. (They already have it anyway.) You're certainly not tied to Picasa forever. You save the Picasa edit and you still have the original to work on later. Like looking at your photography skills improving over time, so too Picasa can be your baseline for editing. Come back in six months and a year's time and determine whether you're actually making any progress or just spinning your wheels taking photos of rocks.

There are several good freeware editors to select from. A word of caution though; I tried a recommended download and what came with it was a virus which crashed my Windows based laptop. That might be one advantage to Picasa, you can go right to the source without problems for the download.

 

[jdag]

Good feedback everyone...thanks!

I also had a thought last night. I have a copy of LR5 that I own (bought a few months ago with the intention of moving from Aperture). I can install that on her computer, and just go to Adobe CC for myself.

Anyhow, I think I have it narrowed to Picasa or LR, and she is agile enough with software to learn either. But I will look into the others listed above.

It is a good point about the potential film camera need for the class, but either way she wanted a digital for long term.