User manual MICROSOFT PICTURE IT! PREMIUM

User's Manual M Microsoft ® Picture It! Premium ® User's Manual Information in this document, including URL and other Internet Web site references, is subject to change without notice. Unless otherwise noted, the example companies, organizations, products, domain names, e-mail addresses, logos, people, places, and events depicted herein are fictitious, and no association with any real company, organization, product, domain name, e-mail address, logo, person, place, or event is intended or should be inferred. Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Without limiting the rights under copyright, no part of this document may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or for any purpose, without the express written permission of Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document. Except as expressly provided in any written license agreement from Microsoft, the furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property. © 2000-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Picture It!, and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. This product contains images from PhotoDisc/Getty Images, Inc.; Dave Johnson, Tony Chor; Tim Hedlund; Charlotte Lowrie; David Parlin; Tom Simmons; and Faith Szafranski. This software is based in part on the work of the independent JPEG Group. GIF decompression code, copyright 1990, David Koblas. Portions of graphic filter software used with the permission of Eastman Kodak Company. Copyright © 1996 Eastman Kodak Company. ImageStream Graphics & Presentation Filters Copyright © 1991-1996 ImageMark Software Labs, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Graphic filters licensed from Access Softek, Inc. Copyright © 1996 Access Softek, Inc. This product contains Macromedia FlashTM Player software by Macromedia, Inc., Copyright © 1996-2002 Macromedia, Inc. All rights reserved. Macromedia, Flash, and the Flash Player logo are trademarks of Macromedia, Inc. Portions of this product were created using LEADTOOLS Copyright © 1991-2002, LEAD Technologies, Inc. © 2000 Gina B. Designs, Inc., © Adjoa J. Burrowes/EthnoGraphics, © Alice Briggs Illustration, © Allport Editions, © Amberley Greeting Card Company, © Antoinette Simmons Hodges/EthnoGraphics, © Athena Hampton/EthnoGraphics, © Betty Biggs/EthnoGraphics, © Bonnie Zuponcic, © Carla Golembe/EthnoGraphics, © Cathy L. Schubert/EthnoGraphics, © Colors By Design, © Emma Raley, © Fish & Webster, © Fravessi Greetings, Inc., © Gary Craig, © Georgia Rettmer and Kimberly Rinehart, © Great Arrow Graphics, © Jay P. Morgan, © Jeanine M. Frazier/EthnoGraphics, © Jesus & Margaret Flores/EthnoGraphics, © Jim Z. Zhang/EthnoGraphics, © Joann Pecoraro/EthnoGraphics, © Joseph Polevoi/EthnoGraphics, © Karen Gutowsky, © Kay Erickson/EthnoGraphics, © Keith Henry Brown/EthnoGraphics, © Kersti Wells, © Kiki Oberstenfeld de Suarez, © KOKO New York, © Kristin Elliott, © Kristin Nelson Tinker/EthnoGraphics, © Larry LaBonte, © Laura Schuman, © Leeann Lidz/EthnoGraphics, © Linda G. Fisher/EthnoGraphics, © linneadesign.com, © Lisa R. Foster/EthnoGraphics, © Liz Kahlenberg Bordow, © Lorie L. Clark/EthnoGraphics, © Madison Park Greetings, © MARA-MI, © Marian Heath Greeting Cards, © Maril Delly/EthnoGraphics, © Marisela Godoy/EthnoGraphics, © Mark Downey/EthnoGraphics, © ME GRAPHICS, © Northern Exposure, © NRN Designs Corporation, © Painted Hearts & Friends, © Palm Press, Inc., © Paula Doherty 2001, Advocate-Art © Penny Laine Papers, © Pinx A Card Co., Inc., © Rebecca Pavlenko, © Red Farm Studio, © Roobee, © Sally Martin do Gastelum/EthnoGraphics, © Sandi Carpenter/EthnoGraphics, © Sara Schneidman, © Snafu Designs, © Socially Yours, © Steve Haskamp, © Steve Katz, © Suzanne Tornquist/EthnoGraphics, © Xiaoxing Yu/EthnoGraphics, Bottman Design, Inc. © Chris Roberts-Antieau, Bottman Design, Inc. © Paris Bottman, Fan Mail Greeting Card Co © Dona Rozanski, LARKSPUR GRAPHICS © Andie Thrams, Off Ramp(TM), Silk Spiral Designs, © G.B., Steve Lovi, © 2000, TWENTY-FOUR CARROT, INC. ®, © Jennifer Blomgren, © Andrea Beloff, © Dorothy Strait, © Carmel Bartz. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. 0604 Part No. X10-53891 Printed in the United States of America. Contents at a Glance Chapter 1: Installation ............................................................................ 1 Chapter 2: Welcome to Microsoft Picture It! Premium...................... 5 Chapter 3: Opening and Importing Pictures ........................................ 7 Chapter 4: Picture It! Basics ................................................................19 Chapter 5: Basic Touchup.....................................................................31 Chapter 6: Advanced Photo Editing ....................................................37 Chapter 7: Batch Editing in Mini Lab .................................................53 Chapter 8: Adding Edges, Mats, and Frames ....................................55 Chapter 9: Creating Projects................................................................57 Chapter 10: Saving and Printing Pictures ..........................................61 Chapter 11: Organizing and Archiving in Picture It! Library ............73 Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures......................................................85 Index ..................................................................................................... 123 Table of Contents Chapter 1: Installation .................................................................................................................................... 1 Starting Setup............................................................................................................................................. 1 Completing the Installation Wizard ........................................................................................................... 2 Installation Folder Dialog Box ............................................................................................................ 2 Installation Options Dialog Box ......................................................................................................... 2 Special Circumstances ............................................................................................................................... 3 Upgrading from a Different Picture It! Product ................................................................................. 3 Reinstalling or Removing Picture It! ................................................................................................. 3 Chapter 2: Welcome to Microsoft Picture It! Premium.............................................................................. 5 Other Helpful Resources ............................................................................................................................ 6 Chapter 3: Opening and Importing Pictures ............................................................................................... 7 Importing Pictures...................................................................................................................................... 7 Launching the Import Pictures Wizard automatically ....................................................................... 7 Starting the Import Pictures Wizard manually .................................................................................. 8 Opening Pictures for Editing ..................................................................................................................... 9 Using the file browser.......................................................................................................................... 9 Opening pictures from other cameras ................................................................................................ 12 Troubleshooting tips for opening pictures from a camera.................................................................. 13 Opening pictures from a scanner........................................................................................................ 14 Opening a Photo Sent Through E-mail...................................................................................................... 16 Opening a Picture from a Web Page .......................................................................................................... 17 Chapter 4: Picture It! Basics .......................................................................................................................... 19 Startup Window.......................................................................................................................................... 19 Examining the Work Area ........................................................................................................................ 21 Image Formatting ....................................................................................................................................... 23 Changing picture size.......................................................................................................................... 23 Applying Text ............................................................................................................................................. 25 Help Resources ........................................................................................................................................... 26 Online Help ......................................................................................................................................... 26 Using the table of contents .................................................................................................................. 27 Using the index.................................................................................................................................... 27 Using the search .................................................................................................................................. 28 Product Tour ........................................................................................................................................ 28 Instructional Videos ........................................................................................................................... 29 Technical Support .............................................................................................................................. 29 Chapter 5: Basic Touchup............................................................................................................................... 31 Adjusting Brightness and Contrast ............................................................................................................ 31 Correcting a Color Cast.............................................................................................................................. 32 Fixing Red Eye ........................................................................................................................................... 33 Straightening a Picture............................................................................................................................... 34 Cropping .................................................................................................................................................... 35 Using the rule of thirds ....................................................................................................................... 36 Chapter 6: Advanced Photo Editing.............................................................................................................. 37 Understanding Objects ............................................................................................................................... 37 Working with Composites................................................................................................................... 37 Locked Objects.................................................................................................................................... 38 Selecting Objects with the Object Tool............................................................................................... 39 Multiple Selection, Grouping, and Flattening Objects .............................................................................. 40 Multiple Selection ............................................................................................................................... 40 Grouping Objects ................................................................................................................................ 41 Flattening Objects ............................................................................................................................... 42 Automatic Flattening .......................................................................................................................... 42 Flattening Objects During Saving ...................................................................................................... 42 Using Selection Tools ................................................................................................................................. 43 The Marquee Tool ............................................................................................................................... 44 The Freehand Tool............................................................................................................................... 45 The Edge Finder .................................................................................................................................. 46 The Magic Wand ................................................................................................................................. 47 Editing and Copying Selected Areas ......................................................................................................... 48 Copying, Cutting, and Pasting Selections .......................................................................................... 48 Filters .......................................................................................................................................................... 49 Color Effects .............................................................................................................................................. 50 Paint Effects ............................................................................................................................................... 51 Chapter 7: Batch Editing in the Mini Lab .................................................................................................. 53 Chapter 8: Adding Edges, Mats, and Frames .............................................................................................. 55 Edge Effects................................................................................................................................................ 55 Mats and Frames ........................................................................................................................................ 56 Chapter 9: Creating Projects ......................................................................................................................... 57 Creating Photo Cards ................................................................................................................................. 57 Creating Calendars ..................................................................................................................................... 59 Chapter 10: Saving and Printing Pictures.................................................................................................... 61 Saving Pictures........................................................................................................................................... 61 Saving Multiple Versions ........................................................................................................................... 62 Choosing a File Format .............................................................................................................................. 63 Setting PNG Plus Options................................................................................................................... 64 Saving for E-mail and the Web .................................................................................................................. 65 Printing Pictures......................................................................................................................................... 66 Printing Single Pictures ...................................................................................................................... 66 Printing Multiple Pictures................................................................................................................... 66 Selecting Print Quality........................................................................................................................ 68 Selecting a Print Size .......................................................................................................................... 69 Choosing Photo Paper ......................................................................................................................... 69 Creating Long-lasting Prints............................................................................................................... 70 Ordering Prints and Gifts on MSN Photos ................................................................................................ 71 Chapter 11: Organizing and Archiving in Picture It! Library .................................................................. 73 Opening Picture It! Library........................................................................................................................ 74 Adding Pictures to Picture It! Library ....................................................................................................... 74 Scanning for Pictures .......................................................................................................................... 74 Adding Keywords....................................................................................................................................... 75 Viewing Your Photos.................................................................................................................................. 76 Viewing by Folder ............................................................................................................................... 76 Viewing by Date.................................................................................................................................. 77 Viewing by Keyword .......................................................................................................................... 78 Using the Thumbnail Slider ................................................................................................................ 78 Showing Thumbnail Data .......................................................................................................................... 79 Tiles View............................................................................................................................................ 79 Thumbnails View ................................................................................................................................ 79 Thumbnails with Text View................................................................................................................ 79 Grouping Your Pictures.............................................................................................................................. 80 Showing the Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... 80 Using the Preview Pane.............................................................................................................................. 81 Editing and File Management from Picture It! Library............................................................................. 82 Editing in a Photo Editor..................................................................................................................... 82 Editing in Mini Lab............................................................................................................................. 83 Batch File Management ...................................................................................................................... 84 Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures ............................................................................................................... 85 About Digital Cameras............................................................................................................................... 86 Photo Quality ...................................................................................................................................... 86 Using Zoom Features .......................................................................................................................... 91 Memory Cards, Disks, and Sticks....................................................................................................... 92 Battery Life ......................................................................................................................................... 93 Using the Flash ........................................................................................................................................... 94 Automatic Flash .................................................................................................................................. 94 Red-Eye Reduction Flash .................................................................................................................... 95 Fill Flash.............................................................................................................................................. 96 Using Your Camera's Manual Settings ...................................................................................................... 97 Exposure.............................................................................................................................................. 97 Exposure Compensation ..................................................................................................................... 99 Aperture .............................................................................................................................................. 99 Shutter Speed ..................................................................................................................................... 101 ISO Setting or Equivalent ................................................................................................................... 103 Setting the White Balance .................................................................................................................. 104 Using Automatic Modes on Your Camera ................................................................................................ 105 Macro Mode ........................................................................................................................................ 106 Action Mode ....................................................................................................................................... 107 Burst Mode.......................................................................................................................................... 109 Portrait Mode ...................................................................................................................................... 110 Panoramic Mode ................................................................................................................................. 111 Using the Self-Timer................................................................................................................................... 112 Getting Yourself into a Photo.............................................................................................................. 112 Taking Long Exposure Shots .............................................................................................................. 112 Ten Tips for Great Pictures ........................................................................................................................ 113 1. Know Your Gear.............................................................................................................................. 113 2. Nail the Exposure............................................................................................................................ 114 3. Capture a Moment in the Story ....................................................................................................... 115 4. Look for the Light ........................................................................................................................... 116 5. Follow the Rule of Thirds................................................................................................................ 117 6. Find a Unique Perspective............................................................................................................... 118 7. Bracket ............................................................................................................................................. 119 8. Analyze and Shoot Again ............................................................................................................... 120 9. Shoot Every Single Day................................................................................................................... 121 10. Show Your Photos to Other People .............................................................................................. 122 Index.................................................................................................................................................................. 123 1 Installation 1 Starting Setup To install Picture It!, you must be running Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 2000, or Windows XP or later. On Windows 2000 and Windows XP systems, you must have administrative privileges. For information regarding privileges, please refer to the operating system Help. On most computers, Picture It! setup will begin automatically when you insert the Picture It! CD into your disk drive. To begin automatic setup: 1. Turn off any antivirus software that you're using, and close any programs that are running. 2. Insert the Picture It! CD into your disk drive. The Installation Wizard begins automatically. If the above procedure does not start the setup process, you can start it manually. To begin setup manually: 1. Turn off any antivirus software that you're using, and close any programs that are running. 2. Insert the Picture It! CD into your disk drive. 3. Click Start, and then click Run. 4. If your CD-ROM drive is listed as letter D, type d:\setup.exe. If your CD-ROM drive has a letter other than D, replace D with the correct letter when you type the path. 5. Click OK. The Installation Wizard begins. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual 2 Chapter 1: Installation Completing the Installation Wizard The Installation Wizard will show you a series of dialog boxes that provide setup status and some installation preference options. For most users, the default preferences will be appropriate. Information about the different setup options is provided below. Installation Folder Dialog Box The Installation Folder dialog box allows you to choose where the program will be installed on your computer. To install the program to a folder other than the folder in the Installation folder box, do one of the following: · Type a different path in the Installation folder box. · Click Change, select a folder in the Change Installation Folder dialog box, and then click OK. Note that some files will be installed to the Program Files drive even if you choose to install the program to a different drive. Installation Options Dialog Box The Installation Options dialog box allows you to choose between Typical installation and Full installation. · Typical installation takes up less space on your hard drive, and is recommended for most users. With Typical installation, you will have to insert the Picture It! CD in your CD-ROM drive to use some of the projects and clip art while you are using the program. · Full installation copies all of the Picture It! projects and clip art to your hard drive, so you will not have to reinsert a Picture It! CD while you are using the program. Look under Description for the disk space required for this option. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual Chapter 1: Installation 3 Special Circumstances Upgrading from a Different Picture It! Product If you already have a Picture It! product installed on your machine, any of several scenarios may occur when you try to install another Picture It! product: · Previous versions If you have a Picture It! product previous to version 10 already installed, installing a version 10 product will make both programs available on your computer. · Upgrade from another version 10 product You can install a Picture It! version 10 product that has more features than a version 10 product already installed. The version of Picture It! with fewer features will be uninstalled automatically before the new installation begins. Your pictures and projects will not be deleted. · Blocked downgrade If you have a Picture It! version 10 product installed, you will not be able to automatically install a version 10 product with fewer features. To install the version with fewer features, you must first uninstall the version with more features. Other Picture It! Products The family of Picture It! products includes programs with the following brands: · Digital Image · Greetings · Greetings Workshop · Home Publishing · Picture It! · Picture It! Express · Picture It! Photo · Picture It! Publishing Reinstalling or Removing Picture It! If you are having problems running Picture It!, reinstalling the program may help it to run better on your computer. You should not attempt to remove Picture It! by deleting the program files from your hard disk. Instead, use the Picture It! Installation Wizard to properly uninstall the program. To remove or reinstall Picture It! on Windows XP: 1. 2. 3. 4. Log on to the computer as an administrator. From the Windows Start menu, click Control Panel. Click Add or remove programs. From the list of installed programs, click the version of Picture It! you want to remove or reinstall. 5. Click Change/Remove. The Installation Wizard opens. 6. Follow the instructions on the screen. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual 4 Chapter 1: Installation To remove or reinstall Picture It! from Windows 98, Windows 2000, or Windows Millennium Edition: 1. From the Windows Start menu, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel. 2. Click Add/Remove Programs. 3. From the list of installed programs, click the version of Picture It! you want to remove or reinstall. 4. Click Add/Remove. The Installation Wizard opens. 5. Follow the instructions on the screen. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual 2 5 Welcome to Microsoft Picture It! Premium Congratulations on your purchase of Microsoft Picture It! Premium, a unique combination of robust photo-editing tools and high-quality photo projects. While easy to use, Picture It! offers powerful imaging technology that helps you improve your photos. Picture It! Premium provides editing features such as selection tools, red eye removal, and color and contrast adjustments to help you get professional editing results quickly and easily. When you've finished editing your photos, it's a simple process to automatically stitch together a panorama from multiple pictures, create prints, or share your photos through e-mail. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual 6 Chapter 2: Welcome to Microsoft Picture It! Premium Other Helpful Resources This User's Manual is not an exhaustive resource for everything you can do with Picture It!. For step-by-step instructions about using all of the program's features, check out the online Help system, available from the Startup Window or the Help menu. Or, for a demonstration of some key Picture It! features, watch one of the Instructional Videos. Digital photography is fun and exciting, and Picture It! makes it easy to get great results. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual 3 Opening and Importing Pictures 7 Picture It! makes it easy to import and open your pictures quickly. To transfer pictures from your camera or storage media to your computer, use the new Import Pictures Wizard. This wizard is designed to streamline the file transfer process, allowing you to choose the camera, scanner, or memory card to import from, name the destination folder, and add the pictures to Picture It! Library. To open pictures for editing, use the file browser. The file browser displays thumbnails of all your pictures, so you can quickly choose the ones you want. Importing Pictures The Import Pictures Wizard is a convenient way to transfer pictures and video clips from your digital camera, scanner, or other storage location to your computer. Also, the Import Pictures Wizard automatically catalogs pictures in Picture It! Library and can, if you prefer, automatically delete images from your camera after the import is complete. Launching the Import Pictures Wizard automatically Windows Millennium Edition and Windows XP can automatically detect compatible cameras and other photo media such as photo CDs. This detection should occur when you: · Connect a compatible camera or scanner to the computer and turn on the camera. · Connect a compatible scanner to the computer and turn on the scanner. · Connect a compatible card reader to the computer and insert media. · Insert a photo CD, DVD, or other storage media into a drive on the computer. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual 8 Chapter 3: Opening and Importing Pictutes To set Windows to launch the Import Pictures Wizard automatically: 1. Connect your compatible camera, scanner or other device to the computer, and then turn on the camera or device. - or Insert the storage media into a drive on the computer. 2. When Windows detects the picture files, Windows will ask you what you want to do with the pictures. 3. Click Import pictures using Microsoft Picture It! Import Wizard. 4. Check Always do the selected action. 5. Click OK. 6. Click the device you want to use, and then click OK. Starting the Import Pictures Wizard manually If Windows does not automatically detect your device or other media, you can start the Import Pictures Wizard manually. To start the Import Pictures Wizard manually: 1. On the File menu, click Import Pictures. 2. Click the device you want to use, and then click OK. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual Chapter 3: Opening and Importing Pictutes 9 Opening Pictures for Editing With Picture It!, you can open pictures for editing from a variety of sources, including your computer, storage media, and most cameras and scanners. Using the file browser You can use the file browser to locate your photos and open them for editing. The file browser can be used to open photos from a large number of locations, including: · The hard drive on a computer. · An external hard drive. · A digital camera that is a USB Mass Storage Class device. (A USB Mass Storage Class device works as a "virtual drive," letting you browse and open photos from the device as you would from a hard disk or floppy disk.) Though you can open pictures from a camera in this way, you will probably prefer to use the Import Pictures feature, discussed later. · A card reader. · A USB drive. · A photo CD or DVD. · A floppy disk. · A network location. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual 10 Chapter 3: Opening and Importing Pictutes This picture identifies the main features of the file browser: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1. All Files tab Click the All Files tab to view the folder structure on your computer. Click a folder to display its contents and subfolders. The folder structure includes internal and external drives on your computer, including disk drives, card readers, and USB Mass Storage Class digital cameras. 2. Picture It! Library tab Click the Picture It! Library tab to find any picture you have cataloged in the Library. You can also use the Library's View By and Group By features to filter and group your pictures, making it easier to find the pictures you want. 3. MSN Groups tab Click the MSN Groups tab to open pictures that you have stored on MSN Groups. 4. Look in box Displays the name of the current folder selected on the All Files tab. 5. View menu Use this menu to change the way the image files are displayed. 6. Thumbnail size slider Move the slider to change the size of the thumbnails. 7. File name box Displays the file name of a selected thumbnail. 8. Files of type menu Use this menu to change the types of image files to be displayed. 9. Thumbnails Small versions of your photos stored in the current folder. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual Chapter 3: Opening and Importing Pictutes 11 10. Open Opens the selected thumbnails. 11. Cancel Closes the file browser without opening any photos. To open pictures with the file browser: 1. If opening pictures from a USB Mass Storage Class camera, read your camera's documentation and make sure that you have installed the camera's software and drivers properly. Make sure your camera is turned on and connected to your computer. 2. On the File menu, click Open. 3. Click the All Files tab. 4. In the Look in list, click the drive, folder, or network location that contains the picture you want to open. 5. In the folder list, locate and open the folder or location that contains the pictures. Thumbnails of pictures in that folder appear in the right pane. 6. Select the picture you want to open. To select multiple pictures, press CTRL as you click the thumbnails. 7. Click OK. File formats compatible with Picture It! Picture It! can open photo files in any of the following formats: · Adobe Photoshop (.psd) · AutoCAD (.dxf) · CorelDraw (.cdr) · Enhanced Metafile (.emf) · EPS (.eps) · FlashPix (.fpx) · GIF (.gif) · Home Publishing (.php) · JPEG (.jpg) · Kodak Photo CD (.pcd) · Macintosh PICT (.pct) · Micrografx Designer (.drw) · PC Paintbrush (.pcx) · Picture It! (.png, .php, .mix, .fpx) · PNG (.png) · TIFF (.tif) · Targa (.tga) · Windows Bitmap (.bmp) · Windows Metafile (.wmf) Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual 12 Chapter 3: Opening and Importing Pictutes Using your camera's software Some digital cameras--especially older models--may not function as a virtual drive or be TWAIN or WIA compliant. For these cameras, use the software provided by the camera to download the photos to a folder your computer. Then open them with the file browser. Opening pictures from other cameras If your camera does not show up as a drive in the file browser, it is probably designed to work using TWAIN or WIA support. For many cameras, Picture It! works with TWAIN and WIA and your camera's software so that you can open photos directly into the editor. To open photos from a camera that uses WIA support: 1. Make sure that you have installed all the drivers that came with your camera. 2. Connect your digital camera to your computer, and then turn on the camera. 3. On the File menu, point to Import Pictures. 4. If more than one device appears in the dialog box, click the one that represents your camera. 5. Select Copy them to my computer or network. Then, to launch the Mini Lab after opening the pictures, click Yes under Open the pictures for editing. 6. Click Next. 7. By default, all of your pictures are selected. To select just some, click the pictures you want to import. If you want to import more than one picture, press CTRL as you click the pictures. 8. Click Next. 9. Type a name for this group of pictures. If you want to name all the pictures using this group name, check Use this name to rename the pictures. You can also specify which folder on your hard drive to copy the pictures. To erase the camera's memory after the pictures are safely on the computer, click Delete pictures from my device after copying them. 10. Click Next. 11. The pictures stored on the camera appear in the workspace. If you chose to edit your pictures, they will also appear automatically in the Mini Lab. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual Chapter 3: Opening and Importing Pictutes 13 Troubleshooting tips for opening pictures from a camera · Your camera must be connected and turned on before you start the digital camera task, or it will not appear in the list of cameras and drives. · If you've connected your digital camera to your computer, but can't see your pictures, make sure the connections are secure, the camera is turned on, and the batteries are charged. The camera might not start downloading if its batteries are low on charge. Some cameras are equipped with an A/C adapter that you can use instead of batteries. · If your camera does not appear in the list of cameras and drives, or if you receive an error message when you click Download, start your camera software from the operating system Start menu. · For more information about downloading photos using the software included with your camera, consult your camera's manual. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual 14 Chapter 3: Opening and Importing Pictutes About TWAIN and WIA TWAIN is interface software that allows communication between a camera and your computer. Many digital cameras come with a TWAIN driver. WIA is a newer interface that works similarly to TWAIN, but often provides more control over the device. WIA is compatible with TWAIN, but is only available on some computer operating systems. Opening pictures from a scanner Picture It! supports two types of scanner formats: TWAIN and WIA. If your scanner doesn't use a TWAIN or WIA interface, you need to use the software designed specifically for the make and model of your scanner. Many scanner manufacturers provide free updates to their drivers on the Web. To connect your scanner 1. 2. 3. 4. Install the software that came with your scanner. Turn off your scanner and computer. Attach the connector cable from your scanner to your computer. Turn on your scanner and computer. Once the scanner is connect and recognized by your computer, you're ready to scan. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual Chapter 3: Opening and Importing Pictutes 15 To scan a photo with a flatbed TWAIN or WIA scanner: Connect your scanner to your computer, and then turn on the scanner. Place your picture on the scanner. On the File menu, click Import Pictures. If more than one device appears in the dialog box, click the one that represents your scanner. 5. Depending upon the type of scanner you have, you will either see the Scan Picture pane or the Import Pictures Wizard. If you see the Scan Picture pane: 1. Select your scanner from the list 2. Choose the Automatic Scan option from Click a scanning method. 3. Click Scan. If you see the Import Pictures Wizard: 1. If you want to immediately open the scanned picture for editing, click Open the picture for editing. 2. Click Next. 3. Specify the group into which you want the scanned picture to be stored. Also select a place on your hard drive where the scanned picture will be stored and specify a file format. The default JPEG format is usually an excellent choice for scanned pictures. 4. Select a scanning method. Most of the time, you should choose Automatic Scan to get a high quality, color picture. 5. Click Next 1. 2. 3. 4. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual 16 Chapter 3: Opening and Importing Pictutes Can this photo be printed? To find out if a photo has enough resolution to print, see the "How large a print can you get" section of the Printing Photos chapter. Opening a Photo Sent Through E-mail Friends and family members often enjoy sending photos through e-mail. When you receive photos through this way, you can save them to your computer and use Picture It! to work on them. Many photos sent through e-mail are low-resolution photos, which are not suitable for large prints. But low-resolution photos may be fine for online viewing or printing at small sizes. To open a photo sent through e-mail: Use your e-mail program to save the photo to a folder on your computer. Save the photo to a folder that will be easy for you to locate later, such as the My Pictures folder. 1. 2. 3. 4. In Picture It!, on the File menu, click Open. The File Browser dialog box opens. Click the All Files tab. On the All Files tab, browse to the folder containing the photo, and then click the folder. 5. Select the photo, and then click Open. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual Chapter 3: Opening and Importing Pictutes 17 Opening a Picture from a Web Page When you surf the Internet, you may come across photos and other images that you would like to use in your photo projects. You might find photos of celebrities, vacation spots that you want to visit, or graphics that would look good as part of one of your photo projects. Unless the Web site uses image protection, you can capture these images and use them for your own projects. Web images are usually low resolution, so they may not be suitable for printing. But you could still use the images in a project to be viewed online. To capture an image from a Web page, you can drag it from the Web page to the Picture It! Files palette. Watch for copyrights Pictures you see on the Web may be copyrighted, so be sure to read the site's legal information before you use an image. To open a photo from a Web page: 1. Make sure that both Picture It! and your Web browser are open and running on your computer. A button for each program appears in the taskbar at the edge of your screen. 2. On the Picture It! File menu, click New. 3. Select a canvas size, and then click Done. A blank canvas opens in the workspace. 4. On the taskbar, click the button for your Web browser program. 5. In your Web browser, locate the Web page that contains the picture you want. 6. Right-click the picture, and then click Copy. 7. On the taskbar, click the button for Picture It!. 8. On the Picture It! Edit menu, click Paste. The new picture appears on the canvas. Once the photo is opened in Picture It!, you can edit it as you would any other photo and save it to your computer. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual 4 Picture It! Basics 19 This chapter covers some of the fundamental aspects of Picture It! that you'll need to get started. You'll find information on the Startup Window, the work area, basic image manipulation, applying text, and Help resources. Startup Window The Startup Window is a quick launching point to photos, Mini Lab, projects, recently opened files, and Help. By default, the Startup Window opens every time you start Picture It!. After closing the Startup Window, you can open it at any time from the main work area by clicking the Startup Window button in the Common Tasks list. This diagram points out the main features of the Startup Window. 1. Open Click the Open button to open the file browser, where you can open photos from your hard drive, a network drive, a digital photo card reader, a CD or DVD, or a floppy disk. 2. Import Pictures Click this button to launch the digital camera task, so you can open photos from a digital camera using Picture It! or your camera's software. 3. Picture It! Library Click this button to open the Library, where you can find and organize your pictures. 4. Edit Multiple Pictures Click this button to open the Mini Lab. The Mini Lab helps you perform routine editing task--such as rotating, levels auto fix, cropping, and saving--on multiple pictures at the same time. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual 20 Chapter 4: Picture It! Basics 5. Create a Project Click this button to pick a project design. You'll find a variety of projects--such as calendars, greeting cards, and album pages--designed to work with your photos. Projects are organized by type and by theme. 6. Show on startup checkbox Check this box to have the Startup Window open every time you start Picture It!. 7. Help links Click these links to go directly to resources that can help you get the most out of Picture It! and digital imaging. · Take a Tour launches the product Tour. · Instructional Videos displays links to the different videos available. · How to... displays a collection of image editing lessons. · Online Photo Tips links you directly to the Tips & Tricks section of the MSN Photos Web site. · Discover Even More connects you to information about other Microsoft products. 8. Recent Files See thumbnails of the last four pictures that you have edited. Click on one of the thumbnails to open that file. 9. More Files Click More Files to open the file browser, where you can open photos from your hard drive, a network drive, a digital photo card reader, a CD or DVD, or a floppy disk. 10. Close Click to close the Startup Window and go to the main work area. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual Chapter 4: Picture It! Basics 21 Examining the Work Area Most of the photo-editing tasks you perform in Picture It! will be in the main work area. When you open Picture It! and close the Startup Window, you see the main work area. The picture below identifies the key elements of the Picture It! work area. 56 2 1 3 4 7 8 9 10 1. Menus Menus provide access to all of the Picture It! features. The Help menu gives you access to the Help window, the Instructional Videos, and the Picture It! Tour. 2. Toolbar The toolbar contains shortcut buttons for single-click access to some of the most common commands. To see the name of a toolbar button, hover the mouse pointer over the button. 3. Workspace Toolbar This toolbar contains buttons for the Common Tasks list, Stack, and Files palette. You can create more room in the workspace by hiding any of these tools. 4. Common Tasks list The Common Tasks list is an easy way to locate features. This list provides convenient access to some of the most common tasks, as well as single-click access to the Mini Lab, project selector, and the Startup Window. All of the features found in the Common Tasks list--as some additional features--are also available in the menus. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual 22 Chapter 4: Picture It! Basics 5. Workspace The gray area represents the workspace, the area that the canvas sits within. You can use the zoom controls to magnify or reduce the canvas so that it covers more or less of the workspace. 6. Selection Tools The selection tools allow you to work on a very specific area of an object. 7. Canvas The white area is called the canvas, and it represents the printable area of the page. When you open a photo, the canvas is often not visible since it is covered entirely by the picture. You can use the zoom controls to magnify or reduce the canvas so that it covers more or less of the workspace. 8. Zoom controls The zoom controls magnify or reduce your photo so that you can see it in more or less detail. 9. Stack The Stack displays a thumbnail of each object in your picture. You can rearrange the order of the objects by dragging a thumbnail up or down within the Stack. 10. Files palette The Files palette displays a thumbnail of all of the currently open pictures. You can switch your active picture by clicking a thumbnail in the Files palette. You can also add a picture to the one you're working on by dragging the thumbnail from the Files palette to the canvas. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual Chapter 4: Picture It! Basics 23 Image Formatting When you have a picture open on the canvas, there are a number of ways to re-size or re-orient it. Changing picture size When you open an image onto the canvas, the on-screen representation of the image is automatically sized so that it fills the workspace. As a result, a high resolution image, such as 1600 x 1200 pixels, will look as large as a low resolution image that's only 640 x 480 pixels. For this reason, viewing a picture on the canvas is not a reliable way of judging an image's resolution. Whenever you resize an image, consider these three factors: · Image size, which is the size of the printed image. · Pixel dimensions, which is how many colored dots (pixels) make up the picture. · Resolution, which is the density of the pixels in the picture. The image size is the product of the pixel dimensions multiplied by the resolution. For example, if you have a picture made of 1200 x 1800 pixels and print it at a resolution of 300 pixels per inch, it will print at a size of 4" x 6". Given this relationship, if you change one of the three settings, one of the other settings will also have to change to keep the relationship equal. If you enlarged the picture in the previous example from 4" x 6" to 8" x 12"--and you kept the pixel dimensions the same--then the resolution would decrease from 300 pixels per inch to 150 pixels per inch. When you resize a picture, it is generally not a good idea to try to increase or decrease the pixel dimensions since this reduces image quality. In most cases, it's not necessary to adjust the image size, since that can be handled automatically during printing. For high-quality prints, it's generally good to keep the picture's resolution at least 300 pixels per inch. But depending on you printer model and the image quality you desire, you may be satisfied with prints at only 150 pixels per inch. For Web use, 72 pixels per inch is usually considered sufficient. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual 24 Chapter 4: Picture It! Basics To resize a picture: 1. On the Format menu, click Resize Image. 2. Click one of the following to lock the setting: · Image size · Pixel dimensions · Resolution 3. Enter amounts for the settings you want to change. 4. Click Done. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual Chapter 4: Picture It! Basics 25 Applying Text You can add text to any picture and easily change the text font, font color, font size, alignment, and emphasis. You start by adding a text box, and then you edit the text in the box. A text box is its own layer on the Stack. To add text: 1. On the Text menu, click Insert Text. A text box appears. 2. Type your text. As you add text, the text box will automatically expand vertically to fit all of your text. 3. To change the width of the text box, select the text box and drag one of the side resize handles. 4. To move the text box, select it, hover the mouse pointer over the edge of the text box until the move handle appears, and then drag the move handle. Once you've added the text, you can select the text to edit it. You can also select the text and use the toolbar buttons to change formatting. When text is selected, the following tools are available on the toolbar for formatting: · The font menu lets you choose between 140 different fonts. · The font size menu lets you choose font sizes from 8 to 620 points. · The font color button lets you choose from a standard palette of colors or choose a custom color. · The Bold button adds bold formatting to the text. · The Italic button adds italic formatting to the text. · The Underline button underlines the text. · The Alignment button has menu choices for Left, Right, Center, and Justify. · The Bullets and Numbers button lets you apply or cancel formatting for bulleted or numbered lists. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual 26 Chapter 4: Picture It! Basics Accessing Help from the keyboard You can access the online Help system at any time by pressing F1 on the keyboard. Help Resources There are multiple ways that you can learn more about using Picture It!. In addition to this User's Manual, there is the online Help system, the product Tour, and Instructional Videos. The following sections describe the types of information available. Online Help Picture It! online Help is the most comprehensive of the Help resources. It provides step-by-step instructions, overviews, troubleshooting topics, technical support, and the "What's wrong with this picture" diagnostic tool. Help includes several ways to find information, including a table of contents, a keyword index, and a full-text search of all Help topics. This diagram identifies the main features of the Help window. 1. The Show/Hide button Click this button to expand or collapse the left pane of the Help window. 2. The Back button Click this button to go back to the last Help topic. 3. The Options menu This menu has options to print a topic or to set options such as Internet Options, where you can change the font size in the Help window. 4. The content pane Displays the current Help topic. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual Chapter 4: Picture It! Basics 27 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. The close button closes the Help window. The Contents tab displays the Help table of contents. The Index tab lets you find keywords in the index list. The Search tab finds topics that contain words that you enter. The Favorites tab lets you save topics for quick access later. To access online Help: 1. On the Help menu, click Picture It! Premium 10 Help. Using the table of contents You can use the table of contents to locate information by subject. The table of contents is a useful way to see all of the features available in each category of features. To use the table of contents: 1. In the left pane of the Help window, click the Contents tab. 2. To expand a book in the contents, click the plus sign next to it. 3. To display a topic, in the contents list, click the topic title. Using the index You can use the index when you are looking for information about a specific term or keyword. To use the index: 1. In the left pane of the Help window, click the Index tab. 2. In the Type in the keyword to find box, type the word you want to find. 3. In the results list, select the word you want to find, and then click Display. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual 28 Chapter 4: Picture It! Basics Using the search You can use the search function to find all the topics in Help that contain a word or combination of words. To use the search: 1. In the left pane of the Help window, click the Search tab. 2. In the Type in the keyword to find box, type the word for which you want to search, and then click List Topics. 3. In the Select topic to display list, select the topic you want to view, and then click Display. Product Tour The Picture It! Tour uses pictures, animations, and text to demonstrate the most popular and useful features of the program. To take the product tour: 1. On the Help menu, click Take a Tour. The Tour opens, displaying icons to represent different categories of features. 2. Click an icon. A feature list appears on the left side of the window. 3. Click a feature. Graphics and text appear that explain the feature. 4. Repeat steps 2-4 to learn about more features. 5. To close the Tour, click Close. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual Chapter 4: Picture It! Basics 29 Instructional Videos Instructional Videos use animation and narration to show you how to use a variety of image editing features on your photos. To watch an Instructional Video: 1. On the Help menu, click Instructional Videos. The Help window opens to a topic about Instructional Videos. 2. Click a video title link. The Video player opens and the Video begins. The Instructional Videos are accompanied by complete, online tutorials that let you walk through the tasks at your own pace. To open the online tutorial, click the Written Tutorial button on the Video player. Technical Support The type of Technical Support resources available vary based on where you live and how you obtained your Picture It! product. To view Technical Support information: 1. On the Help menu, click About Picture It! Premium 10. 2. Click Tech Support. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual 5 Basic Touchup Making a copy to touch up 31 Almost all photos can be improved with basic touchup tools. Picture It! touchup tools can be used to correct common photo problems such as red eye, crooked pictures, lighting problems or similar distractions that can ruin a photo. In many cases, Picture It! helps you eliminate basic problems with just a few clicks. When you take a photo with an automatic camera, the camera's automatic exposure feature measures the available light and determines how much light is required to take the photo. Sometimes, the exposure meter's measurement is slightly too low or too high, creating problems with brightness and contrast in the photo. Picture It! provides tools to fix the levels of brightness and contrast. To correct brightness and contrast: 1. On the Touchup menu, click Brightness and Contrast. 2. Click Exposure Auto Fix. 3. If you are not satisfied with the results, fine-tune the settings with the Brightness and Contrast sliders. 4. Click Done. Never edit your only copy of a photo. Always make a copy or choose Save As to save the edited file with a different name. If you aren't satisfied with the results, you can always start again from the original. The picture on the left is both too dark and too low contrast. The Exposure auto fix tool was applied to the version on the right, correcting both the brightness and contrast levels. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual 32 Chapter 5: Basic Touchup Setting the white balance on a digital camera Many digital cameras allow you to set the white balance for specific types of light, such as sunlight, incandescent, and flash. Using this feature can help reduce tint problems in your photos. Correcting a Color Cast When you take photographs, the source of the light can create a colored cast in the photo. We tend to think of light being white, but nearly every light source has its own unique color. For example, natural sunlight has a large component of blue in it, while incandescent (tungsten) lights--including most household light bulbs--give off a reddish or yellowish cast. When taking a photo, you can compensate for these different colors of light by setting the white balance (with a digital camera), or using special filters (on a film camera). But if you still end up with a cast in your photos, use the adjust tint task to correct the balance of colors to make the lighting look more natural. In this task, you locate a point that should be white, and then Picture It! balances all of the colors in the picture based on the white point you set. If you have already used the Levels auto fix tool, the tint problems in the picture may already be corrected. Use the adjust color task to make additional adjustments to the tint. Zooming in to find white If there are no significant areas of white in your photo, use the zoom controls to magnify the picture on the screen. When you zoom in, you might be able to use a very small area of white, such as the whites of a person's eyes. To adjust tint: 1. On the Touchup menu, click Adjust Color. The mouse pointer becomes an eyedropper. 2. With the eyedropper, click an area in the picture that should be grey or neutral--in other words, not too colorful, too dark, or too light. Digital Image automatically corrects the colors. 3. If you are not satisfied with the results, use the Color Balance sliders for fine-tuning. 4. Click Done. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual Chapter 5: Basic Touchup 33 Fixing Red Eye Using your flash in low light situations can give your subjects red, unnaturallooking eyes. The Fix Red Eye tool darkens the red spots in the eyes to reduce or eliminate the redness. To fix red eye: 1. On the Touchup menu, click Fix Red Eye. 2. Use the pan and zoom controls to magnify your picture and focus on the red eyes in the photo. 3. Click the red part of the eyes. You can click up to two eyes at once. 4. Click Fix selected red eyes. The redness in the eyes is removed. 5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until the red is eliminated. 6. Click Done. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual 34 Chapter 5: Basic Touchup Straightening a Picture If you took a photograph while unintentionally holding the camera at an angle, the horizon or other straight lines will appear tilted. This tilt can be a distraction in the picture, but is easily fixed with the Straighten Picture tool. The Straighten Picture tool rotates the picture to make the horizon level. To make the horizon level, the Straighten Picture tool rotates the picture on the canvas. When rotated, part of the picture overlaps the edge of the canvas, and these areas would be removed during printing. The rotation also creates empty areas at the corners of the canvas. Fortunately, these problems are solved by the Auto Crop feature which is part of the Straighten Picture tool. After you straighten the picture, Auto Crop trims the edges of the picture so that it becomes aligned with the canvas. To straighten a picture with Auto Crop: 1. On the Format menu, click Straighten Picture, and then click Canvas. 2. Identify a line in the picture that should be straight (such as the horizon), and then click one end of the line. 3. Click the other end of the line. The picture is automatically straightened. 4. Make sure the Auto Crop check box is selected. The area of the picture that will be cropped is shown in lightened color around the edges. 5. Click Done. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual Chapter 5: Basic Touchup 35 Cropping Cropping is an easy way to improve the composition of a photograph. For example, if your picture has distracting background elements along the top, bottom, or side, you can crop away these parts of the background to focus the attention on the subject. When you crop a photo, you are removing pixels, and therefore lowering the effective resolution (although the dots per inch will stay the same). If you crop a significant portion of the original, you're limiting the extent to which you will be able to enlarge the picture for printing. This is why it's better to compose the picture as best you can when you take it, rather than relying on heavy cropping later. Cropping a picture allows you to eliminate distractions and improve the composition. Cropping your picture to a specific proportion lets you control exactly where the picture will be cut. Otherwise, if your picture is not the same proportion as the print size, some of the picture may be trimmed during printing to fit into the printable area of the page. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual 36 Chapter 5: Basic Touchup Using the rule of thirds When composing a photograph, many beginning photographers consistently center their subject directly in the middle of the frame. While this technique may be the easiest way to get the subject in focus with a point-and-shoot camera, it is not always the most interesting way to present the subject. Most advanced photographers follow the rule of thirds when composing the space inside a picture frame. The rule of thirds is used throughout the graphic design world, because it helps to create balance between the subject and the background. When you compose a picture according to the rule of thirds, you mentally divide the frame into thirds both horizontally and vertically (imagine a tic-tac-toe grid), and place the point of interest on one of the four spots where the lines intersect. If the photo includes a person or animal, you can place the face on one of the four points, looking toward the center of the scene. If the photo includes the horizon, it should run about one-third from the top or one-third from the bottom, depending on whether the terrain or the sky is the center of focus. The cropped picture is a more interesting composition since it follows the rule of thirds. To crop a photo using the rule of thirds: 1. 2. 3. 4. On the Format menu, point to Crop, and then click Canvas. Under Select a proportion, click a proportion. Select the Show guidelines for the rule of thirds check box. Click a starting point on your photo, and then drag the outline to the opposite corner of the area to be cropped. The guidelines show the cropped area divided into thirds vertically and horizontally. 5. Move and resize the cropped area so a focal point in the picture is positioned at one of the intersections of the guidelines. 6. Click Done. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual 6 Advanced Photo Editing 37 After you have done general touch ups to your pictures, you may want to use advanced editing tools for more precise editing or to apply special effects. The selection tools and multiple-object composites give you the power to edit very specific areas of your pictures. You'll also be able to transform your pictures with filters, color and edge effects, and specialized editing brushes. Understanding Objects For many advanced photo-editing tasks, you'll need to understand the concept of objects. An object is a part of a picture that can be edited individually. For example, when you add text to a picture, the text is a separate object from the background image. When you edit the text--say, making the font color red--the background picture remains unchanged because it is a separate object. Working with Composites A picture that contains multiple objects is called a composite. The Stack helps you work with composites by displaying each object separately. Using the Stack, you can easily select any object. Make sure the Stack is showing in the workspace when you are working with composites. To show the Stack: 1. On the View menu, click Stack. On the Stack, you'll see a thumbnail representation of each object in the composite. The top thumbnail represents the object that is the top layer in the composite. The bottom thumbnail represents the background object in the composite. Thus, the object that is lowest in the Stack may be at least partially obscured in the composite by the objects on top of it. You can change the order of the objects in the composite by dragging thumbnails up and down the Stack. For example, dragging an object's thumbnail from the lowest position on the Stack to the top position will bring it to the foreground of the composite. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual 38 Chapter 6: Advanced Photo Editing Locked Objects When you open any single-object picture, such as a picture you took with your digital camera, the picture will, by default, be locked to its position on the canvas. When an object is locked to the canvas, the lock icon is shown next to that object's thumbnail on the Stack. This lock icon indicates that you will not be able to drag the object around on the canvas. To lock or unlock an object: 1. Right-click the object's thumbnail on the Stack. 2. Click Lock or Unlock. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual Chapter 6: Advanced Photo Editing 39 Selecting Objects with the Object Tool The object tool allows you to select one or more whole objects at a time. With the object tool, you can move, resize, and rotate selected objects by dragging the object on the canvas or using the resize handles. Each time you start Picture It!, the object tool will be selected by default. You will be able to accomplish many different editing tasks by using the object tool as your only selection tool. Unlike the other selection tools, the object tool does not have an options palette. To select an object with the object tool: 1. Make sure that the Stack appears in the workspace. 2. Click the object tool button on the toolbar. 3. On the Stack, click the object. When an object is selected with the object tool and not locked to the canvas, object handles are displayed around the perimeter of the selection. Object handles are yellow circles that you drag to resize and rotate the object. To move, resize, or rotate an object with the object tool: 1. Select the object with the object tool as described above. 2. If the selected thumbnail has the lock icon displayed, right-click the thumbnail, and then click Unlock. 3. To move the selection, hold the cursor over the object until the move handle appears, and then drag the object on the canvas. 4. To resize the object proportionally, hold the cursor over one of the corner object handles until the resize handle appears, and then drag the resize handle. 5. To stretch the object, hold the cursor over the top, bottom, or side object handles until the resize handle appears, and then drag the resize handle. 6. To rotate the object, drag the rotate handle that is attached to the top of the selection box. Selecting an object allows you to edit it without affecting other objects on the canvas. You can select an object by clicking it, either on the canvas or on the Stack. If you want to select a small object or one that is hidden behind other objects, it is often easiest to select it on the Stack. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual 40 Chapter 6: Advanced Photo Editing Multiple Selection, Grouping, and Flattening Objects Picture It! allows you to create composites that contain many objects. While objects are separate, you can edit each one individually. However, sometimes you may want to edit two or more objects at the same time. There are three methods to join objects so that you can edit them together. From least permanent to most permanent, the three methods for combining objects are multiple selection, grouping, and flattening. Multiple Selection Multiple selection links objects temporarily. For example, if you wanted to move three objects the same amount to the left, you could select the objects, and then drag them together on the canvas. Then, as soon as you select a different object to work on, the multiple-selected objects are no longer connected. These three objects are a multiple selection, so they can be edited as a set and then separated later. To multiple select objects: 1. Make sure that the Stack is showing. 2. Pressing CTRL, click each thumbnail on the Stack. The objects become multiple selected. 3. To cancel the multiple selection, click any single object in the Stack. Microsoft Picture It! Premium User's Manual