Still Images
Using Picasa was relatively easy and enjoyable once I realized I needed to double-click on the photo to open up the “Basic fixes,” “Tuning” and “Effects” buttons. How could it not be intuitive for me to double-click on something to open it? Anyway, I managed to crop a photo and resize (and make black & white) a photo.
Again, as with other tools, it took me quite a long time to get to know this one even in a limited way but I did not find it difficult. I was surprised by the number of different things it allows you to do with your pictures (collages, movies, albums) but I was also overwhelmed – simply resizing and cropping a photo took me long enough! I was delighted that Picasa found pictures on my computer that I forgot I even had, how cool.
Now that I feel comfortable using it, I think Picasa will be very handy for altering pictures that I find on the web and want to use in the classroom. I always create a class picture at the end of the year for my students using a picture of each of them at their placement. This year I made a collage (release forms were signed! And it is all over Facebook) using Photovisi. Next year I might try something like this using Picasa!
Audio
This exercise reminded me of my daughter’s violin practices a few years ago (not my guitar practice, I am a hacker). She would have to practice a piece of music several times and the more difficult sections many more times until the whole thing was perfect ten or twenty times in a row! But it made me realize that there is value in repeating things over and over and over. Certain aspects of the exercise become routine and retention over time increases. So too it was with practicing with Audacity. After the initial downloading (do not forget to download LAME) and checking it out, I went to work. Being familiar with recording my voice using other audio applications, I think the number of practices I needed to get an acceptable version was reduced. It still took about 5 tries! Is it just me, or do I have some “Oprah” inflections in this? Oh, well she had a large following so there must be something appealing to it.
Unfortunately my daughter traded violin playing for volleyball and I will likely trade Audacity for the latest, greatest recording tool – someday. But for now, this is a great tool and very easy to use!
Categories: