Sarasota PC Monitor
Corel SnapFire Plus
A Software Review
by Nancy Dennis
Member of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc.We just returned from a trip up north to visit our children and grandchildren. With my camera full of pictures and Corel Snapfire Plus installed on my computer, I inserted the memory card into my card reader and up pops the Corel Photo Downloader which prompts me to download the pictures. You can't get much easier than that. After the pictures finish downloading Snapfire opens with thumbnails of the pictures.
Corel Snapfire Plus is a photo organizing, editing, project creation and sharing program. The program also uses a tool to backup your photos called "PhotoSafe Backup". The desktop is easy to navigate with tasks on the left side and thumbnails of your photos on the right. The default folder for all pictures is the My Documents, My Pictures folder. When the program installs it automatically finds all pictures in the My Pictures folder (and any sub-folder) and organizes them with thumbnails. Any pictures that are downloaded with the Corel Photo Downloader are added to a new sub-folder named with the download date. The Downloader module has several options that include the ability to change the location of where you want the photos, naming the folder, automatically rotating photos, the option to erase photos on the camera after download, and detecting Photo CDs.
The task pane on the left side of the screen starts with Home. From the Home Task you can Share selected photos via email, print selected photos with choices of contact sheets, and order prints from selected photos (you need a subscription for this service). Sending your selected pictures via email offers three choices; sending as a Snapfire Show, embedded in the email, or as attachments to the email. The Snapfire Show option is pretty cool. The selected photos are arranged in order with transitions between each photo with a note giving you the file size. The person receiving the message cannot run the show unless they have the Snapfire program. The Snapfire basic program is free to download and install. The email message gives the recipient a direct link to download the program. Also on the Home Task is Review which includes Quick Review and View Photo Info. Quick Review gives a full screen view of the selected photo or the entire folder. The View Photo Info task gives a dialog box with the selected photo. One of the options in this dialog box is to "Tag" the photo. For instance I could tag all photos of one grandchild by name and then later use the Find Photos, and find by tag, all photos with that name. Next option is Adjust Photo where you can select to edit the photo with Paint Shop Pro (if you have that program). Also you can rotate right and left with this task. The last option on the Home Task is Protect. Here you can make a Quick Disc with selected photos or use the PhotoSafe Backup option which backs up all photos in the My Pictures folder. It's a good idea to make a Quick Disc of the photos just after they are downloaded just in case of a computer failure. With this Quick Disc feature it makes that job quick and simple.
The next task is the Enhance Task where you can adjust the photo with common tools for rotating, cropping, and straightening. There is a Quick Fix option that will make adjustments for you. I gave it a try and liked most of the changes. If you aren't happy with the Quick Fix changes, there is always undo. The Photo Fix option gives all the standard adjustments such as brightness, contrast, warmth, saturation and focus. There is a before and after preview to help with making these adjustments. There is also a Fix Red Eye tool that worked really well on my photos. The coolest task is called "Makeover" where you can use the blemish fixer tool, whiten teeth tool, and give someone a suntan. The Enhance Task also includes tools to Apply Effects. These effects include turning your picture into a sepia photo, black and white photo, adding picture tubes and frames. Picture tubes are fun graphics that can be stamped onto your photo. There are dozens of neat picture frames to pick from. The last enhancement is to add text to the photo. This option is pretty straight forward with choices of font, size, color and placement. Once you edit a photo with these changes it's best to do a "save as" and give the photo another name so you can keep your original.
All of the tasks in Snapfire can be performed on a selected photos, however if you want to work with several photos in different folders it is best to use what is called the Photo Tray at the bottom of the screen. You can drag and drop photos from any folder into the tray and then begin to get creative with the Snapfire SlideShow or projects such as album pages, calendars, greeting cards, certificates, and magazine covers. With your photos collected in the Photo Tray you can explore the Show task. When you click the Show task a Storyboard opens just above the Photo Tray. You can drag photos from the tray onto the Storyboard. There are slideshow settings that include transitions and including a soundtrack. You can even synchronize the slideshow to match the soundtrack duration. You can edit video clips from your digital camera to include in the slideshow. When finished creating your slideshow you can save as a Snapfire Show or save as a video file (avi file). This is a good way to get your photos sent to friends and relatives without printing them.
The last task is the Create task where you will find ways to use your photos in print medium. There are templates for Print Layout which includes standard sizes like 5x7, also basic layouts like 12 per page, or combinations like 3.5x5 + mini-wallets. There are three different photo album page orientations, some fun magazine covers, a collage, calendar, greeting card, and certificates. Each one of these fun projects has multiple layouts to choose from and then you just drag your pictures from the tray and drop them into the project.
The bottom left corner of Snapfire Plus is the Message Center. Here is where the user is guided with features of the program as well as an area that delivers quick tips, photo ideas and tutorials. The Message Center was not working in the review copy, so I was not able to check it out.
There is a very good Help source from within the program and an additional 106 page manual in Adobe Acrobat format on the installation disk.
You can download the free Corel Snapfire from www.snap fire.com as well as find all the system requirements and information about Corel Snapfire Plus which can be purchased for $39.99. You can compare the free version features with the Plus version and also take a look at some tutorials on how to use the program. I would recommend the program as a good value for the money. :
Copyright 2006. This article is from the December 2006 issue of the Sarasota PC Monitor, the official monthly publication of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc., P.O. Box 15889, Sarasota, FL 34277-1889. Permission to reprint is granted only to other non-profit computer user groups, provided proper credit is given to the author and our publication. We would appreciate receiving a copy of the publication the reprint appears in, please send to above address, Attn: Editor. For further information about our group, email: admin@spcug.org/ Web: http://www.spcug.org/
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