Using Corel PaintShop Photo Pro

Corel PaintShop Photo Pro is a software package that allows you to edit your digital photos after you shoot them, giving you the capability of fixing minor problems, improving the contrast, or adding special effects. Use these tips to gain the most from Corel PaintShop, which is available alone or as part of Digital Studio.

• If you're someone who keeps photo prints in a shoebox, you'll really appreciate the Media Organizer in Corel PaintShop. Figure out how you want to organize your photos -- by date, folder, rating, keyword, etc. -- and make use of the very flexible Media Organizer.

• If you decide to make Corel Instant Viewer the default image viewer for all of your photos, you'll gain access to easy photo editing tools. Just double-click on a photo in any other software, and Instant Viewer will open the photo. Once a photo is displayed in Instant Viewer, editing tools are just a click away.

• Corel PaintShop offers easy project designs, too. For example, you can use the software to create a calendar or a photo book that features your own photos.

• If you don't have a good photo printer available to print your projects, Corel PaintShop makes it easy for you to upload the projects to a professional printer (for a fee).

• As another handy feature, you can easily edit photos, even those you're working within a project. Just double-click on the photo as you're using it with the project, and Corel PaintShop will launch an Express Edit window that allows you to make the necessary edits to the photo. Once you save the changes, you'll return to your project, with the photo now fixed.

• If you are someone who often e-mails your photos, Corel PaintShop can greatly simplify this process. One of the biggest mistakes people make when e-mailing photos is not resizing the photos to make them a manageable size for uploading and downloading in a reasonable amount of time. Photo Express will automatically resize the photos and embed them in a message, which saves time and hassle versus sending photos as attachments. Corel PaintShop also can work with a variety of e-mail software packages.

• Finally, one of the nice things about Corel PaintShop is that you can download a trial copy of the software. This is always a good idea, as you can try the software before you actually spend any money on it. Visit the Corel.com Web site to download the free trial.