David Pogue's Digital Photography: The Missing Manual

Cheesy Effects

It's here if you want it: a set of special photo effects to change the color, soften, or add focus to a photo. To open this palette, click the Effects button (iPhoto) or the Effects tab (Picasa). Now you're offered a tic-tac-toe board of buttons.

There's nothing to it. Click a button to apply the appropriate effect to the photo in front of you.

iPhoto Effects

In iPhoto, you get nine options:

• B & W (Black and White) and Sepia. These two tools drain the color from your photos. B&W converts them into moody grayscale images (that Ansel Adams look); Sepia repaints them entirely in shades of antique brown (like 1865 daguerreotypes).

• Antique. A lot like Sepia, but not quite as severe. Still gets light brownish, but preserves some of the original color—like a photo from the 1940s.

• Fade Color. The colors get quite a bit faded, like a photo from the 1960s.

• Original. Click to undo all the playing you've done so far, taking the photo back to the way it was when you first opened the Effects palette.

• Boost Color. Increases the saturation, making colors more vivid.

• Matte. This effect whites out the outer portion of the photo, creating an oval-shaped frame around the center portion.

• Vignette. Same idea as Matte, except that the image darkens toward the outer edges instead of lightening.

• Edge Blur. Same idea again, except it creates an out-of-focus border around the main, central portion of ...