I started using PIP (Picture It Publishing) Platinum 2002 right after I got it in a bundle with my HP Pavallion N5295 Notebook more than several moons ago!

I don't want to be a rocket scientist to produce edited photos quickly and with quality results, again and again.

I had a terrible time at first with the edited pictures. Once I saved them and re-opened them they were out of focus. I tried everything I could think of and then I realized what was wrong.

Just before you save it, it gives you the option as to what type of file. eg. JPEG, PNG, BMP etc. I usually had saved things as .jpg's and so I naturally clicked on the JPEG choice and then entered my new name and hit "Save".

Well... while in the SAVE menu, there's another button for "options" and THAT is where I went wrong. If I'd opened the options menu I would have seen the preset value of 10. I immediately changed the value 10 to a 1, meaning you get 1 to 1 results. The next file saved was perfect.

I closed up for the evening. Later that night I returned to do a few more. I opened the program again and "assumed" it was fixed. I saved the photo and a few more before reopening them to check. Well, duh... you think I should have learned? Yep they were out of focus again. You see, the program doesn't "remember" your settings so once you close it, it reopens with the preset values.

BOO-BOO ALERT - Because you NEVER know what might happen... Always work from a copy of the original. Just open the one you want to edit, go to the top and click EDIT and then DUPLICATE PROJECT. Close the original and work on the duplicate copy. You can create a separate folder to store the edited copies in.

I make sure now, to set the values for my options and in the same screen, the size for output in pixels, to my desired.

HINT: BEFORE you SAVE your file -- Go to the main screen and click on "change size" mode. Check the size in inches, then in pixels, so you know what the numbers should be when you are using the options window. Next time, just do this before you get to the options section of "save".

WHY is all this so important?

If you use eBay or any auction site, send photos, want a website, want to print photo or email photos... etc. You don't want to send blurry hard-to-view pictures. You'll sell more if you have extra pictures and clear ones. Your family might want to print the photos you post online or that you send via email. So take the time, you will be so glad you did!

Next Article:

How to use the edit features of Picture It Publishing Platinum 2002 to get clarity,remove unwanted blips and the most optimum focus results.