Picasa database broken - How to fix

Tried to look for photo for Christmas Card, but Picasa had corrupted it's database, so I had to un-install and re-install.

Did this twice as first time I had taken the option not to delete database, hoping it may fix without losing any of my previous settings. It did not. On restart Picasa found all my photos and rebuilt database OK but I did lose Albums which is just a logical collection of photos.

The keywords were all OK. This is because the keywords are written to the meta data of each photo. Picasa edit commands are kept in each folder in the Picasa.ini file so these are OK but I always export final photos to consolidate edits into normal jpg.

Note. If like me you use Photoshop Elements and/or Lightroom to do your key wording make sure you write these to photos. There are options in both products to do this, but it is easy to forget I would like to know if you can make this a default anywhere. If you use Picasa to add keywords these are automatically added to photo metadata.

Test to see if I can embed one of my flickr photos in Blogger with iPad

I know I can embed Picasa photos, so this is an attempt to embed flickr photo. The following should be a photo of a Parasol Mushroom.



Hey presto I can!

Problem setting Location.in Lightroom 3 Using Picasa

Having prepared 50 photos of long Norfolk walk in Lightroom 3 I added location using Picasa after which Lightroom 3 reported them as corrupted! I could do no further editing in Develop mode but as I had completed this phase this was not a problem.

However Lightroom refusal to export them to their final destination was a problem causing me to lose all of my Development work.

My work methodology is to post process in Lightroom Develop, add keywords, rename with meaningful names and then switch to Picasa to add location, back to Lightroom to export to final file folder and upload better ones to Flickr. Although the photos appeared in index grid they were reported as corrupted. Looking at photos in Picasa the names and keywords all still OK but of course Picasa could not add Lightroom Development changes.

I had to open every photo in Photoshop CS5, do a small change so that I could save it, then Lightroom accepted it and would export the photos applying Lightroom edits. The small change was necessary otherwise CS5 ignored save. Important not to rotate any photo whilst in CS5 as Lightroom does not detect this and your beautiful sky graded filters are applied from the side!

I guess I will have to add location in Picasa before I start any Lightroom processing.
Does any know better way to add location in Lightroom.  

Kookaburra Narrawallee Ulladulla NSW Australia 19-03-2006

Took this photo at my pal's house at Narrawallee. Great place, great bird.

I am adding it to this blog purely as an experiment and to gain experience of making a blog entry direct from Picasa Web Album.

Next I want to see if I can get Blog update to appear on Facebook automatically.

Picasa - How to use Graduated Tint to darken one side of photo.

Howto use Graduated Tint to darken one side of photo.

1. Rotate photo so side you want to darken is on top.
2. Use Graduated Tint adjusting three controls
   
   - Amount using default black colour.
   - Feather to blend in shading.
   - Position by moving small cross to where you want the darkening to reach
   
   to achieve desired effect.
3. Save before rotating to original position otherwise darkening will revert to top.
   Note by saving a copy of original photo is made before all edits are written to image.

See example annotated Youtube slideshow below.

Flickr - Sort Sets Alphabetical

I currently have 50 Flickr Sets, and wanted to sort them alphabetically. However there appears to be no function to do this. You can sort photos within a set but not the sets themselves on the Flickr page.

Sets within a Collection can be manually sorted, so I created a collection called ALL and have manually sorted these sets alphabetically. Took about 5 minutes but should be a one off exercise. Next time I create a set all I need do is add it to ALL collection abd move it to the relevant position.

To create this Collection and organize alphabetically go to the Flickr Organize screen and select "Collections and Sets" Tab, create new Collection and drag and drop the Sets into it making sure you drop them alphabetically. I did this by taking each Set in sequence as shown by default on the display, and as I dragged it into the column on the left under the ALL Collection I made sure I dropped it in the correct place alphabetically. If you miss you can position your mouse over it in the left column and drag it to correct place.

Adding or editing Flickr blogger link solved.

Flickr now has the ability to post directly to several Blogger applications. This is quite simple to set up, it is the last option under the share button.

However I struggled to find out how to change ny template or add further blogs once I had created my first.

If you want to do this then you need to go to following link.

http://www.flickr.com/blogs.gne