10 Compare the Editors
Windows Photo Gallery
Photo Gallery has all the same editing features like color correction and lighting that Picasa does and also many of the special effects like black and white or sepia, etc. It has an import feature, or you can just drag photos in from your phone's DCIM folder. Either way they end up in "my pictures". There is no separate catalog or organizer. Edits are destructive, but you can always "revert" the image back to the original. It is all or nothing; in Picasa you can choose to undue certain edits like cropping and leave others intact. Under "tags and captions" use the "descriptive tag" to have it follow the picture into other programs. There is no ability to place captions on pictures or create collages.
To create an album of your best pictures you will need to edit and drag them into a new folder. In Picasa you could send them to a virtual album with one click while leaving the original in place. That virtual album could then be exported for permanency.
In summation, except for captions and collages, Photo Gallery can do much the same as Picasa, just not as easily or elegantly.
Photoshop Elements 14
I recently bought Elements thinking it could replace Picasa going forward. It is available off the shelf from 50 to $100. I have yet to get it to operate anywhere near my expectations. There were many errors (missed pictures) in the import process, and it is very slow.
Based on the various tutorials (see my resources page) it should have all the same capabilities as Picasa and many more. Though I was surprised that the import process did not have an "always scan" feature; thus changes made outside of Elements would not be reflected in the catalog. Tags did show up as expected. The program is divided up into two parts, the organizer and the editor. It seemed somewhat cumbersome to have to move back and forth between the two when working with a photo.
I include this short writeup for those who may already have the program. I am not ready to recommend it for the scope of the work that I am promulgating. But stay tuned.
Google Photos
Google is now putting all their efforts into this platform, so expect lots of changes going forward. However, at this point I do not consider it a very useful means for dealing with our historic scans. It is wonderful for organizing the masses of pictures we take today. And if you use a Chromecast on your TV for streaming, you can instantly view all your photos on the TV with a single click on the phone.
Picasa
Google ended support for Picasa several years ago. This means you can no longer download the program from Google, you cannot use its web albums for sharing, and there will be no more updates. You can certainly still use the program if you already have it on your computer or find it on the web. Be cautious where you find it so as not to download more than just Picasa. See "Contact Me" and I can provide an install version for Mac or PC.
It has all the basic editing tools like cropping, red eye correction, color and lighting corrections along with lots of special effects. Of note is that you can place captions on the image itself and create collages of one or more photos. With the collage tool, you can resize individual pictures, tilt them, place them where you want them, put captions off to the side, etc. Picasa is a non-destructive editor; your original image remains unchanged. You can choose to make your edits permanent with the export function. And now the exported photo or album with all the edits and captions can be viewed through any program.
The tags feature in Picasa allows you to enter information about the picture; that could be what's written on the back of the picture, names, dates, places, etc. These tags follow the picture and will appear in the other programs mentioned below except for Google Photos.
This is still a wonderful program for our application. And it includes an organizer; that is it creates its own catalog of all your pictures, displayed as a list of folders that mimics "my pictures". When you import a picture into Picasa, that only means it adds information in its catalog about where to find the picture. The actual picture remains in "my pictures" on your computer. Set Picasa to "always scan" all your pictures and any changes you make inside or outside of Picasa will still be shown in the catalog.
