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Photo Gallery in Windows Essentials 2012.

Photo gallery is included in the Windows Essentials 2012 and a good alternative and from the default Photo Apps and can be downloaded here.

Import photos into Photo Gallery

You can add photos to Photo Gallery by importing them from a camera, phone, or other device, CD or DVD. Imported photos are stored in your My Pictures folder. You can also add photos from an album on OneDrive, or from another location on your PC.

To import photos from a camera, phone or other device, CD, or DVD

  1. Make sure that your device is turned on and connected to your PC, or that the disc is inserted into your PC’s CD or DVD drive.

  2. Open Photo Gallery.

  3. Click the Home tab, and then click Import.

  4. In the Import Photos and Videos dialog box, click the device that you want to use, and then click Import. If you’re importing from a CD or DVD, select the CD or DVD drive.

  5. Click More options to select the options that you want to use, such as where to save the files and what format to use for the folder and file names.

  6. Click one of the following two options: Review, organize and group items to import or Import all new items now.

Review, organize, and group items to import

  1. Click Review, organize and group items to import, and then click Next.

  2. Define, select, and name the groups that you want to import:

    • Photos are automatically grouped according to when they were taken. To change the time interval used to define the groups, at the bottom of the window, move the Adjust groups slider.

    • To choose which groups of photos to import, next to each group, select the check box.

    • To see all of the photos in a group, next to the group, click View all items. If you don’t want to import all of the photos in the group, clear the check boxes for the photos that you don’t want to import.

    • For each group of photos that you want to import, click Enter a name, and then type a name for the group.

    • To assign tags to a group, next to the group, click Add tags, type one or more tags separated by semicolons, and then press Enter.

    Click Import. Each group of photos is saved to a different folder.

Import all new items now

  1. Click Import all new items now, and then type a name for the photos or videos.

  2. To assign tags to the group of photos that you’re importing, click Add tags, type one or more tags separated by semicolons, and then press Enter.

  3. Click Import.

To add other folders of photos into Photo Gallery (for example, from OneDrive or from another location on your PC)

  1. Click File, and then click Include folder.

  2. Click Add, and then select the folder you want to add to Photo Gallery.

  3. Click Include folder, and then click OK.

Note

  • When you remove your photos from your camera or other device, you might want to copy them to recordable DVDs or CDs, an external hard drive, or an Internet-based file storage service so that you have a backup copy.

Edit photos in Photo Gallery

You can use the editing tools in Photo Gallery to improve a photo’s composition, exposure, detail, color, and some other photo options. Not all file types can be edited.

To edit photos

  1. Open Photo Gallery.

  2. Select the photo or photos that you want to edit, and then, at the top of the screen, click the Edit tab.

  3. Do one or more of the following:

    • To automatically edit a photo or a batch of photos, select the photos you’d like to edit, and then, on the Edit tab, in the Quick adjustments group, click Auto adjust or one of the other editing options.

    • To manually edit photos, double-click a photo to view it in one-up mode, and then, in the Adjustments group, clickFine tune.

    Note

    • If you can’t edit a photo in Photo Gallery, one of the following reasons might be the cause:

      • The photo properties attribute is set to Read-only. To change a photo’s read-only property, right-click the photo and select Properties. Under the General tab, in the Attributes group, uncheck Read-only, and then click Apply.

      • The photo is stored in a read-only location like shared network file, a CD or DVD, or other location where you can’t change its properties. To save a copy of a photo to your PC where you can edit it, double-click the photo and then, on the Edit tab, in the Manage group, click Make a copy. Select a file type, choose a location on your PC to save the photo, and then click Save.

      • The photo is an unsupported file type. Photo Gallery can’t open or edit all photo file types. To save a copy of photo and change it’s file type to a format that you can edit, double-click the photo and then, on the Edit tab, in theManage group, click Make a copy. Select a file type, and then click Save.

      • The photo might have been deleted or moved after you selected it for editing. Restore the photo to its original location, and then try to edit the photo again.

To manually adjust exposure

  1. Double-click a photo to view it in one-up mode, click Fine tune in the Adjustments group, and then click Adjust exposure.

  2. Do one or more of the following:

    • To adjust the brightness, move the Brightness slider.

    • To adjust the contrast, move the Contrast slider.

    • To adjust shadow detail without affecting midtone or highlight detail, move the Shadows slider.

    • To adjust highlight detail without affecting midtone or shadow detail, move the Highlights slider.

    • To adjust the photo’s white point and black point, under the Histogram, move the white and black arrows.

      Note

      • As you apply effects to your photo, the histogram shows how your photo’s exposure is being adjusted.

To manually adjust color

  1. Double-click a photo to view it in one-up mode, click Fine tune in the Adjustments group, and then click Adjust color.

  2. Do one or more of the following:

    • To adjust the tone and make the photo look warmer or cooler, move the Color temperature slider.

    • To adjust the color cast, move the Tint slider.

    • To adjust the vividness of the colors, move the Saturation slider.

To manually straighten a photo

  1. Double-click a photo to view it in one-up mode, click Fine tune in the Adjustments group, and then click Straighten photo

  2. Use the slider to straighten your photo more manually.

To manually adjust detail

  1. Double-click a photo to view it in one-up mode, click Fine tune in the Adjustments group, and then click Adjust detail.

  2. To adjust your photo’s sharpness, use the Sharpen slider.

  3. To reduce image noise, click Analyze, and then use the Reduce noise slider.

To manually crop a photo

  1. Double-click a photo to view it in one-up mode, and then, in the Adjustments group, click Crop.

  2. Do one or more of the following:

    • To change the photo’s proportions, in the Proportion list, click a proportion.

    • To select a custom photo proportion, in the Proportion list, click Custom, and then drag the corners of the crop frame until the photo has the proportions that you want.

    • To resize the crop frame, drag the corners of the crop frame. If you’ve chosen a standard print size, the crop frame maintains its proportions as it’s resized. A custom crop frame can have any width and height. To maintain the proportions of a custom crop frame, hold down the Shift key while you resize the crop frame.

    • To change the photo’s composition, drag the crop frame to a new position in the photo.

    • To rotate the crop frame so that the photo is cropped vertically or horizontally, click Rotate Frame.

  3. Click Crop again to apply your crop.

To manually fix red eye

  1. Double-click a photo to view it in one-up mode, and then, in the Adjustments group, click Red eye.

  2. Drag a box around the eye that you want to correct, and then release the mouse button.

  3. Repeat this step for each eye that you want to correct.

Note

  • If you can still see red eye after you use the Red eye tool, repeat these steps.

To manually apply a black and white effect

  • Double-click a photo to view it in one-up mode, and then select the effect you’d like from the Effects group.

To save your edits

To save the changes to your photo, click Close file and your changes will save automatically.

Note

  • To remove the changes you’ve made to a photo, click Revert to original.

To resize photos

  1. Select the photos you want to resize, and then on the Edit tab, in the Properties group, click Resize.

  2. Click the Select a size list, and then select a size for your photos. For a custom size, in the Maximum dimensions box, enter the maximum width you want your photos to be.

  3. Click Resize and save. To save resized photos to another location, click Browse, and then select an existing folder to save your resized photo in.

Change the file type of a photo in Photo Gallery

Photo Gallery can display digital photos from cameras and scanners, but it can’t display photos that use some file types. You can’t edit all the file types that Photo Gallery can display.

To view or edit a photo that Photo Gallery can’t display, you can change the photo’s file type to a format that Photo Gallery can display or edit. We recommend that you use the JPEG file type.

  1. Open Photo Gallery.

  2. Double-click the photo that you want to edit.

  3. On the Edit tab, in the Manage group, click Make a copy, select a file type, and then click Save.

Create panoramas and collages and fuse photos

With Photo Gallery, you can create a panoramic landscape photo by stitching several photos together, or put a group of related photos together in a collage. And you can create the perfect group photo by combining the best parts of two or more photos into one using Photo Fuse.

To create a panorama

  1. Take a series of photos from a single vantage point so that each photo overlaps the one preceding it and import them into Photo Gallery.

  2. Select the photos you’re going to use, and on the Create tab, in the Tools group, click Panorama. Photo Gallery will align the photos and combine them into a new composition.

  3. To crop a finished panorama, on the Edit tab, in the Adjustments group, click Crop.

To create a collage

  1. Select seven or more photos that you’d like to group together in a collage.

  2. On the Create tab, in the Tools group, click Auto Collage.
    – or –
    Click the Auto Collage dropdown menu to choose the collage size and layout you want.

To fuse photos

  1. Select two or more photos taken from the same scene and vantage point.

  2. On the Create tab, in the Tools group, click Photo Fuse.

  3. Click the area of the photo you want to replace, and then drag one of the points to adjust the size of this area.

  4. Click the replacement photo that you like best, and then click Save.

Share and publish photos from Photo Gallery

If you have an email program installed on your PC, you can share photos and videos as email attachments from Photo Gallery. If you have Mail installed as your default email program and have at least one email account configured on it, you can send photos from Photo Gallery using photo email. A photo email allows you to share more photos than sharing photos as email attachments, because the photos you send are uploaded to OneDrive and not to the recipient’s inbox.

You can also publish photos and videos from Photo Gallery to a blog, or to websites like Facebook and YouTube.

To share photos or videos as email attachments from Photo Gallery

  1. Open Photo Gallery, and then select the photos or videos you want to email.

  2. On the Home tab, in the Share group, click Email.

  3. Select a size for the photos, and then click Attach.

To share photos with photo email from Photo Gallery (you must have Mail installed as your default email program and have at least one email account configured on it)

  1. Open Photo Gallery and select the photos or videos you want to share with photo email.

  2. On the Home tab, in the Share group, click Photo email.

  3. Select Send photos as attachments, select a size for the photos, and then click Attach.

To publish photos and videos to a blog or website

  1. Open Photo Gallery.

  2. Select the photos or videos you want to publish, and then click the Create tab.

  3. Do one of the following:

    • To publish your photos and videos to a blog, in the Share group, click Blog post.

    • To publish your photos and videos to a website, in the Publish group, select a publishing destination and then follow the on-screen instructions. To add another publishing destination to the Share group, click Add a plug-in, and then follow the on-screen instructions.

     

Undo changes to a photo in Photo Gallery

With Photo Gallery you can undo changes you make to your photos so they look like they did when you first imported them. When you edit a photo, the original photo isn’t visible in the gallery. To see both the original and edited versions of your photo, you’ll need to make a copy of the original photo before you edit it.

To undo changes you’ve made to a photo in Photo Gallery

  1. Open Photo Gallery.

  2. Select the photo or photos that you want to remove changes from and on the Edit tab, click Revert to original.

To make a copy of a photo in Photo Gallery

  1. Open Photo Gallery.

  2. Double-click the photo you want to make a copy of to open it.

  3. On the Edit tab, in the Manage group, click Make a copy.

  4. Name the copy of the photo and click Save. The copy you just made will appear in the gallery

Find recently edited photos in Photo Gallery

On some PCs, after a photo is edited, or its date, rating, or other info is changed, the photo might be difficult to find.

To find hidden files on a PC

  1. Open Folder Options by clicking the Start button The Start button (Windows 8 and 8.1 don’t have a start menu) then click Control Panel, then click Appearance and Personalization, and then click Folder Options.

  2. Click the View tab.

  3. Under Advanced settings, select Show hidden files and folders, and then click OK.