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Microsoft, MGI Update Their Photo Packages

Microsoft Picture It and MGI PhotoSuite II bring new features and ease of use to editing photographs.

By Stan Miastkowski, PCWorld   

You can't believe your eyes anymore when it comes to photographs. Digital image manipulation can do the unthinkable with pictures, from rearranging landscapes to plunking Uncle Fred's smiling face atop a 20-year-old body. And photo editing software is now inexpensive, versatile, and amazingly easy to use--as demonstrated by two veteran packages, Microsoft's $54.95 Graphic Studio Picture It 99 and MGI's $49.95 PhotoSuite II.

Both packages have a raft of features that allow you to do just about anything you can imagine--and maybe some things you can't--with photographs that you input from a scanner, digital camera, or Photo CD, or with images downloaded from the Internet. Basic operations, such as removing flash-caused "red eye," sharpening images, correcting colors, and simple touch-ups, are almost identical--and virtually automatic--in the two packages. Both offer special effects, such as "warping" of images, and both take a project-centric approach that helps you use your photographs to create collages, cards, calendars, business cards, and slide shows.

When you're finished with your creative manipulations, you can print out your photos, e-mail them to friends or family members, post them on your Web page, or send them to online services that create finished photographs and mail them back to you.

For Work or Play?

Microsoft designed Picture It 99 for occasional home users, although small-business users can certainly find uses for it. The user-interface theme is simplicity. There are no drop-down menus; choices are clearly shown right in front of you. And Microsoft's well-tuned Wizards lead you step-by-step through the process of creating your masterpiece. Picture It 99 comes on two CD-ROMs packed full of projects, templates, and images. An introductory video shows basic operations and gets your creative juices flowing.

At first glance, PhotoSuite II appears almost identical, using Guides instead of Wizards to lead you through basic operations. But the package has a more professional orientation that makes it useful for business applications and even semiprofessional graphics work. If photography is your serious hobby, PhotoSuite II is the logical choice. If you go beyond the basic Guides, the package offers a higher level of manual control over effects, and even lets you create professional slide shows with sound added. You can also import images of many different file types and export them in any file format you choose.

PhotoSuite II does have one major limitation, though: Unlike Picture It 99, which offers thumbnails of images so you can quickly choose the one you want, PhotoSuite II makes you use Windows' standard File Open dialog box. On a photo CD packed with images, I had to open one after another until I found the image I wanted. (An MGI Software spokesperson says thumbnails will be available in the next version of the program.)

Doggone Good Results

I used a Photo CD filled with images of my Labrador retriever to test the capabilities of both packages. Dogs don't get red eye in flash pictures, and Pepper's jet-black coat didn't lend itself to color correction, but both packages did a great job of sharpening the details of her fur. I used edge detection to outline Pepper, pull out the image, and create a room full of clones. The warp capabilities, which allow you to pull and push areas of the photos into grotesque (or funny) variations, were interesting, but not my cup of tea. I also created collages, magazine covers, and photo ID tags.

Both packages performed well, but I liked the extra degree of manual control offered by PhotoSuite II. (Full disclosure: I've been seriously into photography for 30 years.) On the other hand, the extra CD included with Microsoft Picture It 99 gave me a lot more ideas and things to do. With Picture It 99, I could send my perfect Pepper photo over the Internet and order T-shirts, mugs, tote bags, mouse pads, and even a puzzle. Unfortunately, since none of these were edible, Pepper wasn't interested.