Favorite Free Tools

Working with photos to create wallpapers, collages, and graphics is much easier when you have the right tools. I use all of the following tools, and the great part is they are all free!

Photo Resizer for Windows XP Users

I would be lost without this tool! You can resize a single image or multiple images at once.

What I do is create a new file of the images I want to resize (so I don’t accidentally resize my originals!)

For resizing one image, right click on the image and Resize Picture option will be available.

Click on it, and a screen will come up with your basic options.

If you choose one of the predefined sizes on this screen and hit “OK”, it will save as a copy in the new size.

Using Advanced Options

In the advanced options, you can set you own Custom size, and you can also select an option to “Resize the original picture (don’t make a copy)”

To resize multiple images, use either the “Shift” button or the “Control” key on your keyboard to highlight which images you want to resize.

It is a very basic, easy to use handy tool. You can download it for free at  Microsoft Power Toys

Free Collage Tool !
Collages can be a lot of fun to create.  Photo Collage Creator, which is a free program,  is very easy to use, and provides many way to build your collage, and plenty of options of how you want to save it. I highly recommend this great free photo tool! Go to Photo Collage Creator to download.

This tool is so much fun, and so easy to use! A great rainy day project even for your kids!

Photo Editor
If you do not have Photoshop, or any other photo editor, I urge you to download Picasa’s wonderful photo editor. Even though I have Photoshop, I find for quick edits I prefer Picasa 3. You can crop your images, straighten them, adjust colors, a must have tool. You can download it, free of course, at Picasa 3

If you already have Picasa, be sure and check that it is the newest version 3, because they have improved upon the original one.

Photoshop Owners!
For those of you that already have Photoshop installed on your computer, I recommend adding FotoFrame as an option in your filters. You can pick up the free filter at 8bf.net

You can do wonderful things with this filter, it is so much fun! It does not come with instructions on how to use it. so I created a simple guide to help you,  Using FotoFrame in Photoshop