Picasa

As a member of Google's family of software, Picasa is an image editor that's backed by a lot of platform clout. Indeed, the program has been fashioned by experienced designers, to the point that it's amazingly intuitive and easy to use. That, without a doubt, is the program's best feature. For example, instead of tinkering with dozens of settings, the editor's workflow opts for a "tune it" approach. This is done by selecting one of the three image editing tabs, which lead a user through a couple of clickable steps. With that done, the picture is ready to be saved and organized.

Mac users aren't exactly hurting when it comes to capable graphics software, so Picasa can't compete on their level, not when it comes to sophisticated pixel manipulations. Cleverly, Google software engineers haven't tried to design an overly complicated software package. Small and lightweight, Picasa Mac relies on a fast and streamlined workflow. A red-eye removal tool eliminates annoying camera flash reflections in seconds. A second tool crops the picture while a third straightens the image. An auto contrast and auto color button are both on-hand to quickly correct a poorly exposed snapshot. Really, just by using a few clearly labelled interface controls and sliders, a bad picture can rapidly take on the looks of a professionally composed photograph.

The second half of the software interface is reserved for collection organization and tagging. After all, since everyone can now pack hundreds if not thousands of pictures into a tiny smartphone memory card, it's becoming harder and harder to organize those shots into some kind of a structure that makes sense. Well, the Picasa Mac album organization panel takes the stress out of this chore. A detail-oriented user can rapidly assign keywords and geotags to hundreds of images with the stroke of a key. There's even an option to tag faces, which can be quite fun. Imagine trying to find a family member. Just by typing in their name, all the pics with that face automatically appear in a virtually sorted collection.