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Photo:

The main Photo editing application in Roxio Media Creator 7.5 is PhotoSuite 7.

It appears this application is aimed at the user who just wants to quick fix a photo, perhaps to remove some redeye from a photograph or something similar. Of course it can do much more than this. So let's take a look at what this application and its wizards can do.

Import Photos

Let us take a look at the Import photo function in Easy Media Creator.

Selecting this option opens the main capture Application. From the screenshot below we can see the options available. I selected Removable Disc as this is how my digital camera is recognised in Windows.

The application now connected to my camera and displayed the contents in the form of thumbnails. To select the pictures, you hold down the CTRL key and click on the pictures you wish to include in your compilation. At this stage you can also specify a folder on your PC to store the pictures. After this is done you simply click on the capture button to transfer your pictures regardless where you choose to store them.

The thumbnails will also be displayed in the thumbnail display in the Media Creator application.

Edit And Fix Photos

Selecting this option opens the main Photo Editing application 'PhotoSuite 7".

Simply select a photo for editing and it opens into the application.

Once the photo is loaded there are two main levels of options you can choose.

You can select between 'common features" and 'all features".

As we can see from the screenshot below, 'Common Features" allow simple editing of your picture. The PhotoDoctor will automatically adjust your picture to give the best results. This seemed to work particularly well on the picture in the screenshot above.

Other features available are simple 'crop", 'rotate", 'redeye removal" and a simple 'add text feature". Again these worked as they should, redeye removal as usual with this type of function more or less removes the redeye without compromising your picture, but fails to remove it completely.

The more advanced features, as seen in the screenshot below are,

⋅         Overall quality - This includes the PhotoDoctor described above and includes settings for Exposure, saturation, sharpness, tint and brightness and contrast.

⋅         Facial flaws - This feature will remove redeye, wrinkles and blemishes.

⋅         Damaged Photos: this will remove dust, scratches and has a handy clone area tool.

⋅         Transform - Includes the following, Crop, Rotate, Flip, Straighten and Resize.

⋅         Add Photos - Allows you to Add Photos, cut outs and Props.

⋅         Effects - Includes Special Effects. In most cases a sidebar will open with the available effects. There should be an effect to suit just about every possible situation. Your imagination being the only limiting factor here.

⋅         Text - As the name suggests, will allow you add text to your photos in various text styles and font styles.

⋅         Paint & Draw - Has a myriad of tools, including Paint Brush, Flood Fill, Predefined Shapes, Custom Shapes and Touch up Brush.

⋅         Cut Out & Masks - This feature allows you to create Masks and Cut Outs. These can then be used to apply special effects to your photos.

E-Mail Photos

This wizard allows you to add photos and then email them to a friend or group of friends. You can add as many or as few photos as you wish.

The wizard will cleverly convert the format of the photos to JPG format. The wizard will guide you through the various email options as well as formatting your email.

Create Slideshow

Selecting the 'Create Slideshow" option will open Sonic MyDVD Slideshow wizard.

As we can see from the screenshot below, there are two main options which will allow you to select either a DVD Slideshow or VCD Slideshow.

For this test I choose the DVD Slideshow option. Once this has been selected, the main add and edit window will appear.

To start adding your pictures to the new project you click on the 'New Slideshow" option, this will in turn open another window.

Clicking on the 'add files" button will open a file selector and allow you to add as many or as few pictures as you require. A single sided blank DVD will hold hundreds if not thousands of pictures. At this stage you can rotate your pictures so they are displayed correctly on your TV screen or PC display when you playback the final DVD Slideshow.

After adding all the required pictures, clicking on OK will return you to the main window.

As we can see from the screenshot below. You can now preview your Slideshow or do some final editing, perhaps selecting a time period for each picture to be displayed in your final slide show or select a transition effect. Or you can click on burn and the wizard will render your Slideshow and burn the compilation onto a blank DVD media.

Create Greeting Cards

This wizard opens the main PhotoSuite application and allows you to create greeting cards, birthday cards, postcards and invitations. All with a few simple mouse clicks.

As the main PhotoSuite application has already been looked at elsewhere in this review, here is a simple postcard I put together in under two minutes.

This concludes our look at Photo Editing with Easy Media Creator 7.5. It's no Photoshop, but then again it was never intended to be. It's very simple to use.

I'm no expert when it comes to photo editing or creating DVD or VCD Slideshows, but even I had it running and producing results in a few minutes.

Our forth section is Video