Two Hours Editing a Raw File in Gimp, One Hour on Photoshop ??? - Nope, About 5 Minutes on Picasa

 Google in their infinite quest to avoid doing no evil, discontinued Picasa in 2016. Typically it wasn't even developed by Google, but was bought from a company called Lifescape. I have been using the Picasa photo editor all this time though. The program is still available to download if you look hard enough. Using this photo editor has become second nature to me, in no small part due to its intuitive un-fussy design. 

Visitors to this blog have probably noticed that I like to include a modified photo along with the "normal" photos. Truth be told almost all of my photos on this blog have been edited somewhat by Picasa. Typically the photos are modified to enhance sharpness and other features, but some photos are just crying out for some more creative modification. My fave Picasa feature is Posterize, which renders a painterly aspect to the photo. This always brings out some elemental features of the shot that the viewer would not otherwise see, sort of a can't see the trees for the forest phenomenon.

For reference, here is the less edited version of the same shot:

Oh, and as Columbo would say; "Just one more thing." I often shoot my photos with a filter called "Art 7" with my Olympus SP100. This is why the clouds are so dramatic in this photo. A final thought from popular culture is from the Firesign Theatre's Don't Crush That Dwarf when Alvarado heckles Principal Poop with "What is Reality?"