These two features in Picasa are very important and can change an image totally. Contrast and Color really bring out the quality of an image and you will notice this once the tutorial gets interesting. First off, please open up Google Picasa and wait for it to load. Once you have opened up the program, please move onto the next step.
Browse through all of the images you have saved in your database, but only choose one because this tutorial only shows you how to edit one image. Once you have chosen the image you want to edit, select it, you will then see a blue rectangle around the image you have selected. Double click the image you want and a new window will pop up. The “Basic Fixes” window will have plenty of options for you to choose from but we are going to select the Auto Contrast and Auto Color tabs.
Once you have figured out the options in the “Basic Fixes” window, click the Auto Contrast button. Basically what the Auto Contrast feature does to an image is it adjusts the contrast and fixes any distortion errors that the image might have suffered. This will not affect the color of the photo, but if it does, you may choose the next option which we are going to explain.
The Auto Color button analyzes the entire photo and removes any sort of color cast that is found. If an image seems like it has too much of one color in it, this option will remove all of that. For instance, you see in the background that there is a lot of orange from the sunlight, the Auto Color feature will remove that color and make the image a lot easier to look at. Remember that if you are unhappy with any results, you may undo anything you have previously done. Enjoy!