Smile, and say `woof': new software takes photos into the realm of imagination.

• Author: Furchgott, Roy
• Position: Circuits - Brief Article

For anyone whose snapshots are a snore, now there's computer software that can overcome almost any shutterbug's shortcomings. The programs work on pictures taken with digital cameras or on photos shot on film and scanned into digital form, and they'll let you make red-eyed relatives look human again, touch up a picture's blemishes, brighten faded colors, recrop, and even make more-creative changes--like superimposing your pet collie's head over Uncle Charlie's face.

Adobe's PhotoDeluxe ($49.95), Corel's Custom Photo ($49.95), and Microsoft's Picture It 2000 ($54.95) are designed specifically for beginners, and their menus take you step by step through each photo alteration. For more computer-savvy customers, there is more advanced software: Adobe's Photoshop LE and Corel's Photo Paint 9 Digital Camera edition (both of which sell for $99).

For the record, while altering photos can be amusing, even artistic, it's a definite no-no in journalism. This magazine, like most news publications, has a policy against substantially altering photos, unless the...