Thank you to Lightcrafts I recently had the opportunity to test drive Aurora-a unique photo editing and management software.

Aurora makes it very easy to edit your photos with just a glance. The software took less than 10 minutes to dowload. It was up and running very quickly. Aurora makes it very simple to understand what and where to click, I highly suggest this for beginners.

When you initially click on your Aurora icon it brings up a page with a list of folders organized by all the dates your photos were taken. I was able to easily choose the folder I wanted to edit from. I chose 2 pictures to work with that were taken the other night when I did not have my ISO high enough, so they were quite dark. You click on the photo you want to work with and you can choose from several options. You can edit, organize, share and/or publish and back it up online for a minimal fee. When choosing edit it brings up your picture in a larger fashion as pictured below:

Now, I see the words are blurry on this screen shot so I will have you refer to a much more clear version of this on their website. I wanted to show this to talk to you about just how simple it is to use. On the left you will see the list of actions you can take such as warming up or cooling off your picture, making it brighter or darker, cropping, and more. When you click on the action you want to take,  it will bring a slide of images at the top with your original in the center. You can go either way, while working with relight you can see my original in the middle. If I go to the left I can make it darker, if I go to the right it gets brighter. When you drag your mouse over an edit you think you’d prefer it gets slightly larger so you can decide if that is how you may want your photo to appear.

Here are a couple of my edits-

You can see here I cropped it to get a closer shot of Olivia and then brightened it and made it a little more crisp:

In this shot I changed the warmth to make it less warm, and I made it brighter:

You can clearly see the difference in quality of these photos after editing with Lightcraft Aurora photo editing.

The only improvements I would make would be to add an option to select certain parts of the photo for brightening and darkening, etcetra. One thing I like to do with a lot of my photos is make sure the eyes remain as bright as they are in person and sometimes, mostly with my children, their eyes need to be brightened up a bit if a certain shadow catches them. I’ve only been able to master this by selecting only the eye itself.

To Buy:

You can purchase the Aurora Software from Lightcrafts for just $19.99 right now! Hurry though because that is a %50 off discount that will only be offered temporarily!

To Win:

Lightcrafts is offering 2 of my readers the chance to win their own software download of the unique photo editing software, Aurora.

In order to enter I’m asking that you go to Lightcrafts and tell me either about something I did not mention about Aurora or of something new you have learned on their site.

For Additional Entries:

-Follow me

-Follow me on twitter an tweet about this giveaway (unlimited for the amount of tweets you make)

-Subscribe via email or reader (5 entries)

-blog about this giveaway and link back (5 entries)

-fav me in technorati

I don’t know about you, but I am. WWAS-Window Washing Avoidance Syndrome. Especially when it comes the outside portion of my windows, I can honestly tell you that they are sadly avoided. It’s never easy you know? I have to drag out the ladder, spray the window down, pray that I can reach the top of the window with my cloth without falling off of the ladder and breaking my neck, all while my husband is at work. After all of that there are usually streaks and smears left behind that I’m just not sure I have the energy to tackle all over again.

Windex has come to the rescue with their new Outdoor All-In-One glass cleaning tool. I can safely clean the outside of my windows now, possibly without the assistance of a ladder (review to come shortly).  I can be rest assured that the result will end in a streak-free shine. In 3 easy steps your window will be the shiniest windows on the block.

• Spray: Wet the window and the cleaning pad with a garden hose.

• Wipe: Clean the window using the water on the window to activate the cleaning pad.

• Rinse: Rinse the window with a garden hose. The Windex Sheeting Action Formula rinses to a streak-free shine so there is no need to hand dry.

You can find more people that suffer from WWAS and listen to their stories here. You can take the quiz on the Procrastinometer to find out if you truly suffer from WWAS. More importantly you can read more information and see a video demonstration of just how easy it is to use Windex Outdoor All-in-One glass cleaner by clicking here.

To Buy:

The new Windex^™ Outdoor All-in-One Glass Cleaning Tool will be available in food, mass and DIY retailers. Retailers include Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot, Lowe’s and your local grocery or hardware store, among others for just $14.99 for the starter kit including 1 pad that cleans 20 windows. It is $4.99 for the 2 pad refill kit.

To Win:

Windex has offered one of my lucky readers the chance to win their very own starter kit to try out on their windows this spring! All you need to do is head to Windex Outdoor website and tell me in the comments why you could use this spiffy tool or something you may have learned on their site that I did not talk about.

For Additional Entries:

-Follow me

-Subscribe via email or reader

-Follow me on twitter and tweet about this @tarankh

-Blog about this and link back (5 entries)

-Fav me in Technorati

-Leave a comment in any non-giveaway post