Snapfire Plus is Corel’s version of photo organizing, enhancing and sharing software. Snapfire is available in a free version that has limited functions. The Plus version has some added features. I must admit that I tried to get a comparison of the two at Corel’s website, but the link seems to be broken. From another source, I found that there was no image resizing, backup, tagging function, or text feature in the free version.

Snapfire Plus installed adequately from the disk included in the box. The product authenticity code was found on a separate card inside the box with the CD. One would have to keep that with the CD in case a reinstall was needed. I read some information about the program online before installing, and learned that there is an update to the program. After installation, I clicked on Help and chose Check for Updates. The update downloaded directly into the program, but took some time to do so. I was also greeted with some offers to download free trials of other Corel programs. After installing the update, Snapfire Plus is version 1.2.

When one opens the program for the first time, it automatically searches for photos in the usual My Pictures folder. If you have pictures stored in other places, you must tell it where to look. It opens in a window similar to other photo organization programs that I have seen. Pictures display on the right side of the window grouped by date taken. On the left there are five areas to choose from including Home, Enhance, Show, Create and Message Center. You see all of your photos in Home, which is in turn divided into options such as Share, Find, Review, Adjust Photo, and Protect. Under the Adjust Photo, one can choose "Advanced editing with Pain shop Pro Photo." Clicking on that choice takes you online where you may download a free trial of the program or buy it for $69.99. I found this to be one of the things I did not care for about this program. They keep trying to sell the user other programs.

Enhance is divided into three areas including Adjust Photo, Apply Effects, and Add Text. Adjust Photo provides options such as Quick Fix, which does some adjustments automatically, and Photo Fix, which allows the user to control some adjustment such as brightness, contrast, saturation, and warmth. Other features such as Fix Red Eye, Crop, Rotate, and Straighten are available. I liked the fact that the crop feature allows for choosing the output size. A Makeover feature provided three tools. Those tools include Blemish Fixer, Toothbrush, and Suntan for touching up portrait-type photos. Apply Effects includes Black and White, Sepia, Add Picture Tubes, and Add Picture Frames. A variety of picture frames are available. An undo is included that allows one to experiment and easily go back to the original. Text can be added to a photo with the Add Text. Adjustments can be made to the font, size, flow, alignment, and color of the text. Pictures can be shared as e-mail, printed, or prints can be ordered from CVS Photo Upload or Webshots.

The user can use the Show feature to turn a collection of photos into a slideshow. In the Home screen there is a photo tray at the bottom of the window into which to drag photos to include in a project. Once the photos for the slideshow are in the photo tray, changing to the Show feature brings up another area called storyboard. Photos from the photo tray can be dragged into the storyboard one at a time, or one can choose to add all to storyboard. Once in the storyboard, the order of photos can be changed. Settings can be adjusted for the amount of time between photos, motion effects, and transition. Captions and soundtrack can be added also. There does not seem to be any way to include your own narration. A small screen is included to view the slideshow. There is an option to save as Snapfire show or Video (WMV file). The Show area also includes a Video area which has an option for Muvee AutoProducer. Clicking here again takes one online to where you again are given the option to download a free trial of another Corel program - the Muvee AutoProducer - or purchase it for $64.95. Snapfire Plus itself cannot produce movies.

The next area of the Snapfire Plus window is Create. In Create, the user can make Calendars, Album pages, Magazine Cover, and Greeting Cards using photos. They can then be printed.

Message Center is the last area of the Snapfire Plus window. Clicking on that area gave me yet another chance to go online and get a free trial of another Corel program—Ulead DVD MovieFactory 6. Free to try, $49.99 to buy.

I found Snapfire Plus a good basic program with a few advanced features. There are online tutorials for help in getting started. It seems to run a little slowly, and I had some problems at times with features performing as I felt they should. There are fun features for those who like to be creative with their photos. It is user-friendly, for the most part, and a good beginning editing program, but I am not sure it is worth the $40 price tag when there are other free programs with similar features. If you would like to try it, a free trial can be downloaded from Corel’s website.