Photo Explosion Deluxe

Photo Explosion Deluxe contains a full set of tools for working with pictures, much the same as can be found in far more expensive picture-editing programs.

There are three parts to the main program: a browser, which is similar to Windows Explorer, allowing you to browse your hard disk and see thumbnails of any images you find.

Unlike more expensive programs, it doesn't allow you to organise, label or tag your pictures, although there is a separate program, Photo Explorer, which does this. It does let you pick up your pictures from a camera or scanner, however.

The second part is a picture editor, with various tools for enhancing your images. It's comprehensive but the automatic fixes are not quite as clever as those in, say, Photoshop Album.

Finally, a project section contains templates for certificates, clothing, CD inlays, labels and many other ideas. These templates are easy to use, although there are no wizards to take you through the process. It's a case of loading the template then double-clicking on each item to customise it.

The program comes with the templates on two CDs - as well as a further CD full of pictures in the deluxe version - along with programs to create panoramic images, morph images together, and make a slideshow.