| You may
also want to check out my scoop of the
top 5 beginner photo editors for Windows.
Open the picture you want to edit within
the program and save a backup copy. Step 2: Remove
Red Eye
If
you're taking photos of people, chances
are you may have taken a photo with
red-eye problems. This is easily removed
with image editing software. In Paint
Shop Pro, select the Red-Eye Removal tool
in the menu and voila, the program does
all the work for you. In Ulead
PhotoImpact, there's an equivalent tool
called Remove Red Eye in the Tool Panel.
Step 3:
Rotate and Crop
If
you've taken a photo in a wrong
orientation, it's easily corrected with
little loss in quality by using a rotate
tool. You'll also want to do some
cropping of your photo to remove
cluttered surroundings that draw
attention away from your subject. For
example, I find cropping very useful if
my subject is occupying only the middle
portion of the photograph. Cut away the
two sides of the picture and you have a
much more professional look.
Step 4:
Play with Color
Don't be
afraid to experiment with colors. Image
editing programs put a lot of power in
your hands. You can make the leaves
purple, change the entire photo to black
and white, add a sepia effect - almost
anything you want. A good photo editing
program will have automatic color balance
options to adjust color defects in your
pictures.
Step 5:
Blurring Effects
Sometimes
I like to add a blurring effect to my
photos. What you can do here is to select
areas of the photo which are unimportant
and blur them out. This will bring more
attention to the main subject of your
photo. For example, if I had a picture of
a flower and I wanted to play down the
details in the leaves in background, I
might add a blurring effect to the
background.
Step 6:
Sharpen Up
Sharpening
the image is the next step in the photo
touch up process. Contrary to popular
belief, you can't actually sharpen an out
of focus image. What I typically do when
sharpening an image is to selectively
sharpen. That is, I select a part of the
image, maybe a person's eyes and sharpen
only that area. Leave unimportant areas
unsharpened.
Step 7:
Resize
Depending
on your needs, you may want to resize
your photo. If you're emailing a picture
to a friend, you'll want to resize the
picture down to a much smaller size. If
you're printing the photo on a greeting
card, you can scale down the image to the
size of a 4x6 print.
Step 8:
Save Your Work
Ok,
you're pretty much done. Remember to save
your work in the appropriate image
format. Use the large TIFF image format
if you want to retain all details for
subsequent image editing. On the other
hand, you can use the JPEG image format
if you want to just send the picture via
email or upload them to your website.
Conclusion
Alrighty
then! Now you know the secret to touching
up and preparing your raw digital photos
for output. I'd say that not all the
above steps are truly necessary in a
given situation. Remember to use your
discretion to see which is necessary.
Don't be afraid to experiment and learn -
practice makes perfect when it comes to
touching up your photos.
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