Photo
Editing 101
Back in the days when
everyone had film cameras, we went to the dog show, shot ROLLS of film,
and prayed that we took something usable when they were
developed. Now we all own digital cameras. We shoot
hundreds
of photos until our memory cards fill up, then we pray that we took
something usable. That's progress.
But wait one minute.
Digital images can be modified on our computers. We can lighten
or darken the image, crop out what we don't like and resize the image
to email to all our friends. The possibilities are endless.
WHAT! You don't know how to do that? Well, you are in the
right place because I'm going to make an attempt at teaching you some
BASICS of photo editing.
Let me say something right up
front. I'm not a professional photographer and I don't own
professional level equipment. I'm just a guy who takes far too
many pictures and likes to share them. I'm going to keep all this
in the context of dog photography because we all like to take pictures
of our dogs, right?
I'll make the
assumption that you know the basics of how to use your
computer. Also, I can't know what photo editing program you have
on your computer. I'll only use the functions that are in most
programs. Adobe Photo Shop is probably the best photo editing
software available but who can afford it. You can find good
editing
software at Best Buy. If you are really on a budget you can buy
used
software. For my demonstration I am using Paint Shop Pro 7.
There is
a newer version out there but I am on a budget, too.
Here are the topics
I'll try to cover:
- Resizing an image (for email or web pages).
- Correcting an image to make it usable (too light, dark or bad color).
- Cropping (trimming) an image.
- Editing an image to make it better (or hide a photographers mistake).
- Composite images (making two into one)
- Picture formats (some are better than others in certain situations)
One thing I would advise is that you make a copy of any picture you
wish to modify and work on the copy. Once you make a change to a
digital image and SAVE it, it's permanent.
So lets' begin: