|
|
Rules for editing digital photos
So you have finally gotten that digital camera you have always wanted.You know by now that taking pictures has never been easier with many digital cameras promising a great result with just point and shoot.But after the initial glow of owning and operating your new digital camera you may want to explore the world of picture editing.One of the major advantages of digital photography is the ease by which the user can edit their photos helping insure that the results (the pictures) are really what you want.Plus it's also just a lot of fun!It can be confusing navigating the world of editing for digital photos.Most programs do offer a standard number of enhancements and fixes that get decent results while giving consumer oriented directions that are easy to understand.
|
|
What you will really want to know is how to adjust contrast, warm up images and reduce picture "noise" from shadows in an accurate and controlled way.There are more advanced techniques like masking that can be learned after the basics are mastered. You may ask why even learn about photo editing when so much of it is automatic?The answer is by making manual what was automatic may seem like a needless complication but the idea is if you understand certain fundamentals in digital imaging it will give you the ability to fix common problems and create complex effects without having to search your computer for a plug-in to do it for you.The goal in photo editing is to help you look and see what is wrong with your image without having to rely on the automatics of any program to find the problem for you.
While Photoshop continues to be the program of choice both in use and popularity there are other programs that work as well.Don't be afraid to experiment and see what program fits your editing style the best.While each program has different features to offer whatever you are using should include:
- The ability for multiple undoes
- A brush tool for mask painting
- A magic wand or selection by color
- A multi level histogram or levels adjustment
- A curves adjustment
- A Despeckle or reduce noise filter
- Layers and Layer masks
These features are the basics for a spectrum of photo editing.Photoshop obviously sets the standard and includes all of these. There are other programs as well including The GIMP, JASC Paint shop Pro (Windows) and Corel Photo paint which all come highly recommended.There are basics to photo editing that you should know once you have chosen your program.When you have selected your image to be edited the following should be considered:
- Cropping -does the picture reflect what you want it to?Does it need to be bigger, smaller or have elements taken completely out of the picture?
- Combining elements from different images-do you want to merge pictures or add an element to your chosen picture?
- Adjusting brightness and contrast -is the light to dark or too bright?Do objects or people appear to glow and need to be toned down or does the subject of the picture need to come out of the shadows?
- Correcting color balance-is the color balanced throughout the picture or is something taking over?
- Adjusting color saturation -are the colors as deep and vibrant as you want them or do colors appear to "bleed" and need to be toned down?
- Converting color images to black and white-are you happy with the color images or do you want to turn them to black and white or black and white photos back to color?
- Eliminating red eye-does anyone in the picture have "red eye" and need it eliminated?
Privacy Policy, Terms of Use