November 3, 2009 Archive

Cameras don’t take square pictures, they take rectangular pictures. If you perchance forgot to rotate the camera before snapping, you can rotate the picture to the left or right by a 90 degree angle.

In the rush to take a picture, getting the camera perfectly level isn’t always possible and there will be some photos where the horizon is slightly askew. You need to rotate the picture a degree at a time. Look for the option to rotate the picture a small value like 1 degree to the left or the right, depending on which way you need to adjust.

As previously mentioned, cropping is a huge benefit with image software.  If you took the picture, say, of your daughter on the swing, once you view it on your computer, you realize that you didn’t zoom enough. Perhaps there are more trees in the picture than your daughter.

In most programs, this tool is in the “Tool” menu where it will probably look like a picture frame. Click on the image (after clicking on the “Crop” icon) and hold your cursor down as you draw inside the picture to get rid of the background while leaving the subject intact.

If your photo is too dark, you can adjust the brightness to give it some life. Try using your image editor’s gamma control. This is a tool that is designed to brighten the darkest parts of the picture without over-exposing the parts that are already bright.You can usually find the gamma control in menus like “Color” or “Image”.

Many programs today have a one click correct of red eye. Look for “red eye removal” somewhere in the “Effects” menu.

If your program doesn’t have this feature, try zooming in on the subject’s face and using a coloring feature to match the color of the eyes. Zooming back out, you probably won’t be able to tell the difference.
You can also use image editing programs, such as Photoshop, to add a caption to your photos. This is helpful if you want to identify the people in the picture, the location, or the date. Look for a text tool, which is often the letter “A”. When choosing a font, choose a fat one because skinny ones are often hard to read in a digital picture.

If you want to e-mail photos to someone, be considerate to the recipient by resizing it. By attaching several giant 3mp images to an e-mail message, you can bog down the recipient’s inbox with a huge file. The message will take forever to send and receive.

It was not all that long ago eager photographers rushed to the drug store to retrieve their expensive film. Browsing through envelopes of prints fresh from the developer I was constantly frustrated with poor quality or ridiculous pictures.

So after spending time and money to develop (and purchase) the film, I often ended up tossing them into a picture drawer rarely to be viewed again.

As you begin to develop a strategy for culling, editing, storing, organizing and most importantly enjoying your images, keep in mind that the goal is to end up with an effective retrieval system

Never, ever edit your original images. Always work on copies. Archive the originals for safe keeping in their original format. Nothing is gained by converting camera-fresh JPEGs to a lossless format until you begin editing them.

Most digital photographs deserve at least a trial pass through your photo editor’s “auto-balance”, “instant fix” or If you’re new to post-processing, you can begin to get a feel for what works and what doesn’t by noting what adjustments the auto-balance made to the images. Even a suboptimal auto-balance result can be a good starting point for your manual adjustment.

Many digital cameras come with computer software to edit and to organize your images. These programs will assist you in correcting and manipulating the brightness, sharpness and color of your photos.

The possibilities for image editing and manipulation are limitless once you become acquainted with the program.

With your editing software, you can crop the photos to remove unnecessary background images and focus on the subject of the picture itself. Plus, you can enlarge or reduce your photos at the touch of a button.

You can also adjust the contrast, brightness, and colors to make the photo more eye-catching and appealing. Removing red eye is also possible with these programs.

Some cameras don’t come with a photo editing program. Therefore, you’ll either need to buy one or use one of the many free software tools online.

Photoshop is the most widely used photo editing program on the market and provides numerous options for working with your pictures. Furthermore, Photoshop offers regular free downloads and programs at the following web address:

Also on the web, you will find a whole host of free photo editing software options. The top three that I would recommend are Picasa by Google, Paint.net, and Gimp.org