Editing Digital photography the easy way

(11 ratings)

By: www.articlewheel.com

Added: 26 April 2008 Views: 119

Path : Art

Photography

Do you like this tutorial? Now you can support our team to add more :

In order to edit pictures successfully, one must have the proper tools, just as when processing photos in a darkroom. In the latter, chemicals, exposure times, and certain materials can affect the outcome of a photograph. In today's darkrooms, photo editing programs, one must know how to use the tools at hand to create the results wanted. Using photo editing programs makes editing much easier. It is far less expensive than working in a traditional darkroom and far less time-consuming if you wish it to be. However, you may also take your time editing to come out with the best results. Mistakes are not embedded in stone, for there's always the "undo" button to rely on. Using your software, you can improve an image, or change it to something completely different.

One problem people face when starting out with digital photography is how to touch up raw digital images. Perhaps an image is slightly dark, perhaps it has to be rotated or cropped. Maybe some dirty spots have to be cleaned out and erased. Digital photos usually require some form of manipulation before final output, unless, of course one takes a perfect picture. The first step is to find an image editor. For beginners, a program that has easy, simple tools will do just fine. More advanced people can move on to more complicated programs. There are many pictures that you've probably taken that would've looked great except for the red-eye. Just about every graphics program has a red-eye removal, so that no matter what level your program is you'll be able to remove the red-eye. However, in order to prevent it in the first place, it helps to know what causes it. Red-eye is caused by the flash reflecting to the back of the eyes all the way to the retina, and the red comes from the blood vessels in the eye. Therefore, if you flash a light in the eyes of your subject, this will cause the pupil to contract, and then there won't be any red-eye.

Sometimes, clear lines that separate the images in the panorama may appear. It is possible to blend the lines so that they disappear. Select the Advance Blending option located at the right of the Photomerge window, then select Preview. Inconsistencies in color will be calculated by the program. At this point, the images will blend together. Photoshop will combine all the individual images for your panoramic into a single layer. If you select the Keep as Layers option it is easier to edit each image individually. This is a great help if one of the images is brighter or darker then the other images. You can select that image in layers and adjust the brightness for just that image. It is a good idea to save the layers as a .psd file so that you can always come back and correct any mistakes or make any changes later. It's a real pain to have to redo everything from scratch just if you made a mistake or want to change something later. You can also distort the pictures so that the scene will look like it is in perspective. Choose the Perspective option on the bottom of Settings. You can also do this by choosing Set Vanishing Point in the Photomerge window, then click to an area in the panorama.

When comparing traditional vs. digital photography one of the arguments may be the ease of use. In utilizing a digital camera it is simply a matter of pointing and shooting. The image is captured by the digital camera and embedded on the memory stick contained within the digital camera. Also, using the easy viewing screen on the camera, the photographer can instantly see whether the picture is what they wanted or if it needs to be taken again. In fact if the picture has movement or does not capture the image that the photographer wants, it is easy to delete the picture from the memory stick.

Why bother with old equipment that does not have full functionality? The optical performance of older professional quality lenses is still very good, and this is not always reflected in their price on the second-hand market. Maybe you have a favorite lens that has that special quality and you want to keep using it. The sensors of most DSLRs are smaller than the size of 35mm film, so digital cameras use only part of the view through the lens. This can help older lenses in their performance as lens faults are more prevalent at the edge of their view area. Using more of the center section avoids these problem areas, so the old lens may perform better on the digital than they ever did before. Recognizing the value of the screw-mount lenses even in the digital age, there are still new and second-hand adaptors available to mount these lenses on a variety of digital SLR cameras. While the lens may mount on the camera, the adaptors generally do not provide any mechanical or electrical connection between the lens and the digital camera body.

With a photo-editing program, you can "fix" or change images acquired from a scanner, digital camera, or the Internet and print them, import them into another document, post them on a Web page and use them for desktop backgrounds. To make the choice that's right for you, check reviews in computer magazines and on the Internet to narrow your choices; look for a program that can directly import images from a scanner or digital camera; make sure the program can crop, resize, flip and rotate images; compare color adjustment capabilities of programs. You should be able to adjust contrast, brightness, sharpness, hues and color-saturation levels; change a color; and convert color to black-and-white or grayscale; and compare the ease of using the various programs available.

There are basic photo editing programs available that allow you to do basic adjustments and learn basic photo manipulation. Some of these programs can be found for free such as Gimp for Windows, Serif's Photo Plus, Paint.NET, Image Forge, Pixia, Ultimate Paint, and several others. Which ever direction you take in choosing a photo editing program, be prepared to become totally hooked on working with digital photography. As you discover the many tricks and tweaks possible with photo editing, don't be surprised to find yourself immersed for hours at a time tweaking and manipulating your photographs.

About the Author :

www.articlewheel.com

Editing Digital photography the easy way
Articles and Tutorials Directory by www.learnfobia.com

Rate this tutorial :