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From the birth of photography, many practitioners have spent hours and even days in the darkroom, creating and producing effects from film and paper. In the digital age, those who took the leap to move from film to digital have tried to recreate those same effects that we used to produce on film. The old techniques were limited to using different exposures to chemicals to create different effects- usually of saturation, colour and depth.
With digital, advanced skills are now available to you at the click of a mouse, and in your home or on a train rather than the confines of the darkroom. Furthermore, because you can now apply highly sophisticated algorithms to your photos, the range of effects at your disposal is infinitely greater.
Some of these digital processing tools can also be found built into most good digital cameras, although that will never offer the flexibility of post-processing on a PC. I will be using Photoshop terminology to describe some basic actions, but these commands and actions will work in a similar whichever product you are using. Photoshop is far and away the photographer's favourite; but it is priced to match, and a good starting point for novices might be Paint Shop Pro.
So where's the catch? Well, these programs are laden with functions, and for many novices just getting the basics done and then publishing to web are challenges. The best single tip that I can give is to play some- then play some more. We'll look at some quick-win functions right now.
Image resizing - Click here for a guide
Image resizing is fairly straight forward, but this leads us to another lesson: these tools aren't a substitute for knowledge. You'll need to know where the image is to be used. If it's for an online gallery, then you should consider an image size in the region of 450 - 600 pixels for the longest side, and a resolution of 72dpi. For print work, expect dimensions and a resolution of up to 40 times as much.
Now depending on how the image looks you may want to make some adjustments to the colour of the image. The easiest way to do this is via two of the Photoshop options. These are “Levels” and “Hue/Saturation”. We'll use Levels first.
Levels - guide
From the top menu bar, select “Image”, then “Adjustments” and then “Levels”. Try not to use “Auto Levels”- I personally don't find it works very well. Levels at first glance can look ominous- don't worry- it's easier than it looks. You'll be presented with a graph ranging from black to the left to white on the right. By dragging the black marker further towards the edge of graph curve, your image will darken a little. Drag the white marker, and the image will lighten. For what it's worth, you're making your “blacks blacker” and your “whites whiter” (no washing powder jokes…) which will have the pleasing effect of adding contrast and depth to your pictures. Don't feel you have to go to extremes on every photo; there are multiple midpoints on the graph too. Hit “OK” to accept the adjustment.
Hue/Saturation - guide
I like to add a little extra colour into the images that I take. Let's do that digitally, with the Saturation control. From the top menu bar, select “Image”, then “Adjustments” and then “Hue/Saturation”. Move the Saturation slider to +15 or thereabouts. You'll see the change immediately. Check that your image doesn't look too bright (if it does, simply move the slider accordingly), and hit “OK”.
Sharpening - guide
The last option I regularly use is an old printing industry trick. It will make your images pop out a little more. It's called sharpening, and here's a rule-of-thumb Photoshop way to do it:
Select “Filters”, then “Sharpen”, and then “Unsharp Mask”. Change the sliders to the following settings:
Amount: between 125 and 140
Radius: 0.8
Threshold: 4
And then click “OK”.
This will add just a little sharpness to your image in all the right places.
What you should have now is a sharper, brighter image that stands out.
Now some general tips. Firstly, beware. You can process images for hours, but simplicity is always the best option. Knowing when to stop editing an image is very similar to an artist knowing when to stop adding paint to a picture. Don't overdo it.
Secondly, this is a very short and quick introduction to some simple but effective processes with Photoshop, without making your images look too digitally enhanced. What you can achieve in the long run is beyond the imagination. You have, at the very least, learned that most functions are within 3 clicks of a menu. Play with it and don't be frightened- always use a copy of your original image, and then it won't matter how odd the end results are.
Finally, if you do find yourself exhausted with Photoshop, there are lots of additional options called “plug-ins” made by third parties which bolt on to most of the image processing software that you can buy. One that I have found very useful is called Virtual Photographer by OptikVerve. Download it- it's free and easy to use. You can find Virtual Photographer at www.optikvervelabs.com
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