The Languedoc Page - PC articles by Richard Cleverley

Image manipulation software - 2

Fixing your pictures on the computer

It has been quite a while since my last article. Work and a house move has left me quite busy but I am determined to make more time for this series of articles to help people get the most out of their computers.

Continuing on from my last article where I introduced various photo manipulation programs, I am now going to demonstrate some techniques that may be of use in improving their home photos. Whether you take photos on a nice new digital camera or scan them in from prints these tips should help you produce pictures you will be proud of.

The perennial problem of the home photographer (and indeed some professionals) is the dreaded red-eye effect. This is caused by light reflecting back from the retina and making the subject look like they are possessed.

To get rid of red eye using the computer is a simple process that can really improve those family moments.

First of all, you need to get your picture into the computer. Depending on whether you are using a digital camera or scanning the image from a print, follow the instructions that came with your digital camera or scanner so you have the image saved on your computer. I suggest you save your files (more relevant if you are using a scanner) as .jpg files. Also, most digital cameras name their files along the lines of DSC0001.jpg etc. Renaming these files so that they actually mean something is probably a good idea as when you have hundreds or thousands of images it will make finding the one you want much easier. To rename a file, simply right-click (this is for Microsoft Windows only) and in the context menu that will pop up go down to rename and type the new name in.

Ok, so you have a photo in the computer that has red eye on it. What do you do now to get rid of the effect.

If you are using photoshop (any version) the answer is simple.

Load up photoshop and open the image you want to work with.

Zoom into the image to make the image as big as possible.
Create a new layer by going to ‘Layer’ and then ‘New Layer’ on the top menu bar.
Using the eyedropper tool Click on a part of the iris that is close to the normal eye colour. Now, making sure you are on the duplicated layer (marked Layer2 in the image ), paint over the red part of the eye. When you have finished, go to ‘Filters’ then ‘Blur’, then ‘Gausian Blur’ on the main menu bar at the top of the screen. Set the radius to 1.0 pixel and click apply. Only the painted part of the picture you changed will be changed, the rest of the image will not blur. This is what we want to happen.

You will notice the eye probably looks very flat and dull with no highlights in it. This is easily fixed by right clicking the duplicated layer in the ‘Layers panel’. Click on ‘Blending Options’ and in the’ General Blending’ section, change it too Saturation (it will probably be normal). This will bring the highlights back into the picture.

Now if everything looks good you can save the image by going to ‘File’, ‘Save as’ (or ‘Save For Web’) and making sure you keep it as a jpeg file.

There are various other filters etc. you can use to further improve your image, but just play around with them and see what you come up with.

If you are using Paint Shop Pro, then things are even easier. Load the picture into paintshop, zoom into the image and then use the ‘Red-eye Removal’ tool in the ‘Adjust’ menu. Follow the instructions it gives you (just click on the pupil until the image looks OK) and you are done.

Other programs will also give you different ways of fixing this problem, just look through the help files if you are unsure.

Using image manipulation programs can really add to your pictures, but if overdone can make your images look very unnatural. Using the undo function (found in the ‘Edit’ menu) can help if you make a big mistake. Probably the best way to stop you completely ruining your images by heavy handedness is to save the picture with two different filenames (ie. Imageoriginal.jpg and imagenew.jpg ) so you always have the original to go back to.

I hope this has given you some ideas on how to improve your images. Play around with the different functions of your favourite package and see what you can come up with.

I will be writing other tips for image manipulation over the coming months (and I’m also trying to get to grips with Macs so I will be able to give all you Mac users out there some hints too).

In the meantime, if anyone has any other ideas for articles please let me know. I will try to make them as simple as possible for you all.

Until next time.

Richard

All information contained in this article is for informational uses only. None of the programs mentioned here are endorsed by the Languedoc page, IC Technology or Richard Cleverley. Make sure you backup your data before installing any new software. Any damage caused by the suggestions included in this article are not the responsibility of The Languedoc page, IC Technology or Richard Cleverley