Photo Editing
The objective of this exercise was to use two applications to edit two pictures in order to understand their editing capabilities.
My first picture was from Groton’s Fall Foliage parade and I wanted to enhance a picture of the library contingent. I used ArcSoft PhotoStudio 6 which I received bundled with other software – it is also a free download. I cropped it, sharpened it heavily trying to bring the sign in focus with limited success, brightened it, and increased the contrast. Since the girl in the orange jacket was still blurred, I selected just her head and shoulders and tried to sharpen that and increase the contrast – with limited success. I then selected the person on the orange motorcycle and increased the contrast and brightness with better success but the head and face was still not good. So I tried selecting just his head and icreased the contrast and Saturation, with some success. I also selected just the face of the boy in the black hoodie and brightened it. The windshield of the black motorcycle was too bright after I brightened the whole picture initially so I selected just that and reduced the brightness. I selected the sky and trees in the upper background and reduced the brightness and increased contrast for it which put it back to where it was before I increased the brightness for the whole picture. In general, I was disappointed that I could not improve this picture more. I added text to identify the picture.
The Second photo was of my grandson. Using PhotoStudio, I cropped and used Auto Enhance which seemed to work well in this case. I then did sharpen it a bit. I then selected the top area of the photo and increased the contrast a bit and decreased the brightness which darkened it a bit. I added text to identify the picture.
I then tried Picasa. I was disturbed when I downloaded and installed Picasa that it insisted on going through all of the pictures on my computer (I have thousands). I consider this very invasive since this action has nothing to do with editing photos. I then access the parade photo used above. I cropped it and sharpened it but it changed greatly when I used the Boost function which brought out the colors and sharpened the photo more than I was able to do manually. I then tried some Picasa functions and was interested in the Soft Focus so have included this. Picasa has plenty of capability to change the picture in its entirety – black and white, or sepia or warmth, etc. but I could not find the capability to select and alter a part of a photo, like to brighten a particular face. I added text to identify the picture – the text function is very easy to use.
I then edited the photo of my grandson with Picasa. I cropped it and then found ”I’m Feeling Lucky” which seemed to work well. I then adjusted color temperature some to gain more warmth and sharpened it a bit and added a border. I could not find how to resize pictures in Picasa so had to go back to PhotoStudio to resize before uploading.
I then edited the photo of my grandson with Picasa. I cropped it and then found ”I’m Feeling Lucky” which seemed to work well. I then adjusted color temperature some to gain more warmth and sharpened it a bit and added a border. I could not find how to resize pictures in Picasa so had to go back to PhotoStudio to resize before uploading.