Quick Photo Fixing Tips

With digital photography, a new era of photo editing has arrived. No longer do we depend on a photo processing service to fix photographs. Instead, we have the luxury of fixing them ourselves. With a little effort we can get our desired results. We can also get creative, but often we just have time for those quick fixes that will make our photographs useable and visually appealing.

To edit photographs, you will need a photo-editing program such as Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Elements. Some simple software programs will enable you to change brightness, crop and fix red-eye. A more advanced program will give you more options. My examples will be done using Adobe Photoshop 8.0.

To start editing open your photograph in your program and determine how it needs to be fixed. Here are six of the most common problems and how to fix them.

Too Dark. A dark photograph is a very common problem. It is also one of the easiest problems to fix as long as the photograph isn't too dark. In many cases the information is still there but it is not visible. To make the information visible, go to Image - Adjustments - Levels. A dialogue box will open. Move the white tab on the levels bar to the left. Moving the far right one will change the colors that are close to white. Since this will brighten up even the brightest section, you will not want to move this tab too far. Moving the middle one will brighten everything except the black and white endpoints. Often moving the middle one will create the best look. This can also be done with the Image - Adjustment - Curves function, which has more capabilities but is not as quick. In my dark photograph, I fixed it by moving the levels tabs.

Too Bright. Photographs can also be too bright. Photographs that are too light can be darkened but it is not as easy to fix. The camera records the image but often if an area is too bright the camera will not record it accurately. In that case there is no chance of recovering the information. To fix a bright photograph go to Image - Adjustments - Levels. A box will open. Move the black tab on the levels bar to the right. Moving the far left one will change the colors close to black to black. Since this will make the darkest section black, you will not want to move this one too far. Moving the middle one to the right will darken everything except the black and white endpoints. Experiment with moving the tabs until you get the best look. This can also be done with the Image - Adjustment - Curves function, which again has more capabilities but is not as quick.

Fixing Image Rotation. When an image appears crooked and you want to make it straighter, you can change the rotation of the image. To change the image's rotation go to Image - Rotate Canvas - Arbitrary. A window will pop open. You will put in the degree of change needed and select either clockwise (CW) or counterclockwise (CCW) then select OK. If the rotation is too little or too much, return to Image - Rotate Canvas - Arbitrary and adjust until you get the correct rotation. In my doorframe photograph, the door is leaning toward the left . I wanted it vertical. A clockwise change of 2.30 gave me the look I wanted.

Needs Cropping. Often a photograph will need cropping to remove something from the photograph or to get a closer view of something in the photograph. To crop choose the rectangular marquee tool on the upper left of the tool bar. Outline what you want to crop with the tool. To keep the proportions true to a normal print size only select an area in a ratio of 1:1.5. For a square, use 1:1 proportions. If you are not concerned about the proportions, just select the area you desire for the photograph. After selecting your area, go to Image - Crop. It will automatically crop the area. In my photograph, I wanted to crop out the person that got into the photograph. I used a 4:6 ratio and cropped it.

Fixing Off Colors. Sometimes lighting will create too much of a certain color such as a yellow from indoor lighting. Go to Image - Adjustments - Levels. A box will open. There are two ways to adjust the color. The first way involves the color droppers. This works for photographs with very dark or very bright areas. Click on the white color dropper, which is the far right of the three droppers. Then, click on the whitest area of the photograph. If it gets too washed out, then click on another white area. It should change the photograph. The color dropper is calculating what is the whitest point in the photograph. At the same time, it balances the colors. If you have a very dark area, repeat the process with the dark color dropper. The second method involves using the channels. Using the pop-down menu, select a color to change (red, green or blue) then move the tabs slowly until you get the desired color. Color changes can also be made using Images - Adjustments - Color Balance. In my photograph, the light from above creates a yellow cast on the wall and darkens the white paneling. I fixed the photograph by using the white color dropper on a bright section of the white toilet.

Removing Red Eye. A camera's flash can leave a red spot in a person's eye. Many programs come with a simple red-eye removal process. For example, iPhoto allows you to select red-eye from the menu. Then, click the center of the eye. The eye will darken.

Other general tips

• Always work with the highest resolution images possible. As you crop or edit your photograph the resolution will decrease. Starting with a high resolution image will make any changes less obvious n the final photograph.
• Always keep a copy of the original image. This allows you to have the original image so you can go back if you don't like your changes or need to do something different. Use "Save As" for any image changes.

With a few quick editing techniques, you can change problematic photographs into great ones.

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