How to Edit & Create Beautiful Photos
- 1). Get a photo-editing program that has all the functions you will need. Check online to see if free, online editors can do the editing you want. Check your computer to see if you already have photo-editing programs installed. Check the material that came with printers or scanners to see if a disc with a photo-editing program was included. Check to see that the program you will use can crop, resize, sharpen and rotate your photos. It must also be able to adjust brightness, contrast and color.
- 2). Check and improve the composition of your photographs. Crop your pictures to cut out objects around the edges that don't add to the scene. Crop so that the subject is slightly off-center but facing inward if it is a person. Rotate the picture so that the horizon is horizontal and then crop again to straighten the edges. Try the "Sharpen" function on slightly fuzzy pictures to see if you can improve them. Resize the picture for its intended use, keeping a copy of the full-sized original. Resize to about 600 by 800 pixels for internet use and email.
- 3). Improve the balance of your photograph by adjusting the contrast, brightness and color. If you plan to print out the photo, print out the original before changing anything since it will look different on paper than on the screen. Adjust the brightness and contrast together so that the darkest and lightest areas of the photograph still show some texture and are not evenly black or washed out white. Adjust the colors so that skin color is correct or, in landscapes, so that the sky, the water or the trees are true to life.
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