Image Source: images.google.com

There are people who refuse to embrace photo editing as one vital aspect of digital photography in coming up with a great photo. Editing has been part of the film photography for the last 150 years. When you send your pictures to a developing lab require much work for the photo technician. He has to adjust exposure or crop out something. Editing gives life to the otherwise raw photos. One important factor in an image is exposure. Correct exposure can either break or make a picture. Underexposure and overexposure is the most common problem you will encounter. Luckily, you can edit exposure through the photo editor’s Histogram Level. Try that out in your photo editing program, may it be the Photoshop or some other editing programs.

Image Source: online.com.es

Picnik is an easy to use photo tool to make your images fabulous with powerful editing arsenal. Tweak til you drop. Be creative and be like a pro. Its got loads of effects, variety of fonts, different shapes and frames. It’s fun, easy and fast. It can fix your photos with a click of a button. You can fine tune with the available controls. You can resize and crop and even rotate pictures in real time. Theres tons of special effects available to your liking. It is fast, easy to access, right in the comforts of your browser. Latest fonts are available for your immediate type tool needs. It works on Mac, Windows and Linux. Whats best is, it doesnt require you to download and install anything.

There are amazingly, just a few number of excellent photo editing softwares available today. These tools offer a great deal of useful tools to meet the editor’s demands. Some of its feature should include at least;
Importing,Editing, Sharing, Organizing, Editing, Support and Configurations. It would be difficult to decipher which of the software packages has the best tools for your use. The only thing too look for next is the your ” feel” when using it. Its almost always the best chance of knowing what to choose. You may want to to check out the organizing capability. Organiztion is the key part of photo editing tools. Organization function that will work hand in hand with your operating system and not conflict with it.

Part 2 of Photo Ethics

There are still ethics involved in taking pictures especially those of unknown subjects in of different cultures while traveling n another country. You can’t just go shooting at random people with your camera! In this series of posts, I shall attempt in giving a few tips on how to be polite when taking photos.

If you are merely traveling and taking pictures on leisure and not on assignment (hey, you’ll never know!), payment or tipping shouldn’t be an issue. Some photographers do this. If it works for you (like if you have a budget for it), then why not? But if paying people makes you a little uncomfortable, then don’t forget to include sweets and other souvenirs in your travel bag. Children love them! I have to warn you though, give these gifts only after the fact and not as a means to get someone to agree with having his or her picture taken. Do not bribe. Remember - ethics!

The first thing you need to do is to open your image. Go to the Layers palette and duplicate the image so you won�t have to work on the original. Go to the menu bar and click Image. Go to Adjustments then Curves and adjust the settings. Put Input: 150 and Output: 60.

Now add another layer. And set the background to White. Go to the menu bar and then Filter. Choose Noise and Add noise. Click on Gaussian and monochromatic. Set the amount to 110.

Next, go back to the menu bar and click on Filter. Choose Blur then Motion blur. Set the angle to -65 and distance to 40.

Go to menu bar. Click on Image then Adjustments then Levels. Make sure that the Channel is set to RGB. Set the Input levels to 5 _ 0.25 _ 255 and Output levels to 0 _ 255 then Ok.

Go back to the Layers palette and change Mode to Screen.

And voila!

Although photo editing programs nowadays seem to have all the basic (and advance!) editing tools a man needs, you have to keep in mind that not all the tools you see on the interface are beneficial. One of which is the cropping tool.

Before you start cropping all your images, you have to ask yourself, “Will the photo look better if I crop it?” If you answered no, then don’t. Sometimes, cropping results to a “cramped” photo. You have to keep in mind the nature of the photo’s subject. Sports photographers, for example, seldom use this tool because they feel the need of their photos to “breathe”. The action is not focused on the ball (in basketball for example) only but all the players surrounding the offensive player are vital.

Photo taken from http://www.unionsemester.org

7. So, you have no idea when to shoot horizontally and vertically? If you have been practicing with your camera for quite some time now, deciding how to shoot will come naturally. However, if you’re just starting, you have to keep in mind that should the subject’s height be higher than the width, you have to shoot vertically.
8. Are you guilty of saying “cheese!” every time you click your camera? You might want to change your style. Saying “cheese” sometimes forces the people to smile so big that it looks awkward.
9. Look around you. Is there a glass surface at your subject’s back? If you see one, then better shift your position if you plan to use the flash. You wouldn’t want light reflecting back, don’t you?

Photo taken from http://www.flickr.com

4. No matter what, you have to know the features of your camera. Experiment if you need to. If it’s an analog camera, splurge on films. It is best if you know what your gadget’s edge is.
5. Do not be afraid to move. Move in closer to your subject if you feel that you’re too far. Also, do not trust much on zooms. There are times that the zoom blurs out the photo, so again, make sure you know your camera’s features.
6. For you to have that masterpiece like photo, refrain from putting your subject in the center of your photo. Aside from the fact that it’s boring, you will make your subject look like a pole in the picture.

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Some people do get amused with fantastic pictures to a point that they want to try things out. They want to see how they will fair with shooting their own photos, if they have the knack for it. But before you start shooting, keep in mind these things:

1. You have to be particular about the background. Photos with unnecessary objects floating around the subject are not really nice to look at (not unless that object has a purpose).
2. If you have the chance to shoot outside, then, by all means, do. Nothing beats the sun as your light source. A person’s skin color also looks natural when outside (compared to the inside shot, wherein various shadows and skin discoloration may appear).
3. Even if you’re outside, always remember to use the flash. The sun can create various shadows on your subject, so use the flash to counter it.

Photo taken from http://ant.sillydog.org