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Simple Photo Editing Tips

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Tips to Make Website Photos Look Their Best

Good looking photos are an important part of a good looking website. A few easy adjustments can make a big difference. These are a few standard adjustments I try to make to all the photos I use, both on the web and for printing.

Links to More Photo Editing Tips. - I've included some links to more photo editing tips at the end of this article. Be sure to check them out if you're looking for more.

The photo to the right is what I started with. My subject is the cat, so the base of the chair and the tables aren't needed.

I'll crop the photo before I start editing the color so I don't have to deal with the large areas of white and tan colors. The photo on the left is what I end up with after cropping.

Use Levels To Adjust Photograph Color

This is the "levels" color adjustment dialoge box from "The GIMP", a popular free image manipulation software package. Levels is also available in Photoshop and many other software packages.

Short Version: Adjust the left and right pointers so they are at the edges of the lines on the graph. Then adjust the center pointer to darken or lighten the photo. Flip the "Preview" checkbox on and off to compare how your photo looks before and after your edits.

Longer Version: Available color values to use in an image range from 0 as the darkest to 255 as the lightest. The histogram graph shows that the darkest color value is around 60 instead of 0. By adjusting the photo to take advantage of the full range of color values, it increases the contrast between the lightest and darkest parts of the photo, and makes the details stand out more.

The left pointer has been adjusted to discard all color values between 0 and 57 (remember, they weren't being used anyway) and stretch out the color values between 57 and 255 to use the full range of 0 to 255. This adjustment causes the entire photo to look darker, so the center pointer has been moved slightly to the left to lighten the mid-tones of the photo.

The GIMP - Powerful free photo editing software
Photoshop - Professional photo editing software available at budget prices

Adobe Photoshop Elements

Professional Photo Editing Software at a Budget Price

After Levels Adjustment

This is the histogram graph after the level adjustments have been applied. You can see the mid-tones in the center and the shadows to the left have been slightly shifted to the left. It also shows that the color range between 0 to 57 is now used.

Apply Unsharp Mask for a Crisper Photo

Use the unsharp mask filter to create a crisper definition between light and dark areas. The settings to use for unsharp mask varies based on the size of your image. Website photos are usually pretty small, so I use an "Amount" of 0.50 in The GIMP and 50 in Photoshop, with a "Radius" of 1. Leave "Threshold" at 0.

Compare the Differences

After applying levels, the stripes in the cat are more pronounced, and the chair is a richer blue. After applying the unsharp mask, there is more definition in the cat's stripes. Unsharp mask is good for removing some of the blurring effect caused by resizing images.

More Photo Editing Tips

I've hand picked these links to articles from other people.

Ten Photo-Editing Tips From a Pro - NYTimes.com: Ten easy ways to give your photos a professional polish using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.

My favorite tip from this article is adding a vignette that darkens the corners of the image to draw the viewers eye towards your subject in the center of the image.
How to Use Textures to Enhance Your Photographs: Use subtle textures to add interest to a visually flat photo.
Top Photo-Editing Tips | PCWorld: Dashing off your photos on e-mail? Follow our essential tips to prepare your digital images before you send them. Your recipients will be glad you did.
Best Photography Editing Tips: Here is a collection of the best photography and editing tips from the Digital Photography and Photo Editing group. Gathered from its members years of experience, these are the the tips they consider most important.

Thanks for Your Comments :)

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mamabush Feb 9, 2012 @ 8:20 am | delete

This is great...I'm definitely going to use the tips here for fixing some of my photos. I'm checking out GIMP right now...can you resize your photos with that? Thanks for sharing these tips!

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