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Digital Photography Software Manipulating Tools

Okay, now you have purchased the image-manipulation programs for enhancing those images. Possibly, you bought one of the most sophisticated programs available, which has tons of options to choose from. So, you are just starting out in photography and have never used these programs before. In front of your computer screen is an open windowpane, and in that pane, it is requesting you to type in a command. What do I choose?

Some of the tools offered in the program includes, Crop, Layers, Clone, Exposure, Un-sharp Mask, Blur, Colour, Desaturation, and so forth. If you are seeing these tools, you want to take carefully notes, since many photographers will employ all of these tools on a single image before completing a task. I remember the first time I opened up Adobe Photo and seen such tools. My first expression was, somebody get me out of here! Well, nobody came so I ventured off to see where it would go, and low in behold; I was in love.

These image-manipulating programs are so fascinating that it will blow your mind. Therefore, to un-blow your mind we will offer you a few tips to help you along your journey of manipulating those images.

Crop
Crop is one of the most frequently employed tools in image-manipulating programs. This feature is utilized to cut out areas of an image or picture that you do not want others to see. For example, if you snapped a shot of a mate and in the background is a detailed view of your home area, you can use crop and come up with your mate in the picture only. You can use other features in certain programs to add colorful backgrounds also. This feature also enables you to speed up the process of image printing, since it will decrease the size of the images. You can save computer hard drive space with this handy buddy.

Layers
Layers enable you to create multiple copies of one image so to speak. You can alter, manipulate, adjust, crop and so forth but choosing layers will enable you to keep the original image or photo untouched. Imagine that, you can change a picture without touching it. Go figure!

Clone
This is at what time you want more than one. Just kidding:
This feature enables you to take out elements that you do not want in the pictures; rather you can remove entire parts of a picture or the dusty areas in sections. The Clone tool will work with the frame through a clone process and transfer the image. You will need to learn more about the brushes used in these programs, since it plays a part in cloning. The clone will employ a brush to move objects and remove areas of a photo through a backdrop result.

Blur
Blur is not what it seems. You can use this tool to blur out backgrounds that you don't want in an image. Like crop, you can do pretty much the same thing with this feature. One of the most common blurs that photographers will use is the Gaussian.

Adjusting tools include the Exposure, Colour, and Desaturation. Using these tools, you can get a sound picture in color.

Exposure
Exposure has a couple of different selections, or levels if you will. You can use Curves or Levels in the menu to manipulate images. The tools are confusing, however levels is one of the most popular since it can be employed with ease. With this tool you can tone, shadow or highlight images. With the Curves tool, you can alter the lines or change the shapes of images, yet this is a more complex tool to employ.

Colour
You can use Colour to increase the brightness or decrease the brightness within an image. You can manipulate the photo, changing the colors to any desired effect.

Desaturation
You want to be careful while using this feature, however if you intend to change the entire colors in a picture, this is the option to select, since it converts the images to black and white. You want to learn the Colour Tools before considering this option, especially if you are not familiar with the programs. The Colour tool will enable you to retouch the photo with colorful scenery.

by Readabout's Digital Photography Training Team

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