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Digital
- The Digital Dark Room
Author:
Jennifer Newton
One
of the joys of digital photography is the ability
to manipulate an image for the best possible results.
With standard 35 mm photography, what you see is what
you get. And even then you can always scan your photo
into your computer to make edits. With a scanner and/or
digital camera, a computer and a good image software
application, you technically have your own dark room
to work your magic! Here is a step by step guide explaining
the basics of digital image processing.
1.
Make a Copy
Just like a standard 35 mm print, once you do anything
to it, it's permanent. The same goes with digital
images. If you made some edits to the original and
hit SAVE, that's it! So, before you do anything always
make sure to create and save a backup copy of your
image.
My
suggestions:
- Create
a folder on your hard drive to store all of your
originals. I use My Pictures.
- Then,
create 2 new folders within the main folder. One
named Originals and one named Copies
- I
save ALL of my original images to the Originals
folder . Then when I wish to work with an image,
I immediately make a copy in the Copies folder.
2.
Rotate Your Image
This is not to say that all images need to be rotated,
but if you took your photo using your camera in a
portrait position or if you happened to scan it wrong,
now would be the time to rotate it so that it is viewed
in it's correct orientation.
3.
Crop Your Image
Are there distracting elements in the background of
your image? Would you prefer to place more of a focus
on one section or object in your image? Use the cropping
tool on your image editing software now.
4.
Correct the Color & Tone of Your Image
Look closely at your image. Is the overall color and
tone correct? Is the sky as blue as it should be?
Is the grass really that yellow? Be sure to correct
any color or tone issues now, before you work on any
retouching!
Yes, adjusting the Brightness & Contrast commands
and the Hue & Saturation commands will change
the color and tone, but the results will be rather
flat. If your software offers the ability to adjust
Levels & Curves use those commands.
5.
Restoration and Repairs To Your Image
With many scanned images, especially older or vintage
photographs, you will now need to work on the imperfections
of your image. This could include dust, scratches,
tears, spots, folds or the moiré pattern seen in many
scanned images. Image editing software offer the ability
to make such edits. Be sure to check the user guide
for your software for more instructions.
6.
Cosmetic Surgery
One of my favorite options when working with digital
images (and of course, that of my subjects as well)
is the ability to perform instant plastic surgery!
Those wrinkles or bags around the eyes, blemishes,
blotchy skins tones or red eyes can be removed with
the click of a button. Or perhaps you have decided
that the white shirt your subject is wearing would
look much better as a dark navy blue. NOW is the time
to perform your surgery or fashion makeover!
7.
Save Your Working File
Generally, when we are working with digital images,
they are JPG/JPEG or TIFF files. Each software application
has it's own native file format. For example, Adobe
Photoshop saves files as PSD. I highly recommend saving
your files in the native file format when possible.
This will give you a lot more flexibility. If you
save your image as a JPG file, you will loose Photoshop's
layers, masks, etc.
8.
Resize or Resample
As I stated in two previous articles, the resolution
of an image is very important. Chances are, especially
if you did any cropping, your image is not ideal for
a clear and crisp print. If you will be printing the
images out use your software's resize and resample
commands to set the resolution to a minimum of 150
ppi (yes you can go higher) and then type the desired
print out size dimensions. Be sure to have the image
Resample! (see Adjusting
Your Image Size & Resolution with Adobe Photoshop
Elements for more information)
9.
Sharpen Up Your Image
If you have resampled, rotated or retouched your image,
you will see some blurriness or softness. Now would
be the time to sharpen up your image. Each image editing
software is different. Some offer the Unsharp Mask
while others apply a Sharpen filter. If you software
has the Unsharp Mark filter, it will produce better
results. Be sure to view your image at 100% or Actual
Pixels when sharpening your image.
10.
Save Your Final Copy.
Due to the sheer mass of photos and the cost of home
printing, I take my images to a local source for printing.
Now is the time to save the final image for output.
If you are saving your image for the web, JPG format
is fine. But if you will be having the image printed
out, I suggest you save it to TIFF format. TIFF files
are much larger is size than JPG files. If storage
space is an issue, save the images as a high quality
JPG file.
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