A B C C C’S  OF  DIGITAL RETOUCHING

OPEN YOUR IMAGING PROGRAM

ACQUIRE, CLICK PICTURE, INSERT, SCAN, GET IMAGE, AND IMPORT YOUR CHOSEN IMAGE INTO YOUR IMAGING PROGRAM.

Your image can be from disk, camera, scanner or hard drive file.

UNDO - OR WOOPS I GOOFED!  PRACTICE ALL THE FOLLOWING TOOLS UNTIL YOU ARE  COMFORTABLE. USE UNDO AFTER EACH OPERATION TO TRY AGAIN.  UNDO WILL ONLY ERASE ONE THING AT A TIME, USE IT OFTEN.  TO CLOSE AN IMAGE WITHOUT SAVING ALL YOUR CHANGES, BE SURE AND CLICK FILE>CLOSE> NO! DON’T SAVE

CROP - CHOOSING THE PART OF YOUR IMAGE TO PRINT

                Crop out distracting areas of your image.  People, foreground, cars, buildings.

Cropping tools vary with the program. Some have sliders, others bounding boxes.

1. CLICK  TOOLS>CROP OR TRIM> PLACE CURSOR CROSS IN UPPER LEFT CORNER OF IMAGE WHERE YOU WANT TO START  THE CROP. HOLD MOUSE DOWN WHILE DRAGGING TO THE BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER OF YOUR CROP. LET GO. 

This box will be your print area. The pixels outside the box will be thrown away.  When you are satisfied with your new image, you should SAVE AS, so that the original is still available.  A CD or a special folder is a good location.

(The files for photos are often too large to save on floppys.)

COLOR AND CONTRAST

Images often need lightening, darkening, or color correcting. These tools can be icons with + and -  controls, sliders, or auto correct buttons. MANY PRINT PROGRAMS ALSO INCLUDE SIMPLE COLOR & CONTRAST FIXES.

                Simple programs use icons (Picture It). Others use sliders and/or variations (Adobe Photo Deluxe and Adobe Photoshop Elements, ArcSoft Photo Studio)

                IF THE PROGRAM GIVES YOU A TASK BAR, YOU WILL FIND DROP DOWN LISTS UNDER QUALITY/ENHANCE/TOOLS ETC.

CLICK ON TOOLS> AND PICK CONTRAST/BRIGHTNESS

                CLICK ON TOOLS> AND PICK HUE/SATURATION>VARIATIONS

                THE BEST WAY TO PRACTICE WITH EACH TOOL IS TO GO FROM THE EXTREME AND RETURN TOWARD NORMAL. REMEMBER TO UNDO!

                CLICK OK TO GO TO THE NEXT TOOL

PRINT YOUR PICTURE ON SCRAP PAPER TO GET USED TO HOW YOUR CHANGES LOOK BEFORE SAVING.

                IF YOU WANT TO PRACTICE AGAIN, CLOSE>NO>DON’T SAVE!

CLONE OR RUBBER STAMP

                THIS IS THE FUN STUFF!  LET’S GET RID OF CARS, LIGHT POLES, BUILDINGS, SCRATCHES, ELECTRIC WIRES ALSO TAKE OUT RED EYE, BAGS UNDER EYES, COMB HAIR, CLEAR UP COMPLEXIONS, FIX TEARS TO RESTORE OLD SCANNED PHOTOS.

CLICK QUALITY>TOOLS>CLONE OR RUBBERSTAMP.

WHEN THE CLONE TOOL IS ACTIVE AN ICON APPEARS IN THE PICTURE AREA, A BOX ALSO SHOWS THE DIFFERENT SIZE BRUSHES AVAILABLE, OR A SLIDER CONTROLS THE BRUSHES.

A GOOD PLACE TO START IS IN THE SKY AREA. TO ERASE A LIGHT POLE MAKE THE AREA LARGER

                1. PLACE THE CLONE ICON IN A MATCHING SKY AREA, & CLICK

                2. PICK A SOFT BRUSH SIZE CLOSE TO THE POLE WIDTH

                3. MOVE THE CURSOR SYMBOL W/MOUSE TO POLE.

4. HOLD DOWN LEFT BUTTON AND PULL IT DOWN POLE TO PAINT IN SKY. YOU CAN ALSO SINGLE CLICK SEVERAL TIMES.

                5. USE THIS METHOD TO CLEAN UP OLD DAMAGED PHOTOS.

TO REPLACE A CAR WITH GREEN SHRUBS

                1. PLACE THE CLONE ICON ON A SHRUB IN THE PICTURE

                2. CHOOSE THE LARGEST BRUSH     CLICK ON A SHRUB

                3. MOVE CURSOR SYMBOL OVER PART OF CAR  CLICK

                4. REPEAT STEP 3.   DRAG IF YOUR SHRUB IS LARGE.

TO RETOUCH FACE: ENLARGE AREA MANY TIMES

1.BLEMISH OR SCAR, PLACE ICON ON SKIN COLOR, &CLICK. SELECT SMALL SOFT EDGE BRUSH, CURSOR SYMBOL ON SCAR, & CLICK. REPEAT IN SMALL AREAS. TO SOFTEN BAGS & LINES, DO NOT REMOVE; CHOOSE A SLIGHTLY LIGHTER SKIN COLOR AND MANY CLICKS. YOU WILL NEED TO UNDO MANY TIMES IN THESE AREAS.

2. TO WHITEN TEETH.  ENLARGE MOUTH AREA. CLONE ICON ON AN OFF WHITE AREA, PICK SMALL SOFT EDGE BRUSH, CURSOR SYMBOL

ON HIGHLIGHTS OF TEETH. CAREFULLY CLICK ALONG TOOTH.  REDUCE IMAGE TO NORMAL SIZE TO CHECK EFFECT. 

                3.  BRIGHTEN EYES AND ADD CATCH LIGHTS USE SAME METHOD.

SAVE YOUR FINISHED PICTURE UNDER IT’S NEW NAME

USE A PRINTER PROGRAM TO PRINT YOUR IMPROVED PHOTO.

PRINT BEFORE AND AFTER PICTURES AND KEEP A RECORD OF THE CHANGES YOU MADE.  THIS IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT ON COLOR CORRECTIONS.