This is Part IV, the fourth and final article in this series. Part I discussed selection of basic equipment to get your doll photos on the Internet--cameras and scanners. Part II discussed options for getting close-up focus of your small dolls, doll marks and accessories. Part III gavephotoimpact2.jpg (16159 bytes) photographic tips and tricks forgetting quality pictures of your dolls. This part, Part IV focuses on the various software available to help you prepare your doll photos for your web site, or for printing for your personal projects.
Ulead Photo Impact
Ulead's Photo Impact is by far my favorite software program for preparation of photos for the Internet. The program takes some time to learn, but it is the only program that I have tried that is aimed directly at preparing photos for the Internet (as opposed to for preparing photos for print). Additionally, the program provides an easy-to-organize photo "album" for all your doll photos! When I first wrote an article for Doll Collecting at About.com regarding doll photography, I was using PhotoImpact 4--I'm now on PhotoImpact 10!
All the photos appearing in this series were prepared and condensed using this program. The program provides a wonderful "smart saver" which takes your bmps, jpgs and gifs, and condenses them to files that are small enough to open quickly on the web (or, to quickly attach to e-mail), yet still look good. The screen shot photo, above, was first reduced by 70% in size, then the smart saver condensed the original from 206,000+ bytes to the manageable 15,000 bytes you see here. The program also has simple-to-use editing which allows you to play with hue, contrast, brightness, sharpness, color balance, and saturation, showing small thumbnails and previews of your changes before you make the change! The program also handles mundane tasks such as cropping and rotating, and more difficult tasks such as animation., The one drawback of the program that it is not as intuitively easy to use as Microsoft Picture It! Or Adobe PhotoDeluxe; however, I think the steeper "learning curve" is worth it if you are going to prepare large numbers of pictures for the Internet, eBay listings, or transfer by e-mail.
Adobe PhotoShop and Adobe Photoshop Elements
If you are going to design web sites, and wish to become proficient in very detailed photo editing for the Internet, the granddaddy of all photo editing programs is Adobe PhotoShop, which has enhanced their web imaging tools in the last few years . This article doesn't have enough space to go into the many features that Adobe PhotoShop has, but there are many web sites that provide detailed information on the program. Definitely a steep learning curve, but worth it for any photographer that wants ultimate control over their photos. One caveat--the price. Whereas all the other programs listed here are under $100, Adobe PhotoShop retails between $500 and $600. For under $60, you can get the home version of Adobe PhotoShop--Adobe PhotoShop Elements. This program is comparable to Microsoft Picture It! in that it is a more limited photo editing tool, BUT, this program "holds your hand" through the editing process with ample pop-up menus and online instructions. I only recommend this program, and the similar "Microsoft Picture It!" for those very new to photo editing, although in the last few years, Adobe Photoshop Elements has added many more features.
Other Photo Editing Software
Both Adobe PhotoDeluxe Home Edition (see above) and Microsoft Picture It! are not aimed at preparation of photos for the Internet, but instead are aimed at preparation of photos for various printed projects such as cards, calendars, frames and banners. However, both programs continue to add web-oriented features each year. Both PhotoDeluxe and PictureIt! let you change contrast, dimensions, brightness and tones of your digital doll photos (I especially like the eyedropper tool in PictureIt!). Both also have fun "tools" that let you distort and drastically change your doll pictures with fun effects. PictureIt! is exceptionally easy for beginners, and even includes photos in the drop-down menus.
