So you've made the leap to digital photography and it really does seem as easy as everyone says. Until, that is, you download the snaps from your digital camera.
With hindsight, perhaps auntie Rita won't appreciate the fact you have inadvertently focused on her unsightly mole, making it look twice as large as usual. And will over-serious cousin Edwin appreciate the bunny ears someone has given him by sticking their fingers up behind his head? Unlikely.
Something has to be done and fast. But where to start? Most of us have photo-editing software that came bundled with the PC or the digital camera we bought, but often we end up overwhelmed by the array of tools and, uncertain of where to begin, we simply choose to file it under 'too hard'. Cue the embarrassing family album no one ever gets to view.
In the interests of family harmony, we decided to offer a refresher course in the most basic of image-editing tools and, because there are so many packages available, we're not going to focus on any particular one.
Instead, we will break down tools by the kinds of task they are suited to. This means we'll look at three main groups of tools: those that control, those that select, and those that add effects to digital photographs.
To make it simple for even the most novice user, we'll include the icon that usually represents the tool under discussion in the tool palette - so look for something similar in the program that you have. Before long, you'll be able to diffuse family tensions and make the most of your digital camera.
Take control
The first thing to say is that there's no need to be concerned about ruining precious pictures. If you're new to image editing, open your chosen photo and use the application's Save As option to create a copy.
This is usually found under the File menu at the top of the window. Now you can experiment and learn on the copy. If you make a mistake and don't want to start all over again, hold down the Ctrl key and press Z - this will reverse the last action made in the application.
Control tools enable us to negotiate our way around, into and out of the image. The Hand tool (also known as the Pan tool) is the simplest and is named such for obvious reasons; it looks like a hand and allows us to move - or pan - our way around the image.
It is of most use when the image being viewed is larger than the program window, such as when taking a close look at a part of an image using the zoom tool. To pan around, click on the hand tool and hold down the left mouse button while dragging the mouse across the image.
To take a closer look we need to use the zoom tool. Shaped like a magnifying glass, the zoom tool allows us to magnify a portion of an image or zoom out of it. Click on the Magnifying glass tool in some applications and the cursor will change to a magnifying glass with either a plus sign, for zooming in, or a minus sign for zooming out.
Often on tool palettes you will find that some icons reveal more than one tool (which perform similarly themed tasks), and these are usually marked with a small arrow to indicate a drop-down menu. Click and hold to reveal the other tools.
At its simplest, the zoom tool works by magnifying the area you left-click on, although many enable you to hold down the mouse key and drag around a specific area. Often right-clicking will zoom out of the image by a set increment.
Images will appear distorted when you zoom in, because the actual pixels (the tiny dots that make up digital images) will be displayed. That doesn't mean the printed image will appear like that. To see a representation of the image as it will be printed, look for the zoom percentage - this is usually displayed in the Title Bar of the document. At 100 per cent the image appears normal.
Make your selection
Selection tools enable you to remove or enhance specific parts of an image and most packages include a simple marquee tool for drawing rectangles, circles or ellipse shapes, to a freeform tool that allows you to draw around an unsymmetrical object.
In addition, the Eyedropper tool is useful for selecting pixels of a particular colour - for example, selecting a sea or a sky if you wish to replace a section of the image with some other background.
The marquee tools are usually depicted in the palette as a square or circle with a dotted outline. The freeform version normally has an irregular shape, a bit like a clothes hanger. A square-ish object is best handled with the rectangle tool, while an unsymmetrical shape is best traced around with the freeform tool.
Hold and drag around an area to select it - experiment with different starting positions to get the closest fit.
The freeform tool requires you to trace around an image while holding down the mouse button or clicking around the desired area to create a series of dots that the application connects when you re-click on the first dot.
Once you have selected a portion of your image, a flowing dotted line will appear around it. Now only that area will be affected by any changes. The circle or ellipse tools can come in handy to select the red part of an eye in an image where red-eye has occurred. Replacing static backgrounds such as sea and sky can also be done with an effect tool called the Clone Stamp, which we'll investigate shortly.
The more sophisticated your package is, the easier selection tools are to use. For instance, Paint Shop Pro offers an Edge Selecter freeform tool with which you can click on the edges of the shape in question.
As you do so, it will stick to the edges of all pixels within the edges of two subtle colour or light differences, thus picking out the object from its background.
This tool is sometimes called the magnetic lasso, because it sticks to the sides of objects within images as you drag it around the rough shape.
Causing effect
Once you know how to move around an image and select parts of it, there is really only one more basic principle of photo-editing to get to grips with. Applying effects can range from simply cropping a large image in order to enhance one aspect of it - a cottage in the middle of a landscape shot, for example - to filling in a hole left by the removal of one part of an image.
Many packages also include lots of preset effects - often called filters - that can transform entire images.
The cropping tool is the one you will use most often - in the palette, it's denoted as a box with a diagonal line through it. Left-click and drag diagonally across part of a photo and a box with a dotted edge will appear indicating the portion of the image you have elected to keep.
To change it, drag the resize handles located around the rectangle's border. Once you are happy, double-click and your image is resized accordingly.
Paint also includes a Brush and an Airbrush tool, which you can use to add colour to your image - effectively 'painting' it. The colour used is dictated by the colours palette, which is most often found as a square of colour on one side of the working area. Click this to choose a new colour.
There's also a clone tool, which you can use to copy and paste part of a picture on to another area.
The marquee tools are useful for copying and pasting one part of a picture to another spot - it's really handy when trying to edit out a small unwanted feature from an image.
From the toolbar, choose the rectangular selection tool to draw around the portion of the image you wish to copy and right-click. From the Edit menu, click on Copy and Paste. The Selected matter can now be dragged to where you wish to copy to. Right-click, choose paste, and drag the selection to the new location.
An alternative is to use the Fill tool - the icon usually resembles a paint tin in mid-tip. This will enable you to reproduce colour from one section of an image to another. This can be a rough-and-ready approach to take where subtle colours are required. For those areas, the clone tool works better.
The clone tool works by taking a sample of one area of the image and copying it on another area. In practice, you first have to select the point to be copied and this is usually done by right-clicking, or holding down the Alt or Ctrl key while left-clicking.
Then let go of the mouse key, move the cursor to the area you want to apply the effect to and hold down the left mouse button to start cloning the image, while moving the cursor over the area.
It's important to take the sample from the right spot, because when you begin to apply the clone, the sample point remains relative to the cursor; this makes it much easier to sample textured backgrounds and you can also use it to clone people's faces onto another person's body for a giggle.
Another useful feature found on the tools palette of many image-editing applications is the sponge. This changes the colour saturation or vividness of an area. In black-and-white images, it changes the contrast.
Once you have selected sponge from the toolbar, you will be able to specify your requirements and then drag the sponge over the portion of the image you wish to modify.
While a picture can often paint a thousand words, a few well-chosen ones added to the image itself can bring out the meaning or impart a message. Look for a large letter of the alphabet in the palette, usually a T or an A, which represents the text tool.
Clicking on the image using this tool will do one of two things, depending on your particular application. Either a flashing cursor will appear on the image, enabling you to enter text, or a window will open where text can be typed in.
In either case, it's possible to change the font and point size of the text in a way similar to word processing programs, by highlighting the text using the mouse, then choosing options from the menu bar at the top of the screen.
Why DIY?
Most image editing programs offer quick-fix functions for those of us who like the thought of being photo-editing whizzes, but cannot quite muster the energy. Digital correction filters for common problems such as grainy images (called noise for those in the know) are often on hand.
Backlighting, flash and that unearthly coloured glow that sometimes afflicts your snaps can also be corrected with a few clicks of the mouse.
A common feature in most quick-fix menus these days is a red-eye reduction tool. Most photographers find that portraits of saintly aunts can appear satanic when unwittingly taken with an evil red-eyed glare. Hovering this tool over the affected pupil, detects the red and converts it to black. Only the most puritanical of image editors will be able to resist.
Altered states
Whether creating a groovy mosaic effect from a photo or turning a photographic image into a charcoal drawing or a needlepoint template, you can make much more of your digital snaps by getting to grips with the Filter effects in your photo-editing application.
Look out for the word Effects or Filters in the menu bar. Most are designed to mimic the style of a specific type of photography or art technique, such as embossing an image or rendering it in the style of an impressionist painting.
What a picture!
Once you know how to manoeuvre around an image and make a selection of elements within it and then change them, it becomes easy to explore a photo-editing package and really get to grips with all its features.
The Help files are a useful resource for giving you an overview of a feature of the program and providing a step-by-step guide to using it.
And if you still need motivation, imagine cropping that hideous ex-boyfriend out of old birthday snaps, or filling in uncle Arthur's bald patch for his 60th birthday card. Memories are so much nicer with a little airbrushing.
