Computer enhancement


Hints and tips
by Philip Grosset



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A photo editing program (like Photoshop or the much cheaper Photoshop Elements) can offer all the advantages of having your own darkroom without any of the mess and inconvenience! Below are some simple examples of what can be done.
Boy cropped
Boy blowing bubbles
The photo on the left looks much better after it has been cropped, as on the right. Cropping is something that can be done very easily with absolutely any photo editing program, and it must be the most useful feature of all.
However, here I also used Photoshop to remove distracting objects (such as the photo frame) from the background and to straighten up the window. In addition, I threw the background more out of focus, sharpened up the boy and the balloon, and lightened (and slightly yellowed) the area inside the balloon. This all got quite complicated, but the single most important improvement was made by the cropping.
The photo on the left was taken using just the light from the window and needs sharpening up - something that any photo editing program can do. The sharpened version is on the right. Most pictures look better when sharpened up - but be careful not to overdo it..
Here a photo editing program has been used to throw the background out of focus - very useful with portraits like this.


Window cropped
Stained glass original
I thought this stained glass window, showing Houghton Mill in Cambridgshire, in the Millenium Window at the parish church might make an effective greetings card. Stained glass windows usually come out well if the sun is shining through them - but, in this instance it wasn't! Another major difficulty is that when you look up at a tall window from below, the resulting photo often shows it leaning in towards the top. Also the surrounding area often comes out black. All three of these problems can be seen in the original version of this photo, as shown on the left, but they could all be put right by using a photo editing program to correct the distortion, increase the brightness and crop away the dark surround, as shown on the right.
Flower card
Flowers
Another greetings card. The photo of the flowers on the left looks a bit muddled, but a photo editing program allowed me to use a round vignette to pick out the most interesting part and surround it with a pink background with appropriate lettering on it, as seen on the right.


Lily cropped
Lilies original
You don't have to have a computer to take an attractive photograph. Given a subject like this, get in very close and use a dark or out of focus background to show it off. Even add a few drops of water to suggest dew! I must admit, though, that a photo editing program was used in the version on the right so that I could come in closer still, and also simplify the background.



I think computer enhancement is at its best when you can't see it has been applied. I'm not so keen on garish unreal images of the sort so often seen on the readers' photos pages of digital photo magazines!
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