Photo Manipulation (Assignment 2)

A lot of beginner didn't realize photo editing is important. Most of them including me didn't even bother to edit our photos before we shared with others. But here’s why photography, in my mind, is not just about taking good pictures, but also about solid editing.

In past, I always thought why my photo not sharp enough, color not deep and etc is due to my DSLR camera (Canon EOS T3) only a beginner model. Yes, indeed an expensive DSLR camera can minimize the need to edit a photo, but this means we have to invest on such camera that easily cost us RM 5K or even more? The answer is no if you know some photo editing skill.

I am using my camera for shooting sceneries and people either indoors or outdoors. This is the result of a photography done by my camera to Chloe, a friend of mine who agreed to have her picture taken (see Fig. 1.0), and as you can see it is still unedited; lacking sharpness and resolution. The surrounding light and space around this person may have been the cause as to why this photograph is altered. But you can see it is not that really bad even though this photography is unedited, I just want to make the image more stunning, neat and crispy for the sake of art and beauty.

 

Fig. 1.0. Original Photo






Fig. 1.1. Photo Edited by Picasa

(1. sharpen, 2. color saturation, 3.fill light)



So I have been using this editing software called Picasa to fix and configure photos especially for Chloe’s photo, which she is excited about. Picasa is free photo editing software from Google that makes your pictures look great. It improve almost any picture with Picasa's one-click fixes for common problems like red-eye, color, and lighting. Or, use tuning and effects to make your best photos look even better.There is a link below that will lead you to where you can download the software and use it. I would like to show you the tasks I have done that made this picture more beautiful (see Fig 1.1). First, I sharpen the photo by probably 5% to 8% from the original one. Second is adjusting the color saturation and balancing the colors of the photo. And lastly, the filling of light by reducing the shadow at the background. The reasons why I made these changes on the original photograph is because I want the details to be more visible by sharpening it, and that is why you can almost see every strand of Chloe's hair, and see her skin to be a bit brighter. I adjusted the color saturation and balancing to make the red colors in her dress and the ballon she is holding more neat and crispier while reducing the shadow by "fill light", thus exposing a little more detail to that ballon behind her and making Chloe the whole focus on this photo. Picasa makes me learning life easier.


So start to edit or enhance every single shot you take if you not yet do so. 
I am sure your skill will improve when you practice and repeat until you get thing perfect.



 Link: http://picasa.google.com/