How to Edit Pictures With Photoshop

Editing pictures in Photoshop is relatively easy. That is to say, it is easy to learn the basics of the editing process but Photoshop is a powerful and complex tool. Read on to learn some of the basics; cropping photos, adjusting contrast and the size of the photo.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computer
• Digitally archived photos
• Photoshop 5.5 and up

Planning your Edit

1. 
    
   The Naked Truth

   Begin with an unedited image. For example, here's one that my daughter took of me at a recent family gathering. As you can see, there is a white haze on the upper right side and the light fixture has caused a blurred smear across the print while contributing nothing to the composition. Nevertheless, my expression is quite comical and the picture needs only a few tweaks to be an excellent portrait. Besides that, the background could stand to be a bit darker as well.

2. To crop your image, proceed to section 2.

3. To adjust the brightness and contrast of your image, proceed to step 3.

Cropping Your Photo

4. 
    
   The location of the Cropping tool

   Access the Marquee button on the topmost left square of the Photoshop tool bar. By pressing this button and holding it you will open an options box which allows you to choose the cropping tool. The cropping tool is on the far right of the options box.

5. 
    
   Ready to Crop

   Drag the cropping tool across the area you would like to save while pressing your left mouse button. Do not worry if you are not exact, you can adjust the area before you crop by clicking on any of the points of the rectangle

6. 
    
   Cropped picture

   Right click anywhere in the rectangle to crop your picture. A box will appear with two options, "Crop" or "Cancel." The Cancel command gets rid of the entire cropping Rectangle, freeing you up to start again. The Crop command speaks for itself.

Lowering the Contrast of the Background

7. 
    
   The Magic Wand

   Use the magic wand tool, as shown below, to click on the area you would like to alter. The magic wand will highlight an area of the picture that has the same value, hue and contrast as the area you clicked.

8. 
    
   The Brightness/Contrast Slider Box

   Right click and select "Feather" from the drop down menu. Feather blurs the edges of your highlighted area. In this case I have selected a feathering of two pixels. Click on the image menu and then select "Adjust," from there select "Brightness/ Contrast." A slider box will appear. Adjust the brightness and the contrast until you feel that it is acceptable. Do not worry if you make a mistake. Opening the "History" window will allow you to backtrack and reverse any gross errors.

9. 
    
   The finished product.

   Below you can see the finished image. There is still a slight haze to the right and a glow to the left but they do not stand out anymore. The subject of the picture, me, is centered and has a higher value than the background. Of course there is plenty more that could be done to the picture, for instance, due to a trick of the light I appear to have a double chin in the picture which is patently untrue. Not only that, but the camera appears to have added more than the standard ten pounds to me.

Tips & Warnings

• Photoshop has an excellent help and how to guide in it's main menu. Spend a little time with it and you will be editing with the pros.