How to Edit a Photo on a PC

After you've worked to set up that perfect picture, snapped your camera button and reviewed the image in the view window, you may notice a couple of things you wish you could have reposed, re-lighted or changed. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but you can actually change those words with a couple of quick clicks through a graphics program on your computer. Use software programs to edit your photos quickly. Each software program provides a variety of options and tweaks you can perform on your photos, giving them a slight change or a whole new image.

Things You'll Need

• Adobe Photoshop
• Digital image
• Windows Paint
• Microsoft Publisher

Instructions

Using Photoshop

1. Open Photoshop, pull down the "File" menu and click "Open." Browse to the photo to edit and double-click the image so it appears in the workspace.

2. Pull down the "Image" menu, click "Adjust" and select "Levels." Move the black or white triangle sliders to the left or right to add more shadow or brighten up a picture, which is helpful if your image was overexposed or taken without the camera's flash setting.

3. Click the "Lasso" tool on the toolbar and draw an outline around an object or person in the photo. When you see the blinking dotted lines, right-click inside them and select "Layer via Copy."

4. Pull down the "Image" menu and click "Adjust" again, selecting "Hue/Saturation" this time. Move the "Hue" slider bar to the left or right to change the color of the selected item. This is ideal when you're trying to match colors, such as peoples' shirts or houses on a street. Click "OK" when satisfied.

5. Click the right-pointing triangle in a circle icon or the three lines icon at the top of the "Layers" palette, and select "Flatten Image." Pull down the "File" menu and click "Save As." Type a new name for the photo; don't save it on top of the original in case you ever want to access the unedited version again.

Using Paint

1. Open Paint, click the Paint button in the top-left corner of the screen and select "Open." Navigate to a digital image and double-click it, which opens it in the Paint workspace.

2. Click the "Select" button, which looks like a rectangle, and pull down the option menu till you get to "Free Form Select." Draw an outline around part of the picture, such as the sky or someone's shirt.

3. Click the "Fill with Color" tool, which looks like a tilting paint can. Click the "Color 1" button, which opens a color picker. Select a paint color, click "OK" and click inside the selected area to fill it with color. Repeat to change any other colors on the image.

4. Click the "Paint" button and select "Save As." Give the photo a new name and select a destination to save it to on your computer.

Using Publisher

1. Open Publisher and click "Blank Print Publication." Pull down the "Insert" menu, click "Picture" and select "From File." Browse to a photo on your PC and double-click the file name. The picture opens on the Publisher workspace.

2. Change the Publisher workspace size to fit the picture by pulling down the "File" menu, clicking "Page Setup" and scrolling to "Custom." Type in a new size, such as 6 inches by 4 inches, and click "OK." Publisher automatically adjusts and zooms the page.

3. Right-click the photo and select "Format Picture." The "Picture" tab is already enabled. Click the "Recolor" button and select a new color for the picture. Click the "Leave black parts black" button for some contrast between the colors in the picture, and click "OK." This returns you to the "Format Picture" window.

4. Click the "Colors and Lines" tab, pull down the "No Line" menu and select a color to make a border around your photo. Nudge the "Weight" box up or down to determine the thickness of the border. Select a border style, such as lines, boxes or clip art, and click "OK."

5. Pull down the "File" menu, click "Save As," name the file and save it to your computer.

References

• University of Washington: Photoshop Selections
• Windows: Using Paint
• In Pictures: Microsoft Publisher