TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction........................................................................................................................................1
 Objectives............................................................................................................................................................1
 Getting the Most from this Project.........................................................................................................1
 Achievement Requirements for this Project........................................................................................2
 Safety and Photography and Photo Editing.......................................................................................2
 Online Safety.....................................................................................................................................................4
 Courtesies of Photography and Photo Editing..................................................................................5
 Resources for Learning.................................................................................................................................6
Unit 1: The Basics of Photo Editing...............................................................................................8
 What is a photo?.............................................................................................................................................8
 What is photo editing?.................................................................................................................................9
 Why edit photos?............................................................................................................................................9
 What can we do? The Tools and Techniques of Photo Editing..............................................10
 What You Need to Get Started..............................................................................................................16
 How to Begin..................................................................................................................................................17
Unit 2: Nailing Your Exposure.......................................................................................................21
 Exposure............................................................................................................................................................21
 Brightness and Contrast.............................................................................................................................23
 Lots of Levels and Helpful Histograms...............................................................................................25
 High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photos.....................................................................................................26
Unit 3: Hot and Cold: Working with Colour Temperature......................................................28
 The Feel of the Photo................................................................................................................................28
 The Importance of Colour Temperature............................................................................................28
 Getting Curvy..................................................................................................................................................29
 Tinting with Colour Filters.........................................................................................................................30
 Hue and Saturation......................................................................................................................................33
Unit 4: Everything is (Almost) Crystal Clear: Sharpness and Clarity......................................35
 Sharpening.......................................................................................................................................................35
 Creating Focus with the Blur Tool.........................................................................................................37
Unit 5: Cropping, Resizing, Saving and Printing.......................................................................39
 Cropping with the Crop Tool..................................................................................................................39
 Framing..............................................................................................................................................................40
 Saving.................................................................................................................................................................41
 Understanding File Types: RAW, TIFF, JPEG......................................................................................42
 Resizing.............................................................................................................................................................44
 Printing..............................................................................................................................................................45
 Wrapping Up..................................................................................................................................................45
Glossary.............................................................................................................................................47
Resources...........................................................................................................................................51
Activities............................................................................................................................................52
1. Introduction: Opening, Resizing and Saving....................................................................................52
2. Get with the Program: Becoming Comfortable with your Software......................................54
3. Exposure Fix.....................................................................................................................................................56
4. “I can’t hear you? It’s too noisy!” How to Reduce Noise...................................................58
5. Getting Whites Their Whitest: Correcting Colour Balance.........................................................60
6. Filter Fun...........................................................................................................................................................61
7. It’s a Crop Out!..........................................................................................................................62
8. Finding Focus..................................................................................................................................................63
9. “On Your Own” Edit and Share...............................................................................................64
10. Look Deeper: Researching Techniques...............................................................................................65
11. Instant Vintage: Aging a Photo..............................................................................................................66
12. Pass It On: Group Photo Edit..................................................................................................................68
13. 180 Degrees: Stitching Together a Panorama.................................................................................70
14. Get the Lomo Look: Faking Lomographic Images.........................................................................72
15. It’s a Fixer Upper.......................................................................................................................74
16. Ruby the Travelling Dog............................................................................................................................76
17. Fake it ‘til you make it! Creating an HDR Photo From One Photo.......................................78
18. Be a photo pro! Use Your Skills to Give Back.................................................................................80
19. Field Trip to Visit a Photographer.........................................................................................................82
20. Become a Food Photographer................................................................................................................83
21. The Power of Food Photography..........................................................................................................86
 Photo Editing Project 1

Introduction
Objectives
Upon successful completion of this project, members should be able to:
 Think and plan before editing photos.
 Have a basic working knowledge of photo editing.
 Edit good photos into great photos.
 Create visually interesting photos of people, places and things.
 Feel comfortable experimenting with their editing skills to improve photos.
 Identify opportunities for creatively editing photos.
 Use photography editing to communicate with people/the world.
 Tell photo stories in an interesting and engaging way.
 Challenge themselves with a variety of photo editing techniques.
 Identify editing techniques that have been applied to photos.
 Engage with other club members about how to creatively edit photos.
 Repair slightly damaged prints that you scan into your computer.
 Look critically at other members’ photos and provide polite, constructive and
helpful criticism.
 Use criticism and advice from other members to enhance their projects.
 Have fun while editing photos!

Getting the Most from this Project

 Attend club activities regularly.
 Listen and ask questions. You will learn from other members as well as your leaders.
 Carry your camera equipment with you and take as many photos as you can. You
never know when a great photo opportunity will fall into your lap!
 Look critically at photos other people have taken, in movies, on TV, in magazines,
or at a friend’s house. What do you like or dislike about these photos? What
would you change? What would you like to try?
 2 Photo Editing Project

 Practice may not make perfect but it certainly makes better. Try different
techniques with different photos. Experiment! Don’t forget to “Learn to do by
doing”!
 Use a journal to keep organized notes about techniques you use, what the
outcomes were and things you’d like to try. It is also good to write down ideas as
they come to you, or when you see something that inspires you to try something
new. Inspiration is everywhere!

Achievement Requirements for this Project

 A completed record book.
 Show a selection of at least three photos to your fellow club members and your
family and friends that you edited during the club project.
 One example of a photo you repaired that was either over- or underexposed.
 A photo to which you added colour filters to enhance the mood or feel.
 At least two photos that you cropped to make more visually interesting.
 An example of a torn or stained paper photo that you scanned and repaired as
well as possible.
 At least two other special projects from the Activity Section.

Safety and Photography and Photo Editing

photography and photo editing are fun and easy and can be done (almost)
anywhere at any time. But before we get to it, there are a few general rules you
should always remember. Sometimes you may get so excited about taking the perfect
photo that you stop thinking about where you are or what is going on around you.
Once you’re home and editing your photos, there isn’t much danger (other than what
we’ll discuss later), but when you’re out taking the photos you plan on editing,
remember that you have to first and foremost keep yourself and anyone helping you
safe.

Think of all the things people take photos of and all the hazards associated with them.
The following are a few situations that could have been better dealt with. What do you
think the best way would have been for preventing them?
 “This is going to be an amazing shot of this canyon. If I can just get a little
closer to the edge…”
 Photo Editing Project 3

 “That sign says ‘No Trespassing’ but the shot of that grain elevator would be
awesome to edit. It probably won’t matter if I go in just this once.”
 “I think I can get a really fun photo of those professional soccer players if I just go
further onto the field. I want to make sure I get a good close-up of David
Beckham.”
 “This snowstorm is really starting to pickup, but the light is so pretty right now.
I’ll just stay out another half an hour.”

I’m pretty sure you understand where I’m going with this: no photo is worth risking
life and limb for! There are a lot of people who care about you and want you to be
safe, so make sure you remember that you pledged your “head to clearer thinking”
and make smart decisions!
 Think and plan before you head out to take photos, above all else, you need to
make sure that you, and anybody with you, are safe.
 Tell someone where you’re going, when you’re leaving and when you should be
back. Better yet, bring a friend with you!
 If you are planning to be out for a while, be sure to have a lot of water and
snacks with you. It’s easier to be creative and have fun when you’re not thirsty
or hungry!
 Always think ahead and bring extra clothing in case it gets cold, sunscreen and
a hat for those really hot days and a cell phone in case of emergencies.
 Make sure to be aware of your surroundings and ask permission if you want to
go on someone else’s property. If you don’t think you should be going into a
given area (because it belongs to someone you don’t know), then don’t!
 When out taking photos with younger enthusiasts, be sure to set an example
and teach them safe and respectful practices.
 Do not endanger yourself, your friends, or property when out taking photos.
This is an important responsibility for all photographers.

No photo is more important than the safety of people or property!

 4 Photo Editing Project

Online Safety
One of the great features of photography and photo editing is sharing your awesome
photos with friends and family through emails and over the Internet. When you post
your photos on Internet social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter, those photos
become accessible to anyone and everyone who might come across them. Even once
you delete the photo there may still be someone else out there who has a copy of it.
You have a lot of power when you use the techniques you’ll learn in this project to
edit photos however you choose. Don’t forget that line from Spider- Man, “With
great power comes great responsibility.” You’ve probably heard a lot about people
being bullied online. Would you want people to post hurtful or embarrassing photos
of you? Your subjects are counting on YOU to respect them and their image. Treat
them with the respect you would want to be treated with! Use the following
guidelines when posting your photos on the Internet:
 Never post embarrassing photos of yourself or
anyone else; you never know who might come
across them one day! The Internet is forever.
Think before you post.
 Never attach any personal information to your
photos (names, addresses, phone numbers,
birthdays, what school you attend, etc.).
ALWAYS REMEMBER the person you are
chatting with online may not be the person
they claim to be.
 When using social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter, set your online
profile to private. That way, only people that you approve to see your profile
and images can view your work. Don’t give out your passwords to anyone but
your parent or guardian, and never agree to meet in person with someone that
you meet on these sites.
 Report any inappropriate comments or messages if they violate the terms of
service for that site and tell your parent or guardian if anything happens online
that makes you feel scared or uncomfortable.
 Photo Editing Project 5

Courtesies of Photography and Photo Editing:

For a lot of people, photos are a part of everyday. Think about it, how many people
do you know who don’t have some kind of camera, whether it is a small point- and-
shoot, a fancy Canon, or a camera phone? Most people are pretty accustomed to
having their photo taken, so you probably won’t have many problems getting people
to be your subjects. HOWEVER, it is always important to respect people, their property
and their wishes, especially when they are kind enough to help you out. Here are
some basic rules to follow when dealing with other people:
1. Always ask permission to go on or use another person’s property. If someone
is kind enough to allow you to take photos on their property or in their house,
make sure you leave it in the same or better condition as you found it.
2. Always ask permission to photograph people. Some individuals and social or
religious groups have pretty strict rules about having their photo taken. Always
respect a person’s decision about being photographed. It’s their right to refuse
to allow you to photograph them.
3. Do not allow the mistreatment of people or animals to take place in any of
your photos. Ever.
4. Do not take inappropriate photos of people or animals. Use your gut instinct.
If it seems wrong, it’s probably wrong.
5. If you are photographing a big event and you see an “official photographer”,
such as a wedding or sporting event, be sure to stay out of their way. It’s their
job to get the best shots they can, and if they’re at an event, they’re working.
6. Sometimes you might photograph someone doing or saying something silly or
looking terrible. Imagine how you would feel if someone posted a photo of you
that made you look silly or terrible. You have an obligation as a photographer
to respect and protect the people you photograph.
7. If an area is posted “NO PHOTOS”, obey the sign.
8. Do not handle another person’s camera equipment without their permission.
 6 Photo Editing Project

9. Always treat people with respect and kindness who offer to help you with
your project. It will show in your photos.
10. Never post a photo without the permission of the people in the photo.

Be sure to take your best manners with you when you go out to take photos.
Remember, you represent your club, community and yourself while you are out there.
Don’t subscribe to a “shoot first, ask questions later” mentality. When in doubt, ask
permission!

Finally, and most importantly, be sure to thank the people who let you photograph
them! They’ll be much more likely to help you in the future and may even bring their
friends along.

Resources for Learning:

People
 Local media photographers/photo editors
 Commercial photographers/photo editors
 Teachers
 Other 4-H members or leaders

Resources
 Your camera manual
 Your editing software Help menu
 Books or magazines about photo editing
 Online tutorials on photo editing techniques

Places, Events and Organizations

 Photography clubs
 Exhibitions and fairs that have photo exhibits
 Local art galleries that display photographers’ work
 Colleges or universities that offer photography or photo editing courses
 Local Artist Cooperatives that support local photographers
 Photo Editing Project 7

Websites
Other than this reference book, the Internet is your single best resource for
learning more about photo editing. There is a tremendous number of websites
dedicated to the art of editing photos. Some have excellent tutorials on all kinds
of techniques with easy to follow instructions. There is a list of websites you
may like to visit at the end of this reference book, but Google is
a great tool for locating any and all websites devoted to photo editing. Just type “
photo editing” and you’ll be amazed by the sheer number of hits you get. The
web is a fantastic resource for additional learning after you have finished this
project and are ready to get into more advanced techniques.
 8 Photo Editing Project

UNIT 1:

The Basics of Photo Editing

What is a photo?
Before talking about photos, let’s talk about film photography. You may not see many
film cameras for sale these days, and technology is definitely taking over, but
film is still used by professional and amateur photographers, plus
many movies are still shot on film. Film photography is created when
a strip of
gelatine, coated with special chemicals, is exposed to
light. The light makes a chemical record on the strip,
which can then be exposed to more
chemicals to create a “negative” (where the
lighter areas
appear darker and darker areas appear lighter) image.
This image can then be converted to a positive image and
printed to photo paper by processing it with even more chemicals in a dark room.
Sound a little complicated? It is! If a photographer then wanted to “edit” these images,
he or she did so in this last stage of the process, the printing stage. Their editing
options were very limited. Basically, the photographer could expose certain areas of the
photo to more or less light if they were over or underexposed (called “dodging” and
“burning” respectively). Photos could also be “cropped” (cutting out certain unwanted
areas), but that is generally the extent of the “editing” that could be performed before
the arrival of computers.
Thank goodness for the advent of photography!

photography differs from traditional film photography in that, rather than being light
exposed onto a film strip, image capture takes place via a CCD (charge coupled
device) or CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) sensor in a camera.
These sensors emit a charge when they come in contact with light, which
is then converted into binary (computer language) information, which makes up the
image. These images are composed of picture elements called “pixels” which are tiny
little squares, each with its own value representing colour and intensity. There can be
 Photo Editing Project 9

millions and millions of these pixels in your photos. In fact, the more there are, the
better the quality of your image. One million pixels equal a megapixel (commonly
written as “MP”), which is how cameras make images. The more megapixels a camera
is rated for, the higher quality images that camera takes, but the more expensive the
camera is. For instance, a 10 megapixel camera takes photos with 10 million pixels,
which is twice what a five megapixel camera takes, but a 10 megapixel camera is very
likely more expensive. No matter what the megapixel rating, all these pixels come
together to make one single image, which is then stored on your camera’s memory
device (whether that be a card, a disc, or a stick). The best part is that photos are
taken, stored and viewable almost instantly! photography provides an unparalleled
ability to easily shoot multiple high-quality photos at a reasonably low cost (compared
to film). Importantly, this gives us the flexibility to ly edit those photos easily,
efficiently and with some very cool results.

What is photo editing?

photo editing is defined as the enhancement and manipulation of a photograph
using photo editing software. When you think of software, what do you think of?
That’s right, photo editing is done using a computer. This can be either a small
computer, such as the ones that are on-board many cameras, or a bigger laptop or
desktop computer separate from the camera. Through the use of software, photos
can be manipulated in order to fix problems, make colours stand out, isolate sections
of the photo and more. Photo editing software is full of powerful tools that we can
use to make good photos even better and turn regular photos into works of art!

This may surprise you, but many professional photographers don’t get the perfect
shot every time they press the shutter button. Thankfully for them, there are amazing
photo editing software programs out there. Thankfully for us, we can use them too!
With technology, almost anyone can be photographer, and with the amazing tools we
have we can enhance our photos to make them look much more professional. When
you start learning all the tools, you will really be amazed at what you can do.
 10 Photo Editing Project

Why edit photos?

There are a lot of reasons to edit your photos. For most people, the biggest reason is
to fix a mistake. Let’s say you took a great photo but there was some dirt on your
lens. Now you have a dark spot on your photo. With your editing software, you can go
back and use what’s called a “clone” tool to cover up that dark spot. Also, your photo
may seem kind of dark. You can easily lighten a
photo by changing the “brightness” level. Now
your photo is flawless! Another reason you
might edit your photo is to produce artistic
effects. For example, maybe your image seems
a little “busy”. This might mean using what’s
called a “blur” effect to create a point of focus
that draws the eye in. For instance, if you have
a photo of a bunch of fall leaves on the grass,
but they’re all in focus and it seems distracting,
you can use the blur feature to blur out some
of the leaves, which is essentially changing the “depth-of-field” of your photo. You are
creating a shorter depth-of-field and focusing on just one area of the image, which
creates something with an entirely different feel.

With your photo editing software, you can reveal the true potential of your photos.
Using the skills you’ll learn in this project, you’ll be able to manipulate your pictures
any way you like, bringing colours to life, making focus that much sharper, and even
bringing photos back from the brink of the trash folder. All you need is a camera, a
computer and some photo editing software. Let’s get started!

What can we do?

The Tools and Techniques of Photo Editing
There are many problems that can be fixed or elements that can be enhanced with
photo editing software. Most editing programs employ the features and tools that
we’ll encounter in this project listed below. Some examples of photo editing programs
 Photo Editing Project 11

are Adobe Photoshop, iPhoto, Corel Paintshop, Photoscape, Google Picasa and GIMP,
to name a few. Don’t worry if you’re using a different program or your software’s
features have different names than what I’ve listed below. It’s all basically the same
concept. I’ll be exploring some of these tools in greater detail in the coming units, so
consider this an introduction to all the handy tools you can use to edit your photos.
The best way to find the specific tool in your program is to search for the term (for
example, “cropping”) in the program’s “Help” section.

Rotate: When you take a vertical photo, sometimes your computer mistakes it for a
horizontal photo when you load it into your editing program. For example, you may
have taken a photo of the CN Tower, but when you view it on your computer, it looks
like it fell over. No problem! With the handy “rotate” tool, which often looks like a
rounded arrow, you can turn the photo at 90-degree increments until you get it
perfect.

Straightening: Occasionally, we take photos that we think are straight, and then when
we see them in our computer we notice that they’re a bit off-kilter. Ever taken a photo
of a friend only to see that it looks like they’re leaning? No problem! Use your
straightening tool. The straightening tool can look like a ruler or a grid. Open the tool
and find something in your photo that has a nice straight line (like the horizon or a
building). Click on either end of the parallel line (making a straight line) and your
straightening tool should automatically adjust your photo to get that perfect 90-
degree angle. What if you want your photo to be off-kilter but you actually shot it
straight? Just use that straightening tool the same way, but use your mouse to make a
line on an angle. This should tilt your photo as much or as little as you want. Does it
make your photo more interesting?

Cropping: Cropping allows you to create a new image by isolating a portion of your
existing photo and cutting out unwanted areas. The cropping tool usually looks like a
box formed by a dotted line. Click this tool and drag your mouse across the photo
creating a dotted line box around the area you’d like to keep and then clicking “apply”
or “crop”. For example, think about a photo of a group of your friends taken from a
distance so you can see their legs. Cropping allows you to cut out all but their heads
12 Photo Editing Project

and shoulders, turning that distance shot into a close-up of their heads and shoulders.
Cropping a really small section of your photo may reduce its overall resolution (the
size and clarity of the photo when enlarged), so this technique is best used on high-
resolution photographs (more about that later). Remember to crop your photo using
the “rule of thirds” that you learned in your Photography Project. If you didn’t take
that project, search “Rule of thirds” on your computer and you’ll find a lot of websites
that easily explain the concept. You will learn more about cropping in Unit 5.

Selection Tools: These tools are used to do just what you’d think: select parts of the
photo. Using selection tools, you can apply changes of colour, focus and exposure to
only the area of the photo that you choose. These tools can be the “marquee”, which
is used to select rectangular or other shapes with straight lines, the “lasso” tool, which
allows you to select your area by freehand, and the “magic wand” tool, which selects
only a certain colour in your photo (like a uniformly blue sky or the brown colour of
someone’s hair). These tools often look like a mouse cursor or a pen drawing a line,
and you use them by clicking along the whole outer edge of the object you want to
select with your mouse.

Layers: The best way to think about layers is to imagine them as many sheets of
photo paper stacked one on top of the other on top of your photograph. You can
make changes to each of these individual sheets, without having any effect on the
sheet below, and they all add up to affect your photo. Layers make it easy to make
subtle edits to different sections of your photo without drastically changing your
original file. Layers are very powerful tools that have innumerable abilities to fix your
photos, but explaining all the amazing things you can do with layers would take a
whole reference book in itself. If you want more information on how to work with
layers, I’d recommend doing further research online.

Exposure: It happens to all of us, you get that perfect shot – or you think you do –
and when you get it home you realize that it’s just a little too dark (underexposed) or
too light (overexposed). Fret not! As long as it’s within a certain range of exposure
(not TOO dark or TOO light), it can be fixed in editing. There are a lot of tools to help
you fix your
 Photo Editing Project 13

exposure. You can use levels and what’s called a “histogram” to help you bring
your exposure back from the brink. These tools will be discussed in detail in Unit 2.

Contrast/Brightening: Contrast and brightening tools work hand in hand with the
tools listed above to help you repair your exposure. You can use the brightness tool to
brighten or darken your overall photo. The contrast tool’s addition of colour depth can
help define the tones in your photo, making it appear more evenly exposed. In
addition, if your photo has very little colour depth (and this is especially noticeable if
you decide to make your photo black and white), the contrast tool will also provide
more definition and interest. Contrast tools can also be used to soften colour depth,
which you might want to use if you’ve taken a portrait that makes your subject look a
little rough around the edges. These tools look like slider bars along a line that can be
moved left to right to adjust the overall contrast and brightness of your photo.
Contrast and brightening are discussed further in Unit 2.

Colour Control: There are a lot of scenarios where colour control can contribute
greatly toward fixing or enhancing a photo. In fact, simply adjusting the colour tone of
your photo can do a lot toward making it look much more professional. There are a
lot of colour control tools in your photo editing software’s arsenal. “Curves” help you
white-balance the colour in your photo, making it more natural and realistic. Hue and
Saturation tools help to enhance or subdue the amount of colour in your picture.
Colour tone filters can be used to give a nostalgic or modern, warm or cold feel to
your photos. Colour control tools are usually found under an “adjustments” or “filters”
menu, and there are generally A LOT of them. Take your time to really experiment
with colour. You would be surprised how much you can change a photo with even
a few minor colour changes. Colour control will be discussed in-depth in Unit 3.

Red-Eye: The dreaded red-eye occurs when your camera’s flash reflects off the back of
your subject’s eye. You’ve seen it. We all have. It’s that otherwise perfect photo of your
grinning family around the kitchen table with glowing red devil eyes. It’s enough to
give you nightmares! Thankfully, your editing software is especially well tuned to tackle
those scary red-eyed demons and return them to your happy, non-threatening family
14 Photo Editing Project

members. Most software programs come with a specific red-eye feature. It should be
easy to find, and is often represented by a big red circle or eyeball. To use it, click on
the tool, adjust for size, and click on the shiny red circle in the middle of your Uncle
Steve’s eyeball. Poof! Uncle Steve looks like Uncle Steve again. Apply this same
process to all the red-eyes in your photo and it will look demon-free in no time!

Noise Reduction: “Noise” refers to the graininess of a photo. Back in the days of film,
noise was, in fact, referred to as “grain”. In the world, it’s referred to as noise. If your
photo looks like it has a lot of “dust” on it, which often happens in low- light
photographs (like at night), it can be fixed using a noise reduction tool. This tool can
usually be found in your “filters” or “adjustments” menu and is often represented by a
slider bar that can be dragged back and forth. Of course, there is only so much your
editing software can do to repair a noisy photograph. Occasionally a picture has so
much noise it’s impossible to fix, another reason why it’s important to get a good,
clean shot to work with. Sometimes photos become noisy when they’ve had a lot of
edits performed on them. This happens a lot if you try to brighten up a really
underexposed photo. This can occasionally be repaired with the noise reduction tool.

Removing Unwanted Elements: Just like noise, sometimes you might see dust specks
in your photos that you don’t want. It’s pretty easy to get rid of those using what’s
called the “clone” or “retouching” tool. The tool works by copying an area of the
photo you select and pasting it over the area you want to get rid of. It’s pretty
straightforward. For instance, if you have a small dust spot on the otherwise pristine
blue sky of one of your landscape photos, the clone tool allows you to simply “clone”
a small section of the unaffected sky and use that copied section to cover up the dust
spot. This tool’s icon looks different in nearly every program. If you don’t find it right
away, search for it in the “Help” section. Often, the software allows you to change the
size of the tool to accommodate larger spots. You can also remove objects from your
photos with the clone too, but that often takes a fair bit of time and experience.
Sometimes, it’s just easier to crop out something that you don’t like.
 Photo Editing Project 15

Sharpening: Was your focus off just a little bit? Is your subject a tiny bit fuzzy around
the edges? You can use the “sharpen” tool to make the edges more crisp or defined.
Sharpen tools can usually be found in your “adjustment” or “filters” menu. Like
brightness and contrast, this tool looks like a slider bar that can be moved left and
right. Sharpening is one of the tools that you should use last; consider it the “finishing
touch”. It should also be used sparingly, it’s one feature where the term “less is more”
is especially important. Try it out and you’ll see what I mean. Too much sharpening
can make your photo look unnatural and “pixelated” (full of those square little boxes
that make up a image). Sharpening will be explained in greater detail in Unit 4.

Merging Images: We’ve all seen really beautiful panoramas of nature scenes or
bustling urban streets. These images have impact because their almost 360-degree
view seems to transport the viewer right into the scene. You too can create amazing
and seamless panoramas by “stitching” together (“merging”) multiple photos. This
effect is created using a variety of tools, most notably the “straighten” tool to line the
photos up properly and the “clone” or “retouch” tools to hide their edges. There is a
fun activity in the Activity Section where you will learn how to create a panorama from
your own photographs.

Special Effects: The sky really is the limit for what you can do to your photographs
using your computer. You can cut out elements, paste in elements from other photos,
make someone stand on their head, or even make pigs fly! Once you learn all the
tools and techniques mentioned above and below in the coming units, there really
is no stopping your experimentation.

Framing: A really cool frame might be just what your photo needs. We all know
framing can be done after the photo is printed, but did you know you can frame your
photo ly using your editing software? A lot of photo editing software programs have a
wide variety of frames to choose from. Some are coloured, some are distressed (they
look old or antique) and some are even crazy shapes. You can usually find them in
your “adjustments” menu. Try out a few to see which one brings out your subject the
best. You will learn more about framing in Unit 5.
 16 Photo Editing Project

Printing: It’s a great idea to give your photos as gifts to the people who helped you
out throughout the course of this project, or print out your photos to share with your
club. It’s important to think about where you want to use your photo. How big do you
want it to be? Will you be framing it after printing? Is it a high enough resolution that
you can enlarge it? You can optimize your photo for whatever your printing needs
using your editing software. You can choose your size and photo resolution so you get
a perfectly crisp printout every time. See Unit 5 for more information on printing your
photos.

Remember: Bad photo In, Bad Photo Out!

It truly is amazing what we can do to our photos using photo editing software, but
there is one thing we can’t do: make a bad photo perfect. The most important thing
to remember as you embark on your photo editing journey is that you can make an
“okay” photo better, but you can’t make a bad photo good. Take care when
photographing your subject: expose properly, get good focus and compose well. If
you start with a bad picture, you’ll more than likely finish with a bad one. Keep in
mind that a bad photo in means a bad photo out, but a good photo in could mean
a great photo out!

What You Need to Get Started

You probably guessed the number one thing you need to participate in this project: a
camera. Of course, this project is about photo editing, not photography, so you could
actually use photos taken by someone else and edit them. However, using someone
else’s photo without their permission, altering it for your own purposes and calling it
your own, is copyright infringement. Things do get a bit fuzzy in this area though;
there are plenty of artists who manipulate an image so
much that they feel they’ve made it into something completely new and different. For
our purposes, since we’re just going to be learning the basics of photo editing, I want
you to use your own photos. That way, there’s no confusion at all about whom they
belong to, and you’ll be the sole recipient of all the praise you’re going to receive on
your great work!
 Photo Editing Project 17

So yes, you are going to need a camera. Don’t worry about what kind of camera; it
can be that fancy Canon I mentioned earlier or a simple point-and-shoot – you can
even use the camera on your phone, if that’s all you have. The most important thing
is that your camera takes relatively high-resolution images. Resolution refers to the
amount of detail an image has. The higher the resolution of a photo, the more detail
it has, and the bigger the file size. Photo editing requires a fairly large image file to
manipulate and end up with something that looks like a photograph when you’re
finished, not a pixelated or fuzzy mess. Your camera should have at least seven
megapixels. If you’re unsure how many megapixels at which your camera takes photos,
consult your owner’s manual. You could even take a picture, upload it to your
computer and check what size it is. It should be at least 1GB. Something in the 2-3GB
range or higher would be ideal. If you don’t have a camera that can take large photos
like this, ask your friends or family if you can borrow a camera that takes higher
resolution images for the duration of this project. If you do borrow someone’s camera
REMEMBER to respect it by keeping it safe and in working order. At the end of the
project, consider enlarging, printing and framing your favourite photo for them as a
thank you gift. I’m sure they’d love it – and they may even be inclined to let you
borrow the camera again in the future!

The second – but equally important – piece of equipment you’re going to need is a
computer with some sort of photo editing software. There are tons of programs that
can be downloaded online, either for free or for a fee. Some can be very expensive,
but some can do almost as much as the expensive programs for very little money (if
any at all). Some programs you can find are Adobe Photoshop, iPhoto, Corel
Paintshop, Photoscape, Google Picasa and GIMP, but there are others. Your computer
might even come with its own photo editing software. Many of these programs offer
very similar features. Some offer more, some fewer, but the basics are generally the
same. I’m not going to work with one specific program in this project; instead, I’m
going to give you the basic info you need and you can find the features I mention in
your own software program. A lot of features have similar names, even if they’re not
found in the same place, so I’ll refer to the tools and techniques by their most
common names. If you’re unfamiliar with your program, get to know it better by using
the “Help” section or try
18 Photo Editing Project

online tutorials by searching “How to Photoshop” or “How to iPhoto”. Once you have
a sense of where all the features are, you’re ready to get started!

How to Begin
First you need a relatively high-resolution photo you want to fix, change, or get
creative with. Upload a photo you’ve taken with your camera to your computer. Import
the photo into your photo editing software. This can usually be done by going to the
“File” menu and clicking “Open”, or going to your “Import” menu and selecting your
file. If your program uses a different method of uploading photos, that’s fine, as long
as you learn how to get your chosen photo loaded, that’s all that counts! Now that
you’re ready to go, you might want to ask yourself a few questions about the photo
you’ve chosen. These questions can help you determine what it is you like and what
you’d like to change about the photo.
 Is the photo straight? Do I need to level it?
 Does it need cropping? Is there a section of the photo I like better than the
rest, or a section I’d like to remove?
 How are the colours? Are they natural or unnatural? Does the photo seem
faded or discoloured? Do the whites seem artificial or too orange or blue?
 Does anyone have red-eye?
 Are their marks on the photo that I want to get rid of?
 Is it blurry? Do I need to fix the focus?

It can help to write down a list of the things you want to work on with your photo.
That way, you will stay on track and not get too carried away. Now that you’ve asked
yourself a few of the important questions that help the editing process and you’ve
written your list, you’re officially ready to get started with editing. I’ve listed some
important points below to remember as you begin your photo editing journey. Keep
these points in the back of your mind as you travel down this exciting road and
you’ll be editing photos like a pro in no time!

1. The Importance of “Non-destructive” Editing: “Non-destructive editing” is a form

of editing where you never edit with your only copy of your original file. It’s a
 Photo Editing Project 19

method of working where you avoid potentially “destroying” or altering your only
version of a photo irreversibly. Imagine if you were just trying out a new technique
for fun and you ruined your only copy? You would be seriously upset. Don’t make
that mistake! The best way to prevent this from happening is to keep two folders
on your computer of your photos. Name one folder “Original Photos” (or some
variation of that) and one folder “Edited Photos”. Import files into your software
program from your “Original Photos” folder and save the edited versions to your
“Edited Photos” folder. This way you never risk losing files and you can even try
different kinds of edits on one photo and compare to see which style you like best.
2. The All-Important “Undo” Button: Another part of the non-destructive editing
strategy includes working in a program that allows you to “undo” your edits. Most
– if not all – photo editing programs have this amazing little “undo” button. Trust
me, someday this button might save your life – well, it may save your work at
least! We’ve all done it. Swung the brightness bar a little too far to the left,
cropped out the 1st prize winner, or clicked on a filter that turned all our cats neon
yellow by mistake. Don’t worry! The undo button is probably the MOST
IMPORTANT feature on all editing software programs. This button is your friend. In
fact, it’s your best friend. Use it whenever you’ve gone too far with an edit and
need to return to where you were before you made it. Phew! Thank goodness for
our friend the undo button!
3. Your New New Year’s “Resolution”: Your New Year’s Resolution this year should
be to shoot your photos on the highest resolution! Seriously, the higher the
resolution, the larger the file size of your photo, the better the quality, and the
more you’ll be able to fix and enhance in your editing suite. Check your camera
settings to make sure you’re shooting photos at the best resolution possible. Your
manual should be able to explain this more easily, but you should find a “size”
option in your menu that allows you to maximize the resolution of your photos.
Yes, this means that you may not be able to save as many photos at one time, but
it’s important if you want to be able to edit the photo flexibly and effectively. Most
cameras take photos in JPEG format. This format uses the most compression
(squeezing detail so the file is as small as possible, potentially losing file
20 Photo Editing Project

information in the process) of all formats, but it can be adjusted in your camera to
be as lossless as possible. Some high-end cameras shoot on a format called RAW.
This format is exactly that, a photo in its most raw form. Think of it like the
blueprint of a house. It has the design of the house, and all the elements that are
going to go into the house, but it’s not actually a house until you build it. RAW
format has all the information of a photo, but it’s not actually a photo until you
bring it into your editing software and edit it. Make sense? Not all software
programs can edit RAW, but if you’re using a camera that shoots RAW you likely
have the right software. RAW is an amazing format to shoot if you want to have
ultimate control over your photos later on. If you have this option in your camera, I
would recommend you use it. If not, don’t worry; just make sure you’re shooting
photos at the highest resolution your camera allows. You’ll thank yourself later!
Both JPEG, RAW and a format called TIFF are discussed in greater detail in Unit 5.
4. E is for Editing, but also Enhancing: Despite what some people think, photo
editing is meant to enhance photos, not correct big problems. No editing software
can make up for an out of focus shot or a seriously under- or overexposed shot.
That’s the main job of the photographer: ensure the photo is in focus, composed
and exposed well. You want to use editing to make your photos even better than
what you started with. Like the “bad photo in, bad photo out” rule, the photo
you’re editing should be technically good (in focus, well exposed, well composed,
etc.) to start with, so that the end result will be truly spectacular.
5. Less is More: Don’t get carried away! Editing software is a powerful tool. There is
almost no limit to the neat things you can do to your photos. Keep in mind
though, that unless you plan on making something truly crazy and out of this
world, you want to remember that with photo editing, less really is more. Think of
it like a video. The more wacky transitions you insert between shots, the more
distracting the video becomes. It’s the same with photo editing. You don’t want to
mess around with the colours so much that your photo no longer looks like it was
taken on earth (unless that’s the look you’re going for!). Just because you have all
these amazing tools and techniques at your disposal doesn’t mean you have to use
every single one of them on every photo. Some photos might only need a little
 Photo Editing Project 21

straightening, a nice colour filter and a good dose of contrast; some photos benefit
from a tiny dose of sharpening. Don’t feel like you have to use every feature of
your editing software. Do what the photo needs, but don’t overdo it. You still want
people to think they’re looking at a photo. Unless you’re okay with creating
something entirely new, and then, edit away! One more thing: in keeping with this
“less is more” idea, you should know that every time you make an edit to a photo,
you degrade its quality just a little bit. Keep that in mind. Experiment all you want,
but once you make your edits official (save them), you decrease your photo quality
bit by bit.
 22 Photo Editing Project

UNIT 2:

Nailing Your Exposure

Exposure
In photography, exposure refers to the result of light hitting your camera’s sensor. If
the sensor is “exposed” to a long period of light, your photo will be brighter than if
it’s exposed to a shorter period of light. When talking about proper exposure, we
refer to three main areas of the photo:
1. Highlights – the areas where the photo is brightest/whitest.
2. Shadows – the areas where the photo is darkest/blackest.
3. Mid-tones – the areas in the between the highlights and the shadows.

When editing exposure, you can choose to adjust the overall exposure of the photo,
meaning highlights, shadows and mid-tones all together, or you can isolate and adjust
each individually for more control. Exposure is one of those things that is important to
get right in-camera (when you take the photo), but don’t worry if you didn’t get it
perfect, these issues are fairly easy to fix using your photo editing software as long as
your exposure problems aren’t too severe. However, if the problem is too severe,
unfortunately your photo may be unfixable. A photo that’s overexposed (too bright) is
very difficult to fix without losing some detail, and a photo that’s underexposed will
become much more grainy (noisy) when edited. If your photo simply can’t be fixed, I
would recommend reshooting the photo with better lighting or by adjusting your
camera’s settings, or simply choosing another photo to edit.
 Photo Editing Project 23

The photo on the left is slightly overexposed and the one on the right is slightly
underexposed.

The photo above is a good balance of exposure, making it well exposed.

All that being said, you are the editor. You can choose to edit technically (for the best
photo in a classic photography sense) or you can edit more artistically. Some
photographers just prefer photos that are either a little under or overexposed. For you,
that might depend on the photo itself. You may have a photo where the exposure
looks pretty good, but you want to lower the exposure slightly to maintain detail in
 24 Photo Editing Project

the brightest highlights or increase it to bring out the detail in the shadows. The key
word here is “slightly”. If you raise your exposure too high, you’ll “blow out” or “clip”
all the highlights in your shot. To “blow out” means to lose all definition (or detail) in
the light areas. The same thing can happen with your shadows if you lower your
exposure too much. This means there isn’t any information in the dark areas for your
computer to register. You lose the detail in those areas completely and they just
become big white or black blobs on your photo.

There are a lot of aspects that go into a well-exposed image. Correcting your exposure
doesn’t simply mean making it brighter or darker; you need to create a good balance
of contrast, brightness and “luminance” (the intensity of light coming from a given
surface area of the photo) in order to nail your exposure. Don’t worry if that seems
like a lot to think about; if you get your exposure right in-camera, you won’t have to
be concerned about it, and all you’ll have to do is make minor adjustments. However,
if you didn’t get it right when you took your shot, you’re going to have to learn a little
more about how each contributes to exposure and how you can fix minor issues. The
main thing is to work toward an end result where your photo looks very bold and the
blacks of the photo look true black and the whites look true white. Thankfully, there
are A LOT of editing tools to help you fix your exposure.

One of these tools is the exposure tool itself. Some editing programs have a slider bar
that moves back and forth and controls the overall exposure of your photo. This slider
shifts the values of the entire image either up or down, meaning it makes changes to
the entire image, the highlights, shadows and mid-tones. If you have just slight
exposure issues and want to edit quickly, this might be your best bet. However, if you
want to have a bit more control, you could use your brightness and contrast tools.

Brightness and Contrast

Brightness and contrast are often found in most editing software as two lines with a
sliding bar in between. Move the slider bar back and forth to see how they affect your
photo. Some editing programs will even have numeric values for the amount of
brightness or contrast you use. This is helpful if you want to be very exact or need to
 Photo Editing Project 25

make the same changes to a group of photos. Simply write down the values you
changed the tools to and apply it to all your photos.

The brightness tool is pretty straightforward and works a lot like the exposure tool.
Move the bar to the left and it literally makes your photo darker; move it to the right
and it makes it lighter. Now pull the slider all the way to the left and right, and your
photo will either go completely black or completely white respectively. You might
think that the brightness tool does pretty much the same thing as the exposure tool,
but in fact there is a slight difference. While the exposure tool adjusts all three aspects
of the photo (highlights, shadows and mid-tones), brightness changes affect
predominantly the mid-tones, which means it preserves the detail in the highlights
more effectively than exposure. It seems complicated, but as you get used to using
these tools more and more you’ll get to know which one will give you the effect
you’re looking for.

Contrast refers to the amount of difference between tones in a photo. Essentially,

adjusting the contrast tool gives your photo more colour depth between the shadows
and the highlights. You can see this especially clearly in black and white photography.
Without the colour depth created by contrast, photos can look very flat and
uninteresting. Contrast also plays a big role in exposure. It’s a fact that cameras can’t
record the depth of contrast that we see with our eyes. This means that most photos
could use a bit of help in the editing department when it comes to contrast.
Try moving your contrast slider bar back and forth. Slide it to the right to get more
contrast and to the left to get less. Does it add a new dimension to your photo? As
with most tools, when you’re playing with contrast, a little goes a long way, so keep
an eye on both the shadows and highlights of your image. Adding too much contrast
can cause them to either lose information or go blurry, especially around the edges.

Brightness and contrast are fairly easy tools to understand and use. You can use them
to quickly and easily adjust your photo’s exposure. However, if you’re looking for a
little more control over your image, and your software has the tools available, try
some of the following techniques.
 26 Photo Editing Project

Lots of Levels and Helpful Histograms

Your editing software might use “levels” (the amount of highlights, shadows and mid-
tones) to help you fix your exposure. Levels work using a reading called a “histogram”.
A histogram is a graphical representation that displays the distribution of colour tones
in a photo. “Tones” refer to the colour shades found in the photo. The word “tint” is
often used interchangeably with “tone”. The histogram plots the pixels for each tone
in the photo. Your camera has a built-in histogram and on some cameras you can
actually use it to properly expose your photo before you take it. In photo editing, you
can also use your software program’s histogram to fix your exposure. The histogram
shows you the amount of brightness that’s distributed throughout the photo, and can
be adjusted while you see the results in real time. To see how it works, open up your
histogram tool. You should see three sliding boxes or arrows underneath the
histogram curve. On the left, the first box represents the black levels (shadows) of
your photo; the right box is your white levels (highlights), and the middle box the
mid-point (mid-tones).

Here is a photo and two versions of its corresponding histograms. The top histogram is what you will see if
you are using Adobe Photoshop. The lower histogram is what you’ll see if you’re using iPhoto. All photo
editing programs will have similar-looking histograms.
 Photo Editing Project 27

To correct the tonal range of your photo, slide the black box to the right until it just
touches the edge of the left histogram curve, then slide the white box to the left until
it touches the right edge of the curve. Then click “okay” or “apply”. What you have just
done is remap your photo’s pixels so that the darkest pixels become black and the
lightest pixels become white. If you pull your boxes too far into the curve, you will
blow out or clip your shadows and highlights and lose all the detail in those areas.
Play with this to see what I mean. When you move those boxes, you’re actually telling
your editing program that anything darker than where you place the black box is true
black and anything lighter than where you place the white box is true white. When
you move the boxes too far into the curve, neither will register any detail and you will
lose a lot of your photo. The midpoint box can be used to brighten or call attention to
a specific area of the photo you want to highlight. Play with the mid-tones to get the
effect you’re looking for.

Playing with and adjusting your levels with the levels tool does more than help you
with your exposure problems, it is also helpful in fixing any colour temperature issues
you have. Colour temperature will be discussed in more detail in Unit 3. Use your
knowledge of levels to help when you start adjusting your colour temperature.

High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photos

You’ve probably seen high dynamic range photos without really knowing what you
were looking at. HDR photos are unbelievably vibrant pictures that seem as if they’re
positively glowing with colour. Traditionally, you create an HDR photo by taking three
to seven photos of the same subject (with the same framing) at different exposure
settings and then merge them into a single image using photo editing software. It is
possible to cheat a bit and create an HDR image from one single photo, but it never
has quite the same look as a real HDR photo created from three or more images.

Why do HDR images look so cool? Well, as a start, our eyes are remarkable organs
that are capable of seeing great complexity of colours and light in any given scene.
Not surprisingly, even the best professional cameras can’t capture images quite like
our eyes do. HDR photography allows us to layer a multitude of photos, each
highlighting
28 Photo Editing Project

different areas, together to create something that gets closer to what our eyes see
than any other kind of photography. You can use this technique to capture amazingly
crisp images in almost any lighting conditions. Below is an example of a regular photo
next to an HDR photo (created with three photos), taken of the same scene. The
second image has far more detail and is much richer looking than the original.

In both sets of photos above, the image on the left is a regular one-shot image
and the one on the right is the HDR version.

HDR photography is best used for landscapes, interiors, wildlife photos and anything
shot at night or when you have low light conditions. Feel free to make HDR photos of
people, but keep in mind that when people pose they don’t tend to hold their facial
expressions for very long. Since you’re going to be taking multiple shots of them, you
don’t want them moving or even changing their expressions slightly. If they do, there
will be some movement between the frames and it will create a strange aura effect
 Photo Editing Project 29

called “ghosting”. If you want to avoid this, consider creating an HDR image from just
one photo, which is a fairly advanced process described in Activity #17 in the Activity
Section of this manual.
 30 Photo Editing Project

UNIT 3: Hot and Cold:

Working with Colour Temperature
The Feel of the Photo
Have you ever looked at a photo that made you feel nostalgic, or happy, or sad? What
was it about the photo that set the mood? Often, this has to do with the colour
“temperature”. A photo that has a lot of blue light might seem cold or fresh, like a
bright summer day. A photo with a lot of orange light might seem more warm and
inviting, perhaps even nostalgic and comforting. You can convey a lot with the colour
temperature of your photos. Consider a photo you took recently, do you think you
could enhance the mood of the photo if you played with the colours a little bit? Be
sure to play a lot with the tint filters in your software program. You might not even
know what feel you want for your photo until you try them all.

The Importance of Colour Temperature

Colour temperature is also known as colour balance. Basically, it’s determined by how
your camera accurately records the colour white. Have you heard the term “white
balance”? If you’ve taken the Photography or Video Projects you likely have. For
proper colour “balance”, you want to make sure any white in your photo looks like
white to your eye (unless you’re going for a more stylized look, but there will be more
info on that later). A lot of cameras can do this automatically and if you have your
camera set on “auto”, it will make its best guess on where you are and what your
whites should look like. Of course, it’s always best to get a clean white balance
before you take your photo, but it’s fairly easy to make changes afterward with your
editing software, so don’t worry if you don’t get a perfect balance.
 Photo Editing Project 31

This photo on the left was taken without colour balancing. You can see it has an overall blue tone. The photo
on the right is the same one after colour balancing. The whites now look true white and the overall blue tone is
gone.

To fix your colour balance the simple way, use your “temperature” tool. This tool is
often represented very similarly to the brightness, contrast and other tools: as a slider
bar that can be dragged left and right. The bar that the slider moves on is often
coloured from blue on the left to red on the right. As you move the bar along the
spectrum, the temperature with your photo will cool down (if you move it left) and
warm up (if you move it right). Keep moving the bar back and forth along the
spectrum until any whites in your photo start to look like true white and you’re happy
with the realistic look of your overall photo. Sometimes this tool is enough to get your
photo to where you want it but if you’re looking for a little more control over your
colour balance, there is another handy tool for you.

Getting Curvy
There are a couple more advanced tools to help you perfect the colour balance of
your photo. In Unit 2, I mentioned how levels can be used to adjust your balance.
Another tool, called “curves”, are a more exact method of editing your colour
temperature, and can be quite delicate and complex. The curves tool is similar to the
levels tool in that it also allows you to adjust shadows, highlights and mid-tones.
However, the curves tool uses an entirely different method of adjusting these elements
and is far more precise. Curves are often very intimidating for the beginner photo
editor, so I won’t go into much detail here because this is a beginners’ guide to photo
 32 Photo Editing Project

editing. If you would like to learn more about curves and become a master of colour
temperature, you can start by experimenting with the curves tool or trying out a few
online tutorials. Good luck!

Tinting with Colour Filters

You know when you look through an old family photo album and those old photos
from the seventies just look like photos from the seventies? Or you’ve probably seen
photos from the turn of the 20th century, which all look like black and white, but have
an orange-brown tone. Do you know why? Well, other than the outdated clothes and
haircuts, it has something to do with the overall “tint” of the photo. Just compare a
photo shot in the seventies and compare it to one shot today. The colours of the
“today” photo look much more realistic and bright, whereas older photos look washed
out or feature an overall tint. You can use tools called colour filters to adjust the tint
of your photo either on your camera lens or in editing to change the feel of the
photo, making it nostalgic or modern, cool or warm, inviting or distancing.

Your tint filters will often be found in your adjustments folder, and if not, your
software should have an “add filter” button. If your program has neither of these, you
can instead use your other colour tools (the ones listed above and below) to
manipulate your image. This method may not be as straightforward or easy, but you
will have more control over the tint of the photo. Once you start looking through your
filter options, you’ll notice one thing: there are A LOT of them. There are so many
different kinds of filters at your disposal to experiment with. Experimentation is pretty
important here. As always, make sure you can press your undo button to go back to
the original image before trying anything really outrageous. Once you know you’re not
editing destructively, feel free to try a lot of different things. The following are some
examples of a photo with multiple filters on it. Look at what each does to the feel of
the photo. Which one do you like better?
 Photo Editing Project 33

(From left to right: Original, black and white filter, sepia filter, cooling filter and warming filter)

Below are some examples of the filter families you will find in your software, where
they come from, and what they do.

Black and White: In the early days of photography, if you wanted a photo, black and
white (also called “monochrome” or “de-saturated”) was your only option. Before we
could accurately portray colour, all photos were in black and white. Regular colour
photography didn’t come about until around the 1860s (photography was invented in
the 1820s). Because of this, black and white photos seem to have an added weight to
them, a bare bones style that draws the eye in without distracting it with loads of
bright colour. Even today, modern black-and-white photographs can really portray a
scene with a type of raw emotion that somehow gets lost in colour. Choosing to make
your photo black and white can give it a historical or antique-type feel, or can add
that emotional feeling of capturing a moment in time. Sometimes, photographers
choose to de-saturate their portraits because it removes some of the blemishes or
unevenness of skin tones. When done well, with a balance in contrast and brightness,
black and white photos can look truly timeless and beautiful. Often, you can mask an
otherwise unsalvageable photo by converting it to black and white. Consider this with
your photos you just can’t seem to fix, it might just be the disguise you need!

Sepia: Sepia was introduced in the 1880s as a pigment added to black and white
photographs. This process was called “Toning”. Toning was used to increase the visible
tone range in a photo without reducing contrast. You’ve probably seen a lot of really
old sepia toned photographs; they have an overall orange-brown colour tint. A lot of
people choose this filter or tone if they want their photos to have an old feel to them,
34 Photo Editing Project

like black and white but more of a vintage feel. Have you ever been to those booths
at fairs where people dress up in old timey clothing and take photos? Those photos
are almost always sepia toned. Experiment with this tone if you want your photo to
have that similar feel. (Sepia technically belongs in the “orange filter” family listed
below, but I’ve isolated it because of its history and its mark on our memories!)

Blue Family Filters: The blue family of filters covers any filter in the blue spectrum,
including greens and purples. These filters effectively “cool down” an image by adding
more blue tones. You may choose to use one of these filters on a photo of a rainy day
at the lake, a mountain top, or a person who looks sad. The cool blue tones bring out
the blue of a photo, giving the photo a calm, tranquil feel that makes it more
evocative and visually appealing.

Orange Family Filters: The orange filter family includes all those in the orange
spectrum, including reds and browns. These filters “warm up” an image by adding
more orange tones. Add one of these filters to that bright orange sunset photo, or
that photo of your friends around a bonfire, and it will intensify its bright golden
tones, making your photo even more compelling and inviting. You can use filters to
make existing colours “pop” or add more depth or dimension to your image.

If you feel that only a certain part of your photo will benefit by the use of a tint filter,
you can isolate that section using your selection tools. It’s possible to use multiple
filters on different parts of a photo to really make it come alive. A yellow wheat field
under a dark blue sky is a good example. The foreground could really benefit from a
filter in the orange family to bring out its yellow tones, while a blue family filter would
bring out the striking blues of the sky. Most programs will also let you choose the
intensity of your colour filter. Sometimes just a little green tint to a rolling sea is all
you need, or maybe a small boost of red to your photo of a maple tree in autumn.
Remember to keep your colour changes realistic if you want your photo to look like it
was still taken on this planet!
 Photo Editing Project 35

Hue and Saturation

There are a couple of other ways to make your colours “pop”, and you accomplish
these using your hue and saturation tools.

Hue refers to the overall balance of the colour in your image. A bit of what we
discussed earlier in regard to colour temperature is dictated by the hue. If you want to
change the colour temperature of your image, you can use hue instead of your
temperature tool. If you want to be more exact about your colour changes, use your
hue feature. Hue is another one of those tools that looks like a slider bar that can be
moved back and forth. Use the slider tool to get the perfect shade of green grass or
skin tone. Be sure to practice with your hue slider, the more you understand how it
works the faster you’ll be able to edit your photos in the future.

Saturation refers to the amount of colour you see. Black and white photos are de-
saturated, meaning they’ve had all of their colour removed. Your software should have
a saturation tool that allows you to adjust your photo’s colour saturation with a slider.
If you move the slider all the way to the right, you will see your colours really pop,
almost unnaturally so. When you move the slider to the left, your photo gradually de-
saturates to black and white. Get used to the drastic changes you can make by
moving the slider back and forth. A lot of professional photographers use some
saturation to make the colours in their photos that much more vibrant. Raise your
saturation a little bit and see how that affects your photo. Does it look better?
Sometimes portrait photographers choose to slightly de-saturate an image to cover up
blemishes or give just a little bit of colour to an otherwise black and white photo. Give
it a try on your photos. What do you think looks best?
36 Photo Editing Project

The photo on the top is the original with normal saturation levels and
the one on the bottom is the same photo after boosting the saturation levels in editing.
 Photo Editing Project 37

UNIT 4: Everything is (Almost)

Crystal Clear Sharpness and Clarity
Sharpening
There are often times when you look through the viewfinder and your subject looks
perfectly in focus, but when you get home and upload your photo, you notice your
subject is actually just a little bit fuzzy or soft looking. Don’t despair! editing
software to the rescue! You can actually repair some of your focus issues when you
play with brightness and contrast, the features listed in Unit 2. However, if you’ve tried
that and you think you could use more help, you can turn to your sharpening tool. In
fact, most programs’ sharpening tools use a combination of contrast adjustment and
what is called “pixel enhancement” to work their magic. This means the tools actually
increase the contrast between pixels, which make the edges more distinct, and give
the illusion that the focus has been “fixed”.

You’ll soon learn that the sharpening tool is the tool where the term “less is more” is
especially apt. Too much sharpening will cause your photo to pixelate and become
noisy, and will likely look far worse than your original. If your photo is so out of focus
you can hardly tell what it is, it’s unlikely that sharpening will help, so selecting a
photo that is only slightly out of focus will be the best candidate for sharpening.
Sharpening should also be one of the last things you to do your photos (other than
resizing, saving, or printing, which will be explained next). Because you want your
sharpening to be subtle (hardly noticeable in the finished project), you’ll want to have
a soft hand; otherwise you could end up drawing attention to the areas you were
trying to avoid in the first place! In terms of the end result you’re looking for, no one
can tell you, you have to decide for yourself. When you’re working on an edit, you’re
really editing for your eye. You can ask for advice from friends or family members if
you’re unsure of an edit, but you’re really editing the photo until you think it looks
good. As you become more experienced and edit more and more photos, you’ll grow
increasingly confident about your own photographic intuition.
38 Photo Editing Project

From left to right: the original photo, the right amount of sharpening and too much sharpening.

There are two ways for you to sharpen your photos, and whether your software has
these features or not will determine which you use.

Sharpness Tool: Your sharpening tool is found in your adjustments folder. Just like the
brightness, contrast and many other tools, it is a sliding bar that can be moved left
and right. Try moving the slider back and forth slightly. On the extreme right your
photo will be so “sharpened” it might look like a weird line drawing. Move the slider
back and forth until you get the look you want.

Unsharp Mask: Some software programs have a few more options than just the slider
for increasing sharpness. They include an option called an “unsharp mask” (“unsharp”
refers to the way in which it sharpens your image – it will, in fact, sharpen your image).
This feature allows you more control over how much you sharpen the image. It breaks
up the sharpen tool into three parts: amount, radius and threshold. Amount refers to
just that, the amount of edge sharpening. This works basically like the slider bar but is
represented in percentage points rather than the sliding bar. Increase the amount of
sharpening by increasing the percentage. Radius refers to the width of the edges that
will be sharpened. This is often represented by number of pixels. The higher the
number, the wider the edges become. If your radius is too high, you’ll get that weird
over-contrast look that you want to avoid. Threshold refers to the difference in
brightness that’s present between pixels. A low number can sharpen edges with a
 Photo Editing Project 39

smaller amount of contrast, and a high number sharpens edges with higher contrast. I
would recommend leaving the threshold at zero unless you have a very noisy image.
Once you have played around with the amount and radius options, and you find that
this has increased the noise level of your photo, you can use the threshold option to
try to decrease the noise.

Creating Focus with the Blur Tool

The blur tool can be used to create focus in an otherwise busy looking photo. Let’s
say you want to draw attention to an object in the foreground of your picture and blur
out the background to make it less distracting. This does a great job of emphasizing
your subject. But what if your whole photo is in sharp focus? How do you “create
focus” to draw the viewer’s eye? It’s fairly simple to do with the handy blur tool.
Rather than directly manipulating the object of interest, we use this tool to de-
emphasize other sections of the photo by literally “blurring” the focus. This has the
effect of emphasizing the object of interest, which remains in focus, because the rest
of the photo is blurry and appears out of focus.

The photo on the left is the unedited original photo and the one on the right has had the blur tool applied to
the sand around the feather. It’s a very subtle effect, but it works to keep the eye drawn to the water droplets
inside the feather, and not distracted by the sand.

This tool can usually be found in the adjustments folder. Sometimes it looks like a
blurred raindrop. Click the tool and resize it to the scale you want. Now use your
mouse to “paint” over the area of the photo you want to blur. Generally, you should
be able to control the strength (in percentage) of blur you use. Start off with a small
40 Photo Editing Project

amount of blur and work your way up. You can go over the area already blurred more
than once to increase the amount. Zoom in to the photo to make sure you don’t end
up blurring the edges of the subject you want in focus. Keep at it until you get the
effect you want. You can also use the blur tool to de-emphasize a distracting object in
the photo that you don’t like but can’t crop out.
 Photo Editing Project 41

UNIT 5:

Cropping, Resizing, Saving and Printing

Cropping with the Crop Tool
Cropping is one of the simplest and easiest ways to edit your photo. A photo with
initially poor composition (the layout of the elements in the photo) can often be
transformed into something great with a simple crop. You may have a person in the
corner of your photo who is staring at the camera and causing a bit of a distraction
from your subject. Easy! Just crop that person out. I mentioned the “rule of thirds”
earlier, and it’s the concept that objects in the photo are more interesting when
they’re laid out on a 3 x 3 grid. As a general rule, don’t “centre” your objects; instead,
put them off to one third of the photo. This creates a more visually interesting field. If
you weren’t thinking of the rule of thirds while you were shooting, try cropping your
photo in different ways to achieve this. Remember that unless your photo was shot
using a very large file size, you won’t be able to crop your photo too small. You will
be able to eliminate certain elements but I would avoid zooming in on anything too
close or it will become fuzzy and pixelated.

Cropping tools can be found in every editing program. Generally, it looks like a dotted
line shaped as a box. With the tool highlighted, use your cursor to select a corner of
your photo and drag it across the area you would like to keep. Anything outside the
dotted box will be deleted. Now, you should be able to click a button and your newly
cropped photo is complete. What do you think? If it doesn’t look the way you want,
click “back” or “undo” and try again. If you like it, click the “apply” or “save” buttons. If
it’s too late and you’ve already saved the cropped photo, but you don’t like it, now
you see why in Unit 1 I told you that it’s important to always leave the original
untouched photo in a separate folder!

Starting to get tired of the classic rectangular photo shape? Feel free to crop your
photo to whatever shape best suits your subject, like a square or even a circle. If you
42 Photo Editing Project

use the undo tool correctly, you won’t have to worry about experimenting. You can
use either your cropping tool or what’s called a “shape” tool. That photo of your best
friend might look neat if you cropped it into a star shape. Or maybe that shot of your
dog would make sense if you cropped it to look like a dog bone. If your program has
a shape tool, you can usually find it in your adjustments folder or on your toolbar. If
you don’t see the shape you’re looking for, you can often download new shapes for
free on the Internet. A quick search for “free shapes” and your software program name
will yield a lot of results. Now you really have a lot of options!

Framing
Once cropping is complete and you’re happy with the way your photo looks, you can
consider framing it. Most photo editing software programs allow you to choose a
stylized frame for your photos. You can pick a Polaroid-type frame, a rustic beat-up
looking frame, or a fancy swirl frame. A white frame might liven up the colours in
your photo, or a dark frame might make it more dramatic. You can even
add an effect to your photo called a “vignette” that is a dark, faded circle added to the
edges of the photo to draw the eye to the centre. A lot of old photos have a vignette,
which was actually due to the lens limitations of old cameras. Using a vignette tool,
you can control how dark and how big your circle is. Some vignette tools actually
allow you to pick shapes other than a circle. Get creative and try a variety of vignettes
until you see the results you want. Experiment with the different options at your
disposal and bring out the best in your photo with a cool frame. Check out the
following cool examples of all you can do.
 Photo Editing Project 43

Clockwise from top left: vignette, wavy frame, filmstrip frame and stamp edge frame.

Saving
When editing photos, you should regularly be saving your work, especially if you’re
happy with your changes. In Unit 1, I mentioned the importance of non-destructive
editing and saving your original, unedited photos in a folder marked “Originals”. That
way, you never have to worry about making irreversible edits to a cherished photo. I
talk a lot about getting creative and experimenting in this project, and you want to be
confident that you can do that without damaging your source files.

No matter how you plan to use your photo, you will want to save a version of it at its
highest resolution. All these high-resolution photos will go into your photo “archive”.
This is a place where you will keep all your edited photos before you resize them for
whatever purpose you want. Start by going to the “file” menu and click “save as”. If
need be, create a new folder to hold this photo. This will really help if you’re going to
44 Photo Editing Project

be working with photos from different places or with different subjects. If you’re like
me and are the type of person who remembers things by date, I recommend creating
folders for each of your dates. Let’s say in March 2012, you took a bunch of photos of
a birthday party, spring grass poking through snow and your new pet hamster, Louie. I
would put all these photos in a folder called “March 2012”. No matter how you label
your folders, using them will keep your photos easily organized so you can go back
and find them later on. Now name your photo something that will help you recognize
it later. It helps to include a date in your file name so your photos will be organized
by date. Something like “March 20 2012 – Sunset in Aberdeen” would work. Now click
“okay”. If your photo software asks you what type of quality you want, always click
“maximum” or whatever will give you the highest resolution. Some programs might
ask you what type of file you want your photo saved as. You have a few options. Each
option has its own pros and cons. Read below to find out what they are.

Understanding File Types: RAW, TIFF, JPEG

You’ve probably seen all of the above file formats at some point (I mentioned RAW in
Unit 1). Do you know what they are all for or how they perform best? If you’re going
to be working with photo editing software, it helps to have an understanding of when
to use each file type. Whether you’re shooting or editing, you should be thinking
about what you want the end use of your photo to be, and that will determine the file
type you want to use. Ultimately, do you want to use your photo on the web and only
the web? Then definitely shoot and edit with JPEG. But if you want to be able to print
your photos, consider shooting and editing in the larger formats, like RAW and TIFF.
These formats use less compression (ly reducing the file size of an image in order to
save space), so there is more information in the file, which
makes it better for using in larger file applications. The drawback to formats that don’t
use a lot of compression is that your file sizes will often be huge. Don’t worry if JPEG
is the only option you have with your camera. JPEG can still be used to take (and
print!) amazing shots. Here is a pretty handy guide (from www.HP.com) for
determining what type of file to use and when:
 Photo Editing Project 45

RAW TIFF JPEG

What to use Some photo editing software The TIFF file format is ideal for For most printing jobs and
it for programs can accommodate editing and making large sharing through email and
the RAW format. The RAW file prints because it still retains a over the Internet, JPEG is the
format is best for archiving large amount of image perfect file format.
because it retains the most information (almost as much
information. as RAW).

Pros No compression has been TIFF supports layered files, JPEG has the highest
applied. Every bit of which allows you to edit compression of the three and
information collected from the images in software programs therefore offers the smallest
camera has been preserved. that use layers. file size.

TIFFs retain colour information It is also the most common

while being much smaller file format in use. Just about
than RAW. TIFF files can be every photo editing program
saved with very little supports it.
compression making it ideal
for printing large sized high-
resolution photos.

Cons RAW image files can be very Though they are smaller than Unlike RAW and TIFF formats,
large, easily upwards of 40 to RAW files. TIFF files are not a JPEG will degrade each time
50MB per photo with a high- small. Depending on the you save it. That’s why it’s
megapixel camera. resolution of your camera, important to save a high-
you could easily end up with quality original and then edit
Once a RAW image has been files in the 5 to 15 MB range. copies of that file.
manipulated, a copy has to be
saved in another form, such TIFFs are not widely
as a TIFF or JPEG. supported by Web browsers,
which make them a poor
choice for online use.

Some programs will allow you to easily convert amongst the file types. If you shoot
your photo in JPEG format, you should be able to easily save as a TIFF. When you go
to save your photo, your program should ask how you would like it to save your file.
Most programs give several options for saving photos. You could even consider saving
your photo as a PDF (Portable Document Format), which is similar to a TIFF in that it
can save at a reasonably high resolution and be easily printed at your local printing
shop. Look through the different options your program allows you to save. Play
around with them to see what each does for your photo’s resolution and file size.
 46 Photo Editing Project

Resizing
So you’ve made all the edits you want to your photo and you think it’s looking really
good. Great work! Now that you’ve saved your archival copy, you’re ready to share
your photo with the world. First you have to decide how you’re going to share it with
the world. Are you going to upload it to the Internet? Are you going to print off a
small copy to show your club? Are you going to enlarge it as big as you can to give to
your parent or guardian as a birthday gift? These are important questions because
they help determine how you’ll save your “working” version of that photo. Photos that
are going on the Internet don’t need to be of a very large file size or resolution,
because a large file can take ages to upload and it’s an overload on your system for
no real reason (after a certain resolution, a computer can’t tell the difference how crisp
an image is). If you want to print a photo at its maximum resolution (enlarged), it can
be saved the same way as your archival photo. For any other sizes you will need to
use your programs’ “resize” tool. Resizing your photo is pretty simple; all you have to
do is go to your tools or menu and select “resize” or “adjust size”. Under this option,
you should be able to choose the size you want your photo to be. For a photo used
for web only, aim for a file size around or below 300KB (or around 640 x 480 pixels).
For a small print (a 4 x 6, for example), aim for around 500-700KB and for anything
larger than that, go for a file size above 1MB. Some programs actually have default
options (common photo sizes like 5 x 7, 8 x 10, etc.) so you can save your photo for
your exact purpose. Look through your save settings to see what other options you
have.

Printing
When you’re ready to print your newly edited and saved photos, you have a couple of
options. First, if your family has a photo quality printer, you can print your photo right
from the comfort of your own home. You will want to invest in some high-quality
photo paper, which can be a little expensive, but is well worth it for the end result.
Keep in mind, unless you have an industrial-sized printer, your photos will never be
bigger than the standard size of a page of paper (8.5” x 11”).
 Photo Editing Project 47

If you want to print your photos at a larger size, or if you don’t have a photo-quality
printer at home, there are plenty of photo printing businesses that will print your
photos for you. In fact, many of them have great websites where you can actually
upload your photos, select your sizes and finish (matte or glossy), and many other
options. You can even pay online and the store will email or call you when your
photos are ready to be picked up!

Many of these places also give you the option to print your photos on mugs,
placemats, blankets and more. Pretty neat, huh? You don’t have to use businesses with
a website though. You can support a small business in your area by heading down to
the local photo printer with your photos saved to a disc or memory stick and they will
happily print them for you.

Printing can sometimes be expensive, but printed photos make great, almost
handmade gifts. Who wouldn’t love one of the original prints from a photo that you
shot and edited yourself?

Wrapping Up
You have come to the end of your photo editing adventures. Or have you? Hopefully
you’ve enjoyed this project so much that you’re looking forward to learning more
about photo editing. Thankfully, there are thousands of resources out there for you to
take your photo editing skills to the next level. In fact, there are even some software
programs fully dedicated to many of the individual techniques and tools discussed
here.

You can find sharpening software, colour correction software and photo repair
software for old, torn, or sun-damaged photos. You can also find hundreds of
thousands (millions, even) of tutorials online with detailed instructions on how to do
almost anything you can imagine. Don’t let the journey end here; keep having fun and
experimenting with your photos. Remember, photography and photo editing are arts,
so there is no “right” or “wrong” – the most important thing is that you have fun and
enjoy the process of being creative! You never know, you might just discover a
hidden talent!
48 Photo Editing Project

Glossary
Archive: A place to save all of your photos on your computer’s hard drive for easy
searching and recovery.

Binary: Binary language is comprised of zeros and ones and is how computers read
and transmit information.

Black and White: A photo without any colour present, only black, white and grey
tones. Can be used interchangeably with De-saturated and Monochrome.

Blue Filters: These filters “cool down” a photo, adding more overall blue tones.

Blur: Softening pixels to create an out of focus effect.

Brightening: To use a brightening tool to literally make a photo lighter.

CCD: Stands for Charge Coupled Device. It is a sensor in certain cameras for
converting light into computer language.

Clipping: Also known as “Blow out”, this term means to brighten a photo so much
you lose all detail in the highlights.

Clone Tool: A tool that copies an area of the photo and pastes it over a problem area.
Used interchangeably with the Retouch Tool.

CMOS: Stands for Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor. It is a sensor in certain

cameras for converting light into computer language.

Colour Balance: The measure of the colour quality of a photo. “Warm” colour
temperature has an overall orange hue, and “cool” colour temperature has an overall
blue hue. Used interchangeably with Colour Temperature.

Colour Filters: These filters allow you to adjust the overall tint of a photograph,
controlling the colour balance and feel of a photo.
 Photo Editing Project 49

Colour Temperature: The measure of the colour quality of a photo. “Warm” colour
temperature has an overall orange hue, and “cool” colour temperature has an overall
blue hue. Used interchangeably with Colour Balance.

Contrast: The amount of difference between tones in a photo. Increasing contrast

gives your photo more colour depth between the shadows and the highlights.

Copyright Infringement: A violation of rights secured by copyright, i.e., using

someone else’s copyrighted work without their prior permission.

Cropping: Cutting out an area of the photo to eliminate an unwanted element or to

create a new composition.

Curves: A more exact method of editing colour temperature that allows the editor to
adjust shadows, highlights and mid-tones.

Depth of Field: The distance between the nearest and furthest objects in a photo.

De-saturated: A photo without any colour present, only black, white and grey tones.
Can be used interchangeably with Monochrome and Black and White.

Photo Editing: Modifying a photo for purposes of fixing mistakes, enhancing the
image, or for artistic reasons.

Exposure: The amount of light that falls on the subject of a photograph. A photo that
is “overexposed” has an overabundance of light; a photo that is “underexposed” has
too little light.

Framing: Either ly or physically, a decorative feature that surrounds your photo,

adding interest.

High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photography: A set of techniques that allow a greater
dynamic range of luminance between the lightest and darkest areas of an image.

Highlights: The lightest areas of a photo.

50 Photo Editing Project

Histogram: A graphical representation displaying the distribution of colour tones in a

photo.

Hue: The overall balance of the colours in your photo.

JPEG: A very popular file type that uses heavy compression but is ideal for sharing
photos online or through email.

Layers: Images or effects overlaid on top of one another. Often used to make slight
effect adjustment to a photo.

Levels: The amount of highlights, shadows and mid-tones in a photo. Luminance:

The intensity of light coming from a given surface area of a photo. Megapixel: One

million pixels equals one megapixel.

Memory Stick: A portable file storage device that can hold your photos for transport.

Merging Images: Using photo editing software to seamlessly attach images together
to make them appear to be one image. Used interchangeably with Stitching.

Mid-Tones: The areas in-between the lightest and darkest areas of a photo.

Monochrome: A photo without any colour, only black, white and grey tones. Can
be used interchangeably with De-saturated and Black and White.

Noise: The occurrence of colour dots or specks on a photograph where there should
be none.

Noise Reduction Tools: A tool that reduces the amount of noise in a photo.

Non-Destructive Editing: The practice of editing in such a way that you never work
with (destroy) your source or original file.

Orange Filters: These filters “warm up” a photo, adding more overall orange tones.
 Photo Editing Project 51

Photo Editing Software: Computer software that allows you to edit photos. Programs
like Adobe Photoshop, iPhoto, Corel Paintshop, Photoscape, Google Picasa and GIMP
are all examples of photo editing software.

Pixels: Short form of “picture elements”. Tiny squares, each with its own value for
colour and intensity that make up a photo.

Printing: Using a home printer or a printing business to transfer your

photographs to paper for framing or gifts.

RAW: A file type that uses very little compression and requires editing prior to being
a real photo. Best for archiving and printing large files.

Red-Eye: The red-eye effect occurs when a flash causes a reflection from the back of
the subject’s eye. In the subsequent photo, the subject’s pupils appear bright red.

Resizing: Changing the file size or aspect ratio of a photo for printing or sharing.

Resolution: The number of pixels that come together to form an image. The higher
the number of pixels, the higher the resolution.

Retouch Tool: A tool that copies an area of the photo and pastes it over a problem
area. Used interchangeably with the Clone Tool.

Rotate Tool: A tool for turning your photo in 90-degree increments.

Saturation: The amount of colour in a photo.

Saving: The practice of recording a copy of your photo on your computer’s hard drive
for safekeeping.

Selection Tools: Selection tools allow you to select certain areas of, or objects in, a
photo. Types of selection tools include the marquee tool, the lasso tool and the magic
wand tool.
52 Photo Editing Project

Sepia: Introduced in the 1880s, it was a pigment added to black and white photos.
Now used ly to simulate a vintage look.

Shadows: The darkest areas of a photo.

Sharpening: Sharpening tools increase the contrast between pixels, making the edges
more distinct.

Straightening Tool: A tool used to straighten a tilted or off-angle photo.

Stitching Images: Using photo editing software to seamlessly attach images together
to make them appear to be one image. Used interchangeably with Merging.

Temperature Tool: This tool adjusts the overall colour temperature of a photo.

TIFF: A file type that uses little compression and is ideal for archiving or printing
large photos.

Tint: The colour shades in a photo. Can be used interchangeable with Tone.

Tone: The colour shades in a photo. Can be used interchangeably with Tint.

Toning: A process used to increase the visible tone range in a black and white photo
without reducing contrast.

Undo Button: The button in every editing program that allows you to “go back” to
your photo the way it was before you made an edit.

Unsharp Mask: A sharpening tool that allows the most control over the amount of
sharpness that is added to a photo.

Vignette: A photo framing effect, often circular, that shades off into the surrounding
colour at the edges. A lot of old photos feature this, which was actually due to the
lens limitations of old cameras.
 Photo Editing Project 53

Resources
How-to Sites:
Photography School: http://-photography-school.com Cambridge in
Colour: www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials.htm PhotoCritic:
http://www.pixiq.com/contributors/3673
Photography Tips: www.-photography-tips.net Photoshop News:
www.photoshopnews.com
PSD Tuts+: http://psd.tutsplus.com

Free Photo Hosting Sites:

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com
Photobucket: http://beta.photobucket.com
ImageShack: http://imageshack.us

Photo Printing and Book Creation:

Shutterfly: www.shutterfly.com
Snapfish: http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/welcome
 54 Photo Editing Project

Activities
Important Note: Some people won’t have the editing features necessary for some
of these activities. If this is the case with you, just choose a different activity or
morph the activity enough so that you can still do it. Or, better yet, partner up
with a fellow 4-H member who has the software with the features you don’t
have and work together!

1. Introduction: Opening, Resizing and Saving

Time: Less than an hour

What you will learn: In this activity, you will learn how to open up a photo in your
photo editing software, resize it and save it to your computer.

What you need: Any photo you have saved to your computer and your photo editing
software.

Instructions: This activity is meant to get you accustomed to how your editing
software uploads and saves files.

1. Open your photo editing software program.

2. Either click on the thumbnail of the image you want to edit, or click File>
Open> and find the photo you want to edit.
3. Some programs allow you to click “edit” to access your editing menu. Some
have it right in the regular view. If you need to, click Edit to get to your
editing menu.
4. Don’t make any adjustments to the look of your photo at this point. We just
want to familiarize ourselves with how to open, resize and save. Find your
resize tool. It should either be in a menu under Tools, Print, or simply Resize.
Pick a different size for your photo; any size will do, as long as it is a different
size from what it is.
 Photo Editing Project 55

5. Save your photo with a new name. If your photo is called “Beach Day – July
2012”, name it “Beach Day – July 2012 – 4x6” or whatever size you’ve chosen.
Save your photo to your “Edited Photos” folder.
6. Now close out of your editing program.

Discussion
Is your program easy to use and understand?
Did you find the tools you needed to use easily and quickly? If not, you could consider
writing down hints for how you got to them for easy access in the future.
Was it easy to save your photo? Do you think it will be easy to keep your photos organized
throughout this project? How can you make the process easier?
Do you know how to use your computer’s “search” or “find” feature? How could that make
finding your photos easier?
 56 Photo Editing Project

2. Get with the Program:

Becoming Comfortable with your Software
Time: A couple of hours

What you will learn: In this activity, you will learn where all the key tools are in your
editing software and how to quickly and easily find them again. You will also learn
which tools your software has and which ones it doesn’t, and share that information
with your group. This way, your club can plan to take part only in the activities you
have the tools for, or match members together who have certain tools that others
don’t.

What you need: A photo editing journal, any photo and your photo editing software.

Instructions: This activity is meant to introduce you to your software editing program
in a more in-depth way. At the end, you should be able to easily repeat the steps
necessary to open up a given tool at any time.

1. Open your photo editing software program.

2. Open up a photo file (it’s easier to open up tools when you have a photo
loaded into your program).
3. With your photo editing journal open beside you, find and open each of the
following tools. For each tool, write down the path of how you got there. For
instance, the best way to do it is like this: “Brightness: Edit> Adjust>
Brightness” In the future, whenever you need to get to the brightness tool,
you simply have to open up your journal and find the path. This can save you
a lot of time looking for tools until you have your software paths memorized.
If you can’t find a tool, try searching for it in your software’s “Help” menu.
4. If you have extra time, follow your written instructions to find the tools again
a second time. Start getting familiar with where to find them.
5. Keep track of which tools you have and which ones you don’t. Bring your
journal to your next project meeting.
 Photo Editing Project 57

Tools
Crop Tool Straighten Tool Rotate Tool
Exposure Tool Selection Tool Contrast Tool
Brightening Tool Hue Tool Saturation Tool
Red-Eye Tool Noise Reduction Tool Clone/Retouch Tool
Sharpening Tools Frame Options Print Options
Levels/Histogram Tool Saving Options Colour Temperature Tool
Colour Filters Blur Tool

Discussion
 Was it difficult to find all of the tools? Did it take you a long time?
 Do you have most of the tools listed? If yes, are you going to offer
another group member the option of using your software for some
of the activities in this booklet? If no, is there someone in your
group who is willing to let you use the tools in their software?
 Did your tools have the same names as the ones above? If not,
discuss the different names with your group. Why do you think there
are different names for different programs?
 Was it easy to go back and find the tools again a second time?
 Do you think you will use your journal a lot throughout this project
to help you quickly and easily find your editing tools?
 58 Photo Editing Project

3. Exposure Fix
Time: Less than an hour

What you will learn: In this activity, you will learn how to repair both an under- and
an overexposed photo.

What you need: The two “Overexposed” and “Underexposed” photos provided with
this project and your computer editing software.

Instructions: The photo you’re going to use in this activity is of the same scene, but
has been taken with a longer or shorter exposure. You will see how hard certain fixes
can be and just how much you can fix on a wrongly exposed image. Use the tools that
your software program has. If you don’t have some of the tools listed below, try to do
your best with the tools you have.

Underexposed:
1. Start by opening up the
“Underexposed” photo in your editing
software program.
2. Open up your exposure tool. Move the
slider back and forth until you start to
see more areas lightening up without
becoming too noisy.
3. If you didn’t get the effect you wanted,
open up your brightness and contrast
tools and work with them to try to
lighten up the image without losing
quality.
4. If you have the option, open up the
levels and histogram tool to adjust your
exposure. Use the technique described in
Unit 2 about how to use the histogram.
 Photo Editing Project 59

5. When you are happy with the way your photo looks, save it to your computer
and also a memory stick that you can take to your next project meeting to
show your group.

Overexposed:
1. Start by opening up the
“Overexposed” photo in
your editing software
program.
2. Open up your exposure tool.
Move the slider back and
forth until start to see more
areas becoming darker
without losing too much
detail in the highlights.
3. If you didn’t get the effect you wanted, open up your brightness and contrast
tools and work with them to try to darken the image without losing quality.
4. If you have the option, open up the levels and histogram tool to adjust your
exposure. Use the technique described in Unit 2 about how to use the
histogram.
5. When you are happy with the way your photo looks, save it to your computer
and also a memory stick that you can take to your next project meeting to
show your group.
60 Photo Editing Project

Discussion:
 Was it easy to use the exposure tools? Did you use all the tools
(exposure, brightness, contrast, levels and histogram)? Which tool did
you like best? Which had the most impact on your image?
 Are you happy with the way your images turned out? Did you find one
of the photos easier to work with? Was it the underexposed image or
the overexposed image? Why? Do your fellow club members agree?
 Compare your before and after photos. Do you think the after photos are
much improved from the before photos?
 Did you have similar success as the other project members in fixing the
exposure? What tools did they use?
 Consider how you can improve your exposure “in-camera” when you take
your photo, rather than relying on editing to fix it. Would this help you
when you go to edit?
 Photo Editing Project 61

4. “I can’t hear you! It’s too noisy!” How to Reduce Noise

Time: Less than an hour

What you will learn: In this activity, you will learn how to reduce noise in your
photographs.

What you need: The “Noisy” photo provided with this project and your photo editing
software.

Instructions: Your photo editing software might have a “noise reduction” feature. With
this feature, it’s really easy to remove noise from your photographs. Some programs
have different ways of accessing these tools. Using Photoshop and iPhoto as
examples, here are two ways to use the noise reduction tool:

Photoshop:
1. Open up the “Noisy” photo in
your editing software.
2. Open up your noise reduction
tool (click Filter> Noise>
Reduce Noise).
3. Now use your slider tools if
you want to adjust the
settings, but otherwise leave
the command on default and
watch how it magically reduces noise.
4. Once you reach a level you’re happy with, save both your before and after
images to your computer and to a memory stick to take to your next project
meeting.

iPhoto:
1. Open up the provided “Noisy” photo in your editing software.
2. Open up your adjust tool (Edit> Adjust).
3. Move the “Reduce Noise” slider to the right until you see the noise decrease.
62 Photo Editing Project

4. Once you reach a level you’re happy with, save both your before and after
images to your computer and to a memory stick to take to your next project
meeting.

Discussion:
 Did the noise tool drastically reduce the amount of noise in the
photo? If not, why? Do you think too much noise is impossible
to remove?
 Compare your before and after photos. Are you happy with how
your after photo looks?
 Did you try the technique on any of your other photos? What do
you think would happen if you used a noise reduction tool on a
photo without noise?
 Did everyone in your group use the same amount of noise reduction
on the photo? Did you use more or less than most of your fellow
group members? Why do you think that is?
 Photo Editing Project 63

5. Getting Whites their Whitest: Correcting Colour Balance

Time: Less than an hour

What you will learn: In this activity, using a photo we provide, you will learn how to
correct your colour balance using the temperature tool. If your program doesn’t have
a temperature tool, try using the hue tool in the same way to get the effect you want.

What you need: The “Colour Balance” photo provided with this project and your
photo editing software.

Instructions:
1. Open the “Colour Balance”
photo in your editing software.
2. Open up your temperature
tool.
3. Find the white area in the
photo.
4. Move the slider back and
forth until the white looks as
much as pure white as
possible.
5. Once your white area looks good, make sure the other colours in the photo
look like they should as well. If they don’t, you might need to keep moving
the slider slightly back and forth until they look right.
6. Once you’re happy with your colour balance, save your before and after
photos to your computer and a memory stick that you can take to your next
project meeting.
64 Photo Editing Project

Discussion:
 Does your program have a temperature tool? If not, was the hue
tool easy to use to correct your colour balance?
 Did it take a long time to get your colour balance looking good?
Did the colours change a lot from the original photo to the
balanced one?
 Comparing your before and after photos, do you think your after
photo looks a lot better?
 What instances might you have to use the temperature tool? What
kind of pictures have colour balance problems?
 Did everyone in your group use the same amount of noise
reduction on the photo? Did you use more or less than most of
your fellow group members? Why do you think that is?
 Photo Editing Project 65

6. Filter Fun
Time: A half hour or more

What you will learn: In this activity, you will learn how different colour filters can
change the look of your photo.

What you need: A colour photo of your choosing and your computer editing
software.

Instructions: In this activity, we’re going to experiment with colour filters. In your
manual, I talk at length about how different filters can alter the “feel” of your photos,
and now it’s time to try them out.

1. Select a photo you would like to work with.

2. Open up your “filters” folder.
3. Pick a filter and try it out on your photo. Try adjusting the intensity of the
filter if you can. Once you’re happy with that filter, save your photo. Make
sure to save your photo with the name of the filter (e.g., “Maggie’s backyard –
Sepia” or “My first fish – blue tint”). This way, it will be easier to go back and
see which filters you like best.
4. Go back to your original photo and try another filter. Save that one too. Save
at least 3 different colour filters on the same photo. Save all the photos to
your computer and a memory stick to bring to your next project meeting.
66 Photo Editing Project

Discussion:
 Was it easy working with colour filters? Did you have fun
experimenting?
 Which filter did you decide you liked best for your photo? Why?
What about that filter do you like? How does it transform the feel of
your photo?
 Compare the filters you chose to those your fellow group members
chose. Did many of you choose the same filters? Do you agree with
the others on which filters look best on which photos?
 How can you use filters in the future to enhance your images?
 Photo Editing Project 67

7. It’s a Crop Out!

Time: Less than an hour

What you will learn: In this activity, you will learn how to use your crop tool to create
a better-looking photo.

What you need: The “Cropping” photo provided with this project and your computer
editing software.

Instructions: This activity is fun because it allows you to compare your work with
your fellow project members on the same photograph. It’s
fun to see how different people see photos
differently, and how everyone has their own idea of
what a good photo looks like.
1. Open up the provided photo (“Cropping”) in
your editing program.
2. Select your crop tool and crop the photo
however you choose. Make sure the cropped
photo looks better to your eyes, less busy
and more interesting.
3. Save your photo to a memory stick and
bring it to your next project meeting.

Discussion:
 Was the crop tool easy to use?
 Did cropping make the photo look better? If so, how?
 Compare your cropped photo to your fellow group members’ photo.
Did everyone crop the photo differently? Explain why you cropped
yours the way you did and compare your reasons to the other group
members. Are they similar?
 If you could crop the photo again, would you choose to do it differently?
 68 Photo Editing Project

8. Finding Focus
Time: Less than an hour

What you will learn: In this activity, you will learn how to use the blur and retouch
tools to create focus in an overly busy photo.

What you need: The “Finding Focus” photo provided with this project and your
computer editing software.

Instructions: The photo you have been given is pretty overwhelming. There is just so
much going on in this image and everything is in sharp focus. In this activity, we’re
going to choose where we want the focus to be and make everything else blur into
the background using our blur or adjust tools.
1. Start by opening up the “Finding Focus”
photo in your editing software program.
2. Open up either your blur or retouch tool.
Adjust the size of the tool for how big of an
area you want to blur.
3. Using your mouse, “paint” over the area you
want to blur with your tool. If you want to
blur the area more, increase the intensity of
the tool.
4. Don’t worry if you get too overzealous
and accidentally blur the area you want to
keep in sharp focus. Use the “undo” tool and
start over!
5. Zoom in to be more exact in the area you’re blurring.
6. When you’re happy with the amount of blur, save the photo to your computer
and to a memory stick that you can bring to your next project meeting.
 Photo Editing Project 69

Discussion:
Did you enjoy working with the blur tool? Did you find it easy to use?
Was it easy to be exact about the areas you wanted to blur? Did you try adjusting the size and inte
Did you have to start over at any time? How many times?
Compare your photo to your fellow group members. Did a lot of members pick the same area to fo
 70 Photo Editing Project

9. “On Your Own” Edit and Share

Time: About an hour

What you will learn: In this activity, you will learn how to edit a photo to look better
overall.

What you need: A photo you would like to edit and your computer editing software.

Instructions: This activity focuses on an introduction to photo editing. You’re going to

do some basic edits to a photo you’ve taken and bring both the before and the after
photos to your project meeting. With your group, discuss how the edits changed your
photo for the better (or worse) and what more you could do to help.

1. Select a photo you’ve taken that you think could use some work.
2. Perform some exposure fixes using either your exposure, brightness and/or
contrast tools.
3. Perform some colour fixes using your temperature or hue and saturation tools.
4. How does it look? Save both your before and after images to your computer
and to a memory stick to take to your next project meeting.

Discussion:
How did your edits change your photo? Does it look better? Worse?
Were the edits easy to perform? Did you find the tools quickly? Were they straightforward to use? Or
Compare your before and after images. Is your after photo much improved from the before photo?
Compare your edited photo to your fellow group members’ photos. Do the differences between the b
 Photo Editing Project 71

10. Look Deeper: Researching Techniques

Time: a couple of hours to a whole day

What you will learn: In this activity, you will learn all about an editing technique of
your choice. Through presentations by your fellow project members, you’ll learn more
about other techniques as well.

What you need: You need books about photo editing, your computer, the
Internet and a pad of paper on which to write notes.

Instructions: In this activity, each group member selects one editing technique to do
more research on. It can be anything from exposure editing to retouching. Pick a
technique you like or want to learn more about. Spend a few hours researching that
technique. Prepare a brief presentation to your group about what you learned. In your
research, try to answer the questions below:
1. How did this editing technique come about? What did people do to fix these
problems in the age of film before cameras?
2. Are there programs that exist specifically for this technique? What are they?
How do they work?
3. What is the science behind the technique?
4. Are there more advanced tools than what you have to perform this technique?

Discussion:
Why did you pick the technique that you did? Did you learn a lot about it?
Was it easy to find information on this technique?
Is the technique you chose a fairly advanced one?
Do you have a better understanding of how the technique works?
 72 Photo Editing Project

11. Instant Vintage: Aging a Photo

Time: One to two hours

What you will learn: In this activity, you will learn how to take a regular photo and,
using a variety of photo editing tools, give it a vintage or “aged photo” look.

What you need: A colour photo of your choosing and your editing software.

Instructions:
1. First, choose a coloured photo you would like to edit to look older. You might
think it makes more sense to start with a black and white photo because it
looks older, but when you add effects to a coloured photo they end up
looking much richer than if you started with a black and white photo.
2. Open up your colour filter options. Select either the black and white or the
sepia filter. Or, if you would like a more “yellowed” look, adjust your
saturation by bringing it down until your photo is almost black and white.
Now adjust your hue settings until your photo is just slightly yellowed. It looks
old already, doesn’t it?
3. Open up your contrast tool and increase the contrast quite a bit.
4. If your photo looks really dark once you’ve increased the contrast, open your
exposure tool and move your slider to the right to brighten it up. Remember,
you’re not going for a “technically good” photo-look, but a vintage one, so
you don’t want to be shy with the tools. A lot of old photos are slightly over
or underexposed. Flaws are what make old photos look old! You always have
your undo button, so feel free to experiment.
5. If your editing program has the option, add some noise using a special effects
filter. Play with the settings until you get a “film grain” look without losing too
much of the quality. If you want to take this one step further, some programs
have filters that add grit, stains and rips to your photo. If you have the option,
experiment with these features to give your photo a real “distressed” look.
 Photo Editing Project 73

6. Finally, open up your framing options. Choose to add a vignette. Play with the
settings to control how large and dark your vignette is.
7. Once you’re happy with your vintage photo, save both your before and after
images to your computer and to a memory stick to take to your next project
meeting.

Discussion:
 Were the tools we used in this activity easy to work with? Did you try out
a lot of different settings?
 How far did you go with aging your photo? If you had to pick a decade
when the photo might have been taken, what would it be?
 Compare your before and after images. Are you happy with how much
older the after photo looks?
 The subject you chose affects the way your vintage photo looks. Think of
the other photos you have and what time of vintage effects you could
add to them.
 Compare your photo to your fellow group members’ photos. Is there a
variety of vintage “looks”? Discuss what your favourite photo is and why.
 74 Photo Editing Project

12. Pass It On: Group Photo Edit

Time: Several weeks

What you will learn: In this activity, you will learn how to edit as a group. You will
learn to work together as a team to create the best possible photo.

What you need: A photo your group agrees upon to edit together, your computer
with your editing software and a memory stick to transport the photo.

Instructions: As a group, choose a photo that you want to edit together. It can be
anything, as long as the size of the file and the resolution are appropriate. Now, you
have to pick turns. Depending on how many of you there are put numbers in a hat.
Everyone gets to pick out a number. The person with number one goes first, the one
with number two goes second, etc. If there are just two to four of you, each of you
will have to do more to edit the photo, so you’ll have to pick two or more edits from
the list below. If there are a lot of you, divide the edits up among yourselves.

If you picked out number one from the hat, you get to do the first edit. Take the
memory stick home loaded up with the selected photo, and do the first edit listed
below. Then, take your memory stick to your next meeting. Show your edits to the
group. Discuss your changes and how/why you made them. Now, give the memory
stick with the edited photo to the person who picked out number two. They will do
the second edit, and so on. Keep going until all the edits are finished and everyone is
happy with the final photo.

1. Rotate and/or straighten the 6. Sharpen the photo

photo 7. Crop the photo or
2. Fix the exposure use blue to create focus
3. Balance the colour 8. Framing
4. Pick a colour filter
5. Use the
clone/retouch tool to
erase spots
 Photo Editing Project 75

***Make sure everyone saves the photo with his or her edits as a new file
name. The memory stick should always have the original photo, the edited
photo(s) of the person before you and your edited photo. That way you
can see the progression of your group edit as you go. Have fun!

Discussion:
What do you think of the final result of your group edit? Did it turn out the way you imagined it wou
Did anyone make any really drastic changes? Did you like those changes?
Were there any arguments between group members about what looked good and what didn’t?
Was working in a group difficult on this project? Why or why not?
Would you want to work on a group edit in the future? Why or why not?
 76 Photo Editing Project

13. 180 Degrees: Stitching Together a Panorama

Time: Two to four hours

What you will learn: In this activity, you will learn how to seamlessly “stitch” together
multiple photos of the same scene.

What you need: Your camera, at least three photos taken of the same scene at different
angles and your computer editing software.

Instructions: Go out (or stay in!) and take at least three photos of the same scene. Be
sure to change up the angle of the photos, as you’re going to be stitching them
together to make a really cool panorama. Let’s say you’re standing on a beach. Move
your head slightly to the left, put your camera up to your eye and take a photo of
your beach view to your left. Now, without taking the camera away from your eye,
move your head so you’re looking straight forward, and take a photo of the view in
front of you. Now, again, without taking the camera away from your eye, move your
head slightly to your right and take a photo of the view to your right. You want to
make sure that there are some elements of each photo in the photo taken after it, so
that you can line the photos up later on. It might help to find a landmark (like a
garbage pail or a lawn chair) so that you can plan to take your photo with the
landmark in the extreme right of the frame, and then the extreme left. That landmark
will help you put the photos together seamlessly.

When you get back home, upload the photos to your computer and open them up in
your editing software. Now, follow the instructions below to start creating your
panorama.
1. Choose two of the photos to start working with. Don’t worry if the photos
have issues like exposure or colour balance, it will be easier to fix them when
they’re attached together as one.
2. Using your straightening tool, straighten either of the photos so that the
landmark you chose is level in each photo. Use your rotate tool if you need to
slightly adjust the rotation.
 Photo Editing Project 77

3. If your editing software has the option, lower the opacity on one of the
photos. That photo should now look a bit faded.
4. Using your mouse, select each photo and move them around until your
landmarks are perfectly on top of one another.
5. Change the opacity back on the photo you lowered it on.
6. Perform steps 1-5 with your third photo.
7. You should now have three photos that line up pretty well, but you need to
get rid of the edge lines. For this, select the clone or retouch tool. Adjust for
size, and click on a clear section of the photo. Now, using your mouse, click
overtop of the photo edges. You should start to see the edges disappear
(they are really getting covered up by the clone tool).
8. You should now be looking at a seamless panorama! If your program allows
it, select the option to “merge all layers” which makes your layers become
one. Now you can edit anything else you want to and your panorama will stay
in one piece!

Discussion:
How many photos did you use? If you used three, was it not enough to convey the scene? How many
Did you have to make a lot of rotate and straightening adjustments to get your photos to line up? W
Did you have a hard time using the clone tool? Why? You might need to get more practice. Making p
What other scenes might look good as panoramas?
 78 Photo Editing Project

14. Get the Lomo Look: Faking Lomographic Images

Time: Less than an hour

What you will learn: In this fun activity, you will learn how to use your editing tools to
create a Lomography look.

What you need: Any photo you would like to transform to a Lomograph and your
computer editing software.

Instructions: Have you ever heard of Lomo Photography? Don’t worry if you haven’t.
The Lomo is a Russian-made camera that is pretty poorly made, yet somehow, it’s
grown a massive, cult-like following among photographers. The Lomo look is very high
contrast with sharp colours and a skewed colour balance. These photos have a really
neat effect. In this activity, we’re going to use your editing software to make a
Lomograph out of a regular old image. Before you start, it might help if you search
images of “Lomography” to see the general look of Lomo photos. This will help you
when you are deciding how to edit the colours of your photo.

1. Open up the photo you’ve chosen to work with in your photo editing software.
2. Using your frames option, add a vignette to the image. Your vignette should
be fairly opaque (not too dark) and just along the edges.
3. Now we’re going to play with our colours and saturation. Because of the
way Lomographs are processed, their colour balance is often skewed and the
results can vary greatly between shots. There’s no right and wrong way to do
this step. Open up your Hue/Saturation tools. Adjust your hue until you get a
tint you like. Now ramp up your saturation a little until you’re happy.
4. Now open up your brightness and contrast tools. Increase your contrast
almost all the way until you like the new look of the image.
5. At this point, we actually want to add noise to the image, to give it a film
effect. Go to your noise reduction filter and you should be able to use the
slider bar to increase noise. If your software doesn’t have that option, look for
another noise-related tool or filter that will increase the noise on your photo.
 Photo Editing Project 79

You want to be sure you don’t add too much noise, or it could distort the
image far too much.
6. Once you’re happy with your Lomo-look photo, save both your before and
after images to your computer and to a memory stick to take to your next
project meeting.

Discussion:
What did you think of the Lomo effect? Do you think you would try this effect again with other photo
Compare your before and after photos. Does your after photo look a lot different from the before pho
Have you seen this effect on other photos? Where did you see them?
Does your Lomograph look a lot different from your fellow project members? Why?
Would you like to try a Lomo camera someday? Do you know anyone that has one?
 80 Photo Editing Project

15. It’s a Fixer Upper

Time: About two to four hours

What you will learn: In this activity, you will learn how to use your photo editing skills
to fix a multitude of problems to make a photo look better.

What you need: The “Fixer Upper” photo provided with this project and your
computer editing software.

Instructions: This activity is the culmination of your photo-editing journey. Using a

photo provided (“Fixer Upper”), you will have to use all of the skills you have learned
to repair it the best you can. You will be bringing your edited photo to your next
project meeting to compare to your fellow group members’ photos. This is a fun
activity, as you will be able to see how your repairs (and level of repairs) differ from
that of your fellow group members. Post your edited photos next to the original and
compare.

Remember, you don’t have to perform ALL of the edits below, just because you can.
This activity puts you in the driver’s seat. YOU get to decide what needs to be edited
in this photo to make it better. Sometimes subtlety is an editor’s best friend.
1. Begin by loading the “Fixer
Upper” photo into your
editing software.
2. Edit using all the steps
discussed in your manual.
Start with straightening and
rotating. If you think the
photo needs it, use your
straightening tool to
straighten the horizon, or the rotate tool to rotate it into a better position.
3. Now move on to exposure. Use your exposure/brightness/contrast tools if you
think the photo’s exposure needs to be adjusted.
 Photo Editing Project 81

4. If the photo’s white balance is off, adjust the colour temperature. Try out
some colour filters; decide if you want to use any of them to enhance the
photo. Adjust the hue and saturation tools until you get the look you want.
5. Does the photo have unwanted spots or lens flares that aren’t supposed to be
there? Use your clone or retouch tools to get rid of them.
6. Now use your sharpen tools to sharpen your focus. Only use your sharpen
tool if you think the photo needs it. Remember to be sparing with sharpening
tools. Adjust until you’re happy.
7. If you think the photo is too “busy” consider creating focus with the blur tool.
8. The photo might benefit from some creative cropping. If you want, try out a
few different cropping options. Press the undo button if you want to keep the
photo intact.
9. Decide if your edited photo would benefit from a frame.
10. Once you are happy with the way the photo looks, save both your before and
after images to your computer and to a memory stick to take to your next
project meeting. Be prepared to explain the reasons you chose to make the
edits you did!

Discussion:
 Was it easy to edit this photo? Were the problems really obvious to you?
 Did you make a lot of edits to the photo? Did you use all the
tools available to you?
 Compare your before and after images. Does your after photo
look much improved?
 Compare your photo to your fellow group members’ photos. Whose
photo looks the most like the original? Whose looks the least?
Why?
 Do a lot of the edited photos look similar? Why is that?
 Does everyone agree that one photo looks the best out of all of them?
If yes, why? If no, why not?
 82 Photo Editing Project

16. Ruby the Travelling Dog

Time: Two to four hours

What you will learn: In this fun activity, you will learn how to select an object using
your selection tools and insert that object into another photo.

What you need: The “Ruby the Dog” photo provided with this project, a high-
resolution photo of your choosing and your computer editing software.

Instructions: For this activity, it’s all about creativity. In fact, you don’t even have to
use a photo that you took yourself! We’ve provided you with a photograph of Ruby
the dog. Ruby is a travelling dog. She goes everywhere! Mostly just in pictures though.

In this activity, you are the one who takes Ruby travelling. You’re going to use the
image of Ruby the Dog, and place her in any photo you want, anywhere you want. Get
creative and have fun with this project. You won’t even realize you’re learning!
1. Start by opening up the photo of “Ruby the
Dog” in your photo editing software. Using
your selection tools, you want to “cut out”
Ruby from the photo. Zoom in to the photo
to make sure you get as close to Ruby’s fur
as possible, so you don’t get too much of
the area around her. Remember that you’re
going to be pasting her into a new
environment; you want her to look like she
belongs there.
2. Once you’ve selected Ruby completely,
choose to either crop or “cut” her out of the
photo using your toolbar options. Now you
want to save the cut out of Ruby. Save her somewhere where you can find her
easily, like on your desktop or your My Photos folder.
 Photo Editing Project 83

3. Now open up the photo that you want to paste Ruby into. Don’t worry about
being too realistic. A fun example might be a picture of another planet, like
Saturn.
4. Depending on your software, you can either “drag and drop” (click on the
Ruby file and drag it with your mouse onto your new photo) or copy and
paste to get Ruby into your new file. To copy and paste, click on the Ruby file
and select “copy” with your right-click mouse options. Now open up your new
photo and click “paste” with your right-click mouse options. Ruby should
appear in your photo! Now, use your mouse to move Ruby around the scene
until you position her right where you want. A neat option for the Saturn
example would be right on top of the rings of the planet. Ruby is a space
dog!
5. Use the tools you have learned how to use in this project to adjust Ruby’s
brightness, contrast and colour to make her blend in better with her
surroundings. Maybe Ruby’s edges are a little too sharp from your cut-out.
Consider using your clone/adjust tool to smooth out her edges. Experiment
with all your tools to try to incorporate Ruby as naturally as possible.
6. Save your final version to both your computer and a memory stick to bring to
your next project meeting to show your fellow group members where YOU
took Ruby.

Discussion
Were the selection tools easy to use? Did your program allow you to choose different varieties of selecti
Did you have trouble using your editing tools to “blend” Ruby into the photo? What would you do diffe
Where did your fellow group members “take” Ruby? Compare your photo to theirs. Who do you think d
 84 Photo Editing Project

17. Fake it ‘til you make it! Creating an HDR Photo from
One Photo
Time: About an hour

What you will learn: In this activity, you will learn how to use your editing tools to
make an HDR photo out of just one photo.

What you need: A photo you would like to turn into an HDR image and your
computer editing software.

Instructions: This technique is difficult to do in entry-level programs. It’s best with a

higher level editing software program that uses layers like Photoshop. That said, read
the instructions below and try to pull off the same technique using whatever software
you have. You might get pretty close! Some of the techniques and tools below haven’t
been discussed in this project. Don’t worry, they are a little advanced, but with a bit of
practice, you should soon fully understand how to use them.

1. Open up your photo in your editing software program.

2. Duplicate the photo to add it as another layer above the original layer.
Change the name of this layer to “Black and White”.
3. Desaturate this layer using your saturation tool. Now, using your blending
tool, make the blending mode of this layer “Overlay”.
4. Now you’re going to “invert” this layer by clicking Image> Adjustments> Invert.
5. Add a Guassian Blur filter to this layer by clicking Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur.
Make the blur about 40 pixels.
6. Now duplicate your original image again and move it above “Black and
White”. Change the name of this layer to “Linear Layer”.
7. Change the blending mode of “Linear Layer” to “Linear Light”.
8. Lower the opacity of “Linear Layer” to about 60% and you’re finished!
9. Once you reach a look you’re happy with, save both your before and after
images to your computer and to a memory stick to take to your next project
meeting.
 Photo Editing Project 85

Discussion
Was it difficult to use the tools for this activity?
Did you play around with the settings on each of the tools? How would you use them differently?
Was there a drastic change between the before photo and the after HDR photo? Do you like the HDR eff
Would you like to try making “true” HDR photos using three or more images?
 86 Photo Editing Project

18. Be a Photo Pro! Use Your Skills to Give Back

Time: A day to a couple of days

What you will learn: In this activity, you will use all the skills learned in this project to
give back to your community while having fun!

What you need: You will need your camera, your computer and editing
software.

Instructions: Find a local event going on in your community. It can be anything! It can
be a craft fair raising money for charity, an event at a seniors’ residence or an annual
town festival. Contact the organizers and let them know who you are, that you’re
participating in this 4-H project, and that you want to come out with your camera to
take photos of the event, which you can then edit, and return to them to use for
marketing or for spreading the word about their cause. It will be a fun and rewarding
way to get involved in your community and give back. Be sure you let them know
what you plan on doing though, and make sure you’re allowed to be taking photos!

On the day of the event, show up with your camera and an empty memory card and
start snapping away! Take a lot of photos; you’ll be able to weed them out later.
Remember to be polite to people and ask permission if you’re going to take any
close-up shots. When you’re out doing activities for your 4-H projects, you are an
ambassador for 4-H and it’s important you take that responsibility seriously. Be
respectful of people and their wishes. Often, the best photos are taken during candid
moments, which you can still get if you develop a rapport with your subject. Engage
them in conversation; tell them who you are and what you’re doing. I bet they’ll be
super excited to help you out!

When you get home afterwards with your full memory card, load up your photos and
delete the ones that are too fuzzy, dark, or of the ground. Select 10-20 photos you
really like and edit them using the techniques you learned in this project. When you’re
finished, save the edited photos to a disc or a memory stick and drop it off to the
 Photo Editing Project 87

organizers of the event. I’m sure they will be so happy you took the time to help out,
and BONUS, your photos could be used all over town!

Discussion
Was it easy to get involved in the event you chose? Did people embrace you as a volunteer photogra
This was your first really big “on your own” edit. How did it go? Were you happy with your photos wh
Is this something you might consider doing again? Giving back to your community is a big part of wh
 88 Photo Editing Project

19. Field Trip to Visit a Photographer

Time: Half to a full day

What you will learn: In this activity, you will spend time with a local photographer
and find out more about taking and editing photos professionally.

What you need: You will need a local photographer, a few free hours, your photo
journal and a pen, your group and your enthusiasm for photography!

Instructions: As a group, find a local photographer in your community who is

interested in speaking about what they do. I think you’ll find a lot of photographers
are passionate people who are pretty excited about their jobs and enjoy sharing their
experiences and knowledge with other people. Set up a day to go and learn about
what they do. Preferably it will be at their office so they can show you where/how they
edit. When you’re there, be sure to be respectful and listen carefully to what is being
said. You will probably learn a lot! Before going, think of some questions you can ask.
Bring your photo journal so you can write down notes to go over later. Maybe they’ll
even explain some of their favourite techniques!

Discussion
Did you enjoy your visit?
Did you learn a lot? What was the coolest thing you learned?
Do you think you might like to pursue a career in photography? How would you do that? Where wou
 Photo Editing Project 89

20. Become a Food Photographer

Time: About half a day

What you will learn: Food photography is everywhere. Think about it, it’s a lot more
fun to make recipes when they have a delicious looking photo accompanying them!
You can see food photos in magazines, TV, online, on restaurant menus and
advertising raw ingredients, like pulses, grains or fruits and vegetables. Great looking
food photography is vitally important in many industries. Food photographers style
dishes and ingredients in attractive ways to entice customers to purchase those dishes
or ingredients. This is a pretty important job where the emphasis is on making the
food look as appetizing and delicious as possible. Most food photographers employ
certain techniques in order to do this. In this activity, you get to be the food
photographer. You’ll learn how to edit a photo you’ve taken of a delicious dish or raw
ingredient to maximize its appeal to your audience.

What you need: You will need your camera, a plate of food styled the way you want
and your computer and editing software.

Instructions: This is a fun activity because it’s all up to you! It’s your job to pick a kind
of dish (like what you had for lunch: a peanut butter sandwich, a bowl of soup, a piece
of chocolate cake, etc.) or a raw ingredient (like a handful of blueberries, a bunch of
fresh grown lettuce, some marshmallows, etc.). “Style” the photo by arranging the food
in an interesting way using dishes, napkins or any other decorative elements. Be
careful not to overdo it. Remember that the food is the star! You want to get people’s
mouths watering! If you need some inspiration, search “Food Photography” in your
browser’s search bar.

There are a few rules to adhere to when taking your photo. I won’t go into much
detail, but remember these tips: Don’t use a flash. Shoot your photo during the
daytime next to a window. Natural light is a food photographer’s best friend! Shoot
your food at a flattering angle. Usually this is in between a 90 and 45 degree angle.
Try out a few different shots so you can choose your favourite one to edit. Finally,
make sure to get your focus right!
90 Photo Editing Project

Once you’ve taken a bunch of photos, upload them to your editing software and
choose your favourite one to edit. There are a few general rules that food
photographers use to make their food look as yummy as possible. Follow the
instructions below until you’re happy with how delicious your dish looks. Be prepared
to show your photo to your group, and since they’ll also be showing you their
scrumptious photos, I suggest you eat first!
1. Start by adjusting your exposure. A lot of food photos are slightly over-
exposed. A lot of light makes food look fresh (this is why a lot of natural
light is used), and a fresh look is what you want. Get the exposure to where
you want it, and then give the photo a touch more brightness, being careful
not to overdo it.
2. Adjust your contrast. A lot of food photographers stay away from heavy
contrast. Too much contrast can give your dish unappetizing looking shadows.
Remember that light makes food look fresh. Bring down the contrast until
you’re happy.
3. Fix the colour balance. You definitely don’t want your food to have any weird
or otherworldly colours that your viewers aren’t used to. Remember you want
to “sell” your dish. Oranges should look orange not orange with a bluish tone.
Use the temperature tool to get your colour balance looking right.
4. Give the saturation a little boost. You’ll find that the colours in food
photography often “pop” a bit more in the photo than they do in real life.
This helps make the food look bright, fresh and delicious. Use the saturation
tool to increase your colour levels just a bit. Don’t boost them too high or
you could risk losing the realistic look of your dish.
5. Find focus if you need to. Most food photos have a really narrow depth of
field. That means only on section of the dish is in sharp focus and the rest of
the photo has a pleasant blur (called a “bouquet”). If your photo could use
some focus help, use the tools you learned how to use in the Finding Focus
activity.
6. Crop the photo. Food photographers often take their food shots really close-
up so that the dish takes up most of the frame and truly is the star of the
photo. If you haven’t done this, not to worry. Experiment with different
compositions using the crop tool.
 Photo Editing Project 91

7. Finally, sharpen your photo only if necessary. You have to be careful not to
sharpen your food photos too much. A little hint of soft focus is good for
occasionally offering a nostalgic note to some food shots. Add a little
sharpening if you think your photo needs it but remember that less is more.
8. Once you’re happy with your food photo, save both your before and after
images to your computer and to a memory stick to take to your next project
meeting.

Fun suggestion: Why not make this your project wrap-up activity
for the end of the 4-H year? Each project member can choose a
recipe to make and bring to the final meeting. Make your chosen
recipe the one you photograph! That way, when everyone is
salivating over all the delicious photos, they get to sample them
too!

Discussion
Was this a fun activity for you? Do you think you’d like to do more food photography?
Do you think food photography is important? Why?
Have you ever made a recipe or bought an ingredient because of a delicious looking photo? What was it
Compare your before and after images. Does your after photo look much improved?
Did everyone in your project have delicious looking food photos? Which one was your favourite? Why?
 92 Photo Editing Project

21. The Power of Food Photography

Time: A few hours.

What you will learn: In this activity, you will do research to learn more about the
power of food photography in marketing, specifically how it applies to agriculture.

What you need: You will need your computer and your notebook for taking notes.

Instructions: Now that you know all about the importance of food photography,
you’re going to learn a little more about how powerful a tool it can be, especially to
organizations called marketing boards. Marketing boards are associations created by
groups of producers for the purpose of marketing their products to increase
consumption (and therefore prices). Marketing boards are very important to the
agriculture industry. Most commodity (a marketable item produced to satisfy wants or
needs) groups like turkey, beef, eggs, canola, lentils, fruits, veggies and dairy, etc. rely
on marketing boards to create appetizing food photography to entice the public to
purchase their product. In this activity, you’re going to do a little research to learn
more about this process, and the important role that food photography plays.
1. Select three different commodity groups. Make sure at least one is grown in
your home province (e.g., if you live in Manitoba, consider sunflowers; if you
live in BC, consider apples; if you live in Quebec, why not maple syrup?).
2. Go online and search your commodity and “marketing board” (e.g., “pork
marketing board”) and you should find a lot of websites devoted to your
chosen commodities. On the site, search for food photography or a recipe
section.
3. Write down your observations based on the photography you see on the site,
answering the specific questions in the Discussion section below.
4. Come prepared with notes to your next project meeting to discuss your
observations with your group.
 Photo Editing Project 93

Discussion
 What are your observations about food photography based on what
you’ve seen on the pages devoted to your commodity groups?
 What is the message the marketing board is trying to get across?
 What is the purpose of food photography to the marketing board?
 What are important aspects to consider when photographing (and
editing photos of) food from a marketing perspective?
 How has the photographer made the food look appetizing either through
photographing or editing the photos? Why do you think it’s important
for the food to look appetizing?
 How has the marketing board strategically used food on the website?
How have they positioned their food photography so the food is
appetizing or even surprising (e.g., the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers
website includes recipes for and photos of desserts. Pulses in desserts?!
Awesome!)?