Enhancing Digital Images:
Some Basics
STEM Earth Central
August, 2005
Mort Sternheim, Holly Hargraves
Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0
Many, many features
Windows and Mac versions (some
differences)
Academic price about $53 (~$100 list)
(govconnection.com, 800-998-0009)
Simpler, easier to use, cheaper than Adobe
Photoshop (~$600 list )
Free 30 day trial download from adobe.com
References and Help
Photoshop Elements 3.0 for Dummies
Excellent
$21.99 list, $15.39 from Amazon.com
Elements manual < Help
Help has search options, tutorials
How to palette in program
Today
Basics
Adjusting brightness, contrast (Levels)
Adjust color
Quick Fix
Cropping
Redeye
Reducing file sizes for PowerPoint, web,
email
Using Layers to make labels
Elements components
View and organize photos
Tags, collections, search by date ….
Quickly fix photos (Quick Fix)
Automated, menus
Edit and enhance photos (Standard Edit)
More control, options, tools, ….
Make photo creation
Web gallery, Slide show, Card, postcard,
calendar, VCD, …
Getting Started
Double click on the Photoshop Elements icon
to start the program
On the Welcome Screen, select Edit and
Enhance Photos
Use File Open, go to the Desktop, and
then to SEC_Photos
Double click on Alan.jpg to open that file.
On the menu bar (top of screen), click on
Window, and then on Undo History. This lets
you track and undo changes
Adjusting Brightness and Contrast
Useful for nearly every photo!
On the menu bar select
Enhance Adjust Lighting Levels
You will get a screen with a levels histogram and
three sliders just below it.
Drag the rightmost slider to the left until it is under
the end of the graph. (Brighter whites)
Drag the leftmost slider a bit to the right. (Darker
grays.)
Drag the center slider to the right or left to choose
the best midtones. Click OK.
Levels
Levels Histogram for Alan.jpg
Levels, cont.
Use the Undo History palette to undo/redo
Levels effects
Try this exercise with Ilka.jpg
To see a major improvement with Levels, try
ibis.jpg
Try Levels on underexposed photos such as
Kathy.jpg or Oval Window.jpg
Adjusting Color
Try Enhance Adjust Color Color
Variations with one of these images.
Experiment with some other Adjust Color
options.
Quick Fix
Fast, easy, somewhat limited
Open Ilka1.jpg
Select Quick fix. Note the Undo and Redo
buttons that let you retrace your steps.
Note menu options for General Fixes,
Lighting, Color. These are not as powerful
as the equivalent individual menu options, but
easy to use and experiment with.
Cropping
Trim off unwanted stuff; zoom in on birds, etc.
Easiest way is with the Crop Tool.
Open gps.jpg
On Toolbox, click on Crop Tool
Click at one corner of area you want to keep,
drag to opposite corner, release.
When you are satisfied, hit click on the check
mark (commit) on the right side of the
Options bar. Or, to start over, click on the
cancel icon.
Adjusting crop boundaries
You can drag any “handle” to modify that
part of the boundary. Shift-drag on a corner
handle constrains the proportions.
If you position the cursor inside the box, you
can drag the whole box to a new location.
If you position the cursor outside the box,
you can drag and rotate the box.
Cropping to specific sizes,
resolutions
Handy for preserving aspect rations, and for
cropping and resizing to desired print formats.
In the Options bar, note the Width, Height,
Resolution boxes. Enter 6, 4, 300. (More on
resolution later.)
Click on a corner of the desired box and drag.
The resulting box will be have 6/4 proportions.
When you click on the check, the image will
have 6” x 4” dimensions, and 300 pixels per
inch.
Fixing Red Eye
Fixing Redeye
Open smile.jpg
Use the Zoom Tool to enlarge her eyes.
Select the Red Eye Brush in the Toolbox.
Click in the red area of an eye. This should remove
the red eye,
(If you want to adjust the effect, vary the pupil size
and darken amount in the Options bar. This is
seldom needed.)
Open redeyegirls.jpg and fix their redeye
Pixels and Displays
Screen images are made up of tiny squares
called pixels (picture element).
Pixels are usually 1/72 inch across.
Today most people use 800 x 600 or 1024 x
768 pixel displays, or < 1 million pixels
How large a given image appears depends
on the screen settings! An image 800 pixels
by 600 will fill the 800 x 600 display but not
the 1024 x 768 display.
Downsizing Images
Most people have displays with less than 1
Megapixel and can’t see a larger image all at
once
Downsize pictures for PowerPoint, the web,
or email, usually to 0.5 Megapixels or less.
This makes it faster to load (or download)
Exception: You expect someone to make
large prints from the image.
Why buy a 4 or 8 Megapixel
camera?
You can’t see all those pixels at once on a
screen.
But, you can make use of them for zooming,
cropping.
You can also make larger, better prints with
more pixels.
Checking Image Sizes
Open Brie.jpg in Standard Edit or Quick Fix
Select Image Resize Image Size
You will see the following screen
Image size data
Width: 2272 pixels (7.573 inches )
Height: 1704 pixels (5.68 inches)
Channels: 3 (RGB)
Resolution: 300 pixels/inch
• Numbers in inches (7.573, 5.68) define the size
if the photo is printed.
• The width and height in pixels (2272 x 1704)
define how it will fit on a screen
• The resolution (pixels per inch or ppi) how
good the print will be; it means nothing for
onscreen viewing.
• Channels (RGB) color, not grayscale
Changing Image Size for Screen Use
Select Image Resize Image Size
Make sure Constrained Proportions is
checked
For Width, enter 800
Height should automatically change to 600.
Note the file size is now 1.37M (was 11.1M)
Click on OK
Note: You can resize a batch of files all at
once using File Process Multiple Files
Saving the Image File
Select File Save As. For File name, enter
Brie1.jpg to avoid overwriting the original
image. (.jpg format is the best image format
for photos in most cases. It compresses the
file while preserving nearly all the details.)
Click on Save. In the next screen, select
High Quality and then OK. (Note the image
size is now 87k. The original Brie.jpg file size
was 844k.)
Resolution and Printing
For good ink jet photos, you need at least 150 pixels
per inch (ppi)
200-300 ppi is better
For 8 x 10.66 print,
150 x 150 x 8 x 10.66 = 1.9 million
Thus an 8 x 10 requires a 2 Megapixel image or
better for good results.
Set print size with Image Resize Image Size,
changing Document Size Width, Height
Or, use File Print or File Print Multiple
Photos. (Picture packages, contact sheets …)
Layers
Like sheets of
transparent plastic on
an overhead projector.
Work more easily on
one element of image –
edit one layer at a time
Combine, copy images
Create text layers with
labels, etc.
Adding labels with text layers
Open 1ibis.jpg
Click on Window and on Layers to display the
Layers palette
Right click on the Text tool in the toolbar
Select horizontal type
Position the cursor somewhere near its head
Type the word “head”
Changing the appearance of text
Use the move tool to position the label
Click on the Text tool again
Change the font, font size, and color of “head”
using boxes in the option bar
Use the icon next to the color option to warp
the text
Click the last icon to change the text
orientation
More labels
Click on the Text tool. Put you cursor near a
leg and type “leg”
Again, play with this label – move it, format it,
etc.
You can select the “active layer” by clicking
on the appropriate layer in the layers palette.
The active layer is indicated by a paintbrush
in the second column and a blue field to the
right.
