(above) BEFORE
AFTER (using photobucket's free scrapbook feature)If you are new to photography don't stress about lighting or even framing the shot. Just work on getting that priceless expression. You have one chance and thanks to digital cameras you can fake it if you fail.
(I will be describing all editing procedures available at www.photobucket.com because it is free & fairly popular)
POOR FRAMING
Most digital cameras have a high enough resolution that you can crop in fairly close even if the photograph was not originally a close up. You don't always have to crop your subject in the center. Try cropping so that your child is on the far left or far right of the frame. This works great for Christmas cards and business cards. Or crop the photo so only part of your child's face is included, as shown on the Christmas card.
BLAH DULL PHOTO
If you increase the contrast your photograph will take on a more bold and artistic look. Just slide the contrast bar up. This will sometimes make the colors too bold for your taste. For a more subtle effect slightly decrease the color saturation after you increase the contrast. Don't be afraid to play around. Messing with the brighten, saturation and contrast bars produce the most interesting and effective results.
CLUTTERED, MESSY BACKGROUND
Cropping is the easiest solution.
Or
increase the contrast.
if the photo background is already brighter than the subject then bump up the contrast and the subject will jump out and the background will fade away
If the background is darker than the subject increase the saturation and slightly decrease the brightness for a similar effect.
BUSY/ CLASHING PHOTO
crop and use the grayscale or sepia feature to tone down everything from busy backgrounds to clashing outfits
MASK BLUR
The soften effect, under effects, in photo shop editing, will mask the blur in most images. It can make things like out of focus subjects and solar flares look intentional. It is also a very magical touch for newborn portraits and fairy princesses.
REMOVING UNWANTED ELEMENTS
A vignette works great at hiding unwanted elements around the pictures edges. It is under decorate, frames and then matte/vignette. Stick with black or white for a more classic look.
This also adds a nice dramatic touch to a plain photograph.
(I will be describing all editing procedures available at www.photobucket.com because it is free & fairly popular)
POOR FRAMING
Most digital cameras have a high enough resolution that you can crop in fairly close even if the photograph was not originally a close up. You don't always have to crop your subject in the center. Try cropping so that your child is on the far left or far right of the frame. This works great for Christmas cards and business cards. Or crop the photo so only part of your child's face is included, as shown on the Christmas card.
BLAH DULL PHOTO
If you increase the contrast your photograph will take on a more bold and artistic look. Just slide the contrast bar up. This will sometimes make the colors too bold for your taste. For a more subtle effect slightly decrease the color saturation after you increase the contrast. Don't be afraid to play around. Messing with the brighten, saturation and contrast bars produce the most interesting and effective results.
CLUTTERED, MESSY BACKGROUND
Cropping is the easiest solution.
Or
increase the contrast.
if the photo background is already brighter than the subject then bump up the contrast and the subject will jump out and the background will fade away
If the background is darker than the subject increase the saturation and slightly decrease the brightness for a similar effect.
BUSY/ CLASHING PHOTO
crop and use the grayscale or sepia feature to tone down everything from busy backgrounds to clashing outfits
MASK BLUR
The soften effect, under effects, in photo shop editing, will mask the blur in most images. It can make things like out of focus subjects and solar flares look intentional. It is also a very magical touch for newborn portraits and fairy princesses.
REMOVING UNWANTED ELEMENTS
A vignette works great at hiding unwanted elements around the pictures edges. It is under decorate, frames and then matte/vignette. Stick with black or white for a more classic look.
This also adds a nice dramatic touch to a plain photograph.
Free photo sharing sites can decrease the photograph's resolution so keep an extra copy.
Works For Me!!!!
7 comments:
Lovely photos! Thanks for all of the great tips!
I love learning new photo tips! Thanks so much!
So cute!
Love the photos; I had no idea that photobucket sdid that!! (Now I can skip photoshop when I'm on my ancient, slow lap tap!)
I need all the help I can get with taking pictures..thank you for the great tips. I love your blog and your photos..very nice!
Thanks for the great photography lesson. You take great pictures, and have very beautiful models. I love pictures of children (maybe that's why my walls are covered w/pictures of my grandchildren).
Great photos! Amazing how we can fix our own photos!
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