Enhancing and Retouching Photos


Some photos need work. Old photos can appear faded, their color washed out by Father Time. They might also have scratches and creases brought on by decades of shoebox imprisonment.

New photos can often benefit from some enhancement, too. That shot you took in a dark room with the flash turned offits color could use some punching up. That family photo you want to use as a holiday cardthe clan might look better with fewer wrinkles and blemishes.

iPhoto's enhance and retouch tools are ideal for tasks like these. With the enhance tool, you can improve a photo's colors and exposure, and rescue a photo you might otherwise delete. With the retouch tool, you can remove minor scratches and blemishes, not to mention that chocolate smudge on your kid's face.

iPhoto lets you view before-and-after versions of your work: press the Control key, and iPhoto shows you what the image looked like before you began retouching and enhancing. And you can always backtrack one step by using the Undo command, or return to Square One by choosing Revert to Original from the Photos menu.

As with iPhoto's other editing features, the Enhance and Retouch buttons appear in iPhoto's edit view. If you aren't familiar with how to switch to edit view, see "Basic Photo Editing" on page 136.

Using One-Click Enhance

To apply one-click enhance, click the Enhance button at the bottom of the iPhoto window.

Before:This dimly lit shot is barely visible.

After:iPhoto has let the dogs out.

Tips

If at first you don't succeed, click, click again. Each time you click Enhance, iPhoto processes the image again. But too much enhancement can make an image appear grainy and artificial. If that happens, choose Undo Enhance Photo from the Edit menu as many times as needed to backtrack.

If the Enhance tool isn't doing the jobmaybe its results are too harshundo your enhancements and turn to the tools in the Adjust panel (see page 142).

Using the Retouch Tool

To use the retouch tool, click the Retouch button at the bottom of the iPhoto window. If you want to edit the image in other ways after retouching, click the button again to turn off the retouch tool.

To remove a flaw, position the crosshair pointer over the flaw and then drag away from the flaw in short strokes.

Before: Cute kid, but a little dirty.

After: We lost the dirt, but kept the freckles.

Tips

Before and after. As with the Enhance tool, you can see a "before" version of your photo by pressing and holding down the Control key.

Zoom for precision. To retouch with more precision, use the size slider to zoom in on the area of the image that you're working on. You can also zoom by pressing the 0 (zero), 1, or 2 keys.

Undo and revert. You can undo each mouse click by choosing Undo Retouch from the Edit menu. To undo all of your retouching, choose Revert to Original from the Photos menu. Note that you'll also lose any other edits, such as cropping, that you performed since switching into edit view. (For more details on the workings of the Revert to Original command, see page 153.)

Rub right. Scratches are best removed by rubbing the mouse pointer over a scratch until it disappears. That's because iPhoto learns the pattern on either side of a scratch, and rubbing makes this pattern easier to learn. Also, some scratches disappear faster if you rub at a ninety-degree angle to the scratch. Experiment and undo as needed.

Retouch before sharpening. If you plan to retouch an image, do so before applying sharpening. That way, you won't risk the sharpening process drawing attention to your retouching work. (For details on sharpening, see page 148.)



The Macintosh iLife '06
The Macintosh iLife 06
ISBN: 0321426541
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 229
Authors: Jim Heid

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net