Application 3: Editing Digital Photographs

Application #3: Editing Digital Photographs

Not all the pictures you take are perfect. Sometimes the image might be a little out-of-focus or off-center, or maybe your subject caught the glare of a flash for a "red eye" effect. The nice thing about digital pictures is that you can easily edit them to correct for these and other types of flaws.

tip

If you have a bunch of photo prints you want to put on your computer, but don't have a scanner, all hope is not lost. Many photo-processing services and commercial printers (including Kinko's) offer scanning services. For a fee, they'll turn your prints (or, in some cases, your negatives) into JPG or TIFF files you can use on your computer.

To fix the flaws in a picture, you use a photo editing program. Some of these programs are quite simple to use, others offer more features but have a steeper learning curve. The most popular of these programs include Adobe Photoshop Elements (www.adobe.com), Jasc Paint Shop Pro (www.jasc.com), Microsoft Picture It! Photo (pictureitproducts.msn.com), and PhotoSuite (www.roxio.com).

You don't have to tweak your computer much to use any of these programs. Just make sure you have a big hard disk and plenty of memory; an oversized monitor is also nice.

Upgrade Checklist for Editing Digital Photographs

40GB or larger hard disk (see Chapter 4)

256MB or more RAM (see Chapter 6, "You Must Remember This: Upgrading System Memory")

17-inch CRT or 15-inch LCD monitor (see Chapter 9, "The Big Picture: Upgrading Video Cards and Monitors")

Digital photo editing software, such as Adobe Photoshop Elements or Microsoft Picture It! Photo