DIY Network

Outdoor Portrait Photography: Photo-Editing Software From "The Whole Picture" episode DTWP-101

Photographic software packages offer you a practically endless array of options for altering and manipulating your images. In portrait photography, they can be used to refine the image for optimum results before making a final print.

NOTE: Images on this page may be enlarged for enhanced viewing simply by clicking on them.

In this episode of DIY's The Whole Picture, professional photographer Erin Manning shows viewers how to achieve the best results in shooting outdoor portraits using a digital camera. In this final segment, Erin explains how to manipulate the lighting in a digital photograph using photo-editing software to make a professional looking picture.

Materials used in this episode:

Digital camera
Tripod
Reflector boards
Wax paper

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	Use the Quick-Fix button, then the Color button.
	This will allow you to play with various attributes such as saturation, hue, temperature, and tint.
	Once you've achieved the desired look, you're ready to hit "print."

Achieving Perfection After the Fact

One distinct advantage of digital photography is that,even after the picture has been taken, there are things that can be done to improve on it to get even better final results. Here are some of the basics for doing just that.

Note: All photo-software programs are a bit different, but they're functionally similar. All have a way to enhance the color. Most also have something like an "auto-fix" feature that allows the program to improve the image based on certain default parameters and settings. You can choose either to utilize the auto-fix function, or you can change attributes of the picture manually based on your own choices. Below are the steps we employed in the demonstration using one photo-editing program.

• Once you get your pictures downloaded, you can manipulate skin tones very easily.

• Pick one of your shots and double-click on it to open the image file.

• Tip: Before making any alterations to the image, save the file under a new name. In this way, you've archived your original (un-retouched) image, and the one you're altering will be a separate copy with a different name. It's always a good idea to retain your original version intact.

• Go up to the menu bar and find SELECT-ALL. Hit the Quick-Fix button, then the Color button. This will give you four different slider bars which will allow you to adjust the Saturation, Hue, Temperature and Tint. By moving the sliders back and forth, you can alter the image. The results are displayed immediately on the preview screen, but they're not made permanent until you opt to Save your changes.

• Other menu choices you may be able to use to manipulate the image may include Shadows and Highlights, Brightness/Contrast and Levels. In our case we worked with Shadows and Highlights. This gave us three different sliders to work with: Lighten Shadows, Darken Highlights and Midtone Contrasts.

• Simply use the controls available to you to manipulate the image until you're happy with the results. The great thing about digital photography is that you can experiment with each of these variables, or a combination of them, to get exactly what you want. If you don't like the results after working with the image, just hit the RESET button to go back to what you started with.

• When you're happy with the overall results, you can now go under the File menu and select Save to permanently retain the changes you've made to this particular image file. When you've achieved your desired look, simply hit PRINT to create a print of picture.
  
  
  

  RESOURCES :
  

  The Complete Idiot's Guide to Digital Photography
  Model: 002864235X
  Author: Steven Greenberg
  Order this book from Amazon.com.
  Prentice Hall
  Paramus, NJ 07652
  

  Digital Photography For Dummies
  Model: 0764506463
  Author: Julie Adair King
  Order this book from Amazon.com.
  Hungry Minds, Inc.
  

  Complete Digital Photography
  Model: 1584500077
  Author: Ben Long
  Order this book from Amazon.com.
  Charles River Media
  Website: www.charlesriver.com/
  

  50 Fast Digital Photo Techniques
  Model: 0764535781
  Author: Gregory Georges, Cris Rys
  To order this title from Amazon, click here.
  Hungry Minds, Inc.
  

  PC Photo magazine
  Website: www.pcphotomag.com
  Online version of the magazine devoted to digital photography and related technologies.
  

  RELATED PROJECTS: Digital Photography Primer Digital Photography: Printing Your Digital Photos Digital Photography: Transferring Images to Your Computer

  
  

  ALSO IN THIS EPISODE:
  	Outdoor Portrait Photography: Picking a Good Location
  	Outdoor Portrait Photography: Using Reflector Boards
  	Outdoor Portrait Photography: Flash and Zoom
  	Outdoor Portrait Photography: Photo-Editing Software