correctmyphotos

Every Photo Needs To Be Cropped. How to Crop.

As I discussed in my last post, every digital photo needs to be cropped (“Why Crop?”). To crop a photo you need a photo editing program and there are many to choose from. Most likely, there was an editing program included in with your digital camera and most online print services offer some level of editing features. A simple fact is that most photo editing programs are too complicated and difficult to learn for most digital photographers whose primary interest is taking pictures and showing them to friends and family. You have to determine your level of interest and amount of time you have to devote to learning a photo editor and to edit photos.

From my perspective if you are willing to learn to use a comprehensive photo editing program I would recommend Photoshop Elements by Adobe. If you are not, I recommend CorrectPhoto by PictoColor (Admittedly, I am a bit prejudice regarding CorrectPhoto, but the choice is yours.) If you don’t want to spend money on a photo editing program you might want to consider using the Windows Photo Gallery editor included in Windows Vista or a free online service. I do believe, however, that photo editing is best done on your computer before images are uploaded to an online print or sharing service. I would also avoid using Photo Kiosks at retail stores to edit photos, but I will talk about that in a future post.

As I previously discussed (Photo Applications) before you crop you must decide what you are going to do with the photo. For this discussion I will assume you want to make a 4×6 print. (continue reading…)

Every Digital Photo Needs to Be Cropped! Why?

Because we can!
The first reason is “because we can” and that is one of the real benefits and joys of digital photography. With a little cropping we can turn an average picture into a memorable photo. With film photography we basically had to accept what we got when we picked up our prints. How many times have you wished you could retake the shot and not include someones elbow or half a face? With a digital image we can easily trim or eliminate portions of the picture we don’t want or need.

Cropping Out the Fence Makes This a Better Picture

Aspect Ratios Vary
The aspect ratio (the ratio of the width to the height of the picture) of a digital camera sensor is typically 4×3 (1.33). The aspect ratio of a 4×6 (6×4) print is 1.5. The format for HDTV is 16×9 or 1.78. so, if you want 4×6 prints you should decide what portions of the image should be cut off and not let the printer software decide for you. Here is an example of what can happen if you let the printer decide where to crop the photo–And, it is my head that go clipped!

Crop photos before you send them to the printer

(continue reading…)

Greetings,

As I mentioned in a previous blog Photo Contest Sites are great places to learn from other photographers and view great photography. Another one of my favorites is from “down under” in Australia, http://www.shutterbugs.biz. One of the benefits of Shutterbugs is seeing photos from all over the world. Click on the link and you can see photos from photographers from Australia, Germany, Wales, USA, etc. You can join Shutterbugs and enter your great photos in one of their contests.

Shutterbugs.biz is an international photo contest web site

Shutterbugs.biz is and Austrailian non-profit photo competition web site now in its 6th year. Shutterbugs provides the the international photo community a place where recognition is awarded for artistic and technical merit in “photo of the day” everyday. Shutterbugs.biz becan in 2003 and was purchased by Robyn Lakeman and Richard Higgs in 2007. Check out the outstanding photography at http://www.shutterbugs.biz.

Wayne  www.correctphoto.com

Digital Workflow—I Am Changing My Workflow. Let’s learn from the Pros?

In my last post, “How do you want your Photos?”, I admitted to learning from my friend Rob on the “new” ways to show off photos other than 4×6 prints and the dilemma of whether or not to ask Pat how she wanted the photos.  Well, we did discuss the question; however, no conclusions have been reached because we really haven’t given the alternatives much thought. Actually, I think she was in shock that I was even asking the question.  Or, maybe it was the magnitude of the job of putting 6 years of prints into albums. But, the fact is there are other ways to show photos today other than prints.  And, that fact has a major impact on our digital workflow and how we manage and edit photos.

My Previous Workflow-The 4×6 Print Workflow
While I have not made or ordered prints for Pat’s albums I have edited most of the photos I shot with my Canon cameras.  After transferring the files to My Pictures (SP)/Pictures (Vista) folder I did the following:

1. Created an Archive folder of the original photo files for backup and future reference. I typically create an archive sub-folder within the main folder and then use the main folder as a working folder.
2. Using a photo editing program (we will get into editing programs later) I reviewed each picture and cropped to 4×6 print format and color corrected the ones worth keeping. I deleted the shots that were not worth editing or keeping.  The folder then contained the edited versions of the photos worth keeping ready to be printed to a 4×6 format.
3. The final step before printing was to rename the edited photos, (i.e. Christmas 2007-001…)

This workflow works great if all you will do with the edited photos is to make or order 4×6 prints.

Spearfish Canyon Falls-CorrectPhoto with New HDTV Cropping Format

New HDTV Delivered Yesterday—Now What?
Well, we finally decided to get a new HDTV and it was delivered yesterday.  So, if Pat decides that she wants to be able to relive family events on the TV and wants me to make DVDs instead of prints I will have to go back and re-edit the photos for the optimum HDTV format. Yes, I know I can use the 4×6 format and not have the photos fill the screen, but I will want to crop to the HDTV 16×9 format.  So, maybe I shouldn’t crop the photos until the “How do you want your photos?” question is answered. (continue reading…)

After my last post “You’ve Got Pictures-Now What”-The “Digicam Syndrome” I decided to scan my pictures folders to find my first digital pictures.  I found them in the folder entitled “G2 Initial Tests” dated June 2002. That was a year earlier than I thought so Pat hasn’t gotten a new photo to put into an album for over 6 years. No wonder she is a bit unhappy that I became afflicted with the “Digicam Syndrome”.  BTW, the disease is hereditary. Sunday evening our family was together and our daughter-in-law was wondering what digital camera she should buy. She wanted her own camera because she never gets any prints from Craig, her husband and our son.  Hmm, I heard that before.

Prints: Crop to desired 4 x 6 print format before printing

How do you want your photos?
Prints
Why ask that question? Obviously, the answer is 4×6 prints (that is the standard these days). Well, it really isn’t that obvious. When my friend Rob first got his digital camera he made prints on his desktop printer.  He would color correct them using a color correction application called iCorrect and print them. I finally talked him into taking a CD to Sam’s Club and having them do the prints because it was cheaper and the quality was better.  Next I introduced him to CorrectPhoto so he could crop and color correct the photos and then suggested he upload the edited photos to Sam’s Club Online Photo site.  He thanked me for the help and was happy with Sam’s service and the time it saved him. And, I was proud of myself for helping a friend. (continue reading…)