correctmyphotos

Seasons Greetings From PictoColor

Creating holiday greeting cards is easy and fast with CorrectPhoto and ImageTitler. Yesterday, we woke up to 10 inches of new fluffy snow in Burnsville, MN—a perfect time to take a photo and create a greeting card. After transferring the photo to my computer I used CorrectPhoto Editor to crop and color correct it and then added the greeting text with ImageTitler. Here is a step-by-step tutorial you can follow to create your own greeting cards.

Step 1-Edit the photo
As I have said many times, every photo needs to be cropped and color corrected and this shot is no exception. I used CorrectPhoto to crop the photo using the 3×4 cropping format. I chose not to center the ornament so I could add the greeting on the left side of the photo. Using the OneClick color correction feature I clicked on the white and I was done.

CorrectPhoto Editor is an easy way to crop and color correct photos

Step 2-Add Greeting Text to Photo
To add the text I used PictoColor’s ImageTitler because it is so simple (I still have difficulty using Photoshop Elements to add text to photos and it takes too long.)

Add Text and Titles to Photos with ImageTitler

After opening ImageTitler I selected the edited ornament photo and typed in the text I wanted. I then adjusted the text size and moved the text to the location I wanted using the arrow buttons. I then selected the type fonts from the pull down menu to see which one I liked best. After quickly going through the list of 12 available fonts I settled on Century with the Bold and Italics option. The whole process only took a couple of minutes and I was finished with our new greeting card. The quality of the text on the photo is really sharp and crisp and will print quite nicely or used on our websites.

Be Creative
My friend Dick and his wife Joan often send a photo of themselves with their grandchildren. Dick is the software developer that created PictoColor’s CorrectPhoto and ImageTitler and this year he used both to add a creative touch to their annual greeting photo card. The front of the card is the color photo and on the back he created a second version of the photo in Black & White with CorrectPhoto’s OneClick B&W feature and employed a creative use of ImageTitler to identify the ages and parents names to each of the grandchildren. Granted, it did require multiple passes with ImageTitler to add all of the names, but it was still quite fast and easy. And, with the high quality jpeg compression built into ImageTitler the quality of the B&W photo was still quite good.

Be Creative with CorrectPhoto and ImageTitler

Take the time to create your own greeting card.
If you plan to send a photo greeting card or including a photo with your card I suggest you take a few minutes editing and titling the photo. If you are like us you display the cards and photos you receive during the holidays. Most of the photos end up on our refrigerator door and are seen by our holiday guests. Quite often someone will ask, “Who is this?” So, why not add your name to the photo and answer the question before it is asked? Also, most of the photos tend to be dull and lifeless because, a common characteristic of digital camera photos. As I have discussed many times that is a problem that is easy to fix. It is simple and fast to create a photo greeting card you will be proud to send. All it takes is a little time and the right tools.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Wayne  www.correctphoto.com

But, Fix the Color Before You Send It.
Dave B., a friend of mine, was in Washington DC this summer and took a stunning photo of lightning striking a building near the US Capital with his iPhone camera. It is a great photo and an example of being at the right place at the right time. And, it is a picture worth sharing with friends. When it appeared in my email inbox I couldn’t resist seeing what OneClick Color technology would do to improve it. Here is the before and after comparison using OneClick to remove the magenta color cast increasing the brightness in the shadows.

Picture on Right was color corrected with iCorrect OneClick iPhone App

Fix the color of iPhone photos before sending with iCorrect OneClick iPhone App
If Dave had iCorrect OneClick iPhone App on his iPhone he could have fixed the color before he sent the picture to his friends. And, it would have only taken a few extra seconds.

Freshair Software developed iCorrect OneClick iPhone App using PictoColor’s OneClick Color Technology. For more information go to http://www.freshairsoftware.com/iPhoneApplications/iCorrect/index.html

Creating a Sepia tone photo with OneClick
iCorrect OneClick technology is also available in iCorrect OneClick Plug-in for Photoshop and Elements and in CorrectPhoto Editor. One of the features of OneClick is the ability to create stunning Black and White and Sepia tone photos with one click of the mouse. Here is a sepia rendition of the lightning photo.  The first thought that popped into my mind when I saw the photo was that maybe God was sending a message to Washington. But, what was he saying?  I added the title using ImageTitler.

Create Sepia tone photo with OneClick-Add Title with ImageTitler

Most Photos can be improved with OneClick.
The point of this post is to reiterate the fact that most photos can and should be improved before sending them to your friends or uploading to Facebook. And, it is easy to do if you have an iPhone with iCorrect OneClick App or Photoshop Elements with iCorrect OneClick plug-in or CorrectPhoto with OneClick technology. I often go one step further and add a title or caption to the photo.

Wayne www.correctphoto.com, www.imagetitler.com, www.oneclickcolor.com

Freshair Software, a Minnesota software company has developed several iPhone Apps that helps iPhone photographers take and send better photos. So, if you are an iPhone user this post will be of interest. If not, send a link to CorrectMyPhotos Blog to that friend of yours that shows off their iPhone every time you are together. You can find these apps at Freshair’s website, www.freshairsoftware.com and at the Apple App store.

iCorrect OneClick Color iPhone App

Give your photos the color of life with iCorrect® OneClick Color.

Almost every photo can be improved with a single touch of your finger and you won’t find another color correction app that is easier to use.

iCorrect OneClick iPhone App for better color

Wishing you’d had a camera flash for that photo, or are the colors just a little bit flat? Use the Auto Fix button, or touch the photo in an area that should have been gray or black or white. The exposure and color balance will be automatically corrected, bringing life to your photo using the same powerful PictoColor® OneClick technology that professional photographers have relied on for years.Read more about it at oneclickcolor.com. Here is a direct link to iCorrect OneClick Color iPhone App.

The better way to zoom with your iPhone camera.

Shoot'n'Zoom iPhone App from Freshair Software

Don’t miss another great shot fumbling with sliders and other controls. When you are limited to a digital zoom (as you always are with the iPhone camera), photographic experts recommend zooming after you take the photo. The lens will capture the same level of detail, and you’ll have more options at your fingertips. Quickly capture your best shot and then zoom to perfect it.

Shoot'n'Zoom is a better way to zoom with iPhone Camera

Here is a direct link to Shoot’n’Zoom iPhone App.

Crop'n'Frame is a great way to enhance iPhone Photos

Outdoor Photographer magazine says, “Crop’n'Frame is like a tiny framer living in your iPhone.”

Unlike other framing apps, with Crop’n'Frame you design the frame and mat, and it’s fun and easy to do. Choose shapes, styles and widths, and pick colors from a palette that is customized for every photo. You can even view your photo in the frame while you decide how to crop it.

Crop'n'Frame is a great way to enhance iPhone photos

A great way to enhance your photos before uploading them to your favorite website or e-mailing them to your family and friends. Or take it along to the frame shop and use it to visualize how your artwork will look with different sizes and colors of frames and mats. Here is the link to more information on Crop’n’Frame iPhone App.

Freshair software has several more iPhone and iPad Apps that may be of interest. Go to www.freshairsoftware.com for information on all their iPhone Apps.

Wayne www.correctphoto.com, www.oneclickcolor.com,

CorrectPhoto is a Windows photo editor. What does a Mac user do to get good color?
The other day I got a call from Burt, a CorrectPhoto user, who was perplexed that his favorite photo editor was not available for the Mac. His family had talked him into switching from a Windows computer to a new Mac and when he realized CorrectPhoto would not run on a Mac he called to ask if we planned a Mac version. He was disappointed when I told him no because he like the simplicity of CorrectPhoto, in particular the OneClick color correction which made his photos really look good. Fortunately, his family gave him a copy of Photoshop Elements and, although he expressed concern about the complexity of Elements, he was happy to learn about iCorrect OneClick Plug-in which adds the same simple and accurate color correction technology that is in CorrectPhoto to Elements. I assured him that since all he really did to his photos was cropping and color correction that Elements wasn’t that intimidating.  After adding iCorrect OneClick to Elements there are the few simple steps to follow to turn an average photo into a great shot.

Here is a photo I took the day after a devastating apartment complex fire near our home in Burnsville (fortunately, no one was hurt). Even though it was a sunny morning the photo is really dull with a gray color cast and the portion of the security fence detracts from the photo.  Here are the few simple steps to follow to create the photo on the right.

Before and After photo editing with Photoshop Elements and iCorrect OneClick Color

Elements Cropping Tool

After you open Elements and select the picture to edit click on the cropping tool on the left task bar. Another menu bar will appear at below the main menu at the top of the Elements window where you can select the aspect ratio (photo ratio, 3×5, 4×6, etc.) of the cropping window. In this example I selected Use Photo Ratio (this is the same 3×4 ratio of the chip in most cameras). Expand the crop window over the desired area and either click on the little green arrow (lower right under the crop window) or hit Enter to save the cropped area.

Photoshop Elements Cropping Tool

Fix the color with iCorrect OneClick Plug-in

Assuming you have purchased and installed iCorrect OneClick in the Elements Filters Folder simply click on Filter on the main top menu bar and select iCorrect OneClick from the pull down window.

Select iCorrect OneClick plug-in from Elements Filter menu

The OneClick window will open. Find an area in the photo that is neutral (white, gray, or black—not beige) and click on it. OneClick automatically removes any color cast, corrects the tonal range, adjusts the overall brightness, and makes any photo more vivid and life-like.

PictoColor iCorrect OneClick Color Correction-Click on Neutral for auto color correction

OneClick Enhancements.

For most photos the OneClick is all that is required. However, if the photo would benefit from a little more tweaking click on the Enhancements button and the enhancements window will open where additional adjustments to brightness, contrast and saturation can be made.

iCorrect OneClick Enhancements may be used for tweaking color

Summary

Edited photo-Photoshop Elements and iCorrect OneClick Color Plug-in

I talked to Burt after he installed iCorrect OneClick into Elements and walked him through the above procedure and he was delighted that it was really easy to crop photos in Elements and that the OneClick plug-in was just like the OneClick Color correction in CorrectPhoto.  He is really proud to share his photos with friends and when they comment on how good his camera is he acknowledges that it is OneClick Color and not the camera that Makes the Color Right.  So, if you have Elements don’t be intimidated by all the tools and features. Just add iCorrect OneClick plug-in and use the cropping tool to crop and OneClick to fix the color and you too will be proud to share you photos with others.

Wayne www.correctphoto.com. www.pictocolor.com/oneclick.htm www.oneclickcolor.com

Most Facebook photos are dull and lifeless?
Recently, I have become a more active Facebook participant and posting photos and viewing photos My Friends post. And, while I take the time to edit my photos before uploading, most people do not. As a result, the vast majority of photos posted on Facebook pages are dull and lifeless and many are a bit fuzzy.  So, why is that? There are probably many answers to that question ranging from the fact that most people are conditioned to simply accept the quality of the digital photos from their camera to not knowing how to improve them. Maybe they think it is just too complicated to edit digital photos or they simply can’t wait to share their latest photo with their Facebook friends. The purpose of this post is to show you how to make your Facebook photos better.
Making Better Facebook Photos is Easy—and Fast.

Facebook Photos You Can Be Proud to Post-Original/Improved

There are basically three (3) steps to making your photos better: crop the photo, fix the color, and resize the photo for Facebook. And, if you want to make the photo a little more interesting you can add a title, but more on that in a future post.  If you are have and know how to use a photo editor like Photoshop Elements you certainly can use it to perform the basic tasks, however, I use CorrectPhoto Editor because it is so easy and fast. Here are the basic steps using CorrectPhoto. And, at $40.00 it is inexpensive. Unfortunately, if you are a Mac user you will have to use Photoshop or Elements since CorrectPhoto is a Windows only editor.

Crop the Photo

Crop the photo with CorrectPhoto Editor

After opening the photo you want to edit from the built in Explorer you click on the “Crop Tool” on the tool bar and select the cropping format from the pull down menu. For Facebook publishing I suggest the 3×4 Landscape or Portrait formats since that is the same format of your digital camera and is the most common format for Facebook. Adjust the cropping window to highlight the portion of the image you really want to show. You can see from the example that I cropped tight enough to eliminate Craig from the left side of the photo.

Correct the Color with OneClick Color

CorrectPhoto with iCorrect OneClick Color Technology-Automatic Color Correction

CorrectPhoto is the only photo editor with PictoColor’s unique OneClick Color Correction Technology that is an automatic color correction that really works. Just click on an area of the photo that is “neutral” (white, gray, or black) and the photo will come alive. If you want to “tweak” it a little more as I usually do click on the color icon to activate the advance settings. I usually boost the saturation a bit to make the colors a little more vivid which really makes my photos stand out on my Facebook wall. For you Photoshop or Elements users who get frustrated with the color correction tools you can get iCorrect OneClick Plug-in with the same technology that will plug into Photoshop.

Resize the photo before uploading to Facebook.

Add a title?
I will tell you about an easy way to add titles to your photos in a future post.

Add a title to your photo is easy with ImageTitler

 Wayne    www.correctphoto.com, www.imagetitler.com, www.pictocolor.com