Create a Memory by Cropping and Color Correcting using CorrectPhoto

Last weekend at Kathryn’s 16th birthday party I took the photo on the left. While I captured Kathryn’s beautiful smiling face, Justine’s bemused look and someone’s (maybe mine) big toes detracted from her joyful moment. I wanted to post a photo on my Facebook page for Kathryn’s birthday and this shot was the best shot of her in the batch of photos I took. So, I created the memory of her birthday with a little cropping and color correction using CorrectPhoto.

Making a Portrait Memory-Crop the photo 

Crop photo with 3x4 cropping format

I used the 3×4 Portrait cropping format to frame Kathryn and eliminate the rest of the picture. Since I was going to upload the photo to Facebook I used the 3×4 format which is the best format for Facebook and is the same aspect ratio as the camera chip. If you were going to make a print for framing I would have used the 4×6 or 5×7 cropping format. And, with the OneClick color correction feature in CorrectPhoto I was able to make Kathryn come alive by a single click.

Resize before you upload to Facebook
I always resize (or scale) my photos to 640 X 480, the ideal Facebook size, before I upload the photos. It is a simple step in CorrectPhoto and the resizing algorithm is much better that Facebook’s.

Resize to 640 x 480 before uploading to Facebook

Add a title with ImageTitler
As an added touch I added a title to the photo before posting it. I used a simple program called ImageTitler to do this.

Add titles to photos with ImageTitler

Here is the final photo memory of Kathryn on her 16th birthday as posted on Facebook.

Facebook Photo-Edited with CorrectPhoto and titled with ImageTitler

It only took a few minutes with the right tools to create this memorable photo of Kathryn out of a mediocre photo. Actually, I think I will also make a print and frame it.

When the world (at least your Facebook Friends) are going to see the photos you post why not take a few minutes to turn them into photos you can be proud to share. It is really easy and fast and anyone can do it.

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

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

A Greeting from Dickens 

Merry Christmas from Dickens-A Greeting Card Created with CorrectPhoto and ImageTitler

Pat decided to simplify the Christmas tree this year and just used poinsettias and red and white stockings with the first initials of family members. Using CorrectPhoto and ImageTitler I created a greeting card with Dickens. (Dickens, our Westie, was actually named after Charles Dickens of Christmas Carol fame.) First, I cropped and color corrected the original photo. Here is the before and after comparison.

When taking the photos I experimented with using both flash and a couple of natural light fluorescents. This shot was taken with the fluorescents which created some undesirable shadows that I didn’t want in the photo. The color was fixed with the OneClick feature in CorrectPhoto.  The next step was to add the text with ImageTitler, a process I wrote about in a previous post on creating greeting cards.

Special Effects with Color

Special effect Black and White photo created with iCorrect EditLab ProApp

I then decided to get a little creative and by using PictoColor’s iCorrect EditLab ProApp I made the black and white with color accent photo above.  Here is the screen shot of EditLab ProApp.

PictoColor's iCorrect EditLab ProApp Screen Shot for special effect

Using the one click auto black and white feature I first converted the photo into B&W.  Since the color information is still retained I then click on one of the red stockings to select the hue (color) I wanted to restore.  It only took a couple of seconds to do this using iCorrect EditLab ProApp.  It is a standalone application that was created for digital photographers with lots of photos to color correct and it probably overkill for most amateurs. But, if you use Photoshop or Elements there is a plug-in version, iCorrect EditLab Pro plug-in that is great for making fast and accurate color corrections special effects like the Christmas greeting example.

Lessons learned
The primary point of this post is to suggest or remind you to take photos of things like holiday decorations so you won’t forget what you did. Your spouse will thank you. The second point is that you can have creative fun with the photos you take.

Well, if you have been watching the weather in the US you know that the upper Midwest is getting hit with significant snow falls during the Christmas holiday and many people will have to cancel holiday plans and stay home or at least delay their departure. In Burnsville, MN we had 7 inches overnight and expect up to 20 inches before it stops on Saturday.  I usually can’t resist taking snow pictures so you might see a few in a future post.  If you find yourself stranded this weekend and you get bored why not sit down at your computer and edit and organize your photos.

Best wishes for a wonderful holiday season.

Wayne www.correctphoto.com

Merry Christmas Greeting

Earlier this week we woke up to 7 inches of new snow in Burnsville, MN. This was our first real snow this winter and while it created a miserable commute for many it certainly help put us in the holiday mood. And, of course, I couldn’t resist taking a few photos of our house which I recently decorated for the season and creating a greeting card. I wrote about creating greeting cards a couple of weeks ago so I won’t go into detail in this post. Of course I used CorrectPhoto and ImageTitler to quickly edit the photo and add the text. Here is another card using a different shot of the house.

Christmas card greeting created with CorrectPhoto and ImageTitler

 As I have said many times, virtually all digital photos need to be cropped, color corrected and this is particularly true of photos you might want to use for a greeting card.  The above greeting card examples are no exception.  Both need to be cropped and color corrected and here is the before and after of the above house photo. Note how dull and lifeless the original photo is. I took the photos on a cloudy morning and the color is typical of snow photos taken under those conditions. But, as you can see, they can be easily turned into a good looking photo with a photo editor like CorrectPhoto or Photoshop Elements.

House photo was cropped and color corrected with CorrectPhoto

The greeting text was added with ImageTitler.

Add greeting text to photo with ImageTitler

 Why not use one of your photos to create a unique greeting card to send to your friends this holiday season. It is easy and fun to do and anyone can do it.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

Wayne www.correctphoto.com

ImageTitler is really a very simple program to learn and, frankly, gives the impression that it is a “tinker toy” application.  The quality and sharpness of the the text on a photo is really excellent and the speed with which you can title a photo is impressive. Yes, if you have and know how to use Photoshop or Elements you can do much more with text than you can with ImageTitler. However, most of us either do not know how to use Elements or find that it is too time consuming.  Therefore, ImageTitler is the answer to simply add text to a photo. I took this photo of my granddaughter on Thanksgiving, cropped and color corrected it with CorrectPhoto and added the simple title with ImageTitler and was finished in a few minutes.

Photo cropped and color corrected with CorrectPhoto and titled with ImageTitler

ImageTitler Process
The simple steps to add text to a photo is as follows:

1. Open ImageTitler and open the photo.
2. Select the font (I usually start with the default Arial font.) and type the text into the text box at the top.
3. Adjust Text Size and Text Position by clicking on the  arrows
4. Choose color-just click on a color and the text color changes
5.  You can change the font and style (Bold and Italics) by selecting a different font and checking the style boxes.
6. Save titled photo. ImageTitler automatically adds a “-Titled” suffix to the file name. You can, however, chose the file name.

If you are adding titles to a group of similar photos and want the text to appear the same on all you can check the “Retain Settings” box and the text you type will appear in the same font, color, size, and location on the next photo.

I like to think of ImageTitler as a photo text application for dummies like me. With ImageTitler I am adding text and titles to more photos than I ever did with Elements. ImageTitler is a Windows only program and is Windows 7 compatible. It sells for $29.00 at www.imagetitler.com or www.correctphoto.com. There is an introductory price on the new 3.2 version of $19.95 for a limited time.

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