Adobe PhotoShop or simpler image-editing software

PhotoShop is the gold standard for image-editing – literally anything can be done with it. However, it is a huge and complex program which has spawned numerous classes, tutorials, and magazine articles. Many simpler image-editing programs (such as those that come with cameras, scanners, and printers can do many of the basic processes that you would want to do. These include:

Crop – Clip the photo down to the essential part you want, like a scissors that cuts rectangles. You use the mouse to draw the rectangle around the area you want to keep, and then click to execute the crop. Often you can adjust the shape of the rectangle more precisely by clicking on handles on its sides or corners.

The Auto correction, if available, will often solve basic color, contrast, and exposure problems in the photo. Sometimes a little extra work may be necessary. Those include:

Color – adjust the color if it’s too orange, for example. Usually little sliders on a line that you grab with the mouse and adjust by eye. Some have eyedroppers to set black point ( a neutral black in the deepest shadows) or white point (a neutral  white in the brightest highlights).

Contrast – the “softness or starkness” of the photo can usually be adjusted with sliders. Contrast actually has to do with the range of tones in the photo, which can be seen in a histogram, if available.

Exposure is often called brightness, in other words how light or dark the overall photo is.

Often, there are some filters for fun or useful effects. Watch for  black-and-white or sepia filters to make it look more serious or older.

Resampling, to make the size of the file of the photo smaller for use on the web or in emails, can be done with the crop tool or a dialog box, if available.

Tutorials for basic image editing 1

Tutorials for basic image editing 2