How To Whiten Teeth in Photoshop (any Version)

You don't need special toothpaste if you've got Photoshop! The dodge tool makes quick work of whitening and brightening your smile.

 

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: 5 minutes

Here's How:

1. Open the image.
2. Go to Image > Duplicate and close the original.
3. Go to View > New View. This will open a duplicate window of the same image.
4. Zoom one of the windows so that you can see the teeth as large as possible. Set the other window view to 100%.
5. Arrange the two windows so you can see both the zoomed view and the 100% view at the same time.
6. Select the Dodge tool.
7. In the options palette select midtones and set the exposure to about 20%.
8. Select a small, soft brush. Be sure the brush is smaller than the teeth.
9. Carefully paint over the teeth with the dodge tool.

Tips:

1. Too much brightness will make the image look faked. If you overdo it, go to Edit > Fade in Photoshop 6.0 or later. (Filter > Fade Dodge Tool in Photoshop 5.5 or earlier)
2. For better accuracy, select the teeth before working with the dodge tool.

How To Quickly Correct a Washed Out (Overexposed) Photo in Photoshop

Layer blend modes are a powerful feature of image editing software. Here's a quick and easy way to fix a washed out picture using blend modes in any version of Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. In fact, this technique will work in any other software that offers a soft light layer blend mode.

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: 2 minutes

Here's How:

1. Open the photo.
2. Try the Auto Levels command first.
3. If you like the results, you're done! If it's an improvement but the photo could still use a boost, move on to the next step. If it made it worse, use the undo command and move on to the next step.
4. If the layer palette is not visible, display it by going to Window > Show Layers.
5. Drag the background to the new layer button on the layer palette to duplicate it.
6. Change the blend mode for the duplicate layer to Soft Light.
7. If the results are too dark, lower the opacity of the layer.
8. If the photo is still too light, drag the copy to the new layer button to duplicate it again. Adjust opacity as needed.

Tips:

1. If portions of the image become too dark, add a layer mask to the soft light layer and use the paint tools to hide or reveal the layer as needed. (see related information below for layer masks)

How To Quickly Correct a Dark (Underexposed) Photo in Photoshop

Layer blend modes are a powerful feature of image editing software. Here's a quick and easy way to fix a dark picture using blend modes in any version of Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. In fact, this technique will work in any other software that offers a screen layer blend mode.

 

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: 2 minutes

Here's How:

1. Open the photo.
2. Try the Auto Levels command first.
3. If you like the results, you're done! If it's an improvement but the photo could still use a boost, move on to the next step. If it made it worse, use the undo command and move on to the next step.
4. If the layer palette is not visible, display it by going to Window > Show Layers.
5. Drag the background to the new layer button on the layer palette to duplicate it.
6. Change the blend mode for the duplicate layer to Screen.
7. If the results are too light, lower the opacity of the layer.
8. If the photo is still too dark, drag the copy to the new layer button to duplicate it again. Adjust opacity as needed.

Tips:

1. If portions of the image become too light, add a layer mask to the soft light layer and use the paint tools to hide or reveal the layer as needed. (see related information below for layer masks)

Two ways to straighten a skewed horizon in your photos

Straighten a Crooked Photo with Photoshop's Measure Tool or Crop Tool
If you have a picture that was taken with the camera tilted or scanned at an angle, Photoshop offers two tools to fix this quickly--the measure tool and the crop tool. Here are step-by step instructions for straightening a crooked photo or scan in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, plus a way to correct perspective at the same time.
Compatibility: Photoshop 6 and higher, Photoshop Elements 2.0 and higher

Measure Tool Method (Photoshop Only)

1. Select the measure tool, from under the eyedropper tool in the toolbox (Shortcut I).
2. Click at one point on the horizon, the hold the mouse button and drag across, releasing the mouse button at the other end of the horizon. In other words, drag a line across the document to indicate what should be level. It does not have to be the horizon; it could be a fence line, a roofline, the edge of a shelf, or anything else you know should be perfectly horizontal.
3. Go to Image, rotate canvas > arbitrary.
4. The rotate canvas dialog appears with a number already filled in. Click OK.
5. Your image is rotated and the canvas expands to accommodate the extra space.
6. Use the crop tool to trim the edges.

The crop tool method is a little quicker because you will need to crop anyway, and this takes care of both straightening and cropping in one step. Also, if there is any perspective distortion, you can correct it at the same time.

Crop Tool Method

1. Select the crop tool from the toolbox (Shortcut C).
2. Drag out a crop marquee. Don't worry about the overall size, but position one horizontal edge near the horizon line. Again, it does not have to be the horizon; it could be a fence line, a roofline, the edge of a shelf, or anything else you know should be perfectly horizontal.
3. Move your cursor to just outside the marquee near a corner. You cursor icon will change to a double-pointing curved arrow indicating that you can rotate the marquee.
4. Rotate and move the marquee so that one edge follows a horizon line.
5. After you get that one edge aligned with the horizon, reposition all four edges to mark the exact crop area.
6. If you have vertical lines in your image that don't line up with the vertical borders of the crop marquee, you can correct these by checking the box for 'perspective' on the options bar. (Photoshop only. Elements users see note below.)
7. With the perspective option enabled, you can manipulate the corners of the crop boundary to correct perspective. Be sure to keep all four corners within the document boundaries. If Photoshop can not perform the crop with perspective correction, you will get an error.
8. Once you're happy with the crop marquee, double click inside it to finalize the crop.

Note for Photoshop Elements: The perspective option in the crop tool is not available in Photoshop Elements. To correct perspective in Elements, you should convert the background to a layer by double clicking on it. Then, select the move tool and hold the Ctrl (Windows) or Cmd (Mac) key down while dragging a corner handle.

Red Eye Removal in GIMP

Easy Tutorial for How to Remove Red Eye Using GIMP

Almost everyone who has ever taken a snap at a party or event in low light using their on-camera flash will be familiar with red eye. The phenomenon is caused by light from the flash being reflected from the blood vessels in the back of the eye and gives the pupils of those in the picture a bright red color that can look rather odd.

This problem can be easily corrected by using free pixel-based image editors such as GIMP. Because this is such a common problem, GIMP has the Red Eye Removal tool, found in the Filters menu, under Enhance, to quickly and easily eliminate the appearance of red eye.

1. To Prepare or Not to Prepare

© Ian Pullen

You can use the Red Eye Removal tool without any other preparation, but if there are other areas of the picture containing shades of red, you may get surprising results. For that reason, if you have time I would advise you to select the areas you want to change first.

2. Select the Areas of Red Eye

© Ian Pullen

To do this, select the Ellipse Select Tool from the Toolbox and draw a selection around the first area of red eye. You don't need to make an accurate selection, but ensure all of the red is included in the selection. Before selecting further areas, move to the Ellipse Select Options that are visible below the Toolbox and click on the Add to the current selection mode – it is the second of the four Mode buttons. You can now select more areas of red eye without removing your existing selections.

3. Select the Red Eye Removal Feature

© Ian Pullen

When all areas of red eye in the picture have been selected, you can go to the Filters menu, and select Red Eye Removal from the Enhance sub-menu to open the tool's dialog box.

4. Apply the Red Eye Correction

© Ian Pullen

The dialog box will show a preview image that contains all of the areas that you have selected. (In my illustrated example, just two eyes.) You can use the zoom controls to look more closely at the preview to see the effect that the current settings will produce. If there are any signs of red around the edges of the pupil, you can slide the Threshold slider a little to the right until the red disappears. When you're happy with the preview, click OK.

5. Bye Bye Red Eye

© Ian Pullen

The changes are then applied to your image and the red eye is nothing more than a memory. The Red Eye Removal tool makes light work of this common problem with flash photography, even for users with little experience of using GIMP.

 

Red Eye Removal in Paint.net

Just about everyone who has ever taken a photo of people using flash will have encountered the problem of red eye, where the pupils of the subjects shine bright red as a result of light reflecting off the blood vessels in the back of the eyes.

Pixel-based image editors have always lended themselves to correcting this problem, and now many editors, like Paint.net, include dedicated tools specifically for dealing with red eye. Here we'll take a look at the simple steps to use the Red Eye Removal tool in Paint.net.

1. Select a Pupil

© Ian Pullen

It is possible to use the Red Eye Removal tool in Paint.net without selecting the pupils first, but this can produce unexpected results if there are other areas in the image that contain significant amounts of red. For this reason it is best to take a few moments to select the pupils first.

To do this, just choose the Ellipse Select tool from the Tools palette – the round circle with a broken outline. Next, it is easier to zoom in first by clicking the magnifying glass with the '+' symbol in the top bar, and then click and draw a circular selection around one of the pupils.

How To Remove Red Eye in Photoshop Elements

Photoshop Elements includes a special red-eye brush tool, but you may find it doesn't always give the best results. This is a very easy method that works in nearly all situations.

Time Required: 2-3 minutes

Here's How:

1. Open the photo.
2. Go to View > New View to open a duplicate window.
3. Zoom in on one window so you can see the eyes and arrange the Windows you can see both the zoomed in view and the actual size view.
4. If the layers palette is not visible, display it by going to Window > Show Layers.
5. Click the "create a new layer" button at the bottom of the layers palette.
6. At the top of the layers palette, use the blending mode menu to change this new layer's blending mode to Color.
7. Click the foreground color swatch in the tool box and select the replacement eye color.
8. Select the paintbrush tool.
9. In the options bar, choose a soft-edged brush, slightly smaller than the red eye area. Click on opacity and set it low, to about 30%.
10. Gradually paint over the red area in the eyes, being careful not to paint over the white of the eyes or the skin around the eyes. Zoom in closer if you need more control.

Tips:

1. Because we use a low opacity brush, you will probably need to build up the color in several passes. Every time you release and press the mouse button, you will build up more color.
2. If you overdo it, you can use the opacity slider on the layer palette to reduce the color.
3. If you accidentally paint outside of the iris area, it's easy to clean up because you're on a separate layer. Just use the eraser tool to remove any stray color, or trash the layer and try again.
4. When you're happy with the results you can merge the layer down or flatten the image from the Layer menu.

How To Remove Red Eye in Photoshop (any Version)

It's the perfect picture... except it's been ruined by those unsightly, glowing red eyes from camera flash. It's happened to us all; and fortunately, it's fairly easy to correct. Follow these simple steps to remove red eye from your photos using any version of Photoshop.

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: 5 minutes

Here's How:

1. Open the image.
2. Go to Image > Duplicate and close the original.
3. In Photoshop 6 or earlier, go to View > New View. In Photoshop 7 go to Window > Documents > New Window. This will open a duplicate window of the same image.
4. Zoom one of the windows so that you can see the eyes as large as possible. Set the other window view to 100%.
5. Arrange the two windows so you can see both the zoomed view and the 100% view at the same time.
6. Create a new layer.
7. Use the eyedropper to pick up a color from the iris of the eye. It should be a fairly gray tint with a hint of the eye color.
8. Paint over the red part of the eye on the new layer, being careful not to paint over the eyelids.
9. Go to Filters > Blur > Gaussian and give it about a 1 pixel blur to soften the edges.
10. Set the layer blend mode to Saturation. This will take the red out without removing the highlights, but in many cases it leaves the eyes too gray and hollow looking.
11. If that's the case, duplicate the saturation layer and change the blend mode to Hue. That should put some color back in while still preserving the highlights.
12. If the color is too strong after adding a Hue layer, lower the opacity of the Hue layer.
13. When you're happy with the results you can merge the extra layers down.

Tips:

1. If you need to darken the pupil area, use the burn tool. It should only take a couple of taps with the burn tool to darken the pupils.
2. Before merging your layers, use the eraser tool to clean up any overspray from painting outsideof the iris.
3. Watch an animated demonstration of how to remove redeye in Photoshop.
4. This technique works in Photoshop 4 and up, including Photoshop LE and Photoshop Elements.

How To Remove Red Eye in Paint Shop Pro (any Version)

It's the perfect picture... except it's been ruined by those unsightly, glowing red eyes from camera flash. It's happened to us all; fortunately, it's fairly easy to correct. Follow these simple steps to remove red eye from your photos using Paint Shop Pro.

Difficulty: Average

Time Required: 5 minutes

Here's How:

1. Open the image.
2. Choose Window > New Window. This will open a duplicate window of the same image.
3. Zoom one of the windows so that you can see the eyes as large as possible. Set the other window view to Normal Viewing [1:1].
4. Arrange the two windows so you can see both the zoomed view and the normal view at the same time.
5. Go to Layers > New Raster Layer. Set the Blend Mode to overlay and click OK.
6. Use the eyedropper to pick up a dark color from the iris of the eye.
7. Select the Paintbrush.
8. Use a small soft brush and completely paint over the red area, but take care not to go too far outside the red area.
9. Go to Image > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the radius around 1-2 to smooth the edge of the painted area.
10. If neccessary, use the tips below to refine the correction.
11. When you're satisified with the results, go to Layers > Merge All (flatten). Remember, there is no going back after this point.

Tips:

1. Use the eraser to clean up any stray pixels overlapping an eyelid.
2. If all the red is not removed, duplicate the layer. If duplicating the layer makes the eyes too dark, lower the opacity of the top layer.

How To Create a Soft Fade Vignette Effect in Corel Photo-Paint

A vignette, or soft fade, is a popular photo effect where the photo gradually fades into a solid colored background, usually in an oval shape. These steps were written using Photo-Paint 10, but it should be similar in other versions.

 

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: 2 minutes

Here's How:

1. Open a photo.
2. Go to Object > Create > From Background.
3. Select the circle mask tool.
4. Draw a mask around the area of the photo you want to keep.
5. (Optional) Turn on Mask overlay (Mask > Mask Overlay). This gives you a red tint so you can visualize the feathering effect before you apply it to the photo.
6. Go to Mask > Shape > Feather (or click the Feather a Mask button on the property bar).
7. Enter a width and direction for the feather effect and click OK. A width between 20-50 pixels works best.
8. The feather can be seen immediately with the mask overlay. If you don't like the feathering amount, apply feathering again or undo and try again.
9. Go to Object > Clip Mask > Create > From Mask.
10. Optional: Go to Object > Combine > Combine Object with Background for a white background.

Tips:

1. If you want the photo to fade into a background color other than white, create a new object, fill it with the desired color, then combine objects together.
2. Because we used a clip mask, the effect is not permanent. The mask can be further edited by clicking on the mask thumbnail in the Objects Manager docker.
3. Click on the plus sign between the mask and the object in the object docker to reposition the vignette mask independently of the photo.
4. Click on the mask thumbnail and apply Effects > Blur > Gaussian blur if you want a softer fade.
5. Paint directly in the clip mask with shades of gray for other effects.

How To Use Grayscale Masks For Edge Effects in Corel Photo-Paint

You can use grayscale masks in conjunction with Photo-Paint's clip mask feature to create interesting edge effects. This site and many others offer free grayscale masks you can download for this purpose. These instructions should work for Corel Photo-Paint version 9 and higher.

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: 5 minutes

Here's How:

1. Open the photo you wish to apply the mask to.
2. Choose Object > Create > From Background.
3. Choose Mask > Load > Load from disk.
4. Navigate to the mask you want to apply to the photo and select it.
5. You cursor will appear with a thumbnail of the mask attached. Click once anywhere in the image to load the mask from disk. It will conform to the size of your document.
6. Go to Object > Clip Mask > Create > From Mask.

Tips:

1. If you're happy with the results you may wish to combine the object with the mask (Object > Clip Mask > Combine).
2. These steps were verified in versions 9 and 10 of Photo-Paint, but can probably be adapted for earlier versions.

How To Apply a Sepia Tone to a Photo in Corel Photo-Paint

A sepia tone is a reddish brown monochrome tint. When applied to a photo, it gives the picture a warm, antique feeling. It's easy to do in Photo-Paint!

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: 5 minutes

Here's How:

1. Open the image in Photo-Paint.
2. If the image is in color, go to Image > Adjust > Desaturate and skip to step 4.
3. If the image is in grayscale go to Image > Mode > RGB Color.
4. Go to Image > Adjust > Color Hue.
5. Enter a step value of 15.
6. Click on More Yellow once.
7. Click on More Red once.
8. Click OK.

Tips:

1. Experiment in the Color Hue dialog to apply other color tints to your photos.

How To Remove Red Eye in Corel Photo-Paint

It's the perfect picture... except it's been ruined by those unsightly, glowing red eyes from camera flash. It's happened to us all; fortunately, it's fairly easy to correct. Follow these simple steps to fix red eye in your photos with Corel Photo-Paint.

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: 5 minutes

Here's How:

1. Open the image.
2. Choose Image > Duplicate and close the original.
3. Choose Window > New Window. This will open a duplicate window of the same image.
4. Zoom one of the windows so that you can see the eyes as large as possible. Set the other window view to 100%.
5. Arrange the two windows so you can see both the zoomed view and the 100% view at the same time.
6. Select only the red areas of both eyes. See the tips below for making selections.
7. Go to Image > Adjust > Color Tone. In the title bar of the color tone dialog there is a button to toggle the preview on (first button on right). If you have only checkerboard boxes showing, click that button to preview the selected area.
8. Click desaturate repeatedly until the red is gone. Then click More Contrast and Darker to give the eyes a more natural look. Click OK when you're satisfied.

Tips:

1. For selecting the eyes, use the Paint on Mask tool with the Mask Overlay turned on in the Mask menu. Turn off the mask overlay before applying the Color Tone adjustment.

What Are Layers and How To Use Them

What Are Layers?

© 2008 

Liz Masoner licensed to About.com, Inc.

Layers are one of the most powerful tools included in many photo editing programs. Adobe Photoshop Elements and Adobe CS3 are two examples of programs that make use of layers to allow photographers great control in editing their images.

Layers are exactly what they sound like. They are images or effects overlaid on top of one another. Image drawing on several sheets of plastic and then stacking them together. These sheets of plastic can be either clear, opaque, or anywhere in-between. These layers can also hold part of an image or a whole image. By stacking these layers together we can create exacting adjustments to our images, combine multiple images, or create new images.

Using layers has several advantages over making adjustments directly to an original image.

• Temporary Edits
  By using layers you can make adjustments without changing the data of the layer underneath. This allows you to make multiple changes without having to start over each time an edit does turn out like you had intended.
• Avoid Data Loss
  Each time you change your image through adjustments or other edits, a small amount of data can be lost. By using layers, your original image is protected from corruption (just remember to use "save as" and not "save"). When you save the image with layers the edits are combined before permanently applying to your file so as to minimize any data loss.
• Specific Point Editing
  By using layers you can select just one part of an image using masks (or by deleting the unwanted part on just one layer). This allows you to edit foregrounds, subjects, and backgrounds separately.
• Quick Edits to Multiple Images
  By copying your editing layers to other images you can quickly make adjustments to large numbers of images.

Creating a Layer

Adobe Product Image © Adobe

Photo © 2008 Liz Masoner licensed to About.com, Inc.

The first step in working with layers is creating a new layer. Most photo editing programs use a layer menu option (such as the one seen here from Adobe Photoshop Elements 6). As you can see from the image, there are several options for types of layers to accomplish specific tasks.

The basic layer type is simply a blank layer placed on top of the current layer. This type of layer can be either transparent or opaque. If you have several layers open already you can chose "layer from background" to create a new layer from the original background layer. You can also use "layer via copy" to make a new layer from items selected on the current layer.

Fill layers are a quick way to create a layer filled with a solid color, gradient, or pattern. This type of layer will most often be used in creating images from scratch rather than photography editing.

Adjustment layers are layers used to adjust characteristics of the background (original) image. Items such as levels, brightness/contrast, hue/saturation can be adjusted using adjustment layers. Options for more advanced changes such as invert to create a negative effect are also available under adjustment layers.

Working With Layers

Adobe Product Image © Adobe

Photo © 2008 Liz Masoner licensed to About.com, Inc.

Once you have created a new layer (or layers), you will be able to view your layers under the layers display (usually on the bottom right hand side of your screen). The layers are shown in stack order. That means that the level on the top of your display list is the top layer of the stack. The small eye icon beside each level indicates which levels are currently visible.

The level highlighted with light grey represents the level that is currently selected (any actions will affect the selected level). The opacity indicator at the top of the list allows you to change how opaque or transparent the selected layer will be. The selection that defaults to "normal" is the blending mode option. This tells the program how to blend the layers into one overall image. The best way to learn these options is to experiment with them.

Layers can be reorganized simply by clicking and dragging them to a new position. Remember that adjustment layers only affect layers beneath them in the list.

Free Photo Editing Sites

Resize and Enhance Images for Your Blog for Free 

Including images in your blog can help illustrate a point or add visual appeal to your blog. Once you find an image that you're legally allowed to use, you can upload it to your blog post. However, what if that image is very large or requires some kind of editing such as cropping or has to be changed to a different file format? Rather than invest in an expensive image editing software program, take advantage of one of the free photo editing sites that can be found online. Following are four popular and free photo editing sites that can help you resize, edit and enhance images for your blog.