Digital Photo Editing 2

Creatively edit your photos

Before You Begin... The activities in this workshop use software programs from Windows Live Essentials, a suite of free applications from Microsoft that let you do more with your PC. Students with Windows 7 or Windows Vista computers at home can download Windows Live Essentials 2011 from http://download.live.com. Students with Windows XP computers at home can use older versions of Windows Live Essentials. Please note that the features and functionality can vary significantly by version. This handout provides instructions for using programs in Windows Live Essentials 2011. Workshop handouts detailing steps using older versions can be found at www.mypcstudent.com.

When You Get Home Remember! You only need to download and install Windows Live Photo Gallery once. After you install the software, it will be available for you to use on your computer whenever you like!

DOWNLOAD WINDOWS LIVE PHOTO GALLERY, the free software used in class:
1. Open Windows Internet Explorer. 2. In the address bar, type http://download.live.com to navigate to the Windows Live homepage. 3. Click the button. 4. When you are asked Do you want to run or save this file?, click each time you are asked. A Welcome to Windows Live, preparing the installer window will appear. 5. When you are asked to Choose the programs you want to install, click on Photo Gallery and any other programs you want and click . 6. Complete the installation by following the directions as you are prompted.

Digital Photo Editing 2 Student Handout | 1 2011 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Instructors may copy, use and distribute this document solely in connection with My PC instructional sessions. Students may copy and use this document for their internal, reference purposes. All other uses require written permission from Microsoft Corporation.

Digital Photo Editing 2

Creatively edit your photos

WHAT WE COVERED IN CLASS

OPEN WINDOWS LIVE PHOTO GALLERY
1. Click the Start button and in the Search for programs and files field type Windows Live Photo Gallery. 2. Click to launch the program. 3. You may be asked to use Windows Live Photo Gallery to open all your photo files.

UNDO, REDO EDITS & REVERT TO ORIGINAL in Windows Live Photo Gallery:
Editing your photos in Windows Live Photo Gallery does not change your original photo. You can return to your original photo at any time by removing edits, crops, or any other changes made. This is called non-destructive editing. Making a copy (covered in the next section of this handout) is useful when you want to edit your photos in another program other than Windows Live Photo Gallery. Also be aware that the Undo and Redo buttons can appear either above or below the Ribbon on the left hand side of the screen. If you want to change the location of the Undo and Redo buttons, click on the down arrow to the right of the Redo button and select either Show above the Ribbon or Show below the Ribbon. 1. In Windows Live Photo Gallery, double-click the photo you want to edit. 2. Select the Fine Tune button from the Edit tab Ribbon and make a series of adjustments to the image (adjust exposure, color, etc.). 3. Click the Undo button Redo button or press Ctrl+Z on your keyboard to step back in your editing history. Select the

to step forward in your editing history.

4. To revert to your original image (in other words, remove all edits that you have done), click the Revert to original button in the Edit tab Ribbon.

MAKE A COPY OF A PHOTO

When using a 3rd party editor to edit photos, you will not be able to revert back to the original photo after you leave the 3rd party editor and go back to Windows Live Photo Gallery. For this reason, you may want to keep your original photo in Windows Live Photo Gallery, and create a copy to use with another photo editor. 1. In Windows Live Photo Gallery, double-click the photo you want to copy.

Digital Photo Editing 2 Student Handout | 2 2011 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Instructors may copy, use and distribute this document solely in connection with My PC instructional sessions. Students may copy and use this document for their internal, reference purposes. All other uses require written permission from Microsoft Corporation.

Digital Photo Editing 2

Creatively edit your photos

2. Click the Make a copy

button located on the Edit tab Ribbon.

Remember! Windows Live Photo Gallery will automatically insert a (2) at the end of the photos original name. You can use this default name, or rename it. 3. Click Save.

USING THE RETOUCH TOOL

1. In Windows Live Photo Gallery, choose a photo to Retouch and double-click it the image.

2. Click the Retouch button located on the Edit tab Ribbon. You will notice that your mouse cursor has changed to crosshairs. 3. Using the crosshairs cursor, click and drag a box around the element you want to remove from your photo. Release the mouse button to finalize your selection. 4. Windows Live Photo Gallery will analyze your Retouch selection and use the areas of the image surrounding your selection to replace the content within your selection box. Remember! The Retouch tool is meant to remove minor and small elements from a photograph. The selection box has a size limitation for this reason. Because Windows Live Photo Gallery uses the surrounding areas of the image to replace the content in the Retouch selection box, this feature works best when you choose elements that are surrounded by similar colors and textures. 5. Sometimes, the result of your Retouch selection may not yield the effect you wanted. If this occurs, click the Undo button to step back in your editing history and repeat the retouching process.

CREATE POP ART PHOTOS

1. Choose a photo to edit and double-click it.

2. From the Edit tab Ribbon, click the Fine tune button to open the image adjustment pane in the program window. If the Fine tune button is highlighted orange, the image adjustment pane is already open. 3. From the image adjustment pane on the right of the screen, click Adjust color. 4. Slide the Saturation level to the right to intensify the color. 5. Slide the Color temperature to the right or left, depending on the photo, to bring out the desired colors. 6. Click Adjust exposure in the image adjustment pane. 7. Slide the Brightness bar to the right or left; the amount will vary depending on the look you are going for and the photo you are editing. 8. Slide the Contrast bar to the right or left to adjust the contrast according to your preferences. 9. Slide the Shadows bar to the right or left to adjust the shadowing according to your preferences. 10. Slide the Highlights bar to the left or right until you achieve the look you are going for.
Digital Photo Editing 2 Student Handout | 3 2011 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Instructors may copy, use and distribute this document solely in connection with My PC instructional sessions. Students may copy and use this document for their internal, reference purposes. All other uses require written permission from Microsoft Corporation.

Digital Photo Editing 2

Creatively edit your photos
Apply a painterly look to your images after you have completed the steps above:

1. From the Edit tab Ribbon, click the Fine tune button to open the image adjustment pane in the program window. If the Fine tune button is highlighted orange, the image adjustment pane is already open. 2. From the image adjustment pane on the right of the screen, click Adjust detail. 3. Slide the Sharpen bar all the way to the right. Notice that the details in the image become more exaggerated and might become distorted; use your judgment regarding how much sharpening to apply. Exaggerated details may just give you the look you're after! 4. To smooth out the effect of the sharpening, click the button under Reduce noise. Windows Live Photo Gallery will analyze your photo and apply the optimum level of noise reduction to the image. Adjust the slider all the way to the right for maximum noise reduction. 5. When you are finished making your edits, double-click the photo to return to the main Gallery. Remember! If you do not like the outcome, click the Undo button located in the upper left hand corner below the Edit tab Ribbon to step back in your editing history, or select the Revert to original

button located in the upper right hand corner of the Edit tab Ribbon. This will remove all previous changes you have made to the image.

BATCH EDITING
1. From the Home tab, select a group of images you want to apply identical adjustments to. Select multiple images in the Gallery by: Holding down the Ctrl key and clicking on images, one at a time OR Holding down the Shift key and selecting a range of images. For example, select an image at one end of a row of images, and then select a second image at the opposite end of a row. 2. Once you have selected the images you want to edit, click the Edit tab. 3. From the Edit tab Ribbon, you can apply any of the adjustments in the Quick adjustment or Effects areas. You can apply one adjustment or many. 4. If you do not like the way the adjustments look, you can click Undo button, or the Revert to original button on the Edit tab Ribbon.

USING PHOTO FUSE

1. Choose a series of similar images that contain one or more people with either facial expressions or elements in the background that aren't desirable. To select multiple images, hold down the Ctrl key and click each of the images you want to select. The feature is limited to 10 or fewer images.
Digital Photo Editing 2 Student Handout | 4 2011 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Instructors may copy, use and distribute this document solely in connection with My PC instructional sessions. Students may copy and use this document for their internal, reference purposes. All other uses require written permission from Microsoft Corporation.

Digital Photo Editing 2

Creatively edit your photos
Tip: This feature works with images shot from the same perspective and of a similar subject matter. Photo Fuse is not designed to combine images that are not similar. 2. Click the Create tab. 3. Click the Photo Fuse button . 4. Windows Live Photo Gallery will analyze the photos you selected and will generate an image based on its analysis. 5. Photo Fuse will launch a selection window. 6. Use the selection box to highlight an area of the image; from the element choices provided in the Which do you like best pane, click the one you like best. Resize the selection box as necessary. 7. Photo Fuse replaces the highlighted area with the element you selected. 8. You can repeat this process for other elements in the image.

9. Click the Save button to save your image with a new name or click the Cancel cancel the Photo Fuse operation and return to the main Gallery.

button to

SHARING YOUR PHOTOS

1. 2. 3. 4. Open Windows Live Photo Gallery. Select one or more images that you want to share. From the Home tab Ribbon select one of the service provider buttons in the Share area. Follow the steps provided by the particular service provider and you'll be sharing your digital media within moments!

UNDERSTANDING THE HISTOGRAM

The Histogram is possibly one of the most usefuland overlookedtools available in digital photography! The Histogram is a graphical representation of an images brightness values, from the darkest to the lightest areas. It displays the shadow information on the far left side of the graph, the mid tones in the middle of the graph, and the highlight information on the far right of the graph. The height each peak within the graph represents how many pixels are at that brightness level in the image. The higher the peak, the more pixels in your photograph are at that brightness level. Most cameras can display a Histogram on the LCD screen, so you can use the Histogram when you're taking photos! Judging exposure using the Histogram is easy and very helpful! Even if you are shooting outdoors and can't clearly see the image on the LCD screen due to bright sunlight, you can still judge the exposure of an image by checking the Histogram.
Digital Photo Editing 2 Student Handout | 5 2011 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Instructors may copy, use and distribute this document solely in connection with My PC instructional sessions. Students may copy and use this document for their internal, reference purposes. All other uses require written permission from Microsoft Corporation.

Digital Photo Editing 2

Creatively edit your photos

Underexposed

Normal

Overexposed

A correct exposure will generate a Histogram with all of the pixel data (the graph) between the right and left borders of the graph. An overexposed image will have little or no data in the shadow end of the graph and will be clipped at the highlight end of the graph. A clipped highlight is also known as a 'blown out' highlight. An underexposed image will have little or no data in the highlight end of the graph and will be clipped in the shadow end of the graph. A clipped shadow is also referred to as being 'blocked up'. Clipping means pixels with no color data. A clipped shadow pixel is pure black and a clipped highlight pixel is pure white. You cannot make adjustments to clipped pixels because there is no data to manipulate. Clipped Histograms are not desirable because you want all the pixels in your image to contain some data of the scene you are photographing.

USING THE HISTOGRAM

1. Choose a photo that you would like to edit, and then double-click the photo. 2. From the Edit tab Ribbon, click the Fine tune button and click Adjust exposure from the adjustment pane on the right side of the screen. 3. Evaluate the Histogram. If there is no data on either end of the graph, click the slider on that end and move it until it aligns with the first bit of graph data. It's that easy!

Histogram adjustment sliders

4. Once you are finished editing, double-click the image to return the main Gallery.
Digital Photo Editing 2 Student Handout | 6 2011 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Instructors may copy, use and distribute this document solely in connection with My PC instructional sessions. Students may copy and use this document for their internal, reference purposes. All other uses require written permission from Microsoft Corporation.

Digital Photo Editing 2

Creatively edit your photos

Additional Information For more information and resources: http://www.windows.com For answers on Windows 7, Windows XP or Windows Live questions: http://answers.microsoft.com For information on upgrading to or buying Windows 7: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/buy/ To find the Windows 7 PC thats right for you: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pc-scout/ Sign up to receive the Explore Windows Newsletter at http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/explore/ Sign up for free personal online storage at: http://explore.live.com/windows-live-skydrive To learn more about Windows 7, we recommend the book Windows 7 Plain & Simple (ISBN 9780735626669)

Digital Photo Editing 2 Student Handout | 7 2011 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Instructors may copy, use and distribute this document solely in connection with My PC instructional sessions. Students may copy and use this document for their internal, reference purposes. All other uses require written permission from Microsoft Corporation.