Have you ever been out photographing all day only to come home and find out you are not happy with anything you shot? When that happens we are often tempted to erase our memory card and live with the dismay. In today’s digital age there is no need for dismay. There are a myriad of creative ways to perfect a less than perfect photo.
No matter your level of expertise you should have some type of graphics editor. In fact it’s highly likely some type of editing software came with your camera. If not some popular software to choose from include Adobe Photoshop or Elements, Corel’s Paint Shop Pro or even the popular and free Gimp.
Once you have your graphics editor installed your photo woes are over. With minimal time and effort you can turn a once drab photo into fab. With a few easy to implement tools at your disposal you will see just how easy photo correction can be.
Here are some creative ways to perfect a less than perfect photo that just about anyone can do:
Add a bit of texture. Adding texture to a photograph is an excellent way to hide imperfections and boost areas that could use a bit tweaking. Consider a texture as “makeup” for your photos. Just like with makeup application, texturized photos can be just as subtle or dramatic as the applied effect. You can use textures to boost brightness, and light, depth, warmth or even hide or mute unwanted subject matter. Photographer textures are a handy tool to keep in your arsenal. you’ll want to be sure the textures you choose are high resolution. This will assure that they will fit your photos and will assure proper printing.
Your call to action. Have you tried applying actions to your photos? There are many amazing actions or presets that can be found on the web. Many of them even for free. Actions can improve anything from lighting to exposure even fix red eye. The beauty of actions is that they can be applied with the push of a button and little to no interaction is needed from the user.
Embrace the blur. Are your photos blurry and appear unusable? You may be surprised to find that though they are blurry they may still be useable and in fact even turn out to be an interesting photo. When the human eye notices a blurry appearance it will automatically try to bring it into focus. Blur will in fact draw the viewers eye and create an area of interest. Some photographers intentionally blur their subjects or portions of their subject. So before you consider throwing out your blurred photos try emphasizing the blur or even adding more blur to create an interesting effect.
Go Gaussian. Gaussian Blur can be a photographer’s best friend. Adding a bit of blur directly to the photo can soften the details and give an “intended” ethereal look. Enhance this effect even more by duplicating the photo layer, adding Gaussian Blur and setting the blend mode to soft light. In fact not only can Gaussian Blur fix a less than perfect photo it can actually enhance it.
Shoot Raw. If your camera has the capability you may want to get in the habit of shooting raw. Raw files unlike jpegs capture and preserve all the image data for the photo. All of this extra data allows you to make corrections to your images that may not have otherwise been possible.
Image credit: naixn.