Info: In this class we will cover the most commonly used Photo enhancing tools.
1. Extract intclass6dl.zip which contains the photos we will be enhancing. To make things easier to find let's make sure the Photo toolbar is on. Click View || Toolbars and make sure the icon in front of Photo is highlighted if not click Photo to turn on the Photo toolbar.
2. Open intclass6dl1.jpg. Duplicate (Windows || Duplicate [Shift+D]) and close the original. PSP comes with a One Step Photo Fix script that works pretty well on most photos. You can run the script from the script toolbar or the Photo Enhancement menu on the Photo toolbar. Click on the little arrow beside Enhance Photo to access the menu and click on One Step Photo Fix. The photo will go through a series of changes. That's it Save and close.
3. Open inclass6dl2.jpg. Duplicate (Windows || Duplicate [Shift+D]) and close the original. Click One Step Photo Fix. As you can see this didn't produce very good results for this photo. It made the photo look sort of washed out. Click Edit || Undo to remove the enhancements. We need to do this one manually to produce better results.
4. The adjustments need to be done in a certain order because one adjustment affects other adjustments. The first adjustment that usually needs to be done is Color Balance unless the image is extremely dark then you might want to start with Contrast. This image is not too dark so we are going to start with Color Balance.
5. Color Balance changes the RGB (red, green, and blue) values relative to each other. Usually the Default values work best or you can try 5500K. Click Automatic Color Balance on the Enhance Photo menu (or click Adjust || Color Balance || Automatic Color Balance). Reset to default and click OK.
6. Contrast adjusts the overall lightness and darkness which effects the black, white, and grey values. Default settings usually work well but you may need to choose mild and/or light from time to time for better results. Click Automatic Contrast Enhancement on the Enhance Photo menu (or click Adjust || Brightness and Contrast || Automatic Contrast Enhancement). Reset to default and click the circle in front of Mild. Click OK. This was the adjustment that was making our image look washed out by changing it to Mild we prevent the problem.
7. Clarify makes the image details stand out more by adjusting the image's contrast instead of the overall contrast. Use a setting of 2 through 5 usually 3 works best. Click Clarify on the Enhance Photo menu (or click Adjust || Brightness and Contrast || Clarify). Change the Strength to 3 and click OK.
8. Saturation adjusts the amount of grey in a color. The default settings usually work best; however if you have skintones in the picture you might want to select this option as well. Click Automatic Saturation Enhancement on the Enhance Photo menu (or click Adjust || Hue and Saturation || Automatic Saturation Enhancement). Reset to default and click OK. Note: There are skintones present but I didn't select this option because it made her face look washed out.
9. Edge Preserving Smooth helps to remove noise and jpg artifacts by applying a slight blurring effect leaving the edges intact. A setting of 1 or 2 usually works best for most images. Click Edge Preserving Smooth on the Enhance Photo menu (or click Adjust || Add/Remove Noise || Edge Preserving Smooth). Reset to default and click OK.
10. Sharpen adjusts the contrast of the edges. In most cases Sharpen will work fine but for more control you might want to use Unsharp Mask instead. Click Sharpen on the Enhance Photo menu (or click Adjust || Sharpness || Sharpen). That's it Save and Close.
11. Note: Did you notice that PSP has conveniently arranged the steps in the proper order on the Enhance Photo menu? That way you don't have to remember the order just go down the line.
12. Open inclass6dl3.jpg. Duplicate (Windows || Duplicate [Shift+D]) and close the original. This image is pretty dark so we are going to start with Automatic Contrast Enhancement first. Click Automatic Contrast Enhancement on the Enhance Photo menu (or click Adjust || Brightness and Contrast || Automatic Contrast Enhancement). Reset to default and click OK.
13. Click Automatic Color Balance on the Enhance Photo menu (or click Adjust || Color Balance || Automatic Color Balance). Reset to default and click OK.
14. Click Clarify on the Enhance Photo menu (or click Adjust || Brightness and Contrast || Clarify). Change the Strength to 2 and click OK.
15. Click Automatic Saturation Enhancement on the Enhance Photo menu (or click Adjust || Hue and Saturation || Automatic Saturation Enhancement). Reset to default and click the circle in front of Strong. Click OK.
16. Click Edge Preserving Smooth on the Enhance Photo menu (or click Adjust || Add/Remove Noise || Edge Preserving Smooth). Reset to default. We need to change the amount to 5 to remove all the noise. Click OK. Note: This is a good example of how this tool removes noise.
17. Click Adjust || Sharpness || Unsharp Mask. Settings Radius = 2, Strength = 50, and Clipping = 15. These settings usually work for most photo enhancing. Note: For sharpening an image after a rotate or resize I usually use Radius 1.50, Strength = 50, and Clipping = 5. Radius determines which areas of the image that will be considered "edges". Strength determines the amount of sharpening. Clipping allows weak edges to be ignored.
18. This is still not the best quality image but considering what we started with it looks pretty good. At least we can actually tell what the picture is of. Save and Close.
Note: That's it for this class. Please take some time to explore the settings on the different enhancement tools. As you can see from this class there is not a magic setting that will work on every photo. You have to find the settings that are right for each photo.