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BOOT CAMP 042
PAINTING BY NUMBERS, PART 2
Last week we showed how the Paint program supplied with
Windows can be quite handy for creating and modifying simple pictures and
graphics, but if you want to unleash your PC's formidable image processing
power you will need something a little more sophisticated.
Until fairly recently most PCs spent their time dealing with
text and data but there has been a dramatic shift of emphasis towards visual media,
brought about by faster PCs, CD-ROMs and the Internet plus the availability of
low-cost peripherals like scanners, digital cameras, video frame grabbers and high
quality colour printers. However, getting an image into and out of a PC is only
part of the story; in order to produce illustrated documents and web pages some
means of manipulating images and photographs is required.
PaintShop Pro fits the bill very neatly; it is the visual
equivalent of a word processor or spread sheet, able to do quite extraordinary
things to pictures and photographs, that just a few years ago would only have
been possible in a well equipped photo studio or processing laboratory. PaintShop
Pro -- known as PSP to its many friends and admirers -- is by no means the most
powerful or advanced 'paint box' program on the market, but it is very easy to
use, and it is cheap (the latest version costs around £80). In fact you can try
it for free as shareware versions are regularly featured on computer magazine CD-ROMs
and it can be downloaded from the Internet. (www.jasc.com).
One of PSP's key features is the vast number of image file
formats it can handle, more than 40 of them in the case of the recently
released Version 5. That means it can display and convert images for a wide
range of applications, but it is the huge range of tools and effects that will
be of interest to most users. We'll begin by using just a couple of them to fix
one of the commonest photographic problems, and that is red-eye. Later on we'll
show how to use PSP to edit a photograph and remove an unwanted object or person
from a picture.
Red eye is caused by a reflection of camera flash; it gives
the subject a devilish appearance and can ruin an otherwise perfectly good
photograph that you want to use in a document, or send to a friend or relative
via e-mail. Step one is to import the picture into PSP, either by scanning, or
by reading the image file, if it was shot on an electronic still camera or
downloaded from the Internet. Once on the page you can correct any exposure and
colour errors. The Adjust option on the Colours menu contains sliders for
varying brightness and contrast, plus more subtle adjustments to highlights, gamma
correction, mid-tones, shadows, hues, colour saturation and balance.
Next, use the magnification tool (magnifying glass icon) to
enlarge the section of the image containing the eyes to a manageable size. The
magnification factor can be increased or decreased using the left and right
mouse buttons. Now, using the Freehand Selection tool (shaped like a lasso), carefully
outline the red pupil. From the Colours menu select Adjust and the Hue, Saturation
and Luminance (Lightness on PSP 5) option. Use the saturation control to reduce
the depth of the colour in the outlined area (-100 on the dialogue box). This
removes the red colour but doesn't affect details, like reflections, so it
looks completely natural. Repeat the process on the other eye and save the
image file.
You can also use this opportunity to try out another of PSPs
clever tools and remove blemishes, spots and pimples or other unwanted details,
like straggly hairs. If necessary increase the magnification to centre the
blemish on the screen. Select the Clone Brush icon (two paintbrushes) and position
it to one side of the area you wish to mask. Click the right mouse button and
it picks up the colour and texture of a small area beneath the brush -- shown
by a set of cross-hairs -- now use the right button to 'spray' the recorded detail
into the blemish. With a little practice it is possible to make completely
invisible alterations.
PSP has a variety of tools for removing or hiding larger
objects, including people. The cloning brush is fine for smaller details, but
it can be difficult to accurately simulate more complex backgrounds and textures.
The solution is to copy and paste sections of the background and use them to
cover up the object. Select an area to copy using the freehand tool, PSP has a 'feather'
facility that blurs the edges of the selected area, so that it blends in more
easily with its surroundings (a dialogue box will appear, choose a setting or
between 10 to 15). Go to the Selections menu and click on 'Float', this copies the
selected area, if you forget to select Float you will leave a hole behind when
you move the patch of picture. Use the mouse to position it over the subject. If
the background is very uneven -- plants, trees etc., -- then you may find it looks
better if you do it in small irregularly sized chunks, to give it a more natural
appearance. At this stage don't worry too much about rough or uneven edges, you
can tidy it up afterwards with the clone brush or the retouch mode (hand icon)
which will blur and soften details.
We've barely scratched surface of what PSP can do, just
describing what the special effects can do would fill several pages of
Connected but the really good thing about this program is that it is highly intuitive
and very easy to get to know, simply by using it. Try it, and if you continue
to use the shareware version beyond the 30-day trial period -- and you probably
will -- don't forget to register and pay for it.
Next week, sounding out your PC
JARGON FILTER
GAMMA CORRECTION
A means of jiggling brightness values in an image to
compensate for the non-linear characteristics of PC and video monitors. In
other words a way of making sure that a picture or photograph on a video screen
looks the same as the paper original
LUMINANCE
The brightness
component in a picture, photograph or image on a PC monitor
SATURATION
Colour intensity, changing the saturation on a photograph is
like altering the colour control on a television, and like a TV it can be
varied from zero (black and white) to far too much…
TOP TIP
Sometimes, after installing a new piece of hardware or
changing your PC's video resolution settings, the desktop icons can be become corrupted,
or even disappear altogether. You can restore them to pristine condition by
quitting Windows then re-starting in Safe mode. Press the F8 key, as soon as the first boot up message appears. From
the menu that appears select option 3 'Safe' mode and wait for Windows to
finish loading. Exit and re-start Windows and the original desktop icons will reappear.
If you use small icons on the Start menu this will need to be reset from 'Settings and Taskbar' on the Start menu.
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