Neodigital Art | Editing tutorial
Neodigital Art is about using your computer to make something artistic; in my case from a photograph and so this means editing. I prefer Windows Live Photo gallery rather than the more complex Photoshop. I opened this photo in Windows Live Photo Gallery. I took this photo of the lake frozen over in December. The light was quite good and in the afternoon I had the light behind me. I was shooting down the lake rather than a cross it to get depth. The trees also add some depth to the picture. At the top of the page you can see an option to click to edit, organise or share; obviously I clicked edit. I chose this picture again.
Now you can see the editing tools. I have added warmth to the picture by adjusting the colour temperature. I also added contrast and brightness. After I took this screen shot I also moved the highlights slider across to the left. The sliders on the histogram also move for interesting effects.
This was what it looked like after editing, a lighter brighter picture. I’m not too sure if it’s level though, but Windows Live photo gallery will also help you make a picture level. I decided to try straightening it and turning it sepia:
I don’t think it was level! I took a few shots in the same place and icy pictures can come in useful for Christmas and New Year:
I levelled this one and there is less of the tree but the swans and ducks give the picture more depth. I also cropped the picture for widescreen then I used Paint to add the New Year message. Just add a text box in a clear part of the picture and choose a suitable font. I did resize the picture to 50% of it’s size before doing the text to get it the right size.
I hope you liked today’s post, please comment and share. There are more amazing blogs on my Home Page.
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Wow, Mike this is so cool! I’m really impressed, with your photography, your instruction and with Windows Live software. I love how you showed us so many ways you could alter your lake shot and explained how to do each one.
I am now officially inspired. I will be downloading Windows Live software and start using it.
I remember a post you did way back, perhaps over the summer, when you showed a photo altered by Photo Shop versus Windows Live and you were right, the Windows Live picture was much better than the Photo Shop picture.
What’s amazing is that the Windows Live software is free!
Thank you so much for doing this post. I found it exceptionally helpful. (By the way, I made your chicken with bacon recipe tonight and everyone loved it!)
Hope your 2012 is off to a great start, Mike! 🙂
4, January 2012 at 12:57 am
Hi Carolyn,
I think Photoshop is too slow for me. It took me an hour to do one photo, although there is a simple view rather like Windows Live. This blog took a while because I started with a canal picture and then changed my mind and did the frozen lake pictures. It’s getting harder now with dull days. It was freezing last time I went to the lake, with biting winds. I was soon back in the warmth of my car!
4, January 2012 at 10:26 am
Great instructions, Mike. Thanks for sharing.
4, January 2012 at 9:54 pm
Thanks Myfanwy,
I forgot to mention the suite of programs is free! There is a blogging program included.
5, January 2012 at 12:39 am
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its great what you can do with freeware, and you have done well Mike.
if you run out of options, buy a program…if you dont, treatyoursel with the money saved
14, January 2012 at 5:17 pm
Hi Brendan,
Welcome back. I do well with freeware. I tried Photoshop Elements but it was too slow and I needed to learn how to use it. the trial run out before I got any where near understanding it. It wasn’t very intuitive. Some people say Paintshop is better. I see a lot of photos that are done with Photoshop or I should say overdone! I am thinking of treating myself this month to a domain and some webspace! 🙂 A birthday present to myself.
14, January 2012 at 5:40 pm
yes photoshop is a steep learning curve…i was basically bored and skint some years ago, so i was determined to crack it,and i have…however, i dont overdo it and use it in ways others dont. for design as well aspic editing in my own kind of editing style..always like to see yourstuff
14, January 2012 at 9:17 pm
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