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Playing with a picture

Mary Bull

New member
After reading in several threads the various ways the professionals and gifted amateurs are using their technical tools to enhance their images, I decided to see what I could do about one of the things which bugs me in my snapshot of my cat, M&M.

I think you can see the photo at this link, if you want it for reference about what I tried.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59889251@N00/

In the top right corner there's a serape over a storage chest. It's barely visible in that black part of the picture. I put the image into Irfanview and cropped out that section.

Then in Images/Enhance Colors I decreased the contrast and the brightness slightly, and after that, put the slider in saturation over as far as it would go.

Then I sharpened the image once. Once only.

Wow--I could actually see the serape. I could get used to this kind of power.

Well, I don't have the tools to patch parts of the picture together to have that spot of color more visible, and anyway, the interest is the cat. The Forbidden Cat!

And it's only valuable as a "family memory." I like the diagonal I got with the edge of the bed in the frame. I don't like half the picture as an uninteresting black expanse.

I really like the color and detail which the data from the Canon G2 had waiting for me, when I looked for it.

The cold front that's come through has given a promise of cooler weather tomorrow. Perhaps I'll take the camera over to the local Canon dealer and find out why I can't get it to take a charge, even with a replacement battery.

Any comments on my account of how I've been playing with this photo would be very welcome.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Hi Mary,

Why not send me the image without any manipulations, just the original file. We'll see what we can do. After all, M&M is a member and the only cat we'll have!

Asher
 

Mary Bull

New member
Asher Kelman said:
Hi Mary,

Why not send me the image without any manipulations, just the original file. We'll see what we can do. After all, M&M is a member and the only cat we'll have!

Asher

Will do! She will be honored to have you present her at her best.
 

Ray West

New member
Hi Mary,

If you go over to the google site, they have something named 'Picasa' which will be useful to you and your photo manipulation. You can catalogue them, and edit them, convert to b&w, make web pages, whatever. Irfanview is excellant, but Picasa is easy, and allows you to do more things.http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/options/

Best wishes,

Ray
 

Mary Bull

New member
I be consumed with excitement.

Woke up early yesterday, too--at 2:00 a.m.--wide-awake as a hooty owl. However, I did fall asleep over my new book before 9:00 p.m. last night.
 
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