This is a part of a series called 101 tips to make you a better photographer.

Tip #3 of 101: Basic of post processing your photos - Part 1
(AKA how to give your photos the professional treatment - Part 1)

Tip related to: Post Processing
Photography skill required: Beginners, Intermediate
Camera feature required: Any camera, useful even if you take photos using your mobile phone
Special requirement: You will need a computer with Windows (any version) or Linux.
All the photos and screenshots that you see in this post were made using Picasa running on Ubuntu Linux

This is a two part tip. In these two parts we will find out how to:

1. manage your photos better so that you can find and use them whenever you need them
2. straighten the horizons in your photo
3. correct your photos for better composition, color, contrast and exposure
4. reduce the size of your photos to upload and share on sites like flickr, forums etc
5. add a border to your photos
6. add your copyright and other messages on the image.
7. get familiar with Picasa and GIMP for more advanced image manipulations.

After selecting an ideal camera and after mastering the technique to focus properly, ideally, the next step in your photography adventure should be to…

Read the user manual of your camera.

Yes, that is a must.
You must read the user manual and get familiar with (not necessarily master)  everything that your camera can do. Trust me, it is worth all the effort spent on it.

If you are a lazy dumdum (like me :)) or the idea of reading big volumes of black and white manuals sounds daunting, then simply postpone it for a while.
But whenever you get time, you must go through it.

So, the next step for you is to start taking some photos.

Switch on your camera and start taking photos.
Ignore the menus, ignore the settings, ignore the techniques, simply use your common sense and take some photos. (We will discuss about the settings and techniques later.)

After you have taken a lot of photos you will understand a few fundamental truths.

1. Over a period of time, you would have collected so many photos that managing your photos will become a nightmare
2. The photos that are taken by your camera do not look as good as many photos that you have seen on flickr or stock photo sites
3. All your photos are not great. You would have clicked a few photos that should be deleted immediately.
4. The photos are so huge in size, that it takes ages to share them by email or upload them on websites.

The solution.

• Free solution: Download and install Google’s Picasa and GIMP (works on both Linux and Windows)
• Pro solution: Buy and install Adobe Lightroom (works only on windows and Mac)
• Pro Pro solution: Buy and install Adobe Lightroom along with Adobe Photoshop. (works only on windows and Mac)

Today, we will touch upon a few uses of Picasa.

Picasa is a free photo management software from Google. You can download Picasa from here, and install it on your PC.

After installation, it will automatically scan your entire computer and find all the images from your PC.

This is how your photo library will appear

Whenever you have more photos, Picasa will automatically import them to a suitable location and update your library. If you are not able to see your photos here, simply click on the menu  “Tools -> Folder Manager” and ensure that the folder with your photos is set to “Scan Always”

The library is a very convenient way to manage all your photos and view them in a SlideShow or correct your photos and enhance them with special effects etc.

First thing first:
The first thing that I want you to do is identify the photos that are absolutely crap and delete them.
It is very important that others do not see your crappy photos at all (not even your best friend or your spouse or your pet dog). This is the first thing that all the pros do with their photos.
Click here to read more about this.

Now you will have to work on the remaining photos.

Contrary to what many so called photography purists say, depending on the use of the photo, it is ok to do some corrections to your photos.
Most of the corrections will be related to
1. Straightening the photo
2. Cropping the photo to get a closer shot
3. Fixing the exposure, contrast and color
4. Adding some special effects (This is not correction, but it is fun to do)

1. Straighten the photo
Check out this photo, that I took for this tip.

The problem here is that the photo is titled. Pay attention to the edge of the white table, it is tilted.
This is bad. It appears that the blue cup will slide out of the left of the photo due to this tilt.
In your case, it might be the horizon, the mountains, the ocean, the building etc that would be tilted.

The best thing to do would be to ensure that you make sure that the horizons are straight when you are clicking the photo.

If you cannot do it, then Picasa can help.

Double click on the photo in the library. It opens the photo in correction mode.
Check out all the options that are available on the left of the photo.

Click on the button called “Straighten” (the second button from the top). This will show you the options to rotate the photo. There will be a new slider and grid on the photo.

Select the slider and drag it to the left or right to make your photo straight.

Once you are satisfied, click apply. And this is what you get.

Ok, this looks better. Atleast the cup will not slide now

2. Cropping
Wikipedia says:

Cropping refers to the removal of the outer parts of an image to improve framing, accentuate subject matter or change aspect ratio.

In the photo above, do you notice the white distracting column on the left of the photo. I think that is distracting.

In your case, a few photos would have distracting branches of trees, limbs of the people, tails of your pet dogs etc.

Cropping enables you to cut off a portion of your photo so that all the distracting things can be removed from it.

It has the same effect as you taking a step closer and then clicking the photo.

To crop your photos in Picasa, If you are in the library mode, then double click on the photo to open it in correction mode.
Then click on the crop button (The first option on the top). This is the screen that you will get.

All you have to do now is select a preferred size (I usually select Manual) and drag a rectangle on my photo (i.e. click at one point of the photo and simply pull your mouse across the photo and then release the click).

Do you notice the dark area on my photo above and the selected area with a thin white border. That is the part of the photo that will remain after I crop it.

After you have drawn your rectangle, you can tweak its size by dragging the edges of this rectangle until you have your perfect composition

Once you are satisfied, click on apply, and you will get this.

See, the white column on the left is gone.

3. Fixing exposure, color and contrast.
Most of the times, to fix color, contrast and exposure, all you have to do is click the “I am feeling lucky” button in the photo correction screen.

When I click on I am feeling lucky button, I get this

If you compare it with the photo above, you will notice a very subtle but a very positive change in the photo.

For most of the photos, this is all that needs to be done.

If you want to fix the exposure further, just click on the slider called “Fill Light” at the bottom of the tab called “Basic Fixes” and slide the slider to the left or right to adjust the exposure.

After I adjust the exposure, here is the final image

compare it with the original photo

Do you see the difference.

If you want more options, click on the Tab called Tuning on the left and then you can play to your hearts content and adjust the exposure and color to any level you want.

Do not hesitate to play with all the options in Picasa.
Picasa takes a backup of all your photos. So the original photos are always safe.
Apart from that Picasa always has options to cancel or reset or abort your actions anytime you want. So folks, go play.

That is it for today. I will continue this discussion in my next tip.

My last tip was: Tip 2 of 101: Learn to lock the focus of your camera.
List of all the tips: 101 tips to make you a better photographer

In the next tip I will be talking about the remaining items.
i.e. reducing the size of your photos to upload and share on sites like flickr, forums etc, adding a border to your photos, adding your copyright and other messages on the image and also introduce you to a new free software called GIMP.

If you want to be informed when I write the next tip, just enter your email id in the subscription box at the top right of my blog and I will send you an email whenever I write something new.

If you have any questions or want to share your photos, post them in the comments section below.

Take care,
Gunjan
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