1. Basic Photograph Editing
Using Picasa with Aquarian
Photography Cic

2. www.picasa.google.com
• Today we will be learning some basic techniques of
photo editing.
• Manual editing.
• Image rotation.
• Spot/blemish removal.
• Brightness and contrast.
• Straightening a image.
• Colour adjustment.

3. With Picasa software open you are ready to get started.
Choose the images to work on from the folder on the left hand side, the
folder marked Micro is where the test image is today.

4. Once you have selected the image to work on, double click on it. This will
open the edit screen below.
Edit
Screen

5. To edit the image in manual editing, click on the Edit in Creative Kit icon. This
is found on the left hand side. This will take a while to open, so be patient.

6. Image Rotation
Now take a few moments to look at the image, does it fill the screen or is it in the
wrong orientation? If the answer is no and the image is in the upright position with
blank space on either side. The image will need to be rotated so that it is horizontal
and fills more of the screen. Doing this will enable you to see the image clearer and
have more detail to work on.
To rotate the image you will need to select the Rotate icon on the Left hand
side.
Using either the left or right rotate icons, rotate
the image so that it is now horizontal. Each time
you click the rotate icon the image will rotate by 90
degrees.

7. Your image should now look like the picture below.

8. Straightening the image.
Now you have rotated the image, take a look at the image and see if it looks
level. You may have taken the image with the camera not completely level. This
would result in an image that would have the horizon unlevel or building in a
landscape not looking pleasing to the eye. Are there any straight lines in the
image that you feel need to be either upright or level. If you feel that the image
is not level and needs to be leveled then you can adjust it using the straighten
feature, this is found with in the rotate area and is marked on the picture
below.
When you use the straighten function, sliding the slider to the
right will turn the image in an anti-clockwise direction. So
sliding the slider to the left will turn the image in an clockwise
direction.
When using the straighten feature a grid will overlay the
image, you line up an object to either a vertical or horizontal
line on the grid. Once the image has been rotated and
straightened then click the apply icon to save changes.

9. Adjusting Exposure, brightness and contrast
levels.
If the picture has areas
that looks too bright
(areas with glare) or the
image is very dark, then
you will need to correct
the exposure.
If the image is too bright
(haze/over exposed) take
the slider to the left to
darken the image. But if
the image is generally to
dark or dull (under
exposed) then move the
slider to the right to
lighten the image.

10. Brightness
Once the exposure has been
adjusted and the image
looks clearer, then you
can move onto the
brightness
of the image. Using
highlights slider in the
exposure
menu. Sliding it to the
right will brighten the
image,
if you think that the
image was to bright to start
with
then use the shadows
slider to darken the image.

11. Contrast
Finally if the image
does not have
sharp contrast,
between the
different colours,
darker and lighter
areas. Then
increase the
contrast slider
slightly until
the image
looks sharper.
Once your happy
with the
changes then
click on apply.

12. The difference so far.
Before After

13. Colour Adjustment
If the colours look a little drab or
washed out in your image, then boost
them using the colour icon on the left
in the menu.
Using the saturation slider boost the
colours, to the right increases colour
and to the left decreases the colours.
The sky may appear to have a yellow
tint to it, if this happens after colour
adjustment, then you may have to
adjust the temperature slider. Move
the slider slowly and watch the results
on screen. You want to achieve a true
colour in the sky.

14. Results so far
Before colour adjustment After colour adjustment

15. Now you can move onto any dust spots and blemishes that maybe on the
image. This time you will need to chose a different tab, select the effects tab
at the top of the menu on the left.

16. Once you have opened the effects tab the menu will change and
look like this. Scroll down until you see Blemish Fix.

17. Click on Blemish Fix to start removing any spots, dust and blemishes onthe
image. A new menu will open and the pointer on screen will change to a dot
or circle depending on brush size selected.
Brush size adjustment
Apply changes

18. You may have to zoom in on the image to inspect for any marks. So move the
zoom slider over till it is on between 100-150%.
Zoom adjustment slider

19. Once you have zoomed in on the image, use the highlighted box
shownhere to move the area to be worked on around.
Place the mouse pointer on the
highlighted box, touch the
mouse pad and hold it down . Moving
your other finger on the mouse pad
willmove the box around the image.

20. Dust, spot and blemish removal
Looking at the image in zoom mode you may spot some marks,
simply move the circle over the mark at gently tap the pen
onto the tablet. Each time you tap it will lighten the mark. You
may need to repeat a few times to clear each mark. Move the
highlighted box around the image to look for marks. Most will
show only on light coloured areas.

21. Dust/Blemishes
Dust spots
Blemish fix
brush
Repeat this step until clear or dust spots and when finished click
apply to save changes.

22. Spots removed

23. Finishing off
Now you have edited your image, if the
original image was taken in portrait mode
(aligned vertically). You will now want to
rotate the image back to itsoriginal view. If
needed use the rotate sections again in the
way you did insection 6.

24. Rotating image
To rotate the image you will need to select the
Rotate icon on the Left hand side.
Using either the left rotate or right
rotate icons, each time you click the
rotate icon the image will rotate by
90 degrees.

25. Saving your image
Finally save the image to your hard drive, print
off when needed.
To save the image, select file from the top of the
screen. Look for save a copy, click on this and
it will now save a version with the changes
made to your computer.