Fixing photo goof ups instantly

"Dum dee dum dummm.... having fun taking a photo shoot... lah lah lahhhhh... going well, gonna throw them on the computer and get them on the 'ol blog... happy happy joy jo....."

"DRAT!!! The nail on the wall ruins everything!" 

You know the drill. You can forget to pick something off the floor. You can detest a cord that's in a picture. You think you have a great shot until you see it on your computer. 

Would your day improve just a little if you knew you could FIX those oop'ses within seconds rather than taking a new photo shoot? For free?

Like this?

Photo editing is where it's at, friends! I would NEVER publish a photo until it's run through the freebie program Picasa.

There are other programs others can share with you in comments. However out of the two that I have, I go to Picasa even before I go to Photoshop Elements.

I've covered how to play in Picasa before HERE.

However, today I'm going to share my #1 most fav fix of all. 

~ Retouching ~

1. Download Picasa (at Picasa.com)  if you don't have it already. It's free and you'll love it! 

2. Select import and bring a picture into your window. This is what you'll see. (Picasa is avail for both PC and Mac)

 3. To the left side, you'll see this box. Select Basic Fixes, then select Retouch.

 4. Hover your pointer over your photo and you'll see a circle. That's called your brush.

 5. Go back to the box and create your brush size.

• 6. Click on whatever you wish to fix
• then move the circle to another place that offers you your desired background
• click there
• APPLY

7. You are done. The 2nd circle click takes a picture of the 2nd location and puts it into your first location.

I use Retouch for nearly every single photo.

But I do more than that as well.

See this awful night shot? And that ugly chain along the ceiling?

This is what it looks like after I ran it through Picasa. Seriously.

Wanna know how I tweaked the tones? You can read about my first Picasa lesson HERE. And then I suggest to play play play. You'll soon see what works and what doesn't.

So.. stop sweating over those small oversights in your photos. Fix'em up later! 

_ _ _ _

 My camera is a point and shoot and I do 99% of my editing in Picasa. This post is proof you don't have to have the highest end equipment on the market to get great pics. With a little know how, you can improve your own photography 100%.

Love photo tips? I'm coming up with a more thorough way to share photo editing and photography info with you, so stay tuned! This is only the tip of the iceberg.

What's your favorite photo editing feature? And in what program?

Taking amazing closeups with a point and shoot... of BOLTS. :)

After you read this post, I PROMISE that you'll fall in love with metal bolts and scream if you find a stash in... wherever bolts are stashed.

And if you don't, then certify me as having gone over and beyond the call of junk duty.

I'm officially starting a bolt revolution.  Here and now. You find a bolt, think of me. Wishing I could swoon at the beauty of the crusty metal, faded jewel tones of.. whatever that stuff is, gritty stamped lettering, eclectic shaped heads. Bolts unite!

The next few pics make me crazy enough to get them output and hung on my wall for cryin' out loud.

Nuff of that crazyiness. Let's now chat about the macro setting on your camera.

Do you have an el cheapo point and shoot like me? Good. Then you have no excuse to say you can't take bolt pictures just like these.

Steps to taking amazing closeups.. with a point and shoot.

a) place your bolts outdoors (BOLTS... not buttons.) Fine fine then... get buttons. Buttons work too. But bolts are more fun. :)

b) find an area out of direct sunlight. Diffused light is best.

c) turn off your flash and set your camera to automatic.

d) see that flower? That's macro. You will love the results. This is not the macro button on my camera but they all have flowers.

Selecting macro is done differently on each camera. For mine, I have to hit the bottom of a button twice to get it. Just watch your screen.

Turn on your camera, turn off your flash, select macro and...

e) stabilize your camera ON something. Do not free hold it. And don't zoom, but aim. Now get close to one bolt.

f) slightly depress the button to take a pic, BUT allow your camera to focus first.

g) make sure it's focused on what you desire. If it hasn't, try again. It can take more than one try.

By default, the nearest thing generally grasps the focus, leaving everything else in a haze. But not always.

Best results are had IF the camera is rock steady. Rock steady matters 1000% with this.

Then hold your breath while you click. There's no jiggle that way.

KXA2 back atcha, cutie pie! :)

Admit it. Right about now, you're discovering bolts could be your friend.

This just in!

"The gritty golden tones further enhance steam punkish details, only found on our exclusive bolt collection. With one of a kind, highly sought after numeric art, our amazing bolts were discovered on Funky Junk Interiors in which has since started the bolt revolution you see here today. We are eternally grateful to FJI."

Amen! Hand Kolein some rubber gloves. And a wire brush. We're in this for the long haul now. >:)

Who needs black furniture when you can have a big black bolt I say.

"Darling, please remember the bolts on my Christmas list this year, kay?
I'm on a diet anyway. Thanks hun!"

With a touch of rust... dyin' here.

A bolt revolution. 

All because of the macro setting.

Don't say I didn't warn you...

Consider this part of the ongoing course.

Have any closeup camera type questions or tips? 
And.. have I sold you too on the beauty of bolts?!? :)

Please give that macro setting a workout and let us know how you did!

(the photos above were sharpened and lightened in Picasa... try it out!)

Workshop Series - Blog Photos Part 3 - photo software

Welcome to the Workshop Series, brought to you by

Funky Junk Interiors and Mustard Seed Creations!

Miss Mustard Seed will be bringing you a new edition when her post is ready to roll. It's a busy time of year for both of us so I hope you understand the need for abit of leeway. These workshop posts take considerable time to build, so we really appreciate your patience! :)

Good news! This week on Funky Junk, we're continuing with Part 3 of

~ Blog Photography 101 ~

Great shots from a point and shoot

Disclaimer: I am not a pro photographer. I've never even taken a course. The info I'm providing you is simply from my own personal experience, as well as tips from friends and online resources. If you can add/suggest additional related info, I very much welcome your input in the comments. Thank-you!

1. Intro and keeping you camera steady. - click here to retrieve

2. Proper lighting.

Today:

3. Using photo enhancing software.

To come:

4. Shooting with good backgrounds and interesting angles.

5. Getting to know the settings on your camera.

~ Part 3 - Photo Enhancing ~

This is the kind of photo you'd find pretty typical on my blog. A nice artful type crop, perfect for a blogroll thumbnail. But it didn't start this way. 

This is how it came straight out of the camera.

While the picture had potential, it was too dark, and wasn't cropped tight enough to tell the story as well. Fiddling with the picture in a photo enhancing program for a few seconds took a normal schnormal photo and turned it into something completely different.

Here's an outdoor shot where lighting shouldn't be an issue, right? Does this overcast of darkness look familiar?

With a little bit of lightening, you get a totally different feel.

Photo Enhancing Programs

The improvements are due to a photo enhancing program. There are many out there, however my chosen weapon is Picasa. It's a free photo enhancing photo software you can download and use within minutes! And I wouldn't post even one single photo without using it.

There are other free programs out there that do the same, if not better than Picasa. However, since I'm personally proficient in this program, this is the one I'll guide you through today, to simply show you, even a little free easy to use program can get you some great results for your digital pictures.

Here's a screen shot of what the inside of Picasa looks like when you have pictures loaded. I download my pics right from my digital camera into Picasa and sort them by a title and/or date. This makes finding a subject an absolute breeze!

My favorite settings

Indoor shots always need some work and this one is no exception. Does it look ok to you as is? Watch what the smallest tweaks will do!

When your picture is in Picasa, this is how the window will appear. Your pic will be to the right, with your options to the left. Very nice sized working windows.

The left sidebar is where all the magic happens. BASIC FIXES, TUNING, EFFECTS are where all the options are to enhance your photos. Let's start!

1. Lighten it up

ALL indoor pics, and I mean ALL, need lightening up. And if you're being good and following previous instructions, you are NOT using your flash and you ARE using a tripod for the best possible start, yes? Good! :)

1. Choose your picture and it'll appear in the big window as above.

2. Select Tuning.

3. Slide the FILL LIGHT to the right.

4. Slide the HIGHLIGHTS to the right. 

Fiddle and stop when it looks good.

Go too far? Before you change your mind, add abit of SHADOW to your photo to see if it needs that instead.

This is the result. Amazing, isn't it?

Tip: A good starting photo will lesson the fixing steps. Not using a tripod nor extra lighting? (tsk tsk!!) Add straighten, saturation, and sharpen. Just play around until things look good.

2. Straighten & watermarks.

This is an option I use ALOT. While some shots look great on an angle, I believe you have to exaggerate that angle (but know where to stop!) to make the effect look intentional. The photo above just looks sloppy imo. Bear in mind, I see crooked where most don't, it's just the way my insight works, so I'm alot fussier than most. Crooked photos drive me insane! xo

See the difference? And note I added a watermark in the picture? The ABC button in your selection area allows you to do this so easily!

Effects used:

Basic Fixes - straighten

Tuning - fill light, highlight

Effects - sharpen

3. Special Effects

I guarantee, if you're new to this program, you'll want to use this. Alot. But heed my warning. Too much is too much. Some hazy pictures have me feeling dizzy and done too much, your subject can flat out look out of focus, not what you're trying to achieve. What I've done below is borderline but I wanted to show you a few options.

Effects used:

Tuning - fill light, highlights

Effects - sharpen, soft focus, focal B&W

Basic Fixes - crop 

Wahhhh!! Get me off this fuzzy mountain top! I'm falling over!

Have SOME fun, but know when to stop. :)

4. Saturation

I use this one for all those photos that either need abit more colour or I want to remove that ugly yellowy cast from an indoor shot.

Effects used:

Basic Fixes - crop

Tuning - fill light, highlights, shadow

Effects - sharpen, saturation

And just for fun, I want to show you the difference when taking a photo indoors vs outdoors.

Effects used

Tuning - fill light, highlights

The colours are soft, natural, lightness intact, and no yellow cast. This just goes to show, create an outdoor photo shoot area under cover in diffused lighting and your photos will improve drastically.

This was simply an intro into what a software enhancing program can do for your pictures. Good pictures are all smoke and mirrors, folks!  So download your freebie program of choice today and start playing!

Other programs to try that I haven't yet : Photoshop, Picnik

Assignment for this session

1. Use good lighting and a tripod when taking all pictures for the best possible start.

2. Download a photo enhancing software and start playing.

3. Experiment with ALL the options so you get to know the features.

4. Special effects - know when to stop!

Just an optional thought...

5. Brag about it! - Create a post about your new amazing photos. And let the masses know where you got your amazing ability techniques from. :) xo Come on back and in comments, throw in your url so we can all take a peek!

Me - "So Miss Mustard Seed, your photos are amazing! Do you use any photo enhancing sofware to help you along?"

MMS - "“I absolutely love digital photography and how adaptable it is. As you have shown, any picture can be cropped, colored, adjusted and tinkered with to make it great. I use Adobe Photoshop Album to catalog my pictures and for basic adjustments. Some of my pictures just need to be cropped and have the contrast adjusted and this program will do the trick. When a photo needs some major lighting or color adjustments I’ll use Adobe Photoshop Elements. I’ll also use this program to convert to black and white or add effects.

My favorite adjustments are the fill flash, contrast, brightness, and saturation. I’m not a huge fan of effects. I think they have their place, but I don’t want to look at a bunch of foggy pictures, you know? No offense, Donna. Your foggy picture looks great and I appreciate that you use it sparingly! :) 

A great tip is to make duplicates of a photo you love and crop it in different ways to showcase different subjects in the picture. You can get three or more great pictures out of just one shot. Pictures can also have a lot more impact when they are cropped properly. Also, try removing all of the saturation from a picture and bump up the contrast for a great black and white shot. ”

Assignment from last session: Try additional lighting.

How did you do with lighting? If anyone has noticed any remarkable differences, please feel free to post the url if you have an ongoing post up.

Have you got a fav program you use? We'd love to hear which it is and why you use it! Any questions? Shoot! That's why we're here. :)

<center><a href="http://www.funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="Funky Junk's Workshop Series" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTT5DTN0EnrImGF4Y5i_ORrse5VsI2zJ8Qom7WqAmhWXL63nvVIlHrR55si_hEresjIc8xmS7I7Dr4Qp3qHwkOl37nH7yPyIQj0ME8KHGJE-m2woe6lPELQCxLoFZsrWl7sB_UmnIqjRQ/s320/workshop150.jpg" /></a></center> Enjoying the course? Let'em know. :)