Creative Fun with Photo Editing (Part 1)

By Susan Latreille

One of the great bonuses of digital photography is the ability to ‘play around’ with your photos at little or no cost.

Most cameras have internal editing features such as zoom, mode settings, and resizing, but the fun part comes in using one of the many programs or applications available to aid in the out-of-camera photo editing process.

I use a simple program called Picasa, which is no longer available as a photo-sharing website but still works for my photo editing. It is the program I am comfortable with after using it for about 20 years.  I’m guessing most simple editing programs have the same and/or similar editing features. Without a doubt, programs such as PhotoShop would easily surpass any of the features available in Picasa or any other free application.

Whatever photo editing program one uses, the first rule of thumb is to make a copy of the photo you are planning to edit. Then work from the copy so the untouched original remains available if needed.

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So, on a lovely summer day a few weeks ago, I headed out to my gardens to snap some blooms and whatever else might catch my eye and, more importantly, the eye of the camera.

I captured some nice shots, a few very nice shots, and a lot of shots that would quickly land in the recycle bin. Those heading to the recycle bin are what I decided to play with.

Here, I’d like to share the results of various editings of three separate photos (in three separate posts) to illustrate the creativity and fun to be had in photo editing.

First up is a photo of one of my hens and her rooster – original shot, simple crop, and then some fun.

Photo #1: the original, ‘out-of-camera’ shot.

Photo #2: This is a simple crop keeping the original ratio.

Photo #3: Here the shot hass colour boost- available on a sliding scale. This is a very mild boost, which accentuates the reds and whites.

Photo #4: Black & white + Boost (to enhance the white) + a Vignette border. Vignette borders are available in large range of colours (black was used here to soften the edges) and have a sliding scale of size and intensity.

Photo #5: HDR-ish (available in a sliding scale of radius & strength) + Border. HDR = High Dynamic Range imaging, which is the ratio of light to dark in a photograph. Borders can have different inside and outside colours, different thicknesses for the inner and outer borders, as well as contoured corners.

Photo #6: The “Lomography” effect is a popular contrarian photographic style characterized by oversaturated colours, distortions, unexpected prismatic effects, and several other qualities usually avoided or corrected by traditional photographers.

Parts 2 and 3 will be part of Covid Creativity in the next months.

Collectif members, send an image (or a few) of very recent work to cagac.ca@gmail.com with up to 100 words describing what you did, materials used, inspiration, etc. Maybe share how you’re feeling & how creativity helps. We’d like an informative, inspiring show & tell. Writers, send us poetry, lyrics, a short piece or excerpt.