Picture-Perfect Photo Editing

Using adjustment layers makes editing foolproof.

Dave Johnson

Feature: Photo Editing With Adjustment Layers

There's a lot more to going digital than just using a digital camera. It also means loading your pictures onto a computer and using software to enhance them. Blurring, sharpening, color adjustment--these are all common strategies for improving photos. In fact, without an image editor like Jasc Paint Shop Pro or Adobe Photoshop Elements on your hard disk, there are few reasons to shoot digitally at all.

One of the problems people frequently encounter with image enhancements, though, is getting the perfect amount of a certain effect. If you're trying to soften someone's face with a little blur, for instance, it's easy to not add enough or to go overboard and make them look like a Denolian Space Princess from the original Star Trek series, who was filmed with a half-inch of gel on the camera lens. Hitting the perfect amount of blur--or sharpening or color correction or any other kind of edit--isn't always easy. Unless, of course, you do your edits in something called an adjustment layer.

The ABCs of Adjustments

Adjustment layers are easy to use and extremely powerful. Imagine loading a picture into your favorite image editor and, instead of immediately starting to sculpt it with your editing tools, you first make an exact copy and add it as a layer on top of the original. Now you can edit the top layer while the original remains unaffected. The bottom layer isn't visible to the viewer since the top layer--the one you're editing--obscures the one on the bottom.

When you're done making your changes, it's time for the adjustment layer to earn its pay. Image editors allow you to vary the opacity of layers--in other words, adjust how opaque or transparent the layer is. So, using a slider, you can reduce the opacity of the top layer, which consequently reduces the overall impact of the edits you made. By making the adjustment layer more or less opaque, you let the original unedited image shine through. And that means you can zero in on exactly the right effect to give you the picture you want.

Prep the Layers

Ready? Let's try this in Paint Shop Pro, though keep in mind that the technique is very similar in most other editors. Find a picture that you want to tweak. If you like, you can use one of mine.

In this example, we'll sharpen the image. When you're done, you can use the same image to practice using adjustment layers to add any other kind of effect. Once you know the basics, it's easy to experiment.

Our first order of business is to create the adjustment layer for this picture. Choose Layers, Duplicate from the menu. Paint Shop Pro copies the image and stacks the two resulting layers. You can see that in the Layers Palette on the right side of the screen. Don't have the Layers Palette open? Choose View, Palettes, Layers. You should see two layers: "Background" and "Copy of Background."

To make it easier to keep track of these layers, you might want to rename the top one. Double-click on "Copy of Background" in the Layers Palette and change the Name field to read "Adjustment Layer." Then click OK to close the Layer Properties dialog box.

Time to Edit

It's time to edit the image. Make sure that the adjustment layer is selected--click on it in the Layers Palette. Then choose Adjust, Sharpness, Unsharp Mask. You'll see the Unsharp Mask dialog box, where you should set the Radius to 3.0, Strength to 100, and Clipping to 5. Click OK.

If you paid attention, you saw a rather dramatic change to the image when you clicked OK to apply the edit. In fact, it's probably a bit too much sharpening (but that's a matter of opinion, of course). If you think it's too sharp, don't worry--we can use our adjustment layer to back off a bit.

Double-click on the adjustment layer in the Layers Palette and you'll see the Layer Properties again. If you need to, increase the size of this dialog box so it's large enough to fill most of the screen. You can also use the magnifying glass under the image on the left to zoom in or out for a better view.

Finally, from within the Layers Palette you can reduce the opacity of the adjustment layer until you find the perfect balance between the original image and the sharper layer. Watch the preview image on the right. In my final image, I set the opacity to about 60 percent. Keep in mind that there's no perfect image--it's whatever you think looks best.

Dave's Favorites: Clean Your Lens With Lenspen

Keeping your digital camera's lens clean is tricky. You don't want to ignore it, since dust and dirt can mar your images and even scratch the glass, ruining the optics. But improperly cleaning the lens with traditional cleaning paper or cloth can do pretty much the same thing anyway. A better solution? A gadget called the Lenspen.

The Lenspen looks like a marker but applies a safe cleaning compound through the soft brush-like tip. Just move it around the surface of the lens to remove fingerprints and smudges and eliminate dust particles.

The small gadget fits in a pocket or slips into any camera bag. After trying it, I've decided to use the Lenspen exclusively on my digital cameras. You can find it at the Lenspen site for $17.

Q&A: How Do I Get Better Pictures in an Auditorium?

I've been trying to use my new digital camera to take pictures of a choral group as they perform on stage. I'm obviously in a dark auditorium. I position myself in the first row, which puts me about 50 feet away from the action. So far, the pictures have come out terribly. Is there any combination of things I can try to produce acceptable pictures?

--Ted Whitney, Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania

That's a tricky task for almost any digital camera, Ted. The problem is that your camera's flash doesn't have enough range to illuminate the stage, and without the flash, your camera is forced to use a slow shutter speed and blur the scene.

If your camera has a hot shoe, you might consider buying an external flash unit. While the built-in flash is good for only about 10 feet, external models may have the reach to illuminate a stage from the front row.

If that's not an option, increase the camera's ISO setting. Push it all the way to 400 or 800 (or whatever the highest value is). That makes the sensor more sensitive to light, and might allow you to shoot with a shutter speed fast enough to freeze the action. On the downside, your pictures will be noisier--they'll have stray pixels of random color--so be sure to reset the ISO to the minimum when you're done with the concert.

Finally, I recommend setting the camera on a tripod and leaving the head loose. That way you can quickly reposition the camera and shoot anywhere on stage, but the tripod will steady the camera and eliminate the wobbliness that comes from hand-holding your camera at slow shutter speeds. If you try these suggestions, I think you'll find that the quality of your images will improve dramatically.

Hot Pic of the Week

Get published, get famous! Each week, we select our favorite reader-submitted photo based on creativity, originality and technique. Every month, the best of the weekly winners gets a prize valued at between $15 and $50.

Here's how to enter: Send us your photograph in JPEG format, at a resolution no higher than 640 by 480 pixels. Entries at higher resolutions will be immediately disqualified. If necessary, use an image editing program to reduce the file size of your image before e-mailing it to us. Include the title of your photo along with a short description and how you photographed it. Don't forget to send your name, e-mail address, and postal address. Before entering, please read the full description of the contest rules and regulations.

This week's Hot Pic: "Into the Blue," by Carlos M. Serrao, Howard, Ohio

This seemingly abstract image is a cleverly composed picture of the hood ornament on a car. Carlos simply said, "I shot this at a car show. I was lucky to have a wisp of cloud to set it off."

We want your feedback! Send your comments, questions, and suggestions about the newsletter itself to comments@bydavejohnson.com. If you have a question that you'd like to see answered in the weekly Q&A, send it to question@bydavejohnson.com.

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