Here are some useful photo editing tips for you. If you are an amateur photographer, you probably have lots of pictures you wish looked better, and professional photos are especially important if you will be using them on marketing materials like brochure printing.
That is what photo editing software is for: taking boring photos and making them pop. Even professional photographers edit their photos. Here are some basic tips to get you started.
1. Do Not Edit the Original
Whatever you do, do not change the original photo. Copy it in the photo editing program and work on the copy. Then if you make a change you do not like, you can always start over. Also, keeping the original intact allows you to use it again later, making different adjustments the second time. You may end up wanting to use the same photo on separate postcard, calendar, and brochure printing designs.
2. Avoid Over Editing
Changing and enhancing your photograph too much will make it look unnatural. It may also lose some of the original details. Know when to stop. Remember you can usually hit the undo button to get rid of the last change if you have taken the editing too far.
3. Enhance Dull Photos
Go to the color menu and increase the intensity of the colors to make a dull photo look more vibrant. You can also adjust the brightness on photos that are too dark or too bright. You might also want to increase the sharpness on pictures that are blurry.
4. Crop Uninteresting Elements
Many times a photograph will have an interesting subject on one side and a wide space of boring parking lot or empty sky on the other. Get rid of the uninteresting portion by cropping it. You will be surprised at how much better your photo looks.
5. Re-size Photos to Get Better Resolution
If you make a photo smaller, it will have better resolution, meaning it will look sharp. For pictures you want to print or put on a brochure printing, make sure the resolution is 300 pixels per inch. If you want to publish the photograph online, it should be 75 pixels per inch; at that resolution it will look good and not take forever to download when someone pulls up the picture on a web page.
A final tip: when editing your photos for print, you may want to print it out on your office printer as a preview. Sometimes an edit may look great on screen but less than professional when printed.
Guest author Anna Cruz writes about Graphic Design, Desktop Publishing, Marketing and Branding and works for PrintPlace.com, a printing company offering brochures, posters and other custom printing and mailing services. You can also send guest articles and share your photography tips.