The Adjustments menu in Paint.NET contains various commands for adjusting the color content of an image. There may be more commands in this menu depending on the number of external Paint.NET plugins connected. The image below shows a minimal view of the Adjustments menu as it appears in a freshly installed Paint.NET editor.

To illustrate the effect of each command from the "Correction" menu item, we will use the image below. This is the original image. In the description of most of the commands on this page, an example will be given - a picture obtained from the original one by applying one or another Paint.NET command from the "Correction" menu.

Auto-align color levels in Paint.NET

Menu item "Auto leveling" in the "Correction" menu graphic editor Paint.NET is designed to color-align an image. Too dark or, conversely, too bright parts of the image will be displayed in the normal range. This command has no parameters. The result after applying level alignment to the original image can be seen in the figure below. This command is equivalent to the Levels adjustment with default settings and the Auto Level button pressed.

Adjusting Image Brightness and Contrast in Paint.NET

Menu item "Brightness and Contrast" is designed to make the colors in the picture darker or lighter, or to make them more contrasting. The dialog box of this function has two parameters: "brightness" and "contrast", respectively.

This is what the original image will look like if we make it brighter.

This is what the original image will look like if we make it more contrast.

And this is how the original image will look like if you make it brighter and more contrast at the same time.

Image size to fit window in Paint.NET

Team "Fit to window" scales the image so that it fits completely into the workspace. This is useful for large images to see the entire picture. However, the execution of this command does not increase the scale of the picture by more than 100%, which can be seen using it on a small image.

Adjusting Color Curves in Paint.NET

The "Curves" command is intended for visual color management in the form of curves. This menu item "Curves" is devoted to a separate page of the manual.

How to make an image black and white in Paint.NET

Menu item "Make Black and White" provides an easy way to reverse the colors in an image and make it black and white with gray tones. An example of applying this correction over the original image can be seen in the figure below.

Changing the Hue and Saturation of a Picture in Paint.NET

Team "Hue and Saturation" used to change the saturation of colors in an image or change their hue. In addition, using this command, you can also change the brightness of colors. However, it is to change the brightness that you should use the special command "Brightness and Contrast", described above, because. the result of using this function may be different.

If you apply the Hue and Saturation command to the original image? with the value of the "hue" parameter 88 and the parameter "saturation" 158, the result will be as in the figure below.

How to make a photo negative in Paint.NET

Team "Invert Colors" its action is similar to turning a photograph into a negative. This command reverses the colors. So, if you apply this command to the image twice, you will get the original image again. If we apply this command to the original image from our example, the result will be as shown in the figure below.

Gamma and color range of an image in Paint.NET

The "Levels" command is used to change the color gamut and range of colors in an image. A separate page is dedicated to the "Levels" command.

Roughening Image Colors in Paint.NET

The Roughen command lets you reduce the number of available colors used in an image. Typically, for each color channel: red, green, and blue, there are 256 possible values ​​(from 0 to 255). Using the Roughen command in Paint.NET, you can limit this value to between 2 and 64, per color channel. Reducing the number of colors gives the image the effect of an artificially aged or retro picture. Using the Roughen command for our example will give the following result.

How to make a sepia effect in Paint.NET

The Sepia command first converts the image to black and white and then adds a sepia tone. From history, one of the meanings of the term "sepia" is paint. Natural sepia was made from the ink sac of a cuttlefish. This paint was used by artists in the middle of the eighteenth century when drawing pictures. Natural sepia was used to tone photographs to brown. The effect of sepia in photography is the conversion of silver to sulfide, which becomes more resistant to fading. Therefore, many old black and white photographs are brown, so they have a better chance of not fading and surviving to this day. The application of the "Sepia" command to our example can be seen in the following figure.

Unfortunately, amateur photographs are far from always pleasing to the eye, but you really want to capture unforgettable moments of life on them. However, often such pictures are either too dark, or vice versa - too light. Or the colors on them turn out to be completely unnatural (this happens especially often when using cheap color film): trees become poisonous green, gray asphalt for some reason casts an intense blue color, the sky turns blue from blue to a greenish tint, slightly tanned skin turns red, as if the shooting was carried out in a sauna, and not in a cozy cafe, etc. It is no less disappointing when an interesting frame turns out to be blurry and blurry and does not make the proper impression, or the most beautiful architectural structures in the picture acquire a lot of geometric and optical distortions, or due to an unsuccessful angle when shooting, most of the photo is occupied by irrelevant details, and the main subject is somewhere on the side. In addition, many cameras use flashes to produce red-eye, and scanned images often become darker and blurry. A special conversation is old or not quite old, but already faded photographs, which I would also like to “revive”. In addition, there may be dust and scratches, peeling of the emulsion, developing and printing defects, etc. The reasons for all this are both a lack of professionalism, bad shooting time and inappropriate weather conditions, as well as the use of cheap and low-quality cameras and appropriate film.

As a result, in most cases, pictures have to be edited, so photo correction functions are provided in almost all modern graphics packages. We will devote our today's lesson to the Paint Shop Pro package, whose automatic correction tools can significantly improve images even for non-professionals. Nevertheless, in the arsenal of the possibilities of this package there are also tools designed for professional photographers and designers, which allow you to achieve phenomenal results. And within the framework of this article, we will focus on the means of correction that are available to the general public and do not require any additional professional knowledge.

To correct photos in Paint Shop Pro, use the toolbar photo(Photo) opened by the team View=>Toolbars=>Photo(View => Toolbars => Photo), - here are collected all the main options for improving images, designed for amateurs. In addition, in the command menu there is a command Adjust(Adjustment) allowing access to both commands from the panel photo(Photo), and to a whole range of more complex, but no less useful methods of correction. Equally necessary are the tools straighten(Straightening) and Perspective Correction(Perspective Correction) from the panel Tools(Tools).

Each of the customizable correction options has a preview mode so that any changes you make are immediately visible on the corrected image or on the selected area. In addition, in many dialog boxes you can use the button Save Preset(Save Settings) to save the adjustment settings so that they can be applied to other images later.

Elimination of geometric distortions

Geometric distortions can be divided into perspective and optical, created by the lens due to its imperfection.

Optical distortion, or distortion, is introduced to one degree or another by all lenses. Distortion is manifested in the fact that the scale of the image in the center and along the edges is not the same. Professional photographers, keeping this in mind, resort to various tricks, however, they also end up having to eliminate optical defects from pictures, since they cannot be completely prevented when shooting.

As for perspective defects, the most easily corrected defect of this kind is the tilt of the camera during shooting, which manifests itself in the fact that the objects in the photograph are located at some angle. This is a problem for many inexperienced hobbyists, and in Paint Shop Pro it is extremely easy to solve thanks to the presence of a special tool.

Much more effort is needed to correct perspective distortion in large panoramic and architectural shots. The fact is that in the absence of special equipment, in order to shoot the entire building, you will have to use the widest possible lens and tilt the camera up (otherwise half the frame will be occupied by asphalt) - as a result, there will be a sharp convergence of vertical lines in the pictures. To eliminate this phenomenon, perspective correction is necessary.

Distortion Correction

There are two main distortion options: Barrel Distortion(Barrel distortion), in which the objects in the picture look like they are swollen (Fig. 1), and Pincushion Distortion(Pillow-shaped distortion), when the extreme verticals and horizontals are concave inward (Fig. 2).

It should be noted that Paint Shop Pro is the only graphics package where distortion correction is implemented in an extremely simple way (in Adobe Photoshop this is achieved in a much more complicated way). Here are the commands for this purpose Barrel Distortion Correction(Barrel distortion correction) and Pincushion Distortion Correction(Pincushion distortion correction). They can be called both from the command menu Adjust=>Lens Correction(Adjust => Lens Correction), and from the toolbar photo(The photo).

For an example, open Fig. 3 with pronounced barrel distortion, click the button Barrel Distortion Correction(Barrel distortion correction) and set the parameter values Strength(Strength of impact) - in this example, a value of 85 is taken (Fig. 4).

Image straightening

If, due to the inexperience of a novice photographer, the objects in the photo turned out to be located at a certain angle, then it is easy to straighten them with a tool straighten(Straightening). In fact, this will be a normal turn, but unlike it straighten(Straightening) provides maximum convenience when straightening an image, since everything is displayed on the screen, takes place within a second, and guarantees a 100% result.

For example, take a suitable image - in this case, rice is taken. 5 with a clear tilt of the captured objects to the right. Select a tool from the toolbar straighten(Straightening) - the result will be the appearance of a horizontal segment in the photo, limited by markers (Fig. 6). Move and slightly rotate the segment so that it stretches parallel to some part of the image, which should be located strictly horizontally (Fig. 7), and click on the button apply(Apply) - the image will be rotated to the angle you specified (Fig. 8). Now it remains to take the tool Crop (Cropping) and crop the extra background parts of the image that appeared as a result of straightening the photo (Fig. 9 and 10).

Rice. 8. The result of straightening a photo with the Straighten tool

Perspective Correction

Earlier, we have already talked about optical distortions that are possible when shooting. And now let's dwell on the distortions of perspective that occur when photographing architectural structures. Thanks to the perspective correction capabilities of Paint Shop Pro, this operation is no longer a difficult task and even a non-professional can handle it. For horizontal and vertical correction, you can use the commands Effects=>Geometric Effects=>Perspective-Horizontal(Effects=>Geometric Effects=>Perspective Horizontal and Effects=>Geometric Effects=>Perspective-Vertical(Effects=>Geometric Effects=>Vertical Perspective). And in more complex cases, you should turn to the tool Perspective Correction(Perspective Correction), which provides the user with the functions of keystone and other perspective distortion of an image area.

Let's try to correct the image shown in Fig. 11, where both perspective distortion and a clear tilt of the image take place. Therefore, first straighten the image with the tool straighten(Straightening) (Fig. 12 and 13).

Now let's move on to the prospective correction. First, we will carry out a vertical correction with approximately the same parameters as in Fig. 14, since in some cases this is enough to correct the perspective. The result obtained is shown in Fig. 15. Next, you just need to crop the photo, but in our case, unfortunately, one vertical perspective correction will not be enough - you will have to use the tool Perspective Correction(Perspective Correction) and perform keystone perspective correction. Activate the tool Perspective Correction and limit the contours of the perspective in accordance with fig. 16 - the result is shown in fig. 17. Crop the image with the Crop tool (Cropping) (Fig. 18), and then enhance its contrast by using the command Enhance Photo=>(Photo enhancement => Automatic contrast enhancement) from the Photo toolbar with the parameters shown in fig. 19. The result of the correction is shown in fig. twenty.

Now let's look at a more complex example (Fig. 21), which requires both optical and geometric correction, as well as image straightening. In such situations, distortion is always corrected first - in this example, you need to use the command Barrel Distortion(Barrel distortion) at the parameters shown in Fig. 22. Then you should use the tool straighten(Straightening) to straighten the image (fig. 23 and 24) and only after that go to the perspective correction tool Perspective Correction(Perspective Correction) according to Fig. 25 (Fig. 26) and crop the image (Fig. 27).

Removing red-eye

As a rule, when shooting with a flash, an undesirable effect of light reflection from the retina of an animal or human eye occurs - the so-called red-eye effect (in practice, this is similar to the eyes of a cat glowing in the dark, only here the eyes glow not green, but red). It is impossible to avoid such a situation one hundred percent, although modern camera models make it possible to minimize this effect.

Therefore, the ability to eliminate red-eye is available in a variety of graphics packages, and in Paint Shop Pro it is implemented extremely simply and is carried out almost instantly, allowing you to get rid of red-eye in both humans and animals. For this purpose, the command Red Eye Removal(Red-eye Removal). It can be called from the command menu Adjust(Adjustment), and from the pop-up list Enhance Photo(Photo enhancement). Note that the command Red Eye Removal can also help in the case when it is simply necessary to change the color of the eyes of a person in the picture.

Let's try to use this possibility on the example of Fig. 28. After opening the Red-Eye Removal window, you first need to select one of the four methods for forming the pupil and iris of the eye: Auto Human Eye(Automatic eye formation for human), Auto Animal Eye(Automatic eye formation for the animal), Freehand Pupil Outline(Drawing the outline of the eye freehand based on a rectangular area) and Point-to-Point Pupil Outline(Drawing the contour of the eye by points in the form of a closed broken line). The last two options can be used to remove red-eye for both humans and animals, but in general the first two methods are more convenient because they remove red-eye more quickly and have more options. The last two options are designed for non-standard situations, when the shape of a red-colored pupil is very different from a round one, and therefore the first two methods cannot successfully eliminate the red color.

In this case, the situation is simple, so let's focus on the method Auto Animal Eye(Fig. 29). Listed color(Color) determine the appropriate eye color, form a contour around the first eye - for this, simply draw a rectangular contour in the usual way, adjust its size and position, trying to make the contour perfectly match the iris. Then, if necessary, configure other parameters: Pupil lightness(pupil brightness), Glint lightness(flash intensity), Glint size(Flash size), etc. We will carry out a similar procedure with the second eye (Fig. 30). The result obtained is shown in Fig. 31.

Rice. 31. Final appearance of the image after red-eye removal

And now let's try to eliminate the red-eye effect using the example of a photograph of a child (Fig. 32). From the menu Adjust(Adjustment) select command Red Eye Removal(Removing red-eye), in the window that opens, set the option Auto Human Eye(Automatic eye formation for human), in the list Hue(Hue) define the color of the eyes, in the list color(Color) select the desired shade of the iris. Then, as in the previous case, we will form the desired contour around the first eye, seeking to eliminate the red-eye effect. Here, if necessary, we will adjust the shade and size of the eye and pupil. Let's perform a similar operation for the second eye (Fig. 33) - the result is shown in fig. 34.

Rice. 34. Final appearance of the image after red-eye removal

Color correction, brightness, contrast, saturation and sharpness adjustment

As we have already noted, the photographs that fall into our hands are not always ideal in color - due to unsuccessful shooting, the colors are often unnatural. When shooting in the dark, individual fragments of a photo may appear indistinctly or not be visible at all, an interesting frame will be blurry or not sharp enough, or will have excessively blurred contours of objects. In addition, images are often washed out during scanning, colors in photographs may fade with time, etc. And Paint Shop Pro provides the ability to quickly automatically correct many of these defects found in photographs of this kind.

Photo correction in one step

The simplest and fast way image correction - using the command One Step Photo Fix from the popup list Enhance Photo(Photo enhancement). As a result, the color balance, brightness, contrast and saturation will be adjusted automatically and simultaneously. This option gives nice results not for any image, but it never hurts to try.

As an example, let's take Fig. 35, where one-step photo-correction helped us significantly improve the appearance of the image (Figure 36).

Rice. 36. Appearance images after automatic photo correction in one step

Adjusting Contrast and Saturation

Since the lack of contrast and saturation of the image is one of the most common defects, and in Paint Shop Pro both can be corrected automatically in a matter of seconds, this topic requires more detailed consideration.

Pay attention to the photo shown in Fig. 37, where the contrast is clearly insufficient. To correct the situation, open from the menu Adjust=>Brightness and Contrast(Adjust=>Brightness and Saturation) command Automatic Contrast Enhancement(Auto Contrast Enhancement) or select a command Automatic Contrast Enhancement(Auto Contrast Enhancement) from the pop-up list Enhance Photo(Photo Enhancement) with the settings shown in fig. 38. As a result, the contrast will clearly increase, and the photograph will take the form shown in fig. 39.

Rice. 39. Appearance of the image after automatic contrast adjustment

Now let's look at a specific example, what results can be achieved just by automatically increasing saturation and contrast. The original image (Fig. 40) was taken in a cave with clearly insufficient lighting - as a result, many spectacular natural elements are simply indistinguishable. Try to use the command (Automatic increase in saturation), setting the parameters in accordance with Fig. 41. The command can be selected both from the command menu Adjust=>Hue and Saturation(Adjust => Hue and Saturation), and from the pop-up list Enhance Photo(Photo enhancement). The picture will look like in Fig. 42.

Rice. 42. Appearance of the image after automatic saturation correction

Increasing the contrast with the parameters shown in Fig. 43. The result obtained is shown in fig. 44.

Tone and color correction of unsuccessfully taken pictures

Before proceeding with the color and tone correction of the image, it is necessary to determine which colors are present in it in excess, and which are clearly not enough. It is not at all easy for a non-professional to do this, so we will focus on the simplest color correction options.

Auto color balance is the easiest and fastest way to correct yellow or blue flare in an image that occurs when photographs were taken under artificial lighting. It is also useful, if necessary, to increase the balance of these colors, for example, when shooting unsuccessfully at night. And sometimes this feature is beneficial in photomontage, when you have to adjust the shooting time.

Pay attention to the photograph of Nicole Kidman (Fig. 45), which clearly shows the imbalance of yellow. Let's try to correct the situation a little, at least partially eliminating the yellow flare of the image. Use the team Adjust=>Color Balance=>Automatic Color Balance(Adjust=>Color balance=>Auto color balance) or select command Automatic Color Balance from the popup list Enhance Photo(Photo Enhancement) and adjust it according to fig. 46. ​​The resulting image will be as in fig. 47.

Rice. 47. Appearance of the image after automatic color balance correction

Consider the third of these situations and try to change the color balance for the photo in fig. 48, where I would like to emphasize the pink tint of the mountains visible in the distance in the rays of the setting sun (in fact, the sun had already almost disappeared, and the picture was taken a little later than I wanted). Let's select the Automatic Color Balance command from the Enhance Photo pop-up list and adjust its parameters as shown in Fig. 49. The result will be fig. 50.

Rice. 50. Appearance of the image after automatic color balance correction

In more complex cases, you have to resort to correcting all color shades, which is possible using the command color balance(Color balance) - command Adjust=>Color Balance=>Color Balance(Adjust => Color Balance => Color Balance). Let's try to use it on the example of Fig. 51 where we would like to restore White color on the gables of the church and reduce the dose of blue throughout the image. Open command window color balance(Color balance) and sequentially adjust the color balance for the light areas of the photo - Highlights(Fig. 52), medium tones - Midtones(Fig. 53) and dark areas - Shadows(Fig. 54). Don't forget to check the box Preserve Luminosity(Keep Brightness) to save the photo's brightness values. The result of the transformations is shown in fig. 55. To improve the image, it is also a good idea to increase the saturation with the command Automatic Saturation Enhancement(Auto Saturation) from the pop-up list Enhance Photo(Photo Enhancement) with the settings shown in Fig. 56. The resulting image is shown in fig. 57.

It happens that in the pictures taken, especially when shooting with flash, all or some of the colors look unnatural. And automatic color correction in such cases usually does not give the desired effect. In this case, manual color correction can help out - Manual Color Correction, which provides a more powerful alternative to automatic color correction. It makes it easy to enhance even the most complex images while maintaining the accuracy of any critical colors.

Let's take Fig. 58 - in this case, the skin tone of the face looks clearly unnatural (too much red), which is most likely due to the fact that the flash was taken from too close a distance. Let's try to fix this shortcoming. To do this, carefully select the contours of the face with the tool free hand selection(Freehand selection) by setting it to Edge Seeker with the following settings: Feather — 0, Smoothing(Smoothing) - 0, checkbox Antialias enabled, checkbox Sample Merged off (Fig. 59). Let's take a tool dropper(Pipette) and remember (or rather write on paper) the parameters of an unnatural dark reddish skin tone as the initial color (Fig. 60).

Then click on the button Manual Color Correction(Manual Color Correction) Toolbars photo(The photo). In the opened window Manual Color Correction click on color Source(Source) and enter the parameters of the memorized color. Illuminate the switch Preset Target Color(Specified color), choose an option Skintones(Skin tones), open the color block with a list of shades and select the option Indian Skin Light(The skin of an Indian is light) (Fig. 61). Enable checkbox Preserve Saturation(Original Saturation) and leave the box unchecked Preserve Lightness(Initial brightness) (Fig. 62). Rejecting team selection Selections=>Select None(Highlight=>Nothing is selected). We get the result shown in Fig. 63.

Rice. 62. The final option for setting the parameters of Manual Color Correction

Rice. 63. Appearance of the image after the end of manual color correction

Manual color correction is good not only for removing photographic defects - it can also be used simply to give one or another element of the image the desired shade. For example, let's open Fig. 64, which shows a unique white gold pearl ring from Gruosi. Let's try, using the manual color correction mode, to turn the white gold of the jewelry into yellow. Select the ring (Fig. 65), click on the button Manual Color Correction(Manual color correction) and adjust the color correction according to Fig. 66 (note that the list Preset Target Color(Set color) options selected Metals and Gold). The result is shown in fig. 67.

Enhance darkened photos

If you have ever scanned photographs, then you probably had to repeat this procedure more than once due to the fact that the photo turned out lighter and darker. Another situation is also possible, when due to unfortunate shooting conditions, for example, when shooting in the dark, the photos are too dark. Printing such pictures is useless, since most of the objects on them simply will not be visible.

In principle, any of these photographs can be corrected and given an acceptable look. There are many ways to work with such photos in Paint Shop Pro and it is quite difficult to offer any single solution.

Let's take a look at the simpler of these methods.

If you need to lighten the photo a lot in order to see the hidden details, then the simplest thing is to use the command Histogram Equalize(Equalization histogram). It redistributes the brightness levels of the active layer and can improve an image that lacks contrast or is too dark. Let's try to apply this in the example of Fig. 68. Open the menu Adjust=>Brightness and Contrast(Adjust => Brightness and contrast) and select the command Histogram Equalize(Equalization histogram). The result obtained is shown in fig. 69.

Rice. Fig. 69. Appearance of the photo after exposure with the Histogram Equalize command

but this way does not always provide the desired result, as the colors in the photo may become unnatural. You can try to go the other way. For example, let's open the original image (Fig. 70) and, to begin with, we will perform automatic photo correction in one step by selecting the command One Step Photo Fix from the popup list Enhance Photo(Photo enhancement). As a result, hidden dark fragments of the image will appear, but it will be clear that the overall tone of the photo is unsuccessful, since it has a clear overshoot of blue - this especially affects the girl's skin color (Fig. 71). To correct the situation, use the automatic color balance correction mode by selecting the command Automatic Color Balance(Auto Color Balance) from the pop-up list Enhance Photo(Photo Enhancement) toolbar photo(Photo) and decrease the amount of blue, as shown in Fig. 72. As a result, the photo will become not so dark, and the color shades on it will look more natural (Fig. 73).

Rice. 71. Appearance of the image after automatic photo correction in one step

Now let's see how much progress can be made using the histogram correction feature, which allows you to adjust the full range of available color intensities for use in a single image, controlling the balance between shadows and highlights in the image. The unique advantage of this option is the ability to balance the location of intermediate tones on the scale between dark and light. For example, let's open the image shown in Fig. 74. Click on the button Histogram adjustment(Histogram Correction) toolbar photo(Photo) or call the command Adjust=>Brightness and Contrast=>Histogram Adjustment(Adjust => Brightness and Contrast => Histogram Correction). Let's adjust the parameters of the histogram in accordance with fig. 75. The main thing here is not to overdo it, since for most images a real improvement in quality is possible only if the gamma correction is increased by no more than 30% - at higher values, the pictures will look faded. As a result, the photograph will become noticeably lighter and many originally hidden details of the image will appear on it (Fig. 76).

There is another way - adjusting the levels. Usually, this option is resorted to when the above methods are ineffective, but only lead to an unnatural brightening of the image, without showing temporarily hidden dark details. This situation also occurs in the photograph shown in Fig. 77. In particular, attempts to correct her histogram do not give the desired effect, and we, for example, absolutely need to highlight the contours of a girl for a photomontage. So let's use the command Adjust=>Brightness and Contrast=>Levels(Adjust => Brightness and Contrast => Levels). Let's adjust the level parameters roughly in accordance with Fig. 78 - the essence of the actions when lightening a photo is that it is necessary at the level input levels(Input Levels) move the gray slider to the left. After that, the photograph will also become noticeably lighter, and many of the initially hidden details of the image will also appear on it (Fig. 79).

Approximately the same result can be obtained by simply using the command Brightness/Contrast(Brightness and contrast). Let us take as the initial image the same photograph as shown in Fig. 77 and use the command Adjust=>Brightness and Contrast=>Brightness/Contrast(Adjust => Brightness and Contrast => Brightness/Contrast) by adjusting the parameters according to fig. 80. The result obtained is shown in fig. 81.

Restoring old and faded photos

Over time, photos age, fade and become faded. To restore the color gamut and optimize it in faded photographs, the mode Fade correction(Fade Correction), which is the easiest way to restore the lost look of photos: it restores, corrects and balances the colors of images, and also automatically corrects brightness and contrast.

For example, let's open a rather faded photograph (Fig. 82), click on the button Fade correction(Fading Correction) in the Toolbar photo(Photo) and experimentally set the correction value (for example, as in Fig. 83). The colors will be restored, and the image will probably become the same as in Fig. 84.

When restoring old photographs, which often have folds, cracks, scratches and other similar defects, everything is much more complicated. In the presence of these defects, it is necessary to painstakingly retouch the photo using the cloning method, which we learned in one of the previous lessons. But the techniques we have considered in this lesson can significantly speed up the work and provide a better result. True, there are no standard techniques here, and for each old snapshot you will have to choose your own ways to restore it.

Quite often, in such situations, one-step photo correction can help at the first stage, allowing you to quickly restore color balance, brightness, contrast and saturation. As an example, let's open Fig. 85 and use the command One Step Photo Fix(One Step Photo Correction) from the pop-up list Enhance Photo(Photo enhancement). The result obtained makes an impression (Fig. 86). To some extent, the situation can be improved by adjusting the levels. To do this, use the command Adjust=>Brightness and Contrast=>Levels(Adjust => Brightness and Contrast => Levels) and adjust the level parameters approximately in accordance with fig. 87 - as a result, the picture will be slightly brightened and it will be possible to make out part of the inscription in its lower part (Fig. 88). Now we need to sharpen the image. The easiest way to do this is with the command Clarifi(Clearing) - Adjust=>Brightness and Contrast=>Clarifi(Adjust => Brightness and Contrast => Clear), which allows you to improve photographs without the usual for sharpening effects, the appearance of contrasting details (Fig. 89 and 90). This command very handy when restoring both old blurry photos and photos taken in poor or diffused lighting. And then you have to act manually and remove scratches and traces of dust and dirt.

Rice. 86. Appearance of the image after automatic photo correction in one step

And now consider another situation (Fig. 91) - here we have to go a slightly different way. At the beginning, if possible, we will also restore the color balance, brightness, contrast and saturation with the command One Step Photo Fix(Fig. 92). And then, in order to somehow clarify the individual details of the image, we will increase its contrast using the command Automatic Contrast Enhancement(Auto Contrast Enhancement) from the pop-up list Enhance Photo(Photo Enhancement) with the settings shown in fig. 93. The result obtained is shown in fig. 94. If after that you reapply One Step Photo Fix, then the clarity of the lines will increase even more and individual fragments of the icon will become more distinct (Fig. 95). The only thing that can improve the situation and make the image of the icon more legible is to sharpen the image. Three commands can be used for this purpose in Paint Shop Pro: Sharpen(sharpen) Sharpen More(sharpen harder) and unsharp mask(Sharpness Mask) from the menu Adjust=>Sharpness(Adjust => Sharpness). In this case, after using the command Adjust=>Sharpness=>Sharpen(Adjust => Sharpen => Sharpen) the picture took the form shown in fig. 96.

Rice. 92. Appearance of the image after the first automatic photo correction in one step

Rice. 94. Appearance of the image after automatic contrast enhancement

Rice. 95. Appearance of the image after the second automatic photo correction in one step

The commands in this menu are designed to correct the color of an image in various ways.

The following image will be used to illustrate the various adjustments available in this menu:

Auto leveling
This command is used to automatically adjust the color of an image. As a result of its application, images that are too dark or too light are brought to a normal level. The result is equivalent to pressing the "Auto Level" button in the " " command dialog of this menu.

After using this command, which has no configuration options, our image will look like this:

After applying "Auto leveling"

Invert Colors
The effect of this command is very similar to taking a photograph negative. Applying it again will return the original image.

Our image after color inversion:

After applying "Invert Colors"

Roughening…
This adjustment allows you to reduce the number of allowed image color values. Usually, each color channel has 256 possible values ​​(from 0 to 255), but with this command you can limit this range from 2 to 64. This allows you to "posterize" the image, give it a "retro" or "false dither" look .

Original image after coarsening:

After applying "Coarse…"

Hue and saturation...
This operation can be used to change the hue and saturation of an image. Additionally, in the command's settings window, you can adjust the "lightness", which is similar, but not the same as brightness.

Here's what our image will look like after applying this command, with Hue set to 88 and Saturation set to 158:

After applying "Hue and Saturation..."

Make black and white
This adjustment removes all colors, making the layer black and white.

Original image after color removal:

After applying "Make Black and White"

Sepia
This adjustment converts the image to black and white and then adds a sepia tone. This can be used to give your image a nostalgic look.

The original image after applying the Sepia command:

After applying "Sepia"

Levels…
This operation is used to adjust the color range and gamma of the image. For more information see

Posted on 02/14/2012 09:34 AM Paint Shop Pro X4 provides ways to adjust the brightness as well as the contrast in your images, which creates differences between light and dark pixels in an image. By applying commands to a selection or the entire image, you can do the following:

manually determine the brightness and contrast;

setting individual brightness in the image;

detection of highlights (75% tint), midtones (50% tint), and shadows (25% tint) to ensure smooth transitions between them;

distribute pixel brightness values ​​more evenly from black to white;

increase in overall contrast when the histogram does not cover the entire spectrum of brightness;

determine the settings for brightness, contrast and gamma in the image;

creating a pure black and white image.

7.3.1. Adjusting Highlights, Midtones, and Darkness in an Image

The command Adjust → Brightness and Contrast→ Highlight/Midtone/Shadow(Adjust → Brightness & Contrast → Highlights/Midtones/Shadows). After executing this command, a dialog box opens. Highlight/Midtone/Shadow(Highlights/Midtones/Shadows) (Fig. 245).

If nothing is selected on the image, then the adjustment is carried out for the entire image.

Rice. 245. Image tone adjustment

Parameters Shadow(Shadow), mid tone(Intermediate tone) and highlight(Highlight) define values ​​for shadows, midtones, and highlights in the selection, and if nothing is selected in the image, then for the entire image. The numerical values ​​in these parameters depend on the selected position of the switch located below these parameters.

The switch at the bottom of the dialog box can take the following positions:

absolute adjustmentmethod(Absolute Adjustment Method) - Sets the positions to 25% for shadows, 50% for midtones, and 75% for highlights. Typical values ​​are around 35 for shadows, 50 for midtones, and 65 for highlights, but these may vary depending on individual photographs. Increasing values ​​brighten the area, while decreasing values ​​darken it.

Relative adjustmentmethod(Relative adjustment method) - adjusts brightness levels relative to their initial states. Positive values ​​brighten the area, while negative values ​​darken it.

7.3.2. Installation histogram

The tone histogram allows you to analyze the tonal range of an image and redistribute the balance of shadows, midtones, and highlights.

To correct tones in an image or selection, execute the command Adjust → Brightness and Contrast→ Histogram adjustment(Adjust → Brightness and Contrast → Histogram Correction). After executing this command, a dialog box opens. Histogram adjustment(Histogram Adjustment) (Fig. 246).

Rice. 246. Adjusting the histogram

Switch Edit(Change) determines the type of histogram being edited:

Luminance(Lightness) - allows you to edit the histogram based on the brightness of the image;

color(Colors) - allows you to edit the histogram based on one of the image's color channels. After selecting this switch position, a list becomes available to the right of this position, in which you need to select a color channel based on which the active image will be edited.

Listed Presets(Parameters) offers ready-made adjustment options. When you select any of them, the radio button Edit(Change) is automatically reset to the position Luminance(Illumination). Preset value Default(Default) does not represent any additional installations in the image.

In the parameters located below the graph, you can change the values, both using absolute values ​​and using relative (percentage) values.

Slider low(Low) starts on the left side of the histogram, located between the left edge of the graph and the point where the curve begins to rise. This gap indicates that the dark pixels in the image are not completely black. This parameter displays the percentage of pixels that are between zero and a low value - their contrast will be lost. As a general rule, set the low value to less than 0.1%. This parameter can also be adjusted using the dark gray slider.

Slider high(High) starts at the right side of the histogram, located between the right edge of the graph and the point where the graph shrinks to zero pixels. This option changes the light pixels in the image to white. As a general rule, set this parameter to less than 0.1%. This parameter can also be adjusted using the white slider.

Slider Gamma(Gamma) - If the overall image is too dark or too light, then you need to adjust the gamma, which is a standard measure of how contrast changes in images. If the image is too dark, then move the slider Gamma(gray triangle) to the right to increase gamma. If the image is too light, then move the slider Gamma to the left to decrease the gamma setting.

Slider Midtones(Midtones) (on the right side of the window) - if the graph has peaks on the left and right, or contains low values ​​in the center, then the midtones need to be compressed. Shadows and highlights need to be expanded to show the information they contain. This often happens in flash photography when the subject is too close to the camera; The subject appears brightly lit, but the background of the photograph is created dark. To compress the midtones, move the vertical slider Midtones. If the chart peaks are in the center and have low pixel counts on the left and right sides, then expand the midtones by moving the slider Midtones down.

If you are creating artistic effects, you can use the controls outputmax(output max) () and output min(Output min) () to the left of the histogram. engine Max is a white circle on a gray background, and the engine Min is a black circle on a gray background. In order to darken the light pixels in the image, you need to move the slider Max down. In order to lighten the dark pixels in the image, you need to move the slider Min up.

Even if the sliders move along the vertical axis, the parameters Max and Min(range 0 to 255) affect the horizontal axis. All pixels outside the range are converted to be within the range.

If you just want to improve your image, then this option should not be used.

Triangular buttons below the slider Gamma(Gamma) determines the scale of the histogram and nothing else. The left button zooms in and right button- reduces the scale of the histogram. Button 1:1 sets 100% histogram scale.

Probably, every user of a personal computer from time to time has to deal with the need to work with photographs or pictures. Of course, on the PC of advanced users, the famous Photoshop is probably installed, in which you can do any manipulation with the image. But what about those who do not have this program or who do not know how to use it? The easiest way out of this situation is to use the standard Paint. In some cases, it can successfully replace more professional and complex programs. In this article you will find answers to questions about how to remove or change it to another in Paint.

An easy way to change the background

Let's describe how to change the background in Paint using the green screening method (that is, the "green screen" method). Regardless of whether you want to remove the background of an image or replace it with a solid fill (pattern), you can do it using the above method. Please note that it does not describe changing the background in standard Paint, but in Paint.NET, which does not come with standard applications, and must be downloaded and installed separately.

Beginning of work

Before using Paint Windows 7 transparent background change, you should open the image that you will correct. This is done by right-clicking on the file and selecting the appropriate item from the drop-down menu (Open with - Paint). Please note that compatible formats include BMP, JPFG and GIF, you will not be able to work with others.

In the event that the image exceeds, you must go to the lower left corner and make an 800% increase by clicking on the magnifying glass placed on the toolbar and selecting the number 8.

Choosing a color palette and drawing an image outline

On the color palette, you should make a choice of yellow-green (also called lime) color. Usually they choose it, since a color contrasting with the rest of the picture is needed, and the chosen tone is quite rare in images.

After that, using the Line tool, the object to be cut is selected. In the event that the image is placed on a white background, you can use the "Pencil" tool to fill in the missing pixels. This will create a wide green line around the image.

Next, you need to right-click on the lime color and, using the Select tool, outline the background areas of a rectangular color. This should be done carefully, trying not to enter the object. There is no need to worry too much about the extra triangles remaining around, they are removed later using the Eraser tool. By activating it, you must select the smallest of the possible squares in the menu that appears.

After all the manipulations, an object is obtained, around which there will be a green screen. If you are interested in how to change the background in Paint, then you need to zoom out the image to 100 percent (1 in the zoom menu) and click on the bucket of paint on the panel (the "Color Fill" tool). Then select the desired color in the palette and click anywhere in the green background. After that, the background will change.

Move the image to a new background

In order to move the image to another background, you need to select white in the palette and use the Fill tool to paint over the entire lime background. After that, the key combination "Ctrl + A" is pressed - and the second (bottom) button is activated on the pop-up. After making sure that the new background has opened in another window of the program, you need to copy the image (key combination Ctrl + C) and paste it into this second window (key combination Ctrl + V). Work is ready! It remains only to save it.

A few nuances

When editing detailed images, it will be much easier to work if you zoom in on the image. This can be done by selecting the "Zoom" sub-item in the "View" menu or simply by clicking the "Magnify" button located on the ribbon.

Keep in mind that larger image sizes will require more stroke time. To reduce the size of the picture, press "Ctrl + A" and drag the marker located at the bottom left up. It is important to respect the proportions so that the image does not turn out to be distorted.

In the process of work, errors will inevitably occur, and therefore you will have to edit the line. In order to be able to quickly undo previous actions, it is recommended to constantly keep your fingers on the Ctrl + Z key combination.

If the image has a border in the form of a curve, it is advisable to use the Curve tool. To do this, click the corresponding button on the toolbar, draw a straight line from the beginning to the end of the boundary section, which then needs to be dragged to the left or right, describing the curve.

In order for the greenscreening method to work, in Paint Winwows 7, a transparent background must be set in the settings for inserts. If you do not set this setting, the background will be added from the original image. The paste settings control panel will appear on the left side of the image being edited, below the main panel, when one of the selection tools is used.

Background removal

If it becomes necessary to transfer an object to another background, then you inevitably have to face the question of how to remove the background in Paint. This is done quite simply:

• using the Magic Wand tool, the background is selected;
• the selected part is deleted using the Delete button or the "Clear Selection" command from the "Edit" menu, as a result of which a background appears in the form of a "chessboard", conditionally showing transparency;
• the resulting image is saved (preferably in either GIF), which can later be used at your discretion.

Step-by-step instructions in Paint: how to make a transparent background

Step one. In the "File" menu, select the "Open" item and, by clicking "Browse", open the desired image.

Step two. Before you do Paint, you need to select the "Magic Wand" in the toolbar and set its sensitivity to 50 percent. With complex backgrounds, the sensitivity should be set at the level of 25-40 percent.

Step three. You need to click the "Magic Wand" on white background, which then turns into a pale blue.

Step four. It is necessary to delete the background selected in this way with the Delete key on the keyboard or through the "Edit" menu - the "Clear Selection" item.

As a result of this, the background will become transparent, although in Paint it will have a checkerboard color. However, the work on how to make a transparent background in Paint does not end there.

Step Six. The resulting image with a transparent background must be saved by selecting the "Save" item in the "File" menu and specifying the file name, and selecting the required format (PNG or GIF) in the drop-down list.

Conclusion

We looked at how to make a transparent background in Paint if Photoshop is not at hand. Despite the apparent complexity, even inexperienced users can handle it. With due attention and accuracy, the result will be in no way inferior to the work done in Photoshop.