enhanceyourpictures digital photovideo Virgin Media

Most new digital cameras come with easy to use photo-editing software, so once your images are stored on your computer, there are many ways in which they can be improved. If you're new to the process, then try some of the basic enhancements outlined below.

Cropping and rotating images

Don't immediately delete photos that contain an undesired element. With a three megapixel camera or higher you should be able to crop out unwanted areas and still get good 4x6 prints. Removing unwanted surroundings and focusing attention on the actual subject of a photo can really increase the impact. If you find you've taken a photo the wrong way round, you can correct this at the touch of a button, using the rotate tool.

Removing red-eye

If you're going to be taking pictures indoors with a flash then this is one of the commonest problems you are likely to encounter. Fortunately, it is straightforward to correct using a range of photo editing software, though some of techniques tend to remove detail from the eyes and can leave the picture looking unnatural.

Adjusting brightness / contrast

Overly dark or bright photos can often be salvaged provided the problem isn't too severe. However, simply adjusting the brightness can leave other areas of the image looking unnatural. Fortunately, most image editing software packages allow you to alter the tonality within a specified range so the image can be improved without touching the darkest and the brightest areas.

Colour balance / saturation

After adjusting the tonal range of a photo using the brightness and contrast functions, the next step is to adjust the image's colour balance. This will correct a warm or cool cast in an image. The trick is to make tiny adjustments ─ get carried away and the other colours will fall out of balance and look unnatural.

Sharpening

This is best as the final adjustment you make to an image and works by increasing the contrast between pixels. Sharpening up a photo that is out of focus is not possible, but selectively using the sharpen tool on a few blurry edges can have a significant impact. Similarly, softening the background can make the subject stand out more.