Features of Photo Editing

Photo editing means an act of altering an image in very simple terminology. These images can be digital photographs, illustrations, prints, or photographs on film). Some types of editing, such as airbrushing, are done by hand and others are done using photo editing programs. Photos of models etc are edited to remove blemishes or make the model "better" or a photo is edited for fixing errors like red eye, contrast, brightness, etc. Photo editing is also used to make completely new images

Earlier, when manual photography system was there, the task was broadly categorized in to retouching and finishing. Retouching was performed on the photo films before taking print from those films and photo finishing was carried out after the photo in printed. Both the task was performed to produce a good quality photograph with all the desired modifications. Now a days, in the digital era, the task is now been carried out by Photo Editors before printing or publishing the image, as the case may be. The task of photo editing is still complex but with the use of software and enhanced features, it is a bit simpler than earlier manual methodology. Some photo editing is even done offline, on actual photographs, posters or other printed collateral. Photo editing is also knows as

• Image editing
• Image/photo manipulation
• Photoshopping
• Image/photo enhancement etc.

Photo-editing software

Photo-editing software’s are software programs used to manipulate and enhance images. The use and type of software depends on the use of photos from display ads to social media and print catalogs to posters. This is now a full-fledged more business to repurpose photos and use them on multiple channels. There are many kinds of photo-editing software, each with its own costs, features and pros/cons. Cost and features are the main factors when choosing photo editing software. For a home users and beginners less complex photo editing software is needed as compared to professional designers. Now a day. With the use of Smart phones, a lot of photo editing apps are also available to at least perform basic editing on your smart phone itself apart from conventional software programs to work on the PC/Laptop.

Some photo-editing software programs:

• Adobe Photoshop
• Corel Draw
• Microsoft Paint
• Inkscape
• Capture One
• Fotor
• Snappa
• PicMonkey
• Pixlr editor
• Canva
• GIMP
• PhotoPlus
• Paint.NET 

Some photo-editing mobile apps:

• PicsArt
• Snapseed
• Edior De Fotos
• Photo Director
• Adobe Lightroom
• PicShot
• Polarr
• InstaSquare
• Enlight Photofox
• Picsa
  

Types of photo editing

There are many different types of photo editing. Some are simple and others are more complex. For example, some photo editing techniques are done manually, while others are conducted through automated software. We can easily do simple photo-editing easily and quickly while complex photo editing and digital editing techniques may require specialized software program along with training and experience. It may be divided into three broad categories: 

Simple photo-editing may include

Noise reduction: Noise is the occurrence of color dots or specks where there should be none. It is accomplished by reducing the pixel size to make the picture smooth.

White balance: Is used to color of the light in the image

Contrast: Higher contrast makes an image more punchy, while lower contrast makes it flatter in color.

Exposure Adjustment: The brightness of the image is adjusted.

Color adjustments: Is defined as the change the color of an item or element in the photo. It may be background color or the component of main object.

Image Resizing: Image Resize is performed to adjust the dimensions of the image. Image dimensions are the length and width of your image, measured in pixels. For example, when you apply for a job, the recruiter ask to upload an image of 40x60 mm etc.

Image cropping: Cropping makes the image to be in proper size or to remove unwanted parts. Crop feature allows to drag a rectangular shape around an area in the image to cut off the sides.

Background removal: It is used to remove or alter the background from the image to isolate the subject like white background etc.

Erasing: Means to erase areas within your image to leave behind transparency or a background color. There is also a Background Eraser which provides more control in removing a background to transparent.

Complex & advanced Photo Editing include:

Portrait corrections: Used to fix the complexion of people or objects in images

Special effects: Can be anything from animation to adding weather conditions like cloudy, fog or snow etc etc.

Clipping paths: It is used extract a subject or element from an image. It may be a person or object also.

Adjusting text and visuals: We may add text and visuals or manipulate the existing one even remove them.

Photo stitching: Technique is used to put two or more images together seamlessly to make it look like they were shot that way  

Drop and reflection shadow: It is used create or adjust shadows

Photo masking and Layers: It is used for hiding and revealing specified portions of an image