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#Post#: 21--------------------------------------------------
Simple and quick resizing and modifying photos for posting
By: Ray Bell Date: March 22, 2021, 3:55 pm
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We've all heard of Photoshop, I'm sure...
With Photoshop you can work wonders with pictures, and for those
who have it and can use it, this thread will be unnecessary. The
method I use to get pictures prepared for posting is called
Irfanview.
It's a very small download, about 2MB last time I looked. I
allow it to do everything so whenever I open a photograph it's
in Irfanview. If I then want to alter the photo - crop it,
lighten it, sharpen it, change the contrast etc - I can do that
right away. The important thing to remember is that when you do
alter a photo from the original, if you want to keep the
original you must save the altered pic in another folder or with
a different filename so you don't lose the original.
To download Irfanview, go to this URL:
(HTM) https://www.irfanview.com/main_download_engl.htm
CNet seems to be the easiest of the download sites offered, so
proceed from there. Set up Irfanview on your computer selecting
everything to do with images on the way through the installation
process.
So then your pictures will come up in an Irfanview window like
this:
[img width=456
height=400]
(HTM) https://i.postimg.cc/G3qSqjtN/0321aairfanvieworiginal.jpg[/img]
Now, looking at this picture, you decide that you want to focus
on the more distant part of the shot, where the frames on the
wall are not as well-lit because this is a flash picture and the
flash works better close up. And you also decide that the items
on the table aren't as sharp as they might be, so we'll deal
with a little 'issue' Irfanview has with regard to sharpening
first:
[img width=424
height=400]
(HTM) https://i.postimg.cc/wMfJLM6f/0321airfanvieweffectsbrowser.jpg[/img]
To avoid 'over-sharpening' When you first instal the program
it's a good idea to get this out of the way. From the 'image'
roll-down select 'Effects browser' and then...
(HTM) https://i.postimg.cc/05c7LWpY/0321beffectssharpen.jpg
Setting the sharpening shortcut ...click on 'sharpen' and you
get the option to alter the amount of sharpening. I think it's
pre-set at 20, bring that down to 10 or 11. You'll see as we go
on that it's easy to overcome this if you need more without
taking this step. Once you set this it's done for all pictures
you choose to sharpen.
Now you select the area you want to keep...
[img width=456
height=400]
(HTM) https://i.postimg.cc/3JNf6DDw/0321dirfanviewselecttocrop.jpg[/img]
Select to crop Selected with your mouse just as you select
anything on the computer.
...and go to the 'Edit' rolldown:
[img width=458
height=400]
(HTM) https://i.postimg.cc/13N6VybB/0321eirfanviewcrop.jpg[/img]
Cropping made easy! When you click on 'crop selection' you will
have the part of the picture you want to retain.
For use on the computer it's best to size the picture to suit,
so we go to the 'Image' rolldown and click on 'Resize/resample':
[img width=430
height=400]
(HTM) https://i.postimg.cc/65PnQ8bT/0321firfanviewresize.jpg[/img]
Bringing down to size Most pictures are way bigger than is
needed for a clear reproduction on the screen.
The resultant options come up like this:
[img width=699
height=400]
(HTM) https://i.postimg.cc/X7n4yLhz/0321fjirfanviewresizedirections.jpg[/img]
Plenty of options We're only interested in the size at this
stage, the size as the cropped picture is shown and it's still
way too big for use on a computer screen. I've been using 722
pixels for these pics, up to 800 or 850 is plenty big enough for
use on a forum such as this. When I type in '722' instead of the
'1733' it's showing it automatically changes the height to suit.
Click on 'OK' (or even hit the 'enter' button on your keyboard)
and this is done.
Now it's time to get the lighting right to better show up this
part of the picture. Again from the 'Image' rolldown, select
'color corrections':
[img width=424
height=400]
(HTM) https://i.postimg.cc/bvcnQKhh/0321gcolourcorrect.jpg[/img]
Ready for the lighting change Click on this one and you can
perform some magic.
Now this box opens for you...
[img width=421
height=400]
(HTM) https://i.postimg.cc/gJG678jt/0321hcolourcorrectionsapplied.jpg[/img]
Applying the corrections You can change many things and watch as
the picture on the right is altered to see how it's going.
...but I can tell you it's usually only the contrast, gamma
correction and saturation that you ever need to touch. You will
learn by practising with this that adding contrast generally
darkens things a little, but you might need that contrast.
Taking the 'gamma correction' to a higher figure will give you
more light in a graduated way while increasing the saturation
should bring up colours for you.
I rarely ever touch 'Brightness' on the left side of the panel,
but on rare occasions it might help. If the picture you're
working with is a scan of an old colour slide or print which has
faded over the years so it's heavy in one colour (usually blue)
you might get some benefit working with the 'color balance'
sliders.
And the salt and sauce still need to be sharpened a bit...
[img width=424
height=400]
(HTM) https://i.postimg.cc/j5vJY2Jx/0321irfanviewsharpen.jpg[/img]
Sharpening Again from the 'Image' rolldown, click on sharpen and
this is done. Over-sharpening can lead to some detrimental
results, so don't try too hard with this one.
Remember, too, every step along the way - if you've done it
wrong you go to the 'Edit' rolldown and click on 'undo'. But
that will only undo the last step you took.
Here is our finished picture:
[img width=495
height=400]
(HTM) https://i.postimg.cc/wMvRqzhh/0321jirfanviewcompleted.jpg[/img]
Job's done! The finished product following these steps.
Time to save, have a folder ready to put it into and remember
not to click on 'save' as you will lose your original picture.
Click on 'Save as' and give it a filename as appropriate.
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