Thursday, November 3, 2016

Correcting A Bad Photographer




Don't tell me I can learn to take a better pictures...ain't gonna happen!
What a bad photographer can do to get a better picture is learn to correct the picture. 
Now if you're in the 99% of people who already know this, my post is not for you. 

I'm writing this for the 1% of people, like me, who never really spent much time with photography or photo-enhancing sites. 

Here's a photo I took recently. I forgot I hadn't finished clearing all the Fall decorations off the top of the fireplace mantle and the TV hanging on the wall is turned on...oops!
By using a free program like PicMonkey, you can crop the offending area above the mantle out of the photo.
If only housekeeping were as easy! Imagine having a real life "crop" button for your clutter.

Here's a few more before and afters. The line of the door on the right side is distracting...
 Not any more...
 In this photo the top of the fence, the top of the lamp, and the light switch on the wall all add up to a cluttered look...
Cropping them out is easy to do and removes some of the cluttered feel so that the focus is on the Fall colors. Lightening and brightening the photo helps too.
We're all too busy to devote a lot of time to perfecting our camera skills these days. I'm hoping to get better over time, but meanwhile photo-editing...which is easy to learn by just trial and error...takes away some of the shame of my pictures. 

PicMonkey has been my go-to since I read about it on another blog a few years ago. Last year I paid for an upgrade for 6 months. I think this was the only picture I made using the special effects of the upgrade...
I probably could have gotten the blood on the teeth better with some effort. But I found I really didn't use much more than the free basic stuff so when it came time to renew the upgrade after the 6 months ended, I let it expire. 

Let me know if you use a free editing program that you find easy to use. I'm always in the market for free.




Thanks for dropping by!





13 comments:

  1. your edited photo looks great. Thats what I have found is to just play with the photo in edit and see what looks good and natural, or creative.

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  2. I use both ipiccy and PicMonkey. Both free and both are quite easy to use. I've been happy with my pictures. X

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  3. Rivercrest Cottage,
    A photographer, I am not!
    I so~o~o loved how you shared cropping within your purchased software!
    I have no idea what I use, but it came installed with Windows 7! I love the tool that allows me to "erase" things like "outlets" and "switch plates"!
    "Imagine having a real life "crop" button for your clutter". . . when you find that. . .count me in! (wink!)
    Fondly,
    Pat

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  4. My pictures are pretty much of what I take a picture of. I do crop sometimes but I just use the program on my computer in preview.

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  5. Sometimes I do and sometimes I dont. Lol it depends on my mood... And then later when I see the photos Im like why didnt you see that... Love you ending photo... Have a lovely evening with love Janice

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  6. Your pictures are lovely. I would make them bigger. People are using larger photos on their blogs now. Scary halloween photo...LOL There are great benefits of owning your own domain and it's cheap.

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  7. I am not a photographer, I do wish I had the talent to do some arty shots of things that I have created.

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  8. Cropping and removing the unwanted from photos is a great trick/tip, I use it nearly on every photo I take. Just love the upgrade photo of you, pure genius and I agree with your comment on my blog, it is good to see each others photo on the blog once in a while, yours is a gem x

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  9. I've used Picasa (free) for years! It worked like a charm to move into my blog posts. I now have a new (Google Pixel) phone and can't figure out how to get them transferred. It comes with an editing process that would probably be fine, but I'm still major challenged! I need to just sit down and figure it out instead of fretting!

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  10. I'm always trying to improve my photography, but I'd give it all up to have that wonderful invention-to-be you mentioned: a crop button for clutter! :D Thank you for your message. Didn't see anything when I checked it, but glad you let me know.

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  11. I like how you cropped your photos. I too do that quite often with my photos. Your Halloween photo is so scary. I only know how to use Photoscape. I have not tried Pic Monkey.

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  12. This was a Fabulous post. I needed to learn those tips. I think a bunch of us could get some inspiration from you!
    I would love it if you would come over and link at The Fabulous Party over at my blog. You can link all Fall themed posts! Come and join the party and share you tips!
    http://mychristmasjourney.blogspot.com/2016/11/fabulous-thanksgiving-linky-party.html

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  13. Great post!
    I crop the Hell out of almost all my photos.
    99% of them are straight from my iPhone.
    I uploaded the Blogger app on my phone and I'm able to insert them there most times... but lately it's been having hiccups and giving me fits.
    If that happens then I just email myself the pics and then download them and then I use Pixlr Editor which I uploaded onto my PC for free.
    Every single thing I do is just goofing around and learning on my own.
    Sometimes it's fun but many times I forget what I did and have to learn it all over again!
    AARRRGGGGH.
    (I always think your photos look great but like Linda, I'd probably make them bigger in most cases.)
    xoxoxoxoxo

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