How to quickly fix common image quality problems

[TXCraig1]

It's really easy to fix image quality problems such as over/under exposure or to brighten up dark images. You probably already have software on your computer that will do it at some level. In any case, here is a web-based application that seems to do a pretty good job with almost no effort. I put the same picture in half a dozen different utilities and this one was by far the best - even better than Photoshop Express online editor and Picasa.

http://pixlr.com/express/

Click on Browse, select your photo, and edit. When you are done, click save and adjust the quality/file size balance. Usually something in the 50-70 range will be good. I'd give it a new name or save it in a different folder so that you maintain the original image in case you want to do something else with it.

The first picture below is the original image (I borrowed it from Mark here: http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,25127.msg285633.html#msg285633)

The second picture is the result of clicking only three buttons: Adjustment --> Auto Fix --> Apply

There is lots of functionality to fine tune from there, but generally, it's probably not necessary.

[Tampa]

Good stuff.  Thx Craig.
Dave

[kiwipete]

A very marked improvement indeed. Must bookmark that one.

Thanks for finding it.

[TXCraig1]

Another example with an image from Wheelman: http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,18191.msg287232.html#msg287232

[norma427]

Craig,

I just tried your link on how to fix image problems from a regular pizza I made last week.  My camera photos usually don't show how brown the crust really is under artificial lighting.  Thanks it worked great for me for this one photo.

Norma

[Davydd]

Just about every photo I post I usually do some post processing. Sometimes I do it directly on the iPhone with apps like Snapseed or Perfectly Clear or just with the native iPhone Photos app that has some tools. Once I have my photos transferred to my Mac the iPhoto app seems more than adequate to fix most photos. Also, I experiment with other apps.

Here is an example of a pizza photo. This one would usually be a discard. The original was taken in portrait mode while still on the wood peel laying on top of a butcher block table. First, the composition is not the greatest. So the next thing I did was crop the photo and do just a little adjustment. The problem is the pizza crust, peel and table all pretty much blend together so it could never be a good photo. I went back to the original and played around with it on my iPad with a new app I downloaded this week called PopAgraph. It is a pretty simple app and this is just one of the simple things I did but it popped the pizza and turned it all into a more interesting graphic.

[tinroofrusted]

Just about every photo I post I usually do some post processing. Sometimes I do it directly on the iPhone with apps like Snapseed or Perfectly Clear or just with the native iPhone Photos app that has some tools. Once I have my photos transferred to my Mac the iPhoto app seems more than adequate to fix most photos. Also, I experiment with other apps.

Here is an example of a pizza photo. This one would usually be a discard. The original was taken in portrait mode while still on the wood peel laying on top of a butcher block table. First, the composition is not the greatest. So the next thing I did was crop the photo and do just a little adjustment. The problem is the pizza crust, peel and table all pretty much blend together so it could never be a good photo. I went back to the original and played around with it on my iPad with a new app I downloaded this week called PopAgraph. It is a pretty simple app and this is just one of the simple things I did but it popped the pizza and turned it all into a more interesting graphic.

Thanks for the tip about the graphic program. I will have a look at it. 

[Davydd]

I have to check this out. Ah, a .png file that masks out the background when referenced from Photobucket will show without a background on a white background. Here, a direct upload, it turns black. The .jpg above was white.

[Chicago Bob]

Thanks for the tip about the graphic program. I will have a look at it.

Can you do this in a simple quick way on windows XP?

Bob

[dmckean44]

I'm impressed.

[Tampa]

Can you do this in a simple quick way on windows XP?
Bob

If you question is can I use http://pixlr.com/express/ on a PC with windows XP, the answer is yes.  This is a cloud app (aka web-based program).  Much like adding photos to this forum, you go to the site, find the file on the PC that you want add and the site does the work.  The only difference is that with this forum the picture gets posted, with pixlr the picture gets saved to your computer.

Dave

[Chicago Bob]

OK thank you.

Bob

[Davydd]

Can you do this in a simple quick way on windows XP?

Bob

Bob,

I was demonstrating a simple app on an iPad/iPhone that allows you to isolate an image and change a background in just a couple of minutes. As for the other photo enhancements that can be done such as cropping and correcting color there are a myriad of apps on any computer that can do that. Sticking with Windows XP (I am a Mac user only now at home) the best and grandaddy of them all is Photoshop but that is professional and expensive. There are freebies like Gimp and Picassa that can do it. There are others like Lightroom and Photoshop Elements that are capable.

But you don't need any of these. You can do most basic edits of photo resizing, cropping, and color correction, exposure correction, etc. right on your Internet browser through photo hosting services like Photobucket, Picassa, and Flickr just for starters and probably the most popular.

Android phones and tablets also have a lot of apps you can use to fix photos or do creative effects.

[Chicago Bob]

I have a google account and I have an Android phone. Can I send pics on my phone to Picasa and then be able to access the pics on my PC.....I guess this is what the Picasa is all about,correct?

I'm having issues with my PC in that I think I am damaging the usb's from plugging in and out my phone too often. It's gotten to where I have to restart computer in order for it to recognize phone and I definitely don't want to be replacing motherboard on this fairly new PC.

Btw, does anyone know how to restore the mute and calculator keyboard buttons....I read somewhere this has something to do with USB.

Thanks!
Bob

[typicalsam]

anyone got an up to date recommendation on something like this? would be useful

price: free
platform: windows or android

[Hanglow]

Look at snapseed on android

rawtherapee is something I   use on windows but it might be a bit complex for general use 

google photos has basic editing too