Feb 12, 2023
Photo Enhancement: What You Need to Know
The Basics of Photo Enhancement
When trying to produce the best quality photo prints, there are several aspects to consider as you prepare them. As prints, these photos are usully larger, making any flaws more visible. There are steps required to take with editing before printing to ensure that the images are fully ready to go and will turn out nicely in print form. In this article, we’ll be taking you through some of these steps and general processes that we go through to make these prints really pop.
Sharpening
One of the first steps that can be taken is sharpening the image. Often, digital cameras create a slight blur on their images. In order to create a sharp print, especially if you are making it larger, you should accentuate the contrast. However, you don’t want to over-sharpen that image. It ought to just be a subtle change in order to make the biggest improvement.
Lightening
When you look at your photo on your computer monitor, it may seem lighter than when printed because your monitor is backlit. The first step is to adjust your screen brightness to about 50% to get a better idea of how a print would turn out. You can also go in and digitally lighten the image. Just like with sharpening, you have to remember not to go overboard, as this could blow out the photo’s details.
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De-noising
If your photo has a slightly grainy look, that is called image noise. If you can see it in the photo, you’ll definitely see it in the print. This is common with darker photos and lower-quality cameras. When you are editing, you should be able to reduce that image noise, creating a cleaner image.
Upsizing
When printing a large image, you may find that the image looks blurry. This is because the size of the print is more than the pixels of your photo will allow. While you can add what is called artificial pixels to minimize this problem, this is not a miracle-maker. You can only do so much here to compensate.
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Lens Flare Removal
When you have a light source that happens to directly hit the lens, you will find lens flare spots in your image. These can look like little ghost lights across the photo. Sometimes this is intentional, but if it isn’t then rest assured that it can be cleaned up in editing.
When you take these editing actions that we’ve covered above, you will find that your photo prints turn out so much cleaner and prettier! Just remember to keep in mind that sometimes, even with all of these tricks, you will find that your photo just doesn’t turn out the way that it looks on your computer screen…and that’s ok! Your prints are art, and art doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful.
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