Basic Enhancements

Top  Previous  Next

 

 

Overview

 

dlg_edit_histogram

CodedColor provides advanced picture manipulation through an easy to use interface. The left screenshot shows the result of a Histogram Equalization, used to brighten up the image.

 

All operations work on the selected area or the whole image if there is no active selection. Before starting the dialog to manipulate your picture you should check your active selection.

 

Select the appropriate image manipulation through the Edit menu or by using a shortcut button.

 

You can make your adjustments by changing the slider positions or by entering the value into the input box.

 

If you have the Lock Preview obj_preview_lock enabled you will immediately see the result of your changes in the Result window. Otherwise you will have to press the preview button to see your changes.

 

All changes will only be applied to your image bitmap after you press OK. They will not be applied to your original image before you press Save. You can always Undo your last changes.

 

Press obj_preview_copytoresult Copy Result to Original  to preserve your changes before changing to a different image manipulation tab.

 

Tutorial

 

There are always several alternatives for improving digital photos. Which to use depends on many factors: your taste, monitor, printer and what atmosphere the image should create. Therefore, is is almost impossible to give exact instructions valid for all cases - you just have to experiment! Try out the the following image editing functions on an image, which you feel is too dark and unsharp. Most likely the Equalization described above already leads to a pretty satisfying result, but depending on your taste, you might find the following options for fine tuning better:

 

 

Brightness & Contrast

 

 

 

dlg_edit_contrast

You can enhance some of your pictures by changing the brightness and contrast sliders in the Contrast tab. For many pictures, the result using Equalization is better than using brightness and contrast (see screenshot at top).

 

In the Equalization tab, you can first try an automatic equalization by pushing the Equalize button. For manual control you can adjust the sliders.

 

 

Color (HSV, HSL, RGB)

 

 

dlg_edit_color

CodedColor allows you to manipulate the colors by changing the Hue Saturation Value (HSV), Hue Saturation Lumination (HSL) or the Red Green Blue (RGB) values.

 

You can also convert your picture to gray scale by using the Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT)

 

Sharpness & Effects

 

 

dlg_edit_sharpness

The effects provided range from Bump map, Lens, Wave, and Morphing filters to user defined filters, which allow you to select custom filter values using a Convolution Matrix. See the internet for examples on how to set the values for different effects.

 

A useful filter to experiment with the values is the High Pass1, normally used to make an image sharper. If you set the middle row, right value to 2 or 3 and the divisor next to it to 3 (see left screenshot), you can brighten and sharpen the image at the same time.

 

 

Gamma Correction

 

Gamma correction is used to control the overall color brightness (luminance) and color balance of an image. Varying the amount of Gamma changes not only the brightness, but also the ratios of Red to Green and Blue. Usually, Gamma correction is a matter of trial and error.

 

The Gamma panel of the Improvements dialog allows you to change the overall Gamma, or only distinct color channels of the image.

 

icon_tipRelated topics

 

Before/After Tutorials
Automatic enhancement tools
Image Editor
HSV & HSL
RGB & CMYK
Basic Effects

 

 

 

 

CodedColor PhotoStudio © 2023 1STEIN GmbH

CodedColor PhotoStudio by 1STEIN is an award-winning Windows photo viewer and editor to organize, edit, resize, reformat, correct, compare, sort, watermark, annotate and print digital images, and to edit EXIF and IPTC data in digital photos. You can rename multiple images, remove scratches, stich panoramas, convert RAW photos (from Canon, Nikon, Olympus, etc. cameras), burn digital watermarks, correct colors, batch convert and correct images and generate a web album in HTML5. The software is easier to use than Photoshop, but more versatile than ACDSee, Picasa, Irfanview or Gimp. Many magazines consider it to be the Swiss Knife of Image Editing. Have a look at our Before / After tutorials to get an idea of the powerful capabilities. The software comes with a detailed handbook and a fast database to store EXIF/IPTC data and color information. CodedColor PhotoStudio is the ideal image editing tool for every-day and professional digital camera users. The user friendly interface combines features like expert photo editing & printing, layer editing, web album galleries, slide shows, photo management & cataloging, custom sorting, IPTC & EXIF editor, GPS tagging, perspective correction, barrel distortion, effects, thumbnail generation, resize & resample images, batch conversion, database keyword searching, red eye removal, color/sharpness/brightness & contrast correction, artifact removal, clone brush, scanner & TWAIN import, screen capture, lossless JPEG rotation, transparency (alpha channel) and layers, gamma correction, screen shows with many transition effects, watermark text, image annotations, panorama stitch & animation, video capture, PDF album export, photo layouts, collages, frames, shadows, histograms, automatic white balance, photo sharing, etc. Opens and converts all common image formats: BMP, WMF, GIF, JPEG, JPEG2000, TIFF, PCX, PNG, PSP, PSD, PCD, HEIC, HEIF, AVIF and all current RAW formats. The installation includes our the CodedColor Publisher, a versatile photo layout and DTP tool to create individual and rich photo books.