CodedColor PhotoStudio manual - digital photo software, picture viewer & image editor, photo album printing (compares to ACDSee, IrfanView)

Image Enhancement (Basic)

Overview

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

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

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

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)

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

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.

Related topics

Before/After Tutorials

Automatic enhancement tools

Image Editor

HSV & HSL

RGB & CMYK

CodedColor PhotoStudio by 1STEIN is a powerful and versatile photo organizer and image editing software for digital camera users. Features include photo editing & printing, web album galleries, slide shows, photo management & cataloging, custom sorting, IPTC & EXIF display, thumbnail generation, resize & resample images, jp2000, batch conversion, database keyword searching, red eye removal, color / sharpness / brightness & contrast correction, artefacts removal, clone brush, scanner & TWAIN import, screen capture, lossless JPEG rotation, gamma correction and screenshows with transition effects, panorama stitch, RAW, photo books and layouts, collages, histograms, white balance, PDF export, watermarks, etc. Please visit the CodedColor FotoStudio homepage to learn more or download a free copy!