Saturday, September 12, 2009

Restore Your Precious Photos With Adobe Elements

By David Peters

When we long for the past and to reconnect with better times we often look to our photographs to help us relive our cherished memories and remember loved ones who are no longer with us. Regrettably, while many things easily stand the test of time, photographs are not one of them. Due to the sun, water, dust, and other elements found in everyday life our photographs are prone to decay and it is vital to do what we can to keep them in their best state so that future generations can enjoy them as well.

Too many people are faced with the question of what to do with photos that haven?t withstood the test of time. Do you wait until they are no longer visible or do you simply toss them? If you are facing questions such as these you don?t have to do either. Using Adobe Elements you can restore your old photos to their original condition.

The first step to restoring your cherished photos is to create a digital image of them so you can then edit them using your computer. Converting them to a digital image is as easy as scanning them into your computer. Once you have scanned your photo you can then begin the photo editing process.

Once you have opened your photograph inside your photo editing program I recommend that you create a copy by clicking on the file menu and selecting save as to rename your photograph. I recommend this so that you have a backup image on the off chance that you make a mistake. Once you have done this vital step you can begin to edit your photo using a few of the tools available. The tools I will talk about are the ones in Adobe Elements.

Please understand that photo restoration doesn't necessarily require any specialized training or specific skills. The tools included in Elements are easy to use and you will quickly become adept at them. Tools you will use most often with photo restoration include the smudge, blur and sharpen tool.

So we are going to look at each of the three tools that you will come across in Adobe Elements and how you can make use of them in restoring your photos. First the smudge tool, this tool is very effective at masking any scratches that would have been on the original photo that you scanned. The smudge tool will also allow you to remove any object in the background you wish to remove as well as correct photos that were not properly focused.

The next tool is the blur tool. This tool will allow you to add some tone to photos so they can appear darker than they originally did. This tool is very effective when you are working with photos that have deteriorated due to long periods of exposure to sunlight. So you will be able to restore the colour in your photos so it looks bright and attractive again.

The last most common tool you will definitely use when restoring photos is the sharpen tool. This tool is mainly used to fix parts of a photo that may appear to be blurred. When you scan old photos that are now very light in color you will find that some of the parts will appear a bit blurred and this is what the sharpen tool is designed to fix.

Keep your cherished memories alive and well, restore them using Adobe Elements.

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