Tip #3653 - Cellsea Photo Editing
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Cellsea
Photo Editing
So, you have a stack
of photos from the holidays that you want to make a few adjustments to.
(You know, adjustments like "that tree shouldn’t be sticking
out of Aunt Millie’s head like that" and "Uncle Fred was
a bit embarrassing in that picture!" But, even though you want to
change some of your photos around, you can't really justify the cost of
Photoshop or any of those other high end photo editing programs.
Well, would you like
to know about a Web site that allows you to upload your own photos, do
the editing you want online and even save them back to your computer,
all for free?
If so, head over to
Cellsea’s Web site here
and I'll talk you through some of its highlights!
Here is the opening
page. (You can also look at some of the other services while you are there,
if you'd like).
First, look down the
left side. I have highlighted the various things you can do, all the way
from changing the size to changing the color to inserting text to adding
special effects and so much more.
Then on the right
hand side, I have circled the various sources from which you can get your
photos, from your own computer to various Web locations and by also searching
the Web.
For this brief introductory
article, I will assume that you have the pictures on your own hard disk
already. I'll demonstrate with one of them what you can do with Cellsea.
Now, just before we
start, let me point out several things.
1.) There is an Undo
facility on the site if you want to go back a step (see circled symbol
below).
2.) Keep in mind that
your original photo is never changed until you press the Save
button at the end of the session
3.) If you are sensible,
you will save your edited photo with another name, just so you never lose
your original.
So, now, let’s
load up our photo, like this:
Select it like you
normally would and press Open.
Now, here we are with
our photo ready to go.
Next, take a look
at the various tabs along the top of the page. They show you all of the
available features.
As you can see, you
have a lot of choices! Let’s work our way across to give you a flavor
of what all you can do.
Text
With this, you can
add text of any size, shape or color to the picture, like in this example.
As you can see, you
can choose the type face, the font size, the color and variety of effects
(like this, showing a shadow style).
Resize
Dependant upon your
ultimate use for the pictures, you may decide that you want to change
their size, so this is what Cellsea offers:
Here you can choose
your new dimensions (in pixels).
Crop
This is where you
can take Uncle Fred out of the frame by cropping the picture to get rid
of extraneous objects (sorry Uncle Fred!)
The picture above
shows where you can enter the new dimensions. The darker section of the
picture shows you what will be left. Alternatively, if you click on the
picture, four corner handles will appear that will enable you to move
the cropping position exactly as you want it.
Flip
This one almost speaks
for itself. You can elect to do the flip leftward or rightward and by
how many degrees. You know, just in case the picture wasn’t exactly
straight to begin with.
Rotate
The screenshot above
is almost self-explanatory and it gives you a lot of versatility.
Blur
This is one of those
"artistic" effects, but just look at the varieties you have
to choose from!
There are far too
many to go into in detail though. I suggest that you try them one by one
and if you don't like them, just hit the Undo button
and try something else.
Sharpen
Again, an artistic
effect with different variations.
Color
This is one you may
very well find a use for. Maybe to change some of the hues to something
a little more picturesque, for example.
Again, at first glance,
it may be a little overwhelming, but play with them and see what happens!
The one you are most
likely to use is the Adjust RGB feature. It looks like
this.
By moving the sliders
one way or the other, you can increase or decrease the percentage of the
basic colors. Just experiment. You'll be amazed at what you can do on
your own!
Effects
Now we can let our
imagination run wild.
Here’s an example
of just one, so you can see what it can do. Aren't you impressed?!
Distortion
With this feature,
you can twist and turn your picture out of all recognition (if that’s
what you want to do).
This is an example
of what you can do.
Here’s another
one (a little more crazy!)
Okay, not so brilliant
I know, but I’m sure you can do even better!
So, all that’s
left now is the last button.
Save
This one, of course,
speaks for itself and is the last step in the Cellsea journey.
But, you will see
even then that Cellsea has one last trick up its sleeve. You have a number
of options here too, including uploading your photos to various specialized
sites, e-mailing them and so on.
I hope you enjoy the
wonderful world of Cellsea!
~ David Woodford
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