I thought I'd share a super simple process of getting a dark, drab picture to POP using picnik.
Log into picnik.com and upload your dreary, underexposed pic. :)
You can see this pic is very dark and dull.... not enough light and exposure. I took this picture on a day that didn't really have enough light, but I am impatient sometimes.
The background is supposed to be white (all the pics you will see here are unedited and are of the actual screen on my laptop):
Now, click on the "Create" tab:
Then, click on "Advanced":
Now, click on "Levels" (on left side of screen):
Then, take the little slider on the very right, and move it over until you hit the solid area. 99% of the time it is exactly right on, but you can tweak it and move it a bit to exactly where you like it:
Click "Apply":
If you still want more POP, you can then click:
Edit
Exposure
Advanced
Highlights
Then move the Highlights bar to the right and you will be amazed! If it gets a tad too washed out, just up the Contrast and/or Shadows a bit.
I also use the Clone tool a lot to get rid of little blemishes or dark areas in the white background. If you use the Zoom tool while Cloning, you can get very detailed and it goes a lot faster and smoother.
I did NOT use the Clone tool on the geek sign below, but as you can see, it could use it in the darker areas of the background. I wanted to show you how it would look when you just use the Levels tool and the Exposure tool. I do Clone most of my images, but it does take a little more practice.
You are done! Here's the end result after I did JUST the steps I've illustrated in this post:
Liz :)
