Touchup Filters (and Important Terms)

Brightness and Contrast-

Use the Brightness slider to adjust the overall brightness of the photo. Use the Contrast slider to enhance the contrast between light and dark areas of the photo: light areas are made lighter while dark areas are made darker.

Fix Colors-

Use this filter to adjust the HUE, SATURATION and grayscale VALUE of a photo. All colors are adjusted simultaneously as you move the slider. HUE represents the seven colors of the spectrum (ROYGBIV from junior high). SATURATION represents the amount of color. The higher the value the richer the colors, but the lower the value the lesser the colors until you move the slider all the way and get BLACK & WHITE. Remember – Black and White is the same picture with the Saturation at zero!

Scratch Removal-

In most programs this filter is used to remove scratches from a photo. If there is a Radius Slider it can be used to adjust the effect.

Sharpen-

Use this filter to adjust the detail of a photo. Move the slider to adjust the intensity of the effect. Remember that the more you use SHARPEN the more “noise” your photo will have, so use this filter carefully!

Soften-

Use this filter to soften or blur the detail of a photo. Move the slider to adjust the intensity of the effect. This filter often works just like SCRATCH REMOVAL!

Invert-

Use this filter to invert colors (like a negative), or toggle between contrasting colors of a color table. For example, black pixels are replaced with white, and whilte pixels are replaced with black!

Color Adjustment-

Use this filter to adjust colors within a photo. Use the different sliders to work on particular colors within the photo.

Gamma Adjustment-

Use this filter to correct the gamma within a photo. Gamma helps enhance detail by modifying the mid-range gray scale values while leaving the dark shadows and bright areas unaffected. This filter is especially useful to enhance scanned photos.

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