Computer Related > Photo Help	Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Clk Sec	Replies: 20

New Thu 17 Jun 10 19:40   Photo Help - Clk Sec

Does anyone know how I can lighten an old b & w image I currently have in Picasa? Admittedly the original itself is fairly dark, but the uploaded version is unrecognisable. None of the options in Picasa seem to help. Thanks. Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 17 Jun 10 19:54   Photo Help - Tooslow

CLK, I'm not familiar with Picasa, I'm a PSE man, but does it have a Levels feature? If so you'll see a histogram which will be huddling down at the left hand end of the graph. Drag the pointer (sorry, I'm speaking PSE here, hope it helps) from the extreme right hand end down to the right hand edge of the histogram. That should do the trick. JH Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 17 Jun 10 20:39   Photo Help - Zero

A quick google search "picasa adjust brightness" gave this hit - first line www.associatedcontent.com/video/2518/how_to_change_brightness_and_contrast.html Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 17 Jun 10 20:40   Photo Help - Focusless

CS - I've not used Picasa before, but I've just downloaded the linux version (3 beta), and if I double click on a picture, one of the 'basic fixes' in the panel on the left is 'Fill Light' (I think, the font is a bit small). This appears to make the picture lighter - any good? EDIT: the comment at the bottom of Z's link implies it might not be ideal Last edited by: Focus on Thu 17 Jun 10 at 20:42 Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 17 Jun 10 20:49   Photo Help - Statistical Outlier

CS, for simple image editing like this, if you can't stretch to a copy of Photoshop Elements, then ImageJ is a really good tool. It's really a scientific image editor, but it's free, cross platform, and will let you adjust things like levels and contrast very effectively. Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 17 Jun 10 21:52   Photo Help - Crankcase

Irfanview is another free windows app that is excellent at this kind of a caper. Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 17 Jun 10 21:20   Photo Help - CGNorwich

Select the picture, double click,select the tuning tab and use the "fill light" slider Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 17 Jun 10 21:33   Photo Help - Focusless

>> Select the picture, double click,select the tuning tab and use the "fill light" slider ...like I said... :) Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 18 Jun 10 00:12   Photo Help - Stuartli

Either Picasa and Irfanview will do exactly what you require as outlined above. I have bells and whistles photo editing programs but, more often than not, Picasa accomplishes precisely what is needed. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 18 Jun 10 07:43   Photo Help - Clk Sec

>>EDIT: the comment at the bottom of Z's link implies it might not be ideal The 'fill light' slider in Picasa doesn't help with this particular image, so I'll try some of the other suggestions over the weekend. Many thanks for the response so far. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 18 Jun 10 14:23   Photo Help - CGNorwich

If "fill light" doesn't make any difference the problem may be that there is simply no detail there. If that is the case no photo editing program can help. Can you see an image in the areas you wish to lighten? Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 18 Jun 10 09:02   Photo Help - Tooslow

CLK, just a thought. How did you get the b&w image? If you scanned it then it is often possible to make adjustments at that stage using the scanning software. It just adds to the confusion, oops options, available to you. JH Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 18 Jun 10 12:41   Photo Help - Ambo

If you have MS Office, it has a simple photo editing facility called Picture Manager, which will make a "one-shot" adjustment (i,e, without any selectable gradations). Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 18 Jun 10 15:11   Photo Help - Clk Sec

It's a 10" x 12" b & w group photograph taken on a dull day in the 60's which I have scanned to picasa. Although it's a bit on the dark side, there is plenty of detail and I can easily recognise all the members of the group. However, when scanned it's as black as your hat and the various adjustments don't seem to help. Unfortunately, I don't have MS Office. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 18 Jun 10 15:12   Photo Help - rtj70

Did you scan it was true black and white or greyscale? If it's not greyscale there's not much you could do. Can you rescan it? Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 18 Jun 10 15:25   Photo Help - Zero

rescan it in greyscale or colour. Also tweak your scanner settings to make it a brighter scan. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 18 Jun 10 16:57   Photo Help - CGNorwich

Rather than scan the picture you may have more success if you use your digital camera in close up or macro mode . Use natural light rather than flash and select high image quality. Use a tripod or some other support if possible. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 18 Jun 10 17:26   Photo Help - Clk Sec

Many thanks, gents. I've now got a scanned copy which is as good as the original. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 18 Jun 10 17:33   Photo Help - rtj70

I assume you scanned it as greyscale (or colour) and not just B&W :-) Black and white is just that... something is black or white. Great for text documents which then take less space. Poor for anything like photos. Black and white photos are not black and white... they are greyscale ;-) Last edited by: rtj70 on Fri 18 Jun 10 at 17:34 Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 18 Jun 10 18:54   Photo Help - Clk Sec

I tried b&w and various custom settings, but greyscale was indeed my best option. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 18 Jun 10 19:38   Photo Help - rtj70

But you realise a B&W scan is just that. Black and white? A photo will have scales of grey/black/white. Reply to this message | Report message