Edit Picture
Tutorial: edit pictures to increase drama, boldness and emotion!
This tutorial shows you how to edit your pictures by adding lighting effects with the "Brightness gradient" feature of PhotoPerfect. Please move your mouse over the tabs below the image to see this step-by-step tutorial.
Open picture in PhotoPerfect
First select a folder on your computer system which contains images (1). The images in the folder are then displayed in the form of preview images in the Thumbnail View (2). Now simply drag an image from the thumbnail view to the Workbench (3). The picture we start with is a low contrast HDR image.
Press "D" for preview screen
You see the results of the four different One-Click optimization plugins. Some of them may contain watermarks and have to be purchased separately on the PhotoPerfect website.
By clicking on the button named "original" (1) you can toggle between viewing your original picture and the optimized ones. Click on the "Execute" button of the result you like best (2). In this case iČe has been chosen.
Activate the "Brightness gradient" feature
The result after automatic optimization with iČe is better, but not yet great. So we continue with the brightness gradient function. Choose "Effects->Brightness gradient" to open the dialog box.
Brighten up the dark ground and increase its saturation
Move the gradient arrow into a position as shown in the example with the arrowhead pointing downwards (1). Increase the value of brightness to 197 and saturation to 80 with the sliders at the right side of the dialog box (2). Click on "Accept" (3) to save the changes.
Increase drama with the s-contrast gradient
Now move the gradient arrow into its new position with the arrowhead pointing upwards. Increase the value of contrast to 1.00 and saturation to 20. Click on "Accept" to save your work.
Switch back to brightness gradient
Re-position the gradient arrow. Decrease the brightness to -256 and increase saturation to 70. The sky now considerably gains more contour.
Add more contrast to the ground
Switch back to s-contrast gradient. Move the gradient arrow into a position as shown in the example with the arrowhead pointing downwards (1). Increase the value of contrast to 0.39 and leave saturation at 0 with the sliders at the right side of the dialog box (2). Click on "Accept" (3) to save the changes. If necessary you can adjust the "Color vibrancy" a bit via "Image->Saturation" after that.
Result
As you can see, the changes increase drama, boldness and emotion a lot for this picture. What you get is a beautiful, contrasty HDR picture.