Software

We offer a wide array of photo editing services, such as:
  • Scanning photographs, negatives or slides to turn them into digital images for use on the internet and e-mail.
  • Adjusting aspect ratios of images from digital cameras for printout on standard and custom paper sizes.
  • Cropping and re-sizing.
  • Eliminating "red-eye".
  • Correcting under-exposure, over-exposure and colors.
  • Colorizing black and white photos, or turning color pictures into black and white or sepia tones.
  • Adding text or effects to pictures.
  • Sharpening and blurring parts of an image.
  • Fixing scratches, dust, lints and other flaws.
  • Removing unwanted items or people from pictures.
  • Adding items or people to pictures.
  • Combining items from several pictures into one.
  • Stitching series of side by side photos together to make panorama views for 4"x10" prints.
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Adjusting aspect ratios

An image, shot with a digital camera held in normal horizontal orientation (a.k.a. landscape orientation), has an aspect ratio of 3:4. This means, that the picture is exactly 3/4 as high as it is wide. The image, depending on the camera's megapixel setting, can have a size of 480x640, 600x800, 768x1024 or 1536x2048 pixels, or perhaps even more. But, no matter what the absolute size is, the aspect ratio of the digital image will always be the same, precisely 3:4.

If a 3:4 image is shown in full screen mode on a standard computer monitor or on a regular TV set, then the aspect ratio of the photo is the same as the aspect ratio of the picture tube. The entire image is visible, there are no "bars" on top or bottom, and no parts of the picture get cut off. For printed photos, however, it's a different story.

The most common size for photos in North America is 4x6 inches, having an aspect ratio of 2.67:4. This means, that when a 3:4 image is printed over the entire width of the paper, there will not be enough space to print the image's full height. As a result, when a digital image is printed, the picture will lose about 11% of its original content. Most often, the picture will be centered on the paper, which causes equal portions on top and bottom to be dropped. Occasionally the operator might shift the print window up or down, so a person's head or feet don't get cut off. But sometimes it might be important to keep the entire picture.


In picture 1 the print operator decided to print the lower part of the picture, thereby cutting off the balloon on the top.

Number 3 is probably what you would get on a 4x6" print. The balloon is at the very edge, and some flowers are gone.


The balloon is still shown in picture 2, but almost all of the nice red flowers at the bottom of the image have disappeared.
Picture 4 shows all of the original. In this particular case, we slightly stretched the left and right hand sides, without deforming the person, the building or the balloon.

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Adding things to photos

Let's be honest. Most photos we normally take are not very interesting. But, thanks to computer technology, it might be possible to spice up one or the other picture just a little by adding something that wasn't there before. This could be something that was taken from another photo or something found on the internet. If it's done right, nobody will even be able to tell that the picture was altered.
It's always fun to show people a picture of themselves with some new additions. They are usually quite baffled. These pictures make good conversation pieces and - unlike their boring originals - are guaranteed to be shown over and over again.

If you have a picture that could use an addition, please tell us about it.

Browse through a small selection of photos using the buttons on the right, and compare the original pictures to the altered versions.

     

There is more to come in this section. Drop back in!