Digital cameras are one of the hottest consumer electronics products today. U.S. sales of digital cameras hit 14.3 million units in 2003, with 30% of U.S. households (and 45% of Internet-connected households) now owning a digital camera.Unfortunately, a large percentage of these digital pictures won't be that great. They'll be too dark or blurry or off-center or feature red-eyed creatures with bad skin. Some of them will verge on the unusable. Fortunately, technology now exists that can turn bad pictures into veritable works of art. (Okay, maybe not works of art - but certainly good enough to pass around at the next family get together.) The key is in knowing just what needs to happen to fix a particular problem. After all, if someone isn't a great photographer, they're probably not a computer genius, either - and won't want to read the typical technobabble-filled book on digital image editing. (Most amateur photographers don't even know what digital image editing is, anyway.)Since there are so many bad photographers out there, there is incredible demand for a "fix your mistakes" kind of book, written in plain English and featuring clear, easy-to-follow instructions. This book uses Photoshop Elements for digital editing, but provides advice anyone can use regardless of their image edition software. That book is this book: Bad Pics Fixed Quick: How to Fix Lousy Digital Pictures.

Michael Miller has written more than 50 nonfiction books over the past 15 years. His books for Que include Bargain Hunter's Guide to Online Shopping, Absolute Beginner's Guide to Computer Basics, and Absolute Beginner's Guide to eBay. He is known for his casual, easy-to-read writing style and his ability to explain a wide variety of complex topics to an everyday audience. You can email Mr. Miller directly at badpics@molehillgroup.com. His Web site is located at http://www.molehillgroup.com.

Introduction. I. HOW TO USE PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS TO FIX YOUR PICTURES. 1. Making Quick Fixes with Photoshop Elements. Select an Editing Mode. Quick Fix Mode. Navigate the Quick Fix Workspace. Apply Quick Fix Operations. Standard Edit Mode. Navigate the Standard Edit Workspace. Use Standard Edit Tools. Use Elements's Palettes. Work with Layers. Before You Fix a Pic, Make a Copy. 2. How to Fix Only Chapter of a Picture. Why You Don't Always Need to Fix Your Entire Picture. Select a Squarish Area with the Rectangular Marquee Tool. Select a Roundish Area with the Elliptical Marquee Tool. Select an Area of Color with the Magic Wand Tool. Select a Hard-Edged Area with the Magnetic Lasso Tool. Select an Irregular-Shaped Area with the Lasso Tool. Select Multiple Objects. Soften the Border of Your Selection. II. HOW TO FIX PICTURES THAT ARE TOO BIG OR TOO SMALL. 3. Zooming In on the Most Important Chapter of the Picture. Why Some Pictures Need Cropping. Perform a Freehand Crop with the Crop Tool. Crop to a Specific Size. How to Avoid Cropping. 4. Making Your Pictures Smaller for the Internet. Why You Need Smaller Pictures Online. Resolution. Physical Size. File Size. Use the Save for Web Feature. Resize Your Picture Incrementally. Step One: Reduce the Resolution. Step Two: Shrink the Picture-Then Sharpen It. Step Three: Save the Smaller Picture. How to Avoid Resizing-or Not. 5. Making Your Pictures Larger for Prints. How to Print a Small Picture Big. More Resolution Is Better. A Bigger Size Is Better. Increase the Resolution. Resize in a Single Step. Resize Incrementally. How to Avoid the Pixelation Problem. III. HOW TO FIX GENERAL PICTURE PROBLEMS. 6. Fixing Tilted Pictures. Straighten the Picture Automatically. Manually Rotate the Picture. Rotate with a Grid. Rotate an Object or Area Within a Picture. How to Avoid Taking Tilted Pictures. 7. Fixing Pictures That Are Too Dark. One-Button Brightening with Auto Contrast. Lighten the Shadows. Adjust the Brightness and Contrast. Adjust the Black and White Levels. Add a Brighter Layer. Brighten Just Part of a Picture. Select the Area to Fix. Quick Fixes. Fix It with Layers. Paint It Lighter with the Dodge Tool. How to Avoid Taking Dark Pictures. 8. Fixing Pictures That Are Too Light. One-Button Darkening with Auto Contrast. Darken the Highlights. Adjust the Brightness and Contrast. Adjust the Black and White Levels. Add a Darker Layer. Darken Only Part of the Picture. Select the Area to Fix. Quick Fixes. Fix It with Layers. Paint It Darker with the Burn Tool. How to Avoid Taking Light Pictures. 9. Fixing Bad Color. Auto Color Correction. Remove the Color Cast. Choose Different Color Variations. Change the Hue and Saturation. Adjust the Color Manually. Fix the Color of Only Part of Your Picture. Correct Color for a Selected Area. Change the Color Saturation for a Small Area. How to Avoid Taking Pictures with Poor Color. 10. Fixing Soft and Blurry Pictures. Subtle Sharpening with Auto Sharpen. Control the Amount of Sharpening. Create Sharper Edges with the Unsharp Mask Filter. Artificially Enhance Edges with an Embossed Layer. Sharpen Just Part of a Picture. Sharpen a Selected Area. Use the Sharpen Tool. How to Avoid Taking Blurry Pictures. 11. Fixing Grainy Pictures. Remove Graininess with the Despeckle Filter. Blur the Grain Away with the Blur Filter. Apply Heavier Blurring with the Blur More Filter. Even More Blurring with the Median Filter. Fine-tune Grain Removal with the Dust & Scratches Filter. Remove Color Noise. Soften Only Part of a Picture. Soften a Selected Area. Use the Blur Tool. How to Avoid Taking Grainy Pictures. IV. HOW TO FIX OTHERWISE PERFECT PICTURES OF IMPERFECT PEOPLE. 12. Eliminating Red Eye. Recolor Red Eye with Red Eye Removal Tool. Fix Pets' Red Eye. Use the Red Eye Removal Tool. Paint the Pupil Black. How to Avoid Red Eye. 13. Getting Rid of Circles Under the Eyes. Lighten the Circles with the Dodge Tool. Replace Dark Skin with the Healing Brush Tool. How to Avoid Shooting Circles Under the Eyes. 14. Softening Wrinkles. Heal Wrinkles with the Healing Brush Tool. Create a More Subtle Softening with Layers. How to Avoid Shooting Wrinkles. 15. Removing Blemishes. Remove Small Blemishes with the Spot Healing Brush Tool. Replace Bigger Blemishes with the Healing Brush Tool. How to Avoid Photos with Blemishes. 16. Whitening Yellow Teeth. Brighten the Smile with the Dodge Tool. Change the Color of the Teeth with the Hue/Saturation Control. How to Shoot Whiter Teeth. 17. Getting Rid of Braces. Paint Over the Braces with the Brush Tool. Clone Stamp Tool. How Not to Take a Picture with Braces. 18. Taming Unruly Hair. Replace Messy Hair with the Clone Stamp Tool. Change the Hair Color. How to Shoot Better Hair. 19. Smoothing Skin Tone and Color. Adjust the Skin Color. Smooth the Skin-and Make It Glow. How to Shoot Better-looking Skin. 20. Making a Plain Face More Glamorous. Fix the Obvious Flaws. Smooth the Skin Tone. Dull the Shiny Skin. Enhance the Lip Color. Whiten the Eyes. Enhance the Eye Color. Change the Eye Color. Widen the Smile. Thin Those Chubby Cheeks. Give a Digital Nose Job. How to Shoot a More Glamorous Photo. V. HOW TO FIX REALLY BAD PICTURES. 21. Changing the Color of an Object. Recolor an Object with the Hue/Saturation Control. Change Colors with an Adjustment Layer. How to Make Recoloring Easier. 22. Changing Backgrounds. Paste a New Background into Your Picture. Preparation. Execution. Change More Than the Sky. Create a New Photo Backdrop. How to Shoot Better Backgrounds. 23. Removing Unwanted Objects (or People!). Crop It Out of the Image. Clone It Away. How to Shoot Cleaner Pictures. 24. Reducing Glare and Flare. Clone Over Glasses Glare. Copy a Good Eye Over a Glared-Out Eye. Burn Away Lens Flare. Clone Over Lens Flare. How to Avoid Glare and Flare. 25. Restoring Scratched and Faded Prints. Crop Any Ragged Edges. Adjust the Brightness and Contrast. Correct the Color Levels. Remove Dust and Scratches. Resharpen the Picture. Repair Rips and Tears. Reconstruct Missing Areas. How to Make a Better Scan. 26. Turning a Bad Color Photo into a Good Black-and-White One. Remove the Color. Readjust the Picture's Brightness and Contrast Levels. Hide Blatant Defects by Adding Noise to the Picture. Create a Sepia-Tone Picture. How to Avoid Taking Really Bad Pictures. Index.