Contrast is the variation of dark and light intensities within an image. To look its best, an image must have the proper balance between highlights, midtones, and shadows.

Brightness is a term often associated with contrast. Brightness is the overall lightness of an image. If the image has a high brightness, all colors are bright. If the image has a low brightness, all colors are dark. Several of Paint Shop Pro’s contrast adjustments also affect the brightness of images.

Important: This command works on 16 mil­lion color and greyscale images only.

To adjust an image’s overall lightness and intensity and to balance its highlights, midtones, and shadows, use the Automatic Contrast Enhancement command. You can apply the command to a selection or an entire image.

Note: If you apply this command to a selection on an image, the contrast adjustment may not be as effective because all the image information is not available.

To automatically adjust contrast:

Choose Adjust > Brightness and Contrast > Automatic Contrast Enhancement.

In the preview window; center an important part of the image. Pan the image by clicking and dragging in the preview window; zoom in or out as necessary.

Adjust the Bias The brightness of the correction: Lighter, Neutral, or Darker.

Adjust the Strength The strength of correction for the image: Normal or Mild.

Adjust the Appearance The appearance of the contrast correction: Flat (a slight difference between light and dark areas); Natural (an average difference between light and dark areas); and Bold (a striking difference between light and dark areas).

Click OK.

After you have corrected the color balance and contrast of your image, adjust the saturation. Saturation is the vividness of colors that results from the amount of grey in each color. Saturated colors, such as fire-engine red, appear bright and brilliant. Desaturated colors, such as pastels, appear subdued or washed-out.

To adjust the overall color saturation of your image automatically, use the Automatic Saturation Enhancement command. You can apply the command to a selection or an entire layer .If you apply this command to a selection (rather than the entire image), the saturation adjustment may not be as effective because all image information is not available.

Important: This command works on 16 million color and greyscale images only.

This command has no effect on greyscale images because they have no color, it can be used on sepia or duotone images.

To automatically enhance saturation:

Choose Adjust > Hue and Saturation > Automatic Saturation Enhancement.

In the preview window, center an important part of the image (such as a face). Pan the image by clicking and dragging in the preview window; zoom in or out as necessary.

Adjust the Bias The vividness of the corrected colors: Less colorful, Normal, or More colorful.

Adjust the Strength The strength of correction: Weak, Normal, or Strong.

Mark the Skintones present check box if significant amounts of skintones are present in the selection or image. Marking this check box gives people more natural coloring. Clear the check box if the image has few or no skintones.

Click OK.

Video images can contain visible scan lines. In these images, lines can be missing or out of alignment with other lines. The resulting image looks excessively blurry.

Use the Deinterlace command to eliminate missing or misaligned lines from your image and to reconstruct missing information. If the image contains noise, it may become more visible after removing scan lines.

Note: Apply the Deinterlace command before you resize the image. Resizing adds or removes pixels from the image, which makes it more difficult to determine scan lines.

If your image has already been resized, you must return it to as close to the original size as possible so that each scan line is one pixel high. Zoom in until you can see individual pixels to determine how many pixels make up one scan line, and then resize the image so that each scan line is one pixel. For example, if the enlarged image has scan lines that are two pixels high, you would resize it by 50 percent. Keep in mind that the image loses clarity when you resize it.

To deinterlace an image:

Make sure the image has no selections. If necessary, choose Selections > Select None. The Deinterlace command is not available if the image contains a selection.

Choose Adjust > Add/Remove Noise > Deinterlace.

In the preview window, center the area of the image where the scan lines are most apparent.

For Scanlines to retain, select either Odd or Even to determine whether the odd-numbered or even-numbered scan lines are kept.

Click OK.

When you save a file to the JPEG format from any software package (such as scanning software), the file information is compressed to create a smaller file. The compression produces artifacts—unwanted image problems—that can appear as halos or color leakage beyond the edges of objects, checkerboard problems on smooth backgrounds, or blocky-looking areas in an image. Use Paint Shop Pro’s JPEG Artifact Removal command to restore a JPEG image to its original appearance.

You can apply the JPEG Artifact Removal command to a file in any format. For example, if you have saved a JPEG file as a Paint Shop Pro (.PspImage), you can still apply the command.

Note: Because JPEG compression discards image information, there are limits to how well the image can be restored.

To remove JPEG artifacts:

Make sure the image has no selections. If necessary, choose Selections > Select None. The JPEG Artifact Removal command is not available if the image contains a selection.

Choose Adjust > Add/Remove Noise > JPEG Artifact Removal.

In the preview window, center the area of the image where the artifacts are most apparent.

In the Strength group box, set the strength of correction to Low, Normal, High, or Maximum. For best results, try each option and examine all areas of the image to see which strength setting works best.

Set the Crispness to determine the amount of detail that is restored, from 0 (the least) to 100 (the most). Start with 50 and adjust the value until the image looks the most natural. This option determines how much fine-detail information the artifact removal attempts to create. The recreated information can only be a guess since the original information is lost. Excessive crispness may produce fine dots in the image.

Click OK.

Scanning printed images can produce undesirable patterns called Moiré patterns. Other patterns may come from scanning photographs printed on textured paper. Paint Shop Pro’s Moiré Pattern Removal command removes these patterns from your images. You can apply the command to a selection or an entire layer.

To remove moiré patterns:

Choose Adjust > Add/Remove Noise > Moiré Pattern Removal.

Magnify the image in the preview window until you can see the fine patterns clearly.

For Fine details, select a value to remove fine patterns. Change the value one number at a time until the pattern just disappears. Higher values may blur the image, so use the lowest value that removes the pattern.

Reduce the image magnification until you can see bands or color blotches clearly in the preview window. Bands or blotches may be visible when the image is at 100%, but may be easier to see at smaller percentages.

For Remove bands, change the value one number at a time until any color bands or blotches are less visible (they may not disappear completely). Use the lowest value possible to avoid desaturation of small objects.

Click OK.

Note: After you have removed the Moiré pattern, you may be able to use the Sharpen commands to restore detail and remove blurriness without reintroducing the pattern. This approach works best when you choose a Fine Details setting in the Moiré Pattern Removal dialog that is slightly higher than needed to remove the pattern.

Sometimes images have defects that are called noise—black, white, or colored specks ranging in size from very tiny to relatively large or all-over noise that gives surfaces a grainy look. You can use Paint Shop Pro’s Noise commands to remove noise from images. Before you decide which command to use, determine the type of noise that your image contains.

Important: These commands work on 16 million color and greyscale images only.

Ways to remove image defects and noise:

Removing Single-Pixel Specks This command analyzes the brightness of each pixel and compares it to the surrounding pixels to determine if it should be removed.

Removing Multiple-Pixel Black or White Specks

Use the Salt and Pepper Filter command to remove multiple-pixel black or white specks, such as those caused by dust on film or video.

Removing Noise While Preserving Edge Details

Use the Edge Preserving Smooth command to remove noise in an image without losing edge details.

Removing Small Areas of Noise

Use the Median Filter command to remove small random specks or areas of noise that are distinctly different from the surrounding area.

Removing Noise While Keeping Texture Details

Use the Texture Preserving Smooth command to remove noise or specks in an image while preserving texture details.

Softening the Image

The three Softness commands are Soft Focus, Soften, Soften More. Soften applies a uniform blur to your image. Soften More applies the Soften command with more intensity. The Soft Focus command makes the image look as though it was taken with a camera using a soft focus filter.

The three Softness commands are Soft Focus, Soften, Soften More. Soften applies a uniform blur to your image. Soften More applies the Soften command with more intensity. The Soft Focus command makes the image look as though it was taken with a camera using a soft focus filter.

To use the Soften and Soften More commands, choose Adjust > Softness > and either the Soften or Soften More command.

To use the Soft Focus command:

Choose Adjust > Softness > Soft Focus to open the dialog.

In the preview window, center the important part of the image. Pan the image by clicking and dragging in the preview window; zoom in or out as necessary.

For Softness, set a percentage value or choose the strength of the correction. At lower values, the image is softened only a small amount. At higher values, the image appears to have a blurred effect.

For Edge importance, set a percentage value or choose the strength of the correction. At lower values, the edges of the image is softened. At higher values, the detail of the edges are retained.

Mark the Include scattered light check box if you want bright areas in the background of the image to be softened.

For Amount, set a percentage value or choose the strength of the halo effect. At lower values, the halo is added to only very bright areas in the image. At higher values, a halo effect is created around bright areas.

For Halo size, set a percentage value or choose the size of the halo. At lower values, the halo is small. At higher values, the halo effect is large.

For Halo visibility, set a percentage value or choose the strength of the halo visibility. At lower values, the halo effect is subtle. At higher values, the halo effect is more obvious.

Click OK.

Camera lenses can create distortions in photographs. You see these distortions most often in wide-angle photographs, in close-up photographs taken with cameras with fixed focal ranges, and in cameras with inexpensive lenses (such as disposable cameras).

Types of Lens Distortions:

Barrel distortion

If your image has a barrel distortion, it looks pushed out at the center. Lines that should be straight are curved. You must correct lens distortions before cropping the image. For distortion corrections to work properly, the axis of the camera lens must coincide with the center of the image.

To correct a barrel distortion:

Choose Adjust > Lens Correction > Barrel Distortion Correction.

Set the Strength of the correction. Adjust this value until the dis­tortion disappears. Look for lines in the image that are curved and adjust the Strength Value until they become straight. The image is resized as you adjust this value.

Preserve central scale Whether the scale of the center of the picture remains the same or is adjusted. If you mark this check box, pixels are either added to, or removed from the image. Clear this check box if you do not want to change the size of the image or layer.

Note: Notice the Result size group box. If the Preserve central scale check box is marked, the changes to the original image in the width and height display for the adjusted image.

Click OK

Fisheye distortion

If your image has a fisheye distortion, it looks as though it has been pasted onto a sphere or blown up like a balloon. Lines that should be straight are curved and the edges of the image look compressed.

To correct a fisheye distortion:

Choose Adjust > Lens Correction > Fisheye Distortion Correction.

Adjust the image using the following options:

Field of View

The strength of the correction. Adjust this value until the distortion disappears.

Preserve central scale

Whether the scale of the center of the pic­ture remains the same or is adjusted. If you mark this check box, pixels are either added to, or removed from the image. Clear this check box if you do not want to change the size of the image or layer.

Note: Notice the Result size group box. If the Preserve central scale check box is marked, the changes to the original image in the width and height display for the adjusted image.

Pincushion distortion

If your image has a pincushion distortion, it looks pushed in at the center. Lines that should be straight are curved.

To correct a pincushion distortion:

Choose Adjust > Lens Correction > Pincushion Distortion Correction.

Set the Strength of the correction. Adjust this value until the distortion disappears. Look for lines in the image that are curved and adjust the Strength Value until they become straight. The image is resized as you adjust this value.

Mark the Preserve central scale Whether the scale of the center of the picture remains the same or is adjusted. If you mark this check box, pixels are either added to, or removed from the image. Clear this check box if you do not want to change the size of the image or layer.

Note: Notice the Result size group box. If the Preserve central scale check box is marked, the changes to the original image in the width and height display for the adjusted image.

Click OK.

When you take a flash picture of people or animals, sometimes their eyes look red—the result of the flash’s light reflecting off the retina of the eye. Use the Red-Eye Removal command to return eyes to natural colors. You can also use this command to enhance or change eye colors. If a human eye is partially obscured, select the Auto Human Eye method, and then use the Refine setting to adjust the correction area.

Important: This command works on 16 million color or greyscale images only.

To use the Red-Eye Removal command:

Make sure the image has no selections. If necessary, choose Selections > Select None. The Red-Eye Removal command is not available if the image contains a selection.

Choose Adjust > Red-Eye Removal.

In the right preview window, center the red eyes of the subject. Pan the image by clicking and dragging in the preview window; zoom in or out as necessary.

Note: You must use the right preview window for panning the image because you select the subject’s eyes in the left preview window.

From the Method drop-down list, select a correction method:

Auto Human Eye

Automatically selects the correction area using a circular selection and chooses settings appropriate to a human eye. If you are correcting human eyes (even partially obscured ones), try this method first.

Auto Animal Eye

Automatically selects the correction area using a circular or elliptical selection area and chooses settings appropriate to an animal eye. You can also rotate the selection with this method. If you are correcting animal eyes, try this method first.

Freehand Pupil Outline

Manually select the correction area on human or animal eyes using a Freehand Selection tool. Use this method for difficult situations, such as a partially obscured pupil.

Point-to-Point Pupil Outline

Manually select the correction area on human or animal eyes using a Point-to-Point Selection tool. Use this method for difficult situations, such as a partially obscured pupil.

In the left preview window, select the first eye to correct:

For the Auto Human Eye or Auto Animal Eye method, click anywhere inside the red area of the eye to select the eye automatically. You can also click and drag from the center of the eye to the outside edge of the red area.

For the Freehand Pupil Outline method, click and drag the cursor around the edge of the red area of the pupil. Release the mouse button when you reach the beginning point of the selection.

For the Point-to-Point Pupil Outline method, left-click at points a few pixels apart around the edge of the red area of the pupil. (Right-click to reverse a click.) When you reach the beginning point, double-click.

Note: To remove a selection, click Delete.

After you select the eye, a circle appears around the selected area and a control box for making adjustments encloses the circle. The right preview window displays the corrected eye.

Make sure the selection is positioned and sized properly over the red area of the eye:

To move the selection, drag it to a new location.

For the Auto Animal Eye method, drag the center rotation handle to rotate the selection. You can also reshape the eye from a circle to an ellipse by dragging its side handles.

Fine-tune the eye correction by adjusting the pupil size and lightness, glint, iris size, and feathering and blurring of the iris. Refer to the fine-tuning steps later in this section.

To correct other red eyes, repeat the previous steps. The settings from the first eye are retained, so the subsequent corrections should be much quicker.

Click OK.

To fine-tune the eye correction on the Red-Eye Removal dialog:

For a human eye, look at the corrected eye to see if you need to adjust the iris area around the pupil. (An animal eye usually does not show an iris.) Sometimes the red eye area covers the iris. If needed, adjust the iris with the following options:

Iris Size

The size of the iris. Increasing the iris size decreases the pupil size.

Hue

The color of the iris (such as blue, brown, or green). This option is not available for the Freehand Pupil Outline and Point-to-Point Pupil Outline methods because these methods select the pupil, rather than the pupil and iris.

Color

The color variation of the iris (such as light blue or deep blue).

For Pupil lightness, adjust the value so that the corrected eye appears the appropriate shade and matches your perception of the natural color.

Examine the glint in the eye. A glint makes the eye look natural and lively; without it the eye looks “dead.” Adjust the glint using the following options:

Glint size

The size of the glint.

Glint lightness

The lightness of the glint. Lower values darken the glint; higher values lighten it.

Center glint

Mark the check box to move the glint to the center of the pupil. Clear it to leave the glint at its original position.

Use Refine when the eye is partially obscured in the original image. For example, if the eyelid covers part of the original eye, it should cover it in the corrected eye. Use the Refine Slider to reduce the correction. Slowly drag the slider to the left to reduce the correction and minimize its overlap with the surrounding skin.

To blend the corrected eye with the rest of the image, set the following options:

Feather

Adjusts the edges of the corrected eye. Smaller values make the edges more defined; larger values blend the edges to the surrounding image areas.

Blur

Blends the eye with surrounding pixels when the photo has a grainy appearance. Increase the setting one unit at a time until the eye blends naturally with the rest of the image.

The Scratch Remover tool is one way to remove scratches, cracks, and other defects from your images. Use the tool to enclose the area with the scratch and erase it. The tool works best for scratches on relatively smooth backgrounds. The Scratch Remover tool uses the background image details to create new information to replace the scratch. If the background is relatively smooth, the result is usually satisfying. To remove scratches from a textured background, the Clone tool may be more effective.

Note: This tool can be used only on backgrounds; it is not available when you are working on layers.

If there are many small scratches in the image, use the Automatic Small Scratch Remover command.

Important: This command works on 16 million color or greyscale images only.

To use the Scratch Remover tool:

If necessary, click the background layer on the Layer palette.

To limit the correction to a specific area, make a selection.This step works well when you need to be careful not to remove important details near the scratch.

Select the Scratch Remover tool

On the Tool Options palette, set the following options:

Width

The width, in pixels, of the tool. Choose a width that is about 3 or 4 pixels wider than the scratch. If the width is considerably larger than the scratch, you will lose image detail. Note that you are also able to modify the width with the PageUp and PageDown keys while you are selecting the scratch.

Selection boxes

The shape of the Scratch Remover tool. Select the flat-end option to correct scratches that are perpendicular to object edges in the image or are in an open area (the background is similar and has no objects in it). Select the pointed-end option to correct scratches at an angle to object edges in the image (with this option, you can place the tool closer to the edges).

Center the cursor just outside one end of the scratch, then click and drag the bounding box over the scratch:

If the tool width is 10 or fewer pixels, the box is single-sided. Position the box so that the edges surround, but do not touch, the scratch.

If the tool width is more than 10 pixels, the box is double-sided. Position the box so that the inner edges surround, but do not touch, the scratch.

With the mouse button still pressed, you can adjust the size and position of the rectangle:

Press the Arrow keys to move the starting point of the bounding box by 1 pixel.

Press PageUp or PageDown to increase or decrease the width of the box by 1 pixel.

When the rectangle properly encloses the scratch, release the mouse button. The scratch is removed.
If you are not satisfied with the result, click Undo to undo the scratch removal, then try selecting the scratch again (perhaps varying the width of the tool).

Achieving the best results: If the scratch background is highly textured or contains many image variations (say, a flower, a face, and a wall), the result may not be as satisfying. Try these tips to get the best results: Before using the tool, select the area that contains the scratch. Use a tool width about 3 or 4 pixels wider than the scratch itself. For scratches over several different backgrounds, try removing the scratch a section at a time. Consider using the Clone Tool instead.

The Automatic Small Scratch Remover command finds and eliminates small, line-shaped defects that are either lighter or darker than the surrounding area.

Important: This command works on 16 million color or greyscale images only.

To use the Automatic Small Scratch Removal command:

To limit the correction to a specific area, make a selection. The command works best on a selection rather than the entire image.

Choose Adjust > Add/Remove Noise > Automatic Small Scratch Removal.

Mark the check box of the type of scratches to remove (you must choose at least one option):

Remove dark scratches

Mark this check box to remove scratches that are darker than their background.

Remove light scratches

Mark this check box to remove scratches that are lighter than their background.

Specify how scratches are removed with the options in these two group boxes:

Local contrast limits

The difference in contrast between a scratch and its background. Use a value that sets the limits to where they achieve the best results. Start with the Lower limit at 0 and the Upper limit at 50. If scratches remain, the Automatic Small Scratch Removal command is unable to remove them. If scratches disappear, then adjust the limits to minimize loss of image detail. Adjust the Lower limit up to the setting just below where scratches reappear. Adjust the Upper limit down to the setting just above where the scratches reappear.

Strength

The strength of the scratch removal: Mild, Normal, or Aggressive. Select the lowest setting that removes scratches. Look at all areas of the image to make sure important details are not lost.

Click OK.

Use the Blur;effectsto soften a selection or an image. Blur images for photo retouching or to remove noise in the image. The Blur effects smooth transitions and decrease contrast by averaging the pixels near edges and areas of significant color transitions. To increase the effect of any of the Blur effects, apply them multiple times to the same image.

Important: These effects work on greyscale and 16 million color (24-bit) images only.

Select from the following Blur effects:

Average

Removes noise that occurs throughout an image by adjusting the intensity of each pixel to the average intensity of its surrounding pixels. Also removes color dithering that results from increasing the color depth of an image from paletted to 24 bit.

Blur and Blur More

Remove noise by applying smooth transitions and decreasing the contrast in your image. The Blur More effect applies the Blur effect with more intensity. Use either effect to reduce graininess in your image.

Gaussian

Blurs an image by an adjustable amount. Blends a specific number of pixels incrementally, following a bell-shaped curve. The blurring is dense in the center and feathers at the edges.

Motion Blur

Blurs in a particular direction (from 0 to 359 degrees) and at a particular strength (from 1 to 100). Use this effect to simulate taking a picture of a moving object using a fixed exposure time.

To apply a Blur effect:

On the Layer palette, click the layer containing the area you want to blur.

To limit the blur to a specific area, make a selection in the image.

Choose Adjust > Blur, then choose a effect.

For the Blur and Blur More effects, the effect is applied to the image or selection.

For the Average, Gaussian, and Motion effects, a dialog opens. Choose from the options, then click OK. The effect is applied to the image or selection.

Improving image clarity is the final step in image correction. Use the Clarify, Sharpen, and Edge commands to clarify and sharpen your images.

Important: These commands work on 16 million color or greyscale images only.

Ways to improve clarity:

Clarifying Images

Makes a hazy, foggy, or slightly out of focus image look clearer.

Sharpen and Sharpen More Focus the image and improve its clarity by increasing the contrast between adjacent pixels where there are significant color contrasts, usually at the edges of objects. The Sharpen More command sharpens with a stronger effect than the Sharpen command.

Unsharp Mask

Sharpens the mid- to high-contrast edges in the image without enhancing noise. This command is typically used in professional color corrections.

Accentuating Edges and Contrast Areas

Edge effects to clarify your image and to accentuate the edges and contrast areas in your image.

Paint Shop Pro contains several commands that sharpen your image by increasing the contrast of adjacent pixels:

Sharpen and Sharpen More

Focus the image and improve its clarity by increasing the contrast between adjacent pixels where there are significant color contrasts, usually at the edges of objects. The Sharpen More command sharpens with a stronger effect than the Sharpen command. Both commands are automatically applied to the image.

Unsharp Mask

Sharpens the mid- to high-contrast edges in the image without enhancing noise. This command locates adjacent pixels that have a difference in lightness values that you specify and increases their contrast by an amount you specify. This command is typically used in professional color corrections.

To use the Sharpen or Sharpen More command:

Choose Adjust > Sharpness > Sharpen or Adjust > Sharpness > Sharpen More.

To use the Unsharp Mask dialog:

Choose Adjust > Sharpness > Unsharp Mask.

In the preview window, center an important part of the image (such as a face). Pan the image by clicking and dragging in the preview window; zoom in or out as necessary.

Sharpen the image with the following options:

Radius

The number of pixels to adjust around each edge. A value between 0.5 and 2 works best, depending on the image. A lower value sharpens only the edge pixels, while a higher value sharpens a wider band of pixels. The effect is much less noticeable in print than on-screen because a small radius (for example, 1 pixel) represents a smaller area in a high-resolution printed image. Therefore, use lower values for on-screen images and higher values for high resolution printed images.

Strength

The amount of contrast to increase in the image’s pixels. Start with a low value and increase it gradually.

Clipping

The difference in lightness values that adjacent pixels must have before they are sharpened.

Click OK.