| Vikki Olds November 1, 2000 Paint Shop Pro 7 has a whole new Effects section that includes Photo Enhancing Tools. Below is a photo that some might think is ok. To me it looks a little blurred, I don't like the dark line about halfway down on the left side in the water and I don't like the spotty-ness of the water around the trees in the foreground. Before Paint Shop Pro 7 I would have had to use plug-ins to correct these things. With Paint Shop Pro 7 all the tools I need are built right in. Some tools used here were in previous version of Paint Shop Pro. I'll make note of the new tools as I use them. 
The first thing I want to do is remove some of the blurry-ness in the image. I do this first because "sharpening" a photo sometimes causes other distortions that need to be fixed after sharpening. The first tool I will use has been in Paint Shop Pro for awhile and it is the Unsharp Mask. The unsharp mask will make the photo more crisp. You have to be careful not to use to high of a strength number or your image will start to look overexposed instead of crisper. You can access the Unsharp Mask tool from Effects>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask. 
The next tool I will use is new to Paint Shop Pro in version 7 and is called the Scratch Remover tool. You can use this to remove annoying reflections such as that circled in the image below in red. The Scratch Remover tool can be accessed from the toolbar  or from the Effects>Photo Enhance>Scratch Remover. When accessed from the toolbar, you simply drag your mouse over the area you want to correct and release the mouse when you have traversed the area to be corrected. 
The next tool, the Clarify tool, is also new in Paint Shop Pro 7. This is similar to using the Unsharp mask. The Clarify tool helps to bring out the detail in a photo. You can access the Clarify tool from Effects>Photo Enhance>Clarify. As with any sharpening type of tool you want to be careful not to apply the effect too strongly. 
Now my image is starting to shape up. 
With all this Unsharping and Clarifying my image has become spotty in some places, the worst of which is the water I was already unhappy with. I've circled in red the worst places that I see. 
To correct this spotty-ness I've created by sharpening and clarifying the image I'll use another tool new in Paint Shop Pro 7. This is the Salt and Pepper Filter than can be accessed from Effects>Noise>Salt and Pepper Filter. Using the freehand selection tool, draw around the area you want to correct and then access the Salt and Pepper Filter to correct the area. 
Wow! You can see in the preview above that my water is now nice and smooth without any spotty-ness. The image below shows the final product created using just Paint Shop Pro 7 to enhance a photo quickly and easily. 
The before an after side by side really shows the difference in the image and that the powerful photo enhancing tools that Paint Shop Pro 7 includes really do the job.
Before..... After..... Copyright 2000, Vikki Olds, All Rights Reserved | 