Getting Started with Photofiltre

[Uguel707]

This thread on Photofiltre will consist of short and simple tutorials designed to initiate the newcomer to the program. I think that the best way to learn how to use a program is by starting to learn its main functions and acquire good understanding of the tools at our disposal by taking part actively.

Hopefully, with the help of simple and walktrough instructions we will be able to get the work done and help users become comfortable and productive with Photofiltre.

Photofiltre website & download
http://www.photofiltre.com/

How to resize a picture with Photofiltre
Tutorial 1

Picture resized from 600X400 pixels to 300x200 pixels



1. Start Photofiltre. Go to the menu click on File > Open, locate the picture you want to work on and click on Open.

Tip: you can also click on the little yellow folder icon to open a picture.

Left side of the Menu bar



Right side of the Menu bar



...you picture is now opened in Photofiltre.

You will see the dimensions of your picture at the bottom of your workplace.
Mine is 600 x400 pixels...of course, yours can be different!


2. Resize your picture by going to the Menu > scroll down till you see "Image size"

Here I have Width : 600 pixels
Height: 400 pixels



I would like to have my picture reduced to half the size.

All I have to do is to scroll down the calculation options,
choose the percentage, and then write 50 for the width and 50 for the height
in order to reduce the picture to 50%.

or

you can change the width 600 pixels to 300 pixels
and the height 400 pixels to 200 pixels which also equals to 50% of the picture.

Keep in mind that if your are not satisfied with the change, you can always
go back or undo the last action by clicking on the red undo arrow in the menu.



That is all!


Tips:

If you find the picture a little blurry after resizing, you can augment
the contrast of the picture. In my case I augmented the contrast to 20%. For doing so,
go to the Menu > Brightness Contrast and then raise the contast by moving
the cursor to the right, Usually 10% to 20 % might do the trick. Then I augmented
the brightness to 10%.



Have a look at your picture to determine if your are satisfied with the size....
if it is still too big, you can reduce it more by doing the same steps and choosing
the percentage that fits your picture best.

Remember, you can always go back as long as the image remains opened in the
program. Use the red arrow to undo any unwanted change.

Save your picture with a different name if you want to keep the original as it is.
Use the JPEG or PNG Format.


Voilà, you are done!

If you have any questions regarding this tutorial or need more explanations,
feel free to ask. I will move on with more tutorials later so please be patient before asking questions that are not related to this topic. If for whatever reason you feel the need to post an image or photograph in order to get help, try not to exceed 500 X 500 pixels otherwise the page will take too much time to download. Also, some users with low connexions might not be able to see the page because of that.

Next tutorial will be on how to crop a picture.

[pvsurfer]

Now that's what I'm talking about...

...c'est fantastique!

[Uguel707]

Originally Posted by pvsurfer

Now that's what I'm talking about...

...c'est fantastique!

thank you pvsurfer and do not hesitate to ask if something is not clear!

[Tommy]

Great and thanks for this Thread.
I kicked Adobe PS on my Laptop years ago and installed PF, in former times Freeware (still is) and today PF Studio.

[pvsurfer]

Originally Posted by Uguel707

thank you pvsurfer and do not hesitate to ask if something is not clear!

I would love to see a future tutorial on how to use PF to cure background problems (also removing/replacing the background) where the foreground subject is the 'human-form'.

[Uguel707]

How to Use the Crop Tool with Photofiltre

Here is the picture I had at the beginning.

http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/1...leamie1sv4.jpg

...then I reduced it to this dimension after using the crop tool.

http://img476.imageshack.us/img476/5...leamie1yp6.jpg

Using the Rectangle Selection to Crop a Picture


Here's an easy way to trim your picture and get rid of any parts that are distracting or unnecessary. In Photofiltre, this is done using the rectangle tool.

First open your image in Photofiltre.
Choose the selection rectangle from the Tools Palette.

http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/2...gletoolfw7.jpg

Start in a corner of your photo(1) and while you are pressing your left mouse button, drag the rectangle covering the area you wish to keep and then go to the Menu bar > Image > Crop. The area outside the dotted rectangle will be deleted, leaving just the part you want.

http://img364.imageshack.us/img364/4...digits1mi1.jpg

Notice also that after releasing the mouse
you can customize the emplacement of the
cropping rectangle simply by hovering the cursor
over the dotted line of the rectangle or square...then you
will see a cursor with arrowheads at both heads. (2)


Once you are done with your picture, save it with a different name if you want to keep the original as it is. Use the JPEG or PNG Format.

Tip

If for whatever reason, you decide not to crop the picture
anymore while working on your picture with the rectangle selection tool and that you want to get rid of it, go to the Menu bar > Selection > Hide Selection (or Ctrl+D).

Next tutorial:How to Create a Transparent Background.

[Uguel707]

Originally Posted by Tommy

Great and thanks for this Thread.
I kicked Adobe PS on my Laptop years ago and installed PF, in former times Freeware (still is) and today PF Studio.

Hey, your welcome Tommy! Well, Adobe Photoshop is a great program
but quite complex to learn and it may be beyond the needs & desires of
the average user although Photofiltre is not as powerful, it is very light,
easy, and can produce nice images.

Originally Posted by pvsurfer

I would love to see a future tutorial on how to use PF to cure background problems (also removing/replacing the background) where the foreground subject is the 'human-form'.

I intended to do a tutorial on this too. Many people would like to create images or avatars using different backgrounds or no backgrounds at all. So I might do it next.

[Dina]

Much lighter than PS. Thanks for this thread.

Dina

[Uguel707]

thank you Dina!

[Uguel707]

How to create a transparent background (part 1)
Tutorial 3

This tutorial will show you how to change or remove the background of a picture
in order to apply it on a different background. This technique is easy for beginners,
there is another way of doing it that I will show you later on.



1. Open up your image in Photofiltre

2. Duplicate your picture by going to the Menu bar > Image > Duplicate
or you can do Ctrl+U. By duplicating your image, you will be able to
compare the results with your original and make adjustments if necessary.

Now we will remove the background.

3. Go to the Menu bar > Image > Transparent color

I set the transparency to 20
I usually set the transparency between 15 and 30

When the window opens, you will notice that the program has already
detected the main colour of your background. In my case, it was turquoise
so it detected turquoise... Photofiltre is now ready to get rid of the turquoise colour.
Apply the change and click OK.

The background is now removed!

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/293...arency1xl5.jpg

Now if you look carefully, the background is "almost" transparent.

http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/7...hton001kx0.gif

I said almost because some of the turquoise colour has been left around the subject.
If I want to get rid of it, I could hit the undo button (red arrow), and then apply a higher level of tolerance like 30 instead of 20. But if I do that, some similar tones of turquoise found in the shirt will be removed too !

http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/4643/getridbluejj6.jpg

Normally, what I will do to get rid of the turquoise is to enlarge the picture.
use the eraser and then erase any remaining parts that were left over.
Unfortunalety, the free version of Photofiltre doesn't have the eraser tool!
So the best thing I can do for this picture is to find a background on which I wanted to paste my picture in it. I will copy and paste my picture of the boy over my new black background
and then with the brush tool, I will colour any of the unwanted spots I do not want to keep with black (or the same colour of the new background colour).

I decided to copy the picture of the boy on a black background...

4. ...So I opened a new picture with a black background.

5. I copy and paste the picture over the black picture.

Menu bar> Edit > Copy (or Ctrl+C)

Now that boy picture is pasted over the black background,
I will have to get rid of the turquoise left around him.

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/5315/getridblueba7.jpg


6. I will goto the Palette tools and choose the Paintbrush tool
and then I will select the size of the brush I feel comfortable to work with.


7. Also, I will set the foreground to black
for it is the colour I need to cover the turquoise and match my background.
The foreground is the first rectangle at the top of the material tools.
If you click on it, a window will open and display more colours to choose from.
In my case, I chose black.

http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/5...kgroundht0.jpg


8. Before applying black around my model, I will maximize the
view of the picture by clicking on the little magnifier with the plus sign (zoom in)
and I can also maximize the view of the picture by clicking on the square
on the edges of the picture.

http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/4466/zoominci4.png
http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/8...aximizepc6.png


Notice that when you want to return to the normal size of the picture,
you just have to the Menu bar > View > Original size.

9. Now I can hide any of the remaining turquoise by
painting over it with black. I carefully painted over with
a small Paintbrush and then I added a bit of turquoise in the shoulder area
for a little part of that colour was removed when removing the background.
here's the result....

http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/6...gashtonrd2.jpg


Tip:

You can also copy and paste the transparent image on any background
that you already have on your computer.

Notice that some image do not need any retouching when the background
consists of one solid colour that is completely different from the subject.
So start practicing with solid colour background images at first.
Like in the example below....the horse picture was changed to a transparent
background and just a tiny amount of blue remained at the bottom but
I was able to get rid of it after cropping the picture.

http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/8...eshorseli9.jpg

You can practice with this image in order to get used to the transparency.

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/5...icewithjp6.jpg

Next tutorial: How to apply a new background to an image (part 2)

[WSFuser]

@Uguel707 - what would u need to do if the background was complex and not single color?

[Uguel707]

We will colour all the background with a solid colour
different from any colour in the picture and then
we will remove the background.
I will also show it in my next tutorial.

[Uguel707]

How to create a transparent background (part2)
tutorial 4

In the present tutorial, we will do almost the same thing we did in
the preceding one except that we will manage to get rid of
ALL the colours in the background in order to be able to display
the picture with or without any background at all.

Remember that in our last tutorial, we started with an image
that already had a background colour and that colour (turquoise)
was also found in our subject so when we got rid of the turquoise,
the turquoise that was already on the shirt got erased a little bit.
But that did not matter too much for the picture was to be pasted
on a black background and most of the little flaws could be easily
seen and corrected once the picture was pasted on a black image.

But now we do not want ANY remaining colours because we want to
be able to display the subject of the picture with no background at all.
So, to do so, what we need is a solid colour that is not in the foreground.
What we will do is find and apply a very different colour that is not in the
subject at all. I chose pink Magenta.

Notice that some of the actions we will do here have no screenshots,
nevertheless, they can be found in the preceding tutorial.

1. Open your picture in Photofiltre.

2. Duplicate your picture.
Go to the Menu > Image > Duplicate.

3. We will work on the duplicated picture only but keep the original open
to compare or to make any adjustment.

4. Go to the Colour palette and set your foreground colour to Magenta
pink : Red 255, Green 0. Blue 254

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/157...tapink1ff0.jpg

5. By using the paintbrush tool, set the square tip radius to 15
and start painting your background leaving a space of about
1/4 inch (about 0,8 centimeter) around the edge of your subject.

http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/2...ssquareid7.jpg

6. Simply complete by filling the remaining space
around your subject with a smaller brush or a size that allows
to fill in without overlapping your subject. If you make a mistake,
just hit the red arrow tool to undo the last action.

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/5...ntaash1xf4.gif

I recommend that you increase the view of your picture while working
on it. See preceding tutorial screenshots for zooming & resizing.

Once you are done, look at your picture carefully to make sure that you
haven't forgetten any part ...See if you haven't left any space that is not
painted properly or that has semi-transparent colours like in the screenshot
below.

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/7...toavoidal4.jpg

....If so, just take the brush tool again and paint over.

7. Then go to the Menu > Transparent color > and set the transparency
between 30 and 60. Notice that you can go over 30 only if the colour of
the background is completely different from any colour in the foreground
or the subject which was not the case in the preceding tutorial. Click Ok.

Now have a look at your picture...see if you are satisfied with the results...
If for any reason you forgot some spots, click the undo button to remove the
transparency and then go back in your picture again to apply any correction
that you need to make.

Hopefully, you will be able to achieve nice results.

Tip: Working pixel by pixel can be tedious and a strain on the eyes,
try to take a break every 10 minutes from the computer.

here are the results I've got.

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/1...trans01ex5.gif

[Uguel707]

More Examples
based on the explanations from tutorial 4

1. First there were 2 people in the photograph.

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/9...ogetherdh9.jpg

2. I decided to take the girl only...so I coloured the background with
a colour that was not in the foreground.

3. Then I went to the Menu > Image> Transparent color > and set the transparency to 30.

...this is what I got

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/3353/jane01xr9.gif

4. I decided to put the subject on a different background.

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/7...ortraitup2.jpg

5. Then I resized to 80x80 and made an avatar out of it.


http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/803/janeava1su1.jpg

Tip:

To add a border outside your picture, you go to the Menu > Image > Outside frame > I chose a black frame of 2 pixels for my avatar. Larger pictures will require larger borders naturally!

[Uguel707]

from WSFuser:
what would u need to do if the background was complex and not single color?

Like in this picture?

http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/7029/model1co7.jpg

I will do the same thing as in tutorial 4. I will simply fill the background with
a colour that is not found anywhere in the picture and then hit
the transparency button as in step 3 of tutorial 4 .

http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/3...odifiedmh5.jpg

then I made it transparent by going to the Menu bar > Image >
Transparent color and set it to 30.

http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/7...etrans2dj2.gif

And of course, once the picture is transparent, you can paste it over
another background. He is not looking any happier but that's what you got
to expect from Professor Severius Snape!
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/7...nysnapeqx3.jpg


BUT trying to remove the background of a busy image like this one...

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/7906/examplepy2.jpg


will be (for obvious reason) very problematic. It is not impossible
but this is monk's work and this is not what I am at.

[pvsurfer]

It's MAGIC.

[WSFuser]

Originally Posted by Uguel707

from WSFuser:
what would u need to do if the background was complex and not single color?

Like in this picture?

yes something like that.

with paint.net, ive usually relied on magic wand to remove the background but setting the tolerance can be tricky especially since the slider has different intervals.

maybe i will try photofiltre and see if it works better/easier.

[Uguel707]

I think you will like Photofiltre for it has many good features in it although I deplore the fact that the freeware version has no eraser (definitely not a painting program) but still, there are a number of interesting things that you can do with it.

[Marja]

Hi Uguel! and All!

Glad to see this thread, there are some things I would like to learn to do with PhotoFiltre.
I have used it alot, but, I can always use the practice!

Plug-ins are MY Snape on this prog!

Not on my own puter at the moment, but, will try to keep up with you all!

(Gotta talk BJ into letting me and BBoss download it!
BBoss says we might have to cook him sumthin tho!)

Marja

[Uguel707]

thank you Marja! I am now preparing other tutorials... slowly but surely
and hope that you and other people will find something to your liking.

Originally Posted by Marja

Plug-ins are MY Snape on this prog!

Lol, there are just a few plugins that you can install with the freeware
version though... and they have to be downloaded from the Photofiltre
website for they were specifically made for PF!

[Uguel707]

Changing Season from Summer to Fall
tutorial 5

There is a way to make a picture of Fall by starting with a summer
picture with Photofiltre. It's a Photoshop technique I learned
from a German website that works also with Paint Shop Pro and other graphic
programs. Since Photofiltre doesn't have the same features
or colour adjustments as in Photoshop and PSP, I discovered another way
of doing it and it went pretty well.


1. Open a picture of Summer in Photofiltre.
I had this one...

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/8...invert1hf6.jpg

2. Duplicate your picture.
Menu > Image > Duplicate (or Ctrl + U)

3. Go to the Menu > Adjust > Swap RGB channel
Apply RGB = = > GRB, click Ok

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/9733/swaprgbch6.jpg

4. Once again, go to the Menu > Adjust > Color balance
im my case, I applied the below settings but yours can vary
depending on your image.

Cyan to Red : 30
Magenta to Green : 17%
Yellow to Blue : 0%
Click Ok

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/1...balancevr8.jpg

5. Now, we will enhance the colours by using the Auto Contrast
button situated at the top left of the filter bar.

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/6...button1hi8.png

If you do not see the filter bar, go to the Menu > View > and click on Filter bar
...the filter bar will appear.

Then you should end up with results similar to mine.

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/2...ingvertux5.jpg

TIP:
If you desire more contrast in your picture, go to the Menu > Adjust
and click on "More shadows".

[WSFuser]

@Uguel - is it possible to do the reverse effect, fall to summer?

[Uguel707]

WSFuser:
@Uguel - is it possible to do the reverse effect, fall to summer?

Yes, it is! But the results are usually better the other way around.

I had this picture of an Autumn landscape...

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/5...automnewv3.jpg

that I wanted to change for a Summer landscape...
please refer to tutorial 5 for screenshots

1. I went to the Menu > Adjust > Swap RGB channel
Apply RGB = = > GRB, click Ok

2. then I returned again to the Menu > Adjust > Color balance
im my case, I applied these settings below but yours can vary
depending on your image.

Notice that I applied different settings than the ones in tutorial 5:

Cyan to Red : 24 %
Magenta to Green : -15
Yellow to Blue : 8%
Click Ok

Then I enhanced the colours by using the Auto Contrast
button situated at the top left of the filter bar.

and this is it!

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/2...tomne08gw0.jpg

[WSFuser]

Originally Posted by Uguel707

Yes, it is! But the results are usually better the other way around.

correct you are. the leaves look almost neon.

[Uguel707]

Changing the Hue of a Picture
tutorial 6

Changing the hue of a picture is very simple to do with Photofiltre.

I had this picture
http://img481.imageshack.us/img481/6...istgoldnz5.jpg

... and decided to made a version in blue of it.

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/5...blue222qy5.jpg


1.First open the image you want to modify in Photofiltre.

2. Go to the Menu > Adjust > Hue variation. I chose a blue hue.

Move the little cursor while watching the changes taking effect on your picture.
Adjust it to your liking then click Ok. If you find the effect too pronounced, just go
tothe Menu > Edit > Fade Hue variation and then adjust as needed.

3. Save your picture as a .JPG and giving it a different name to keep the original
as it is.


Tip: If You want the Hue variation tool to appear as an icon in the Menu.
Just go to the Menu > View and click on "Filter bar". You will see the hue icon showing like this:

http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/5...vartoolun5.jpg

A red hue was applied in this picture and then I faded the effect to 50%

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/1...reduc50go5.jpg

Next tutorial: making icons