Using Microsoft Photo Editor

Selecting              Resizing                  Rotating               Zooming               Smudge

Sharpen       Creating and Saving Transparency      Adjusting Image Quality     Cropping

Image to true colour or greyscale         Apply special effects        Apply artistic effects

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What is Photo Editor?

Photo Editor is a simple image editor that is included with Microsoft Office. You can scan images into Photo Editor and edit them, or you can edit pre-existing images. With Photo Editor you can adjust colour balance, rotate, crop, smudge, and set a transparent colour in an image.

How do I get Photo Editor?

Photo Editor is part of Microsoft Office. It is not installed by default. To install it when you install Office, you must choose Complete Install, then click on Office Tools, then Options. When the Options window opens, select Microsoft Photo Editor, and continue with the installation.

To install it after Office is installed, put your Office CD-ROM into the drive. If the disk doesn’t start by itself, double-click on My Computer, double-click on your CD-ROM drive, and then double-click on the file called setup.exe. This will start the installation interface. Click once on the Add/Remove Components button. Follow the steps in the above paragraph to select Photo Editor, and continue with the installation.

Using Photo Editor

Photo Editor will not do everything that you want it to, especially if you get into more complex image manipulation. You may find that you need to purchase a more robust program at that point. Adobe Photoshop is an industry standard, but can be very complicated. If you will be creating images solely for electronic presentation, such as Web pages, Adobe ImageReady or Macromedia Fireworks are good alternatives to Photoshop.

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Photo Editor Standard Toolbar

 

 New Creates a new window

Redo Reverses the action of the Undo command

  

Open Opens an existing file

Select Enables one to choose an area that can be modified

Save Saves an image to a file

Zoom Reduces or enlarges the current location that is clicked

 

Print Prints the current image

Smudge Smears the area that is clicked

Scan Scans an image and places the image in the window

Sharpen Sharpens the area that is clicked

 

Cut Removes the selected item and places it on the clipboard

Image Balance Enables one to select the Brightness, Contrast, and Gamma of an image

 

Copy Copies the selected item and places it on the clipboard

Set Transparent Colour Allows the clicked area to become transparent

 

Paste Inserts the contents of the clipboard

Rotate 90° Rotates an image 90° to the right

 

Undo Reverses the previous actions

Zoom Control  Reduces or enlarges the current

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Open an image and try out the in-built features of Microsoft Photo Editor, or pick out a feature using the links at the top of the page.

Editing the Image

Select all or part of an image

To change the image we need to select the whole image or part of the image.

  1. From the Edit menu select Select All or use the Select button and drag over the area you want to select.

Resize a selection

To resize the image we can use the corner handles on that have appeared around the area we have selected.

  1. Either move the pointer over the sizing handle on a side until the pointer changes to a double-headed arrow.

  2. Drag the handle or use a corner handle to change the height and width simultaneously.

Rotate an image

  1. To rotate the image we can either use the Rotate 90  button.

  2. Or from the Image menu select Rotate and type in a measurement.

Zoom in or out of an image

  1. To make changes to images it easier to zoom in or out on an image. 

  2. Click Zoom to Zoom in on the area you want to enlarge.

  3. To Zoom out hold down SHIFT while you click.

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Smudge part of an image

The Smudge Brush allows you to smear or blend adjacent colours as the brush is dragged across the image.
  1. Select the Smudge tool.
  2. Drag the pointer over the area you want to smudge.

You can change the size and shape of the Smudge Brush by
  right clicking on the Smudge button and changing the options.

Sharpen part of an image

The Sharpen Brush increases the difference between adjacent grey values as the brush is dragged across the image.

  1. Select the Sharpen tool.

  2. Drag the pointer over the area you want to sharpen.

Change the size and shape of the Sharpen Brush by right clicking on the
  Sharpen button and changing the options.

Create transparent areas in an image

You can use transparent areas to integrate an image into your document, presentation, or Web page. For instance, if you have an image of a person with a plain background, such as the sky or a wall, you can make the background colour transparent. When the image is printed in a Word document, the background will have the colour of the paper. In a PowerPoint presentation or Web page, the transparent area will have the colour of the background.

  1. Select the Set Transparent Colour button .

  2. Position the tool over the colour you want to make transparent, and click.

  3. The Change Colour to Transparent dialog box appears.

  4. The preview window shows the colour that will change to transparent when you click OK.

  5. You can modify the options to increase the range of colours that will become transparent or to change the degree of transparency.

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Saving transparency in an image

Microsoft Photo Editor supports three file formats that save transparency: GIF, TIFF, and PNG. Transparency in an image is saved in two ways: as a transparent colour or in an alpha channel.

GIF saves images as monochrome (line art) or 8-bit (greyscale or 256-color) images. GIF saves all transparency values by substituting a transparent colour in place of the designated colour. If you are concerned about loss of image data, use TIFF or PNG to save your image. If you prefer GIF and want to preserve all the image data, save a copy of your image in another format before saving transparency conversions in GIF.

TIFF saves images as monochrome, 8-bit, or 24-bit (true colour) images. In 24-bit images, TIFF saves transparency in an alpha channel. For monochrome and 8-bit TIFF images, however, Photo Editor does not save transparency.

PNG saves images as 8-bit or 24-bit images. In 24-bit images, PNG saves transparency in an alpha channel. In 8-bit images, PNG substitutes a transparent colour on the palette.
  • Note that Web browsers do not support TIFF images. You must save images as GIF, JPG, or PNG for the Web.

Adjust image quality automatically

You can automatically adjust the brightness and contrast levels of an image.

  1. From the Image menu select Auto Balance.

  2. You will see some change in your image. The change may be slight or drastic, depending on the quality of the original image.

Adjust image quality manually

The Brightness control changes the amount of white in all colours and shades of grey.

  1. Select the Image Balance button and drag the Brightness slider to increase (100) or decrease (0) the brightness.

The Contrast control changes the difference between adjacent colours or shades of grey.
  1. Drag the Contrast slider to increase (90) or decrease (0) the contrast.

The Gamma control changes the contrast in the dark areas of the image.
  1. Drag the Gamma slider to increase (9.70) or decrease (0.10) the gamma.
  • To adjust all colours, select All Colours in the lower-left list before dragging the slider.
  • To adjust the colour channels separately, select Red, Green, or Blue.

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Crop an image
  1. Click the Select button and then drag over the area of your image you want to keep and from the Image menu select Crop.
  •   You can combine cropping and matting to create attractive framing effects.

Change the file format of an image

  1. On the File menu select Save As.

  2. In the Save as type box, click the file format type you want.

Change an image to true colour, palette, greyscale, or monochrome
  1. On the File menu select Properties and in the Type box, select a type from the list.
  2. If you selected Palette, click Custom, select the number of colours, and then click OK. If you selected Monochrome, click Custom, select the halftone options, and then click OK.

Change the resolution of an image

  1. On the File menu select Properties.

  2. In the Resolution box, enter in the number you want. Images for the Web should be 72 dpi.

  3. Click OK.

Choose a palette of fewer than 256 colours

  1. On the File menu select Properties.

  2. If your image is not 256-color, select Palette or 256 colour in the Type box.

  3. Click Custom.

  4. For fewer than 256 colours, click Variable and enter the number in the Number of Colours box.

  • The Standard palette type has 256 colours, which is the default setting for the Palette image type.

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Apply special effects

The special effects are the first group of commands on the Effects menu.

  1. On the Effects menu, click the effect you want to apply.

  2. Adjust the controls.

You can also apply an effect to part of an image by selecting the part you want to change and then applying the effect.

Apply artistic effects

The artistic effects are the second group of commands on the Effects menu.

  1. On the Effects menu, click the effect you want to apply.

  2. Adjust the controls.

In the large Preview image, drag the preview frame over the part of the image you want to preview, and then click the Preview button.

You can also apply an effect to part of an image by selecting the part you want to change and then applying the effect.

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