How to enhance a photo

There are so many ways you can enhance your photos with a few simple adjustments. For example, you can brighten a dull photo, or add sharpness. You can also use filters and effects to give your photo a boost or achieve a specific look, such as vintage, black and white or cinematic.

Learn how to easily enhance your photos with the tools in inPixio Photo Studio. If you don’t already own Photo Studio, you can download our free photo editor and test some of these enhancements.

Brighten a dull photo

If your photo looks a little dull or flat, you can enhance it using the editing tools.

To begin, click the Edit Photo tab.

Click “Auto correction” to give your photo an instant enhancement.

You can also choose a filter for your photo.

Next click “Tools”, “Correction”, then “Adjustments”.

Use the sliders to adjust image settings such as temperature, exposure, shadows, and contrast.

Add sharpness to a picture

In the Correction tool, you can also sharpen your image, to bring out the details and enhance texture.

Move the slider to the right to increase sharpness.

Enhance a photo with effects

We already mentioned that you can add a filter to change the look of your photo. But there are many other possibilities for enhancing your photos with effects. Let’s look at some of them:

Add a texture

Textures are overlays that add another layer to your picture. Like filters they instantly change the appearance of a photo. Textures can give an artistic and even surreal effect to a picture.

• Go the Textures tab
• Scroll through the list of textures and click one to test it on your photo.

Tip: for one additional click, you can adjust the intensity of the effect using the Opacity slider at the bottom of the Textures tab.

Add a LUT Style

LUT styles are similar to presets in that they instantly change the look of your photo. A LUT remaps colors in the photo for a creative effect.

• Go the Styles (LUTs) tab
• Scroll through the list of styles and click one to test it on your photo.

Add a Frame

A digital frame provides the perfect finishing touch to a photo. Photo Editor offers frames for every style of picture, as well as special themed frames for different events/seasons.

• Go the the Frames tab in the right-hand panel
• Scroll through the list of styles and click one to test it on your photo.

Make a black and white photo

Black and white photos are timeless and represent a true artistic choice that can lend a special beauty to your photos.

There are 2 ways to turn a color photo into black and white using the Tools tab, in the Edit Photo module.

1. In Correction-Adjustments, move the saturation slider to -100% to remove color
2. In Creative-LUTs, choose a Black and White LUT style from the selection available

Crop a photo

It may be a basic edit, but cropping can be a simple way to enhance your photo. Cropping helps to position your subject in the right position, and cut out unneeded content in the picture.

Cropping your images to a standard size is also useful for printing them or sharing them on social media.

• Click the Crop tab to open the crop tool. You will see grid-lines appear on your image.
• Use the handles to resize your image. Then click crop to confirm.

Crop options

By default, the option “Original” is selected in the right-hand panel. This means that your image will keep its original proportions (aspect ratio) when you resize.

Alternatively, you can select “Custom”. This lets you adjust both the size and proportions of your image freely.

You can also choose from a selection of crop presets in common ratios.

Some standard crop formats

• 1:1 gives you a square image
• 3:2 is good for ordering photo prints
• 9:16 is commonly used for Instagram and Facebook stories

You can switch from horizontal to vertical versions of these formats.

Tip: image size is in pixels, find out how to convert this into inches.

What else can you do with the crop tool?

• Rotate your photo 360 degrees.
• Create a vertical or horizontal mirror image.
• Change the angle of your photo, using the slider, to create a different perspective.

Using a Before/After View

Whichever edits you use to enhance your photo, compare your new picture to the original by using a side-by-side.

In the top toolbar click Dual views then select a view from the list. You can also edit directly in a dual view to see your changes as you work.

Join us!

If you want to learn faster, why not join our inPixio Facebook community, where thousands of inPixio users exchange tips about the software and share their photos.