For the past two weeks, we have discussed lighting and photography – discussing the different sources of light and how to manipulate them to get just the right photo. However, even when we try our best, sometimes the photo still needs some tweaking. Lucky for us, the Mixbook editor has a tool to help you make these minor adjustments. We’ve talked about the brightness toolbar in our past Editor 101 entry, but today we’re going to take a closer look at what this tool can do.
How to Use It
To increase the brightness of a photo, move the slider to the right. The number to the right of the bar should increase. To decrease the brightness, move the slider to the left. You should now see a negative number.
When to Use It
The brightness on your photo should be adjusted if it is over or under exposed. This means that your photo is slightly darker or brighter than you had anticipated and usually results in a loss of detail. If your photo was taken in low lighting, bright sunlight or used the flash, you may want to adjust the brightness.
The following photo was taken at night with a flash. Unfortunately, the photo still came out dark.
By brightening the photo in the editor, the overall photo improves, showing us more details in the face. Instead of looking dark and gloomy, the photo has gained some warmth and life.
This next photo did not use flash, but the tape dispenser against the white cardboard caused the photo to be slightly over exposed.
By decreasing the brightness, we gain some detail in the over exposed areas. This adjustment adds contrast between the tape dispenser and the cardboard, providing a greater distinction between the two. Bright photos may also mean prominent shadows. Decreasing the brightness will soften these shadows and provide you with a better-looking photo.
A Note on Brightness
Adjusting the brightness of your photo does affect it in its entirety, so be mindful of your edits. If increased too much, your photo may become over exposed, causing you to lose details in your background. If decreased too much, the photo gets too dark and you won’t be able to see anything at all! This tool should be used sparingly. Think of it as your “In Case of Emergency” tool, instead of a tool to rely on. Remember, photo editing can only do so much, so it’s always better to try and prevent common photo flaws from the get go. A great place to start is by reading our blog entries on lighting.
Got some questions on the photos you want to use in your Mixbook? Post in the comment section below or send support@mixbook.com an e-mail and our print quality specialists will be more than happy to assist you! Happy Mixbooking!
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I am trying to put together an album of vintage photographs. I have to edit every picture due to fading etc encountered with 100 year old photos. Any tips dealing with this age of photographs and getting them to look good in the final book would be helpful.
Hi Pam,
The best piece of advice we can give is to make sure you’re scanning the old photos at a high resolution. We recommend scanning them at 300 dpi to get the best possible print. If you have any further questions, or would like us to take a quick look at your project, e-mail support@mixbook.com and one of our customer care reps will be more than happy to help you out!
Definitely scan at 300 dpi…I have also found that manipulating the “saturation” of the photo helps with this problem. Most photo-editing software has this feature. If the photo has yellowed, try playing with the hue, or adding red (depending on your software).
When I roll my mouse over a photo in Mixbook, it gets brighter. When I remove the pointer it returns to the lower level of brightness. Which level is applied when the book is printed?
Hello Steve,
When you hover your mouse over an object in our editor, it will be highlighted to help indicate which object you are going to select. Your project will print without this highlighting feature.
We hope this helps! Let us know if you have any other questions or concerns.
-Kyle
I have several books I am working on. Does the Zoom take you to the actual size it will be when purchased?
Where can I see the actual size to see of resolution on a couple photos will actually be okay?
Thanks. Teresa
When I click a photo on, is that the way it will look when published since it gets brighter. Because of this it is hard to tell if it needs adjustment. It is darker before clicking it on.
Hi Teresa!
At this time, we do not have a feature that allows you to see the exact measurements in your photobook, but we will definitely pass this along to our engineering team.
In the meantime, we do have a workaround for this. To see how your photos will look in comparison to the actual size, we would first suggest for you to cut out a piece of paper to the size of your book or card. Next, take a screen shot of your page from the Editor and open it in a photo editing program, such as Paint or Photoshop (open up the program and paste the screen shot onto the canvas). The following link will provide more information on how to take a screen shot: http://take-a-screenshot.org/
From there, zoom in on the screen shot until the corners of the screenshot match the piece of paper you cut out. That will give you a relatively accurate idea of how large the photos and text will be in the actual printed book. Please note, when zooming in, the elements will look pixelated, however, the size you see is representative of the size the elements will be in the book. You should be able to view the resolution size of your photos by locating the file source on your computer and examining the file properties. Additionally, if you upload the photo into your project and find a yellow warning triangle symbol present, this indicates that the resolution of your photo is low. The yellow triangle is a warning that notifies you that an image is of low resolution. If this warning is visible on any of your pictures, please note that these pictures may print blurry or pixelated. You may not be satisfied with the way your book prints if you leave the images this way.
More information on yellow warning triangles can be found here: http://blog.mixbook.com/yellow-warning-triangle/
We hope this helps! Please feel free to contact us at support@mixbook.com with any additional questions, and we will be happy to assist you!
Cheers!
Veronica
Hi Teresa!
The yellow tint you are seeing is called a highlight, which lets you know which element you are scrolling over and/or clicking on.
This will not print in your final product.
Please let us know if you have any additional questions or concerns. Thank you and have a great day!
Cheers!
Veronica