Sun City Summerlin Computer Club Seminar Image Editing with Paint.Net Tom Burt March 30, 2016
Where to Find the Materials Sun City Summer Computer Club Website: http://www.scs-cc.com/smnr/image_editing_with_paint.net.pdf
Seminar Agenda Introduction Getting Paint.Net The Paint.Net Main Window The Paint.Net Tool Palette Basic Image Editing Actions The Paint.Net Color Window Using Layers Using Drawing Tools Saving in Various Formats Printing
Introduction Paint.Net is a FREE open source image editor. Has many nice features. Can be as simple as MS Paint or almost as complex as Photoshop. This 2-hour seminar will focus on most useful features for mere mortals. Ask questions as we go. We ll work on several interesting photo projects.
Getting Paint.Net Go to the Paint.Net Website: http://www.getpaint.net/ Click the download link (beware of downloads for other programs) This will take you to a download page. Click the dotpdn mirror. This will take you to a final download page. Click the download link. The file will download as a.zip file to your Downloads folder. Open the Windows File Explorer Make a new folder named: Paint.Net Copy / move the downloaded.zip file to that folder. Double-click the.zip to open and then click Extract all files. This will extract the setup.exe file into a folder. Finally, double-click the install.exe file to run the setup.
The Paint.Net Main Window
Paint.Net Tool Palette Hover over each tool to get a tool-tip name The various tools let you select or act on areas of the image. The tools that draw objects or edit pixels interact closely with the color window. Now we ll run through a demo of the most commonly used tools
Paint.Net Color Window You can show more or less of the color window. You can set a primary and secondary color. You can work in RGB or HSV. You can set the transparency of a color selection. You will often set the color by using the eyedropper tool. There are also color palettes for low-depth images like.gif files or icons. Let s demo the color window.
Exploring the Menu Bar Much of the photo editing capability of Paint.net is in the menu bar. The Image menu provides cropping, resizing and rotation. The Adjustments provides brightness/contrast, hue / saturation, black / white, levels and other adjustments. The Effects menu provides a rich array of special effects, plus some common actions like red-eye removal. Let s explore some of the menu bar actions.
BIO BREAK
Paint.Net Layers An image is comprised of one or more layers, stacked vertically. The image you see is the composite of viewing through all the layers, top to bottom. The background layer is the base image. Each layer applies its modifications to the layers below it. You can reorder the layers to change how they affect the composite image. You can also turn layers on or off. Let s look at some simple layer actions.
Example Project (1) Outdoor Retouch Cropping the photo Use the rectangle select, then crop image to selection Eliminating undesired elements Use the paint brush, pencil and clone stamp to get rid of people, poles, power lines, etc. Adjusting brightness, contrast and light / dark levels Use Adjustments menu as needed Adjusting hue / saturation Use Adjustments menu as needed Fix red-eye, if needed. Resize the photo (as appropriate) Save the final result and print or publish.
Example Project (2) Portrait Retouch Take an existing portrait (head shot) and re-do the background color. Use the Magic Wand selection tool. Use the color window. Use the Paint Bucket tool. Then adjust the lightness of the background. Use the magic Wand again. The use the Adjustments menu. Also adjust the overall contrast of the image.
Example Project (3) Restore an Old Photo Take a scan of an old black and white photo and restore it. Crop as needed. Straighten as needed. Also adjust the overall contrast of the image. Try the Black & White adjustment. Try the Auto-level. Adjust contrast & brightness. Then repair blemishes (spots, cracks) Caution easy to overdo it. Use the Clone Stamp. Use the pencil & paintbrush.
Saving in Various Formats Click the File menu. A list of action choices will appear in the menu. Click Save As. This will open a classic Save As dialog. You can choose the file name, folder and file type. Flattened types include:.bmp,.png,.gif,.jpg,.tif and.tga You can also save the file as a.pdn (Paint.net) project file, which retains all the separate layers. Use this if you are saving in the middle of working on a complex image project. When you have the Save settings defined, click the Save button. Paint.Net will display a second dialog that is dependent on the file type, asking for more specifics. Choose the desired settings and then click OK. Let s explore Saving further (demo).
Printing Click File > Print to get to the Print Pictures dialog. You can select the printer, paper size, quality and copy count. You can also select one of several layouts from the list at the right. When you ve made your selections, just click the Print button.
Final Q and A Final Questions and Answers