What Is Photo Touch Up ?

If you’re Boy, girl, father & Mather Images (Photo)  didn't seem hot and possessed — and the background didn't look like the mother ship’s hub — this photo would be frame-worthy. With Adobe's consumer-grade image editor Photoshop Elements ($100 for PC, $90 for Mac), you can remedy these common photo spoilers in seconds.

If you're on a Mac, you can also try using the lightweight photo-editing app Pixelmator ($60). And those of you on Mac/Windows/Linux can give the free and open-source GIMP a shot. The controls and keyboard shortcuts won't be exactly the same as the techniques described below, but they'll be close enough that you should be able to figure out the correct combinations.

The page is a wiki. Got extra advice? Log in and add it.

Red Eye

1. For best results, skip Auto Smart Fix and use the Elliptical Marquee tool (b) to trace the iris.

2. Hit Ctrl+U (Apple+U on Macs) to bring up the Hue/Saturation dialog box. Set Saturation to -60, then adjust Hue and Lightness to match the true eye color.

Shiny Face

1. Choose the Magnetic Lasso tool (c) and set the feather to 12 px (pixels). Trace a boundary around the shiny patch by clicking to establish anchor points. Click on the starting point to close the loop.

2. Hit Ctrl+C (Apple+C) to copy the patch.

3. In the Layer menu, choose New Layer.

4. Paste the copy into Layer 1.

5. With the Eyedropper tool (a), sample a portion of natural skin from the image.

6. Use the Paint Bucket tool (d) to pour that color into the patch so it's uniform.

7. Slide the Opacity to zero, then slowly increase it until the problem area looks normal.

Distracting Background

1. Click on the Magnetic Lasso tool and set the feather to 0 px. Click on the outermost edge of the person in the photo and trace her shape.

2. Copy the selected silhouette.

3. Create a new layer and paste the subject into it.

4. In the Layers window, click on the background layer and open Hue/Saturation (Ctrl+U or Apple+U). Lower both Saturation and Lightness until the backdrop is appropriately toned down, making the person the focal point of the image. Beware the "cardboard cutout" effect of too much contrast between foreground and background.