Thursday, May 31, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Beginners Guide to Removing Red Eye
Red eye is an annoying and common problem with photos when taken using a flash. Luckily fixing red eye is extremely easy using PhotoShop.
Red Eye Removal Step 1:
Once you have your digital image opened in PhotoShop you will want to zoom in on the eyes. Your zoom tool is located on the left side panel, it looks like a magnifying glass.
Red Eye Removal Step 2:
Next you will want to select your Red Eye tool. It is located on the left side panel. It is grouped with the healing tool which looks like a band aid. 
Red Eye Removal Step 3:
If you left click & HOLD you will see a drop down with four different tool options.
Select the bottom, which is the Red Eye Tool.
Select the bottom, which is the Red Eye Tool.
Red Eye Removal Step 4:
With the Red Eye Tool selected you will want to go to your eye and click & drag the box around the eye. This tool will automatically correct the red eye.
While the Red Tool is selected, if you look at above your top tool bar on the left you will see two settings you can change which is Pupil Size & Darken Amount. If you don't like how your corrected red eye looks, you can adjust those settings.
That is it- easy enough!
Friday, May 11, 2012
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
How to Keep Your Digital Images Safe
Whether you've sent all your photos, slides, or other film format to be converted to digital format for memory preservation, or you just have all your digital camera images just sitting on your computer or DVD, it is important to set up some safe guards. Computer crashes, fires, floods, and other unfortunate events can happen without notice, leaving your memories lost, and you in a bad mood!
You can store your images as actual prints. While this solution is not storage friendly, you can always submit them to a photo scanning company, such as Larsen Digital Services to be scanned to digital format. This method of storage is very volatile, as prints can be easily ruined by floods, fire, children, etc.
Another method of storage is to keep your images on a CD or DVD. While this is a reliable medium for now, CD's and DVD's just won't last forever! It still is a good idea to keep at least one copy of all your images on a CD or DVD to keep in a safe spot, such as a safe deposit box. Just like photos, they are prone to be damaged by fires, and even in car accidents.
Always keep a copy of your pictures on your immediate computer. Yes, they crash all the time, but storing your digital images on your computer allows them to be readily accessible. You will be able to easily share your memories via email, Facebook, Twitter, or any other program of choice.
A Great option right now is to copy all your images to an external hard drive, or a USB flash drive depending on how much space you need. This way, if your computer crashes, because the hard drive or flash drive is not attached to it, your images and files will be safe. You can find many cost-effective choices for an external hard drive at online merchants such as NewEgg.com, mwave.com, and others. Once you have purchased your hard drive, and transferred all your files on it, you will want to make sure it is stored in a well-conditioned area.
The last option, and my personal favorite, is to find an on-line file storage company with which to keep your images. Not only will they keep your images backed up, but they will be easily accessible as well! Most on-line storage companies will charge you a minimal monthly fee depending on how much storage your data requires, but the cost of all your lifetime memories is priceless! When choosing a provider you will want to ensure that they offer password protection, as well as an encrypted file transfer. Some free online file storing companies include 4shared, Humyo, and ADrive.
You can never be too extreme when dealing with your life's legacy, so make sure you take every precaution in keeping your digital images safe.
Larsen Digital Services offers a 5 Year Data SafeKeeping Program when you convert all your old photos, slides and negatives to digital. It is a one time fee with prices starting at $8.15, and is renewable every five years!
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Pixlr Photo Editing Tutorial
Pixlr.com is a photo editing website that offers free editing tools. It is the easiest software I have ever worked with.
I am so excited to share how great this website is.
First: Go to www.pixlr.com
Step 1 Retro Effect:
Click on the circle that says "Computer"This will allow you to browse your hard drive & pick a photo to add fun retro effects.
Once you have selected your photo it will appear on screen.
Step 2 Retro Effect:
First, we will add an effect to the digital image.If you look below there is a film strip, this is where you will select from your different effects.
Start clicking through the different effects on the film strip and it will automatically apply the
effect to your picture. There are a lot to choose from and they are a lot of fun.
Once you have found an effect you like, you can move on to adding an overlay.
Step 3 Retro Effect:
Next, we can work on adding an overlay.If you notice at the bottom middle part of your screen there is a three colored odometer,
click on the blue triangle. Click through the different overlay effects.
Some of them are really dramatic and others are more subtle.
Once you have chosen your overlay you can move on to adding a border.
Step 4 Retro Effect:
Click on the yellow triangle of the odometer and you can click through the different borders.Step 5 Retro Effect:
Once you are done you just need to save your image. You can either hit the SAVE buttonor hit the button with the two forward arrows. You can either save your file as a jpg or an imm.io.
The imm.io a Pixlr service to easily share the image online with friends and family.
For now, I am just saving my images onto my hard drive.
Tips
-If you ever want to go back a step click on the button with the two arrows pointing to the left
-Next to the left arrows you will see a negative canister image, if you click on it, you will have access to even more effects, overlays & borders to choose from.
-Next to the negative canister there is a crop button that will adjust your crop on your picture.
-Next to the crop button there are two crisscrossed arrows. This will randomly apply different effects, overlays & borders to your digital image.
-Next to the odometer is a SAVE button, which means you can save your image at any time. So if you want a version saved with just an effect or just the overlay & nothing else you easily can.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Beginners Guide: How to Resize Your Images
As the years pass, digital images are coming with higher and higher quality. Typicially, the higher the quality is, the higher the megapixels are, resulting in a large file size. When emailing digital images, you don't want to attach a10MB file- so you will need to resize it. Other hassles you might run into include uploading digital images to various social sites that have file size or dimension restrictions. Resizing your digital image will avoid these problems and make it easier for friends and family to view your digital image.
To understand what size you want, you need to understand what "pixels" mean. A digital image is made up of pixels or dots. The number of pixels per square inch is what makes up your dimension. For example, a 12 Megapixel digital camera will give you the dimensions 4000x3000.
When emailing pictures to friends & family, I like to resize my images to ~2000 pixels on the long side.
To resize an image in Photo Shop follow these steps:
Resizing Step 1Go to your tool bar & select IMAGE
Then select IMAGE SIZE
Or just hit " ALT+Ctrl+I "
Resizing Step 2
A window will pop up which will tell you what your current dimensions are set at. You can work in pixels or percents -I prefer to work in pixels.
I am going to change my width to 2000,, which automatically changed my height to 1500. This is important to note, because if the box "Constrain Proportions" is unchecked, you will end up with a squished image (See Example Below). Having this box checked means that when you change one dimension, the other dimension will change in relation.
Hit "OK" when you are done changing your dimensions.Resizing Oops!
Resizing Step 3
You are almost done resizing your image- you just need to save your file. IMPORTANT - don't save over your larger image, create a new copy.
Go to your tool bar & select FILE,
then go down to SAVE AS
& then create a new file name.
If you are saving a JPEG image a window will pop up asking what quality settings you want. Unless want to compress you image, save it as Maximum quality setting.
That's it! You now know how to resize a digital image!
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
How to Edit Your Photos in PaintShop
Do you have digital images that just don't look right? Pictures often get faded, or gain a reddish or bluish hue. You can fix these imperfections simply using editing software like PaintShop Pro. After reading these steps, you should be a pro at applying simple editing effects to your own digital images.
1- Lets get your settings in place. Once you have opened up Paint Shop, you will see a gray bar that spans the width of your software window (under the choices for 'File', 'Edit', etc). Right click on this gray bar and scroll down to the option "Toolbars". To the left of "Toolbars" will be choices for which tools you want to have open in that gray space. Click on "photo", and those editing options should appear. To find out what each icon in the toolbar does, just hover your mouse over the icon.
2- Make sure your image is rotated correctly! It's really hard to edit a photo when you don't have the right perspective on what it is. The easiest way to do this is to open the image that needs to be rotated. On your top tool bar you will find three icons in a row containing blue and white shapes, with arrows directing which way they are being rotated. These are your rotation tools. Just click on the direction that your image needs to be rotated. You will keep your image open for the rest of the editing process.
3- Next, let's take a look at your contrast/brightness. No one wants a photo that looks faded or soft. To make you images look more crisp, you will want to adjust the Contrast/Brightness of your photo. The Contrast/Brightness tool takes the blacks and whites in your images and enhances them. The icon is of a triangle, where the top is a light blue, and the bottom of it is black. Click on the icon, and a window will pop up requiring you to fill in numbers for both the contrast level, and the brightness level. If your image is really dark, start out by setting your levels both to 10, then press 'OK'. Repeat until you get your desired results. If the brightness of your picture is fine, but you just want it to look a little more crisp, set your contrast number to 10, and your brightness number to 0. Again, you will want to press 'OK' and repeat until you attain your desired results. To preview what your effects are going to look like, just press the icon that looks like an eye, which is in the 'Contrast/Brightness' window. If you like what you see, press 'OK'. If you don't like the selections you've made, simply press the eye again, which will hide the preview, and re-configure your settings.
4- Now we are going to focus on color. There are several ways to adjust the color on your images, but this technique is a manual tool where you can choose exactly what you want to be applied to your picture. The 'Adjust Color Balance' tool is a triangle that is light blue on top, and black on bottom, with a halo containing red and blue squares on the tip of the triangle. Click on this icon, and a window will pop up. Set your 'Tone Balance' to 'Midtones', and check the box beneath to 'Preserve luminance'. You will find that there are three scroll lines to adjust the color. You can either manually enter numbers in the white boxes, or you can manually move the cursor left or right to select how much you want to adjust a certain color. For instance, if your image has taken on a reddish hue, you will move the cursor between the choices 'cyan' and 'red' to the left, towards 'cyan'. This will add more cyan hues to your image, decreasing the amount of red that appears. A lot of color balancing is trial and error. To preview what your effects are going to look like, just press the icon that looks like an eye, which is in the 'Adjust Color Balance' window. If you like what you see, press 'OK'. If you don't like the selections you've made, simply press the eye again, which will hide the preview, and re-configure your settings.
Now your image looks as good as new. Have scratches, wrinkles, or writing on your images? You will need to use the 'cloning' tool to fix this, which is a whole other ball game! Check out tutorials on using the clone tool in PaintShop to make your editing skills complete.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Monday Makeover: Weber State!
We have the opportunity to scan Weber State University's collection of old film. Today, we are featuring one from their basketball collection. It's faded, off-colored, and looks out of date...
Our color technicians were able to restore the vivid colors and bring the contrast to where it should be, making this makeover a slam dunk!
Want more info about our editing services? Visit us today!
Want more info about our editing services? Visit us today!
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Monday, March 26, 2012
Monday Makeover: Wrinkles Sminkles!
Check out this makeover! Looks like this picture has been crumpled- but who wants to throw this memory away when we can fix it for you!
We have dedicated artists who treat your precious photos as their own, and work hard to bring your memories back to life.
Each restoration project is individually priced. See how much yours would cost today!
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Interview with Pixorial
We sat down with Pixorial to ask them about how their services can benefit anyone around the world. They allow you to view, edit, and customize your videos and movie film online- truly giving you the control on updating your precious memories.
Pixorial allows people to share their video memories with family and friends anywhere, what inspired the creation of Pixorial? One summer, our founder, Andres Espiñeira, was busy digitizing his father’s large collection of film. He quickly came to two important realizations. The first was that in those videos were the collected memories of not just his mother and father, but also a number of other family members, friends and acquaintances who were also captured in the videos. Clearly, these old family movies would prove meaningful to a group of people outside his father’s household. The second realization was that just getting that video converted was the tip of the iceberg. Once digitized, how could that video be shared with friends and family who would find meaning in the video?
This experience drove his desire to create a platform where users could share and collectively interact with video from anywhere (analog, digital, mobile and HD) to where it matters most – with friends and family. Knowing that we all choose to share video differently, he thought it was important that the platform also remove the barriers created by the walled gardens of social platforms, and that memories captured could be shared with others.
What is the most convenient feature about Pixorial? Most convenient - and also most powerful - is our “Share to Crowd” feature. This allows anyone to share a video in its entirety with friends and family so that they can own, edit and share their favorite parts as well. Using this feature, users can unleash the stories in their crowd and empower their friends and family to tell their own stories through video.
You can download your edited videos off Pixorial's website to your home computer. Are you then free to upload and share your home movies on websites like Facebook? We actually recommend that users keep their videos protected in their Pixorial library. Downloading a copy is always an option but to truly protect those videos from hard drive failure, natural disaster or even human error, the cloud is the safest place. And because we’re a software company, we make sure that your video is accessible and ready to play in the latest format.
As far as sharing goes, Pixorial provides an extensive list of share options including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Vimeo, 1000memories and more. We want to make sure that you always have your original videos available to you from anywhere, along with the ability to share how you wish. We also make it possible to share via email, Videocard or DVD.
How long do you store your customer's videos? We store a user’s videos for as long as they have an account. We store up to 1 gigabyte of video for free and offer a variety of membership plans to meet the needs of any consumer.
If people only have their movies on a DVD or Hard Drive, can they still benefit from the services Pixorial has to offer? Absolutely, users can easily upload those videos and use our simple editing tools to share their videos online or create custom productions.
Can a customer take portions from one movie and add it to another? With our Premium accounts, users can create a montage video using their videos or even videos captured and shared from friends and family. We believe that everyone is a storyteller, and have made it very easy to bring videos together with our web-based editing platform, Pixorial Producer.
In your editing features, customers have the ability to add music. Do you have music on your website for people to choose from, or do they need to provide their own? We provide access to 1600 music tracks that cover a variety of genres. Users can also upload their own music tracks. Once a music track or several tracks are added, the user can adjust the ratio between the video’s own recorded sound and the music track. Music is often a great addition to combined videos, videos where photos have been added, or as a way to cancel out a loud or bad sound recording.
Do you have an app for the i-phone or android? We have video apps for the iPhone and Android so that users can not only capture and share on the go, they can also have access to their entire lifetime of videos without worrying about taking up space on their mobile device.
I see that you are now offering Videocards. What a unique take on sharing past experiences. Is this an included feature in a membership? Videocards are a feature available to consumers of all levels. We believe that the best stories are told with video and created Videocards as a gift that anyone could use to celebrate a special occasion or to just say hi.
Being part of restoring a lost family memory can be a very personal experience. Do you feel connected to your customers? We do. We are so lucky to be in the business of bringing memories to life. We hear wonderful stories on a regular basis for how people are using Pixorial to reconnect with friends, to remember or honor loved ones and as a way to collaborate around shared experiences.
Why is it important for people to share their past? We are living in a time where people are sharing more and more. Though pictures, through status updates, through check-ins and of course, video. Memories happened before the digital age, and sharing those memories provides a moving experience for all who were there. It’s common for people to look through old pictures, but viewing old videos has never been easy; the devices used to show old film and tape is becoming obsolete. Like anyone else, we don’t want our past to fade with time. The technology exists to protect, preserve and share those precious memories!
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
A Pixorial Product: Videocards
A Larsen Digital Partner, Pixorial is the video storytelling platform that empowers you to collect, create and ignite your video memories. They make it simple to capture, edit, organize and share your favorite video moments vintage and new. One way that Pixorial makes video fun and easy is through their customizable Videocards. There is no greater gift then the gift of memories and Videocards are perfect for any occasion.
Get Started with Pixorial Videocards:
- Upload or record a video greeting
- Select a free music track from our list
- Select the ACTIONS button in the header of your library
- Click Videocards
- Choose from 30 card designs
- Personalize with text
- Select some friends to send your card to and your done
Monday, March 19, 2012
All About Pixorial!
This week we are taking a closer look at Pixorial, a partner of ours. Pixorial offers you the chance to customize your movie film the way you want! Some of their features include the opportunity to view, edit, and share your videos online. With Larsen Digital and Pixorial teamed up, your memories are truly given a new breath of life! Check out the video below for more information about Pixorial!
Video: About Pixorial
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
We Have a Winner!
Congratulations to....
Melissa Dussol
for guessing correctly and winning our giveaway prize!
She won a NIX Digital Photo Frame!
St. Patricks Day Giveaway! Day 2!
Here is the image of the prize we will be giving away, only a little clearer now! Can you guess what it is? The first person to comment and guess wins our giveaway!
Tuesday Tip: How to Remove Unwanted Portions From Your Pictures
The clone tool is great to use whenever you want to remove or add something to your digital image. Whether it is removing an unwanted person, or cleaning up the background, the clone tool is very handy in making small or big changes to your digital images.
Step 1: In Photoshop, select your clone stamp tool. This is located along your tool bar, and it looks like a rubber stamp.
Step 2: Select your brush type & size, you can find this on your top tool bar. Once you click on the the brush a larger window will open up. This will give you a sliding bar to select your brush diameter, hardness, and will also allow you to pick your brush type.
Your brush type can have softer edges or harder edges. The softer “fuzzy” edges will give you a softer lines which makes blending a little easier. The size will determine the diameter of the cloning effect. You will most likely change the size of your brush depending on what you are trying to clone out. The smaller the area, the smaller the tip you will want to use.
Step 3: Cloning means that you replace pixels of your image with pixels from another part of your image, which is generally referred to as your “sample”. First, you need to select your “sample”. To do this you hold down the ALT key & click your mouse on the color you want to use. You have now selected your sample for cloning.
You will notice that when you hover over a section of your image you will see your sample inside the brush tool. This will show you what it will look like when you clone over a specific spot. Just click with your mouse over the spot and you will have cloned over your unwanted section.
Tips to Remember:
-You do not want to clone out large chunks at once, you will want to slowly work around the unwanted section.
-Take your sample as close to the unwanted section as possible. This will give you the closest coloring & lighting.
-If you clone a section & you don't like how it looks, just hit ALT+CTRL+Z to back up.
-If you have hard edges left over from your cloning, use the healing tool after to smooth over those rough spots.
Monday, March 12, 2012
St. Patricks Day Giveaway!
The first person to comment and guess what the image is CORRECTLY will win the item pictured!
(The image will get clearer every day until a winner is declared)
May the luck of the Irish be with you!
May the luck of the Irish be with you!
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Monday, March 5, 2012
Digital Photo Restoration
Did you know... we have amazing artists who do incredible restoration work on your photos?This picture had extreme fading in the upper right hand corner distracting from the subjects of the picture. It also had writing across the top.
Look how we were able to bring this picture back to life!
Want to see how much your restoration project would cost?
Visit us here!
Friday, March 2, 2012
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Beginners Guide to Scanning Your Slides
Slides won't last forever, no matter how you store them. Over time, the colors in the film will fade, and mold will eventually appear- distorting your image. Luckily, there is a way you can put a stop to this degradation. If you are interested in taking this project on by yourself, here are some steps you should take in order to get the best results. Get your slides out of storage! This first step may seem intimidating, as many don't have the slighted clue where they might be, but if you want to undergo the task of researching equipment, you will want to make sure you know where your slides are first! You’ll also want to know how many slides you actually have and what kind of project you’ll be looking at.
Research and find the right scanner to fit your needs. Things you will want to keep in mind when looking for scanners: budget & desired quality. As with most things, the better the quality, the higher the price tag. You can buy a film scanner for as little as $50, but your results will definitely suffer. The best scanners will have a technology known as 'Digital Ice' that will digitally remove most dust and scratch marks- enhancing the appearance of your film. Many scanners will also have a type of “auto-feed” system for slides, making it so that you can pre-load a number of images (usually up to 50) and have them scan automatically. If you determined in step 1 that you have a lot of slides, this will be an option worth looking at.
Choose your software.
Scanning software: Most scanners come with proprietary scanning software. In most cases, this is sufficient. However, this isn’t always the case and there are other options for getting the most out of your newly purchased scanner. VueScan is the most recommended program in scanning your slides. Not only does it offer automatic color correction, but it will scan automatically as well (when paired with a scanner that has the same capabilities). It is compatible with almost any brand and model of scanner available, even those not currently on the market. In addition, if you have an old scanner but can’t find the drivers, VueScan comes preloaded with drivers for it. It also is updated on a regular basis, so even the newest of scanners should be compatible. It’s available for Windows, MacOS, and Linux. An all-around great buy.
Photo Editing Software – While the scanning software makes a big difference with the quality of image you’ll get from your slides, inevitably you will need to touch them up with some photo editing software. With a program like Photoshop or PaintShop, you can manually fix brightness/contrast, fade, color correction, and with the right skills, you can even edit scratches and mold out of your images. On a tight budget? Free online photo editing options exist, such as Pixlr.com. Just upload your image and you can do color and brightness correction from your browser. Very simple and best of all, it’s free!
Physically organize your slides before scanning. Whether it’s a mistake made during scanning or you simply want to look at the original slide, be sure to keep them organized. This will come in handy and make it much easier to sort through them to find the slide you’re looking for. Keeping your groups around 50 slides tends to be the sweet spot. It’s a number that’s manageable and still works well with many automatic feeders. In addition, you will have less sorting to do from your computer once they are scanned.
Set up your scanner and software with your desired settings. Make sure you have read the user manuals on each item you use to ensure the best results possible.
Color & Brightness - If you’re a beginner, use the automatic settings for color and brightness. This will dynamically select the best option for the slide that is currently being scanned. You can sometimes achieve better results by manually changing the settings for each image – but this can be tedious and time-consuming. The default automatic settings for most software will usually achieve great results. And if you happen to find an unsatisfactory image, then you can simply rescan it with manual settings. If your scanner has ‘Digital Ice’ capability, then make sure this is selected.
Resolution – For slide scanners, 4000 DPI (Dots, or pixels, Per Inch) tends to be the highest available. Lower resolutions are, naturally, lower quality and higher resolutions aren’t usually any better because the slides don’t contain enough information to make it beneficial. When in doubt, opt for the highest DPI your scanner provides. Memory is cheap nowadays, and you’ll feel better knowing you’ve gotten all the detail from your slides.
Format – JPEG and TIFF are the most common. TIFF is a completely uncompressed image, and its files are generally about 4x as large as a comparable JPEG. While JPEG is technically compressed, you’ll want to make sure to set the compression settings to the lowest possible if you go this route. Unless you’re an avid photographer, JPEG will be the best option.
Go ahead and scan your slides! While scanning with an automatic feeder, watch out for slides that get jammed and don't get fully captured. Enjoy the everlasting results!
