Editing Digital Images

What, exactly, will "digital editing" let me do?

Digital images have a significant advantage over standard prints in that you can process the image yourself to correct for errors or problems with the image. Digital editing allows you to correct red-eye, sharpen or soften the picture, edit the colors, remove parts of the subject and apply a number of different filters to the image!

Digital editing also allows you to correct some problems which can occur in digital photography:

• Artifacting, Artifacts: distortions or excess noise which are caused by the sensor, the optical system or image processing (such as compression).
• Barrel Distortion: an effect which occurs with wide-angle zoom, in which straight lines at the edges curve toward the center, giving the image a barrel appearance.
• Blooming: A visual effect caused by overexposing a CCD sensor, which can cause distortions of the subject and/or color.
• Chromatic Aberration: a fringing effect around the edges, which is caused by lens not focusing all wavelengths to the same plane.
• Hot Pixels: a pixel which is always on, leading to a white spot in the image, caused by a photosensor error.
• Jaggies: a stair-step effect which occurs in low-resolution images and is most visible in straight lines against a contrasting background.
• Noise: a grainy or mis-textured appearance caused by electronic errors or interference.
• Pincushioning: an effect which occurs with telephoto zoom, in which straight lines at the edges curve in toward the far corners.

Most digital photography devices come with editing software. Your computer should have the minimum requirements listed for the device. More memory and a faster processor than is required will improve the performance. You can also add a high-end video card to improve speed and memory capabilities and/or a stand-alone image/video editing software for advanced features and capabilities.

On-line Catalog:

• On-line RadioShack Catalog: Computers
• On-line RadioShack Catalog: Video Cards