Even so I reckon there may be many out there who still do not see the sense in manipulating photos preferring to leave them in their natural state. Truth be told there are probably many photos in your collection, or that you may take in future photo shoots, that could do with a little enhancement. This post is going to show you just one example of when this could be necessary. Let’s look at the original photo that I took while I was in LA.

Luckily for me I took my Lowepro Slingshot 200 All Weather Backpack on the trip which was indispensable for carrying all my photo equipment. While everybody was using their point and shoot cameras or their SLR which was equipped with a normal lens, I quickly swung my bag around and got out the telephoto lens. As you can see, due to the distance involved and the day itself, the photo came out a little washed out. Many would be happy with that accepting it for what it is. That may have been so pre digital times but these days you can do something about it.

This next photo is the one I enhanced using an older version of ACD Systems ACDCD70860WI Pro Photo Manager 3.0 Camera Software which sells for a little over $80. As you can see there is a marked improvement.

I then used PhotoShop Elements 8, the new version being Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 & Premiere Elements 9 (Win/Mac), and got the following result.

The first enhancement was done with one click of the mouse. The second one, using photoshop took three clicks but I personally think it gave a better result. What do you think?

One other thing, the problem with a lot of the software you get these days is that they usually don ‘t come with a manual which is why I recommend Photoshop Elements 9: The Missing Manual. If you want to see what I was up to while in the States you should check out Tips On Tipping & Other Things When In The USA and Back From L.A. With A Tip For Bloggers. While you’re at it you may want to subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any updates

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Now don’t get too excited as I am not talking about that London Bridge! The one I am referring to used to exist along The Great Ocean Road one that was built by 3000 diggers. It is is a great scenic drive and I traveled its full 273km length on my way to Melbourne. So far I have found that this picturesque stretch of the South Eastern coast of Australia was really quite stunning. This is a picture of that famous bridge before its collapse and is one of the important reason we should all take photos, to record historical landmarks as well as moments of history etc.

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