How To Manipulate and Edit Photos

Contributor: Stefani Allegretti. Lesson ID: 13108

Interested in learning how to manipulate images with programs like Adobe Photoshop or even Microsoft Word? Then you're in the right place! Learn about basic photo-manipulation processes!

categories

Software and Applications

subject
Technology
learning style
Auditory, Kinesthetic, Visual
personality style
Lion
Grade Level
High School (9-12)
Lesson Type
Quick Query

Lesson Plan - Get It!

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Manipulating images can be fun!

In fact, it's a lot like creating a piece of art, such as a painting or a collage. You are using your imagination to create something new by moving different parts of an image around, changing the size of the image, or changing the hue or saturation.

Sometimes, you can even take parts of one image and add them to another!

In this lesson, you'll learn about basic techniques used to manipulate images.

Before you learn about different ways to manipulate images, it's important to understand ethics in this digital age. So it is highly recommended you check out our lesson found under Additional Resources in the right-hand sidebar first.

Now, begin this lesson with one of the most common photo manipulation processes: cropping.

Cropping an Image or Picture

When you crop an image, it means you are cutting a part of the picture out from the original picture. You can crop the outside of the picture or a specific section of the picture, or you can crop the picture into a specific shape like the example below.

image cropped by shape

You can also crop part of the picture and add it to a different background, but you'll get to that later in the lesson. For now, watch this video about cropping an image in Adobe Photoshop.

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You may not have access to Adobe Photoshop, but you can crop images in most programs.

Watch the following video to take a look at cropping an image to a specific shape in Microsoft Word!

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Adjusting Hue & Saturation

Another photo-manipulation process is adjusting the hue and saturation of an image. The hue of a photograph or image is the color or shade, while the saturation is the intensity of color.

example of saturation manipulation

Adjusting the hue and saturation of a picture can be done in many programs, including MS Word and Adobe Photoshop.

First, watch the video below to see how to adjust the hue and saturation of a photo in Adobe Photoshop.

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Adjusting the hue and saturation of an image in Adobe Photoshop is more advanced than in programs like Microsoft Word, but the basic results are the same.

In this next video, you will see how to adjust the hue and saturation of an image in MS Word and other editing options.

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Background Manipulation

The final basic photo-manipulation technique you are going to learn about in this lesson is how to manipulate a background in Photoshop.

example of background manipulation

This process is similar to making a collage. You can cut out part of an image from a digital photo and add it to another!

Watch this next video to learn how.

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Move on to the Got It? section and see how much you learned!

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