Book Image

Getting Started with Paint.NET

Book Image

Getting Started with Paint.NET

Overview of this book

Paint.NET is a free, reliable program that rivals the most expensive photo editing programs currently on the market.Paint.NET supports plugins, which add image adjustments, effects, and support for additional file types. They can be programmed using any .NET programming language, though they are most commonly written in C#. This book will teach you everything you need to know to edit and manipulate images. Written with very clear walkthroughs, hands-on tutorials,and amazing resources, this book will turn you into a photo wizard with Paint.NET. The book starts with simple tool-based tasks, introduces you to the workpane and then builds up to more complex areas taking a deep dive into the commonly-used features of Paint.NET. With this book, you will learn how to do everything from making simple adjustments to full artistic rendering with tools not available in any other program. Starting with the very basics of photo editing, you will gain an understanding of the basic principles of manipulating images. From layering to special effects, this book will give you all the knowledge you need to create images that leave a lasting impression. This book has everything you need to make amazing, artistic photos using completely free software. Filled with fun exercises and valuable information, you will learn how to master every tool and every effect in Paint.NET. Within minutes, you will be able to resize images, make adjustments to brightness and contrast, and apply color correction. By the end of this book, you will be working with layers and effects to create images that rival some of the most advised and expensive pieces of software. With simple exercises and information, this book will take you from absolute novice to an accomplished photo editor quickly and easily.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)
Getting Started with Paint.NET
Credits
About the Authors
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Brightness/Contrast (Ctrl + Shift + C)


Brightness/Contrast is a simple way to make colors in an image brighter or darker. It may be used to make the colors in an image brighter or darker or to make the colors stand out more or less than those around them.

If you move the Brightness slider to the right, all the pixels in the image will become uniformly brighter. Sliding it to the left will make all of the pixels darker:

Contrast, on the other hand, will average out the pixels in the entire image. By moving the Contrast slider to the right, it will increase the difference between the lighter and darker pixels. Moving it to the left will make the dark and light pixels more uniform until they are nearly all the same.

Each of these options can increase or decrease by 100 percent of their original value. By playing with both the Brightness and the Contrast sliders together, you can make subtle changes to the photo that will eventually make your image stand out a bit more. You can reset your adjustments...