Improve digital images using Splashup

To start using Splashup, launch a web browser, type http://splashup.com into the Address or Location bar and hit Enter. It is possible to use Splashup without registering, though it only takes a minute ­ just fill in your email address, password and display name. Click on Submit. Registered or not, click on Jump Right In and Splashup will open in a new window. The layout may seem familiar, depending on what software you are used to. Across the top there is a menu bar (File, Edit, Image, Layer, and so on). Down the left-hand side there is a toolbox containing common features such as selection, cropping, colour and text tools. Down the right-hand side there is a colour palette and a layer palette.

To open an image stored on your computer, click on File, then Open Image. Click on Browse, select an image and click on Open. While the image is uploaded ­ remember, Splashup is an online editing tool ­ the mouse pointer will display a clock icon. When the image opens, it may be too large to see on the screen. Click on the Pan tool in the bottom left-hand corner of the toolbox (it looks like a hand), then click and drag to move around the photo. To zoom in or out of a photograph, use the Zoom tool in the top right-hand corner of the screen.

To rotate a photograph, click the Rotate button in the toolbox. A white pivot point will appear in the middle of the image. Move the mouse pointer to a corner of the image ­ it should have a curved arrow attached to it. Now drag the image to rotate it. When happy with the rotation, click on Apply Rotate at the top of the screen. Use the Undo button at the bottom of the toolbox or select Edit then Undo from the menu bar if you are not happy with the result.

To remove blank parts from the photograph, click on the Crop button in the toolbox, then click and drag with the left mouse button to draw a box over the part of the image that you want to keep. A dotted line of marching ants will show the selection. Release the mouse button and the image will be automatically cropped. Click Edit, then Undo to start again. To get rid of the marching ants at any point, click Selection (on the menu bar) then choose Remove Selection. To flip an image, click on Layer on the menu bar, then choose Flip Horizontal or Flip Vertical.

To rotate a photograph 90 degrees (from landscape to portrait, or vice versa) click the Rotate button again. The pivot point will appear. Rotate the photograph round 90 degrees. Click Apply Rotate when happy with the photograph. Although the photograph has been rotated, the canvas (that’s the image workspace) has not. Click on Image (on the menu bar) then Canvas Size. Make sure the central button in the Origin section is selected. Type the width figure (in pixels) into the height box, and the height figure into the width box. Click OK and the canvas will have rotated 90 degrees.

Splashup includes filters that allow quick changes to images. It’s possible, for example, to adjust the colours, amend the brightness or sharpen an image. We’ll experiment with the pixelate filter. Choose Filters from the menu bar followed by Pixelate. Select the pixel size, then click on OK ­ just experiment with different pixel sizes to see how it works. To sharpen an image, choose Filters, then Sharpen. To amend the brightness and contrast of an image, select Filters then Contrast/Brightness. Adjust the contrast and brightness sliders for the best effect. The changes are previewed automatically on the screen. When happy with the image, click OK.

It is possible to apply multiple filter effects to an image. To add a sepia effect to a photograph, click on Filters, then choose Desaturate. The image will be displayed with the colour removed, in shades of grey. Click on Filters, then Colorize. Select a colour, then use the Amount slider to choose how much colour to add to the image. Click OK. Splashup’s other filters include blur, add noise, find edges, emboss, posterize, add clouds, invert, greyscale, enrich and hue/saturation ­ try a few out to see what they do.

When taking photographs, the camera’s automatic settings aren’t always perfect. If a photograph of a building is taken when the sky behind is very bright, the building often comes out very dark ­ the camera has exposed the photograph correctly for the sky, as shown in this example. This issue can be rectified with Splashup, because it is possible to apply effects to specific parts of a photo, rather than the whole image. Begin by selecting the Lasso tool in the toolbox and then carefully drawing around the affected part of the photograph.

To start selecting again, use Select (on the menu bar), Remove Selection and start again. Once part of the photograph has been selected, any changes that are made (such as applying filters) will only affect the selected part. Click on Filters, Contrast/Brightness. Amend the sliders, then click OK. The amendments will only affect the selected part of the image. To get rid of the marching ants (signifying the selected area) click Select, then Remove Selection. If you accidentally choose Clear Selection instead, the selected part of the image is deleted. If this happens, choose Edit, then Undo.

To add text to an image, click on the Text tool in the Toolbox. Click on the image to position the text (it can always be moved later) and type the text. After typing, click and drag across the text to highlight it, then use the options bar (across the top of the screen under the menu bar) to choose a font, size, style (bold, italic or underline), alignment, colour, spacing and leading (line spacing). When happy with the formatting, click on the Move tool in the toolbox. Click and drag the text to move it.

To skew the text, click on the Free Transform tool. Handles will appear around the text. Click and drag a handle to increase or decrease the size of the text. Click and drag along the outline of the box. Click Apply Transformation at the top of the screen to confirm the changes. To amend the text options (such as the font style and colour) click back on the Text tool in the toolbox. The text should become highlighted and the options bar should show the text options. Click on the Rotate tool to rotate the text. Move the pivot point (by clicking and dragging) away from the centre of the text to rotate around a different point.

Click on Layer (on the menu bar) then Layer Effects to add effects to the text. A dialogue box will appear. Click on the effect type dropdown menu next to Add. Choose from Blur, Bevel, Drop Shadow, Glow, Gradient Bevel or Gradient Glow then click Add. The text will be previewed with the layer effect automatically. Each effect has different options, for example rotation, colour, size, strength, distance, etc, so you can choose how subtle or dramatic you want to the effect to be.

It is possible to add more than one effect to the text. Simply choose another effect, click on Add, and the effect will be added to the text. Choose the options for the effect ­ any changes are shown immediately. Effects can be reordered by selecting one of the effects in the list, then using the up and down arrows to move the effect. To delete an effect, select it then use the Remove effect button (with a minus sign on it). Click OK to finish.

To save an amended image, click on File, then Save Image. A dialogue box will appear. Click on Save. Choose the image type ­ JPEG, PNG or FXO (which is Splashup’s own format) ­ and quality setting. Click on Update Preview to see how the image looks. When happy with the options, click on Save again. Choose a location to save the image, type in a new file name, then click on Save. A dialogue box will appear when the save is complete.