Can you edit a single small area |?

[richardpearn]

Hi,
IU am new to Corel PhotoPaint X4. What I want to do is select a small area of a photo and alter the brightness, contarst and saturation in it. Is tere a simple way to do this ?

Many thanks

Richard

[LeviFiction]

Yes, grab a selection tool and select the area. Then perform the edit on this selected area.

With selection tools you have the basic selection tool, what I call the geometric selection tool, by default selects a rectangular area but you can select other shapes from its drop down options. The Selection tool is the dashed line rectangle found under the pick tool. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riebYFgZ3mg

There is the magic wand tool which attempts to select areas in an image based on color, or opacity, and so on and so forth. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihWIX3Ifbe8

Finally there is the freehand selection tool which lets you draw selections in an image. Even using special methods that attempt to find edges in a photo and select around those. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeqB5IIv8A0

Then you can perform the necessary commands from the adjust menu or use one of the many brush tools for brightness (lighten or Dodge), contrast, or saturation (saturation brush).

[dwalby2]

you can create an adjustment layer with

layer/new adjustment layer/contrast

it creates a new layer with a 'show all' layer mask.

If you are using version X4, then click on the invert mask icon to turn the mask all black, which will suppress the changes. Then set the foreground color to white and select the paintbrush tool. Everywhere you paint white will apply the edit to those pixels only.

If you are using version X3 or earlier, the invert mask icon isn't available, so you have to start with an all white mask and then select image/negative image when the adjustment layer is selected. That will make the layer all black to start, then paint with white on the mask to reveal the adjustments.