In order to edit pictures successfully, one must have the proper tools, just as when processing photos in a darkroom. In the latter, chemicals, exposure times, and certain materials can affect the outcome of a photograph. In today's darkrooms, photo editing programs, one must know how to use the tools at hand to create the results wanted. Using photo editing programs makes editing much easier. It is far less expensive than working in a traditional darkroom and far less time-consuming if you wish it to be. However, you may also take your time editing to come out with the best results. Mistakes are not embedded in stone, for there's always the "undo" button to rely on. Using your software, you can improve an image, or change it to something completely different. The resolution of your computer's monitor can greatly affect the outcome of your photos. This is the amount of pixels there are on the screen. The more there are, generally, the better the quality of the images. Making sure you have a monitor that is suited for photo editing is an important part of the process. However, you must remember that certain resolutions are meant for certain sized monitors. A large resolution on a small monitor makes everything too small, whereas the opposite makes everything too big. Make sure you know what resolution your monitor is made for.

Sometimes, people will try to store all their pictures on CDs, because their computer doesn't have enough memory to store them all. For the specific reason that having multiple discs to search through for a particular picture is time-consuming and therefore wasteful, it's a good idea to get a database. A database allows you to keep track of which CDs contain which pictures, where other images are stored, and so on. You can keep your images anywhere, but it is the database that allows you to remember where exactly you put them. You don't actually put the pictures in the database, only information about them. This way it is easier for you to find them in the future.

There are many different photo-editing programs out there. Many people believe that the level of difficulty of the program indicates its quality. However, many programs are quite simple to use and are of high quality. Several programs will make adjustments for you based on one entered specification, whereas others require you to perform several steps yourself to get the desired effect. Depending on what you're most comfortable with, whether it's pressing a button and having the rest done for you, or doing it all yourself, not every program will be for you. Choose according to your level of experience and your needs in the program.

When photos are saved on a computer, they frequently become slightly blurred. They are not necessarily so blurry that you can't see the image; they are merely not as clear as they could be. Just about all photo-editing programs have a tool that allows you to sharpen your image. When your image could use some sharper detail, this is the option you want to use. It makes for a much better-looking picture. Some cameras have the tool built in, though sometimes that is not enough, and it may have to be done again with your editing software.

Sharpening is one of the most impressive transformations you can apply to an image since it seems to bring out image detail that was not there before. What it actually does, however, is to emphasize edges in the image and make them easier for the eye to pick out -- while the visual effect is to make the image seem sharper, no new details are actually created. The first step in sharpening an image is to blur it slightly. Next, the original image and the blurred version are compared one pixel at a time. If a pixel is brighter than the blurred version it is lightened further; if a pixel is darker than the blurred version, it is darkened. The result is to increase the contrast between each pixel and its neighbors. The nature of the sharpening is influenced by the blurring radius used and the extent to which the differences between each pixel and its neighbor are exaggerated.

At times the subject of a picture is lost in the surrounding parts of a picture. If this happens, you can always crop your picture. This means cutting down the picture to a certain size. There are many ways to do this in terms of the size of cropping. In just about every photo editing program there is a cropping tool, and you can experiment with the size of the area that you take out of your photograph. If you don't like what you've done, all you have to do is click "undo."

Cropping is the process of selecting and removing a portion of an image to create focus or strengthen its composition. Even the best photographers will often get back to their computers to view their photos and find that they are not ideal for one reason or another including distracting background elements, framing mistakes, or unbalanced images. While the temptation might be to delete such images the beauty of shooting in the digital format is that editing images after shooting them is relatively quick and easy. Cropping is one option for fixing such problems. This is usually done in photo editing software. Cropping images give you a second chance to frame your images. While you can never really add to the photograph to put more space around your subject (or recover the ear you clipped), cropping the image even tighter can take the focus away from the clipped part of your subject and make the image quite dynamic.