Enhancing pictures for Z600/T610/T630

[Tovi]

I searched the web try to find ways to enhance problematic pictures taken with my Z600, but unfortunately, I could find none. That's why I decided to start this thread here, and maybe get the ball rolling.

I'm sure many of you photoshop-whizzes will find this pretty basic stuff, but it gets the job done nevertheless...

Since the Z600, T610 and T630 all use the same camera, and use the same methods of image compression in their latest firmware (as far as I know), this mini-tutorial will apply for those 3 phones. Later phones might have better cameras, or different problems, I don't know...

Problem 1: Red, Green and Blue dots appear on poorly/artificially lit areas

This is one of the most annoying problems with the camera. I don't understand why this problem arrises, but it does. Dark areas in fotos become red, green and blue dots, and it looks horrible... Here's how I enhance such a problem:

1) I work in Adobe Photoshop 6. You can probably find some freeware picture editing program that does the same thing though. Or download a free trial from Adobe.com...

2) Open the image

3) Use the lasso tool (with the shift and alt button, if you want to avoid having to repeat this step) to select the area(s) which have these colorful dots on them.

4) Go to Image->Adjust->Hue/Saturation... (Ctrl+U)

5) Select a -50% saturation.

Simple, but effective, as you can see here:


Problem 2: Overexposure to natural light causes weird, ugly color disforming.

Whenever you take a picture on a bright sunny summer day, the color of the overexposed areas get an unnatural color.

1) Open the image in Adobe Photoshop (6).

2) Select Image->Adjust->Replace Color...

3) Click on the problematic color (on the actual image, not the newly opened window)

4) Set following settings: Hue:-120, Saturation: -50, Brightness: 25. (These settings have worked best for me in lots of images.)

5) You'll need to determine the fuzzyness setting yourself. I usually keep it above 120, and below 180, but it varies from picture to picture.

6) Press ok, and look at the result.

Here's an image of the enhancement in action:


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Ok, that's it for now. I hope this got the ball rolling. If you have other (better, more efficient) techniques, or just solutions to other problems and other enhancements, please post them here, as I'm VERY interested.