Master Close-Cropping with PHOTO-PAINT’s Cutout Lab

By Steve Bain

The Cutout Lab introduced in Corel PHOTO-PAINT® X3 enables you to extract or copy photo elements from any digital image with precision and relative ease. Much more than just a quick selection tool, the Cutout Lab accurately detects almost any shape and preserves the fine details of an image. It automatically applies transparent edge-feathering, and it enables you to decide whether your cutout will be an object without a background, an object on top of the original image, or a clip mask attached to the original image.

Finding Gold in the New CGS Digital Content Collection

By Steve Bain

As loyal users have come to expect, the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite comes with a substantial stockpile of digital content that you can use and abuse as you see fit. What you may not realize is that when version X3 was released Corel revamped the entire collection. It isn’t just a few new fonts and images added for good marketing, it’s a complete overhaul. Browse through these highlights and you’ll see what I mean.

PHOTO-PAINT’s Image Lab Fixes Photos Fast

By Steve Bain

If you’ve ever found the task of fixing digital photos a slow and frustrating exercise, this tutorial will interest you. The tools and options available in PHOTO-PAINT’s Image Adjustment Lab make it easy to correct common digital photo problems. Let’s explore how to use this relatively new resource available in version X3 or later.

Design Your Own Picture Frames in Corel PHOTO-PAINT

By Steve Bain

Whether you use the majority of your digital photos for personal scrapbooking or albums or whether you’re a professional layout artist, you can add interest and creative flair to your digital images by applying frames. You can do this quickly and easily in Corel PHOTO-PAINT by using a simple filter effect. To demonstrate the effect, I’ve used the tragically cute candidate shown here.

Create Classic Masterpieces in Corel PHOTO-PAINT®

By Steve Bain

Looking to add a little magic to your digital images? Corel PHOTO-PAINT® provides many different ways to apply weird and wonderful creative effects to ordinary digital photos. One bitmap filter stands out as an excellent creative tool. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to use it and reveal the tricks to navigating and selecting the numerous options.

Assembling Panoramas in PHOTO-PAINT

By Steve Bain

Have you ever tried to photograph a scene that’s just too large to fit in your camera’s viewfinder no matter how many steps backward you take? Unless the wide-angle lens you’re using can work miracles, this is a common challenge that many photographers face. Why not just shoot a photo panorama?

Faking Depth-of-Field Effects in Corel PHOTO-PAINT

By Steve Bain

Blurry or out-of-focus pictures aren’t usually very appealing in a layout. But strategically applying blur effects to an image can sometimes work to your advantage. Blurring specific areas of a picture enables you to clean up messy background clutter and focus in on the subject at hand. This technique is also great for exaggerating depth-of-field created naturally when using a wide camera lens aperture.

Cut Down Your Color Printing Cost without Sacrificing Your Color Options

By Steve Bain

Budget-challenged print designers and small business owners who create their own printed color brochures and marketing material are always looking for creative and resourceful ways to stay within budget without comprising their design or the reproduction quality. Fortunately, your CorelDRAW Graphics Suite includes resources that will help you do just that. In this tutorial, we’ll explore a few color techniques you can use to maximize your color options without maxing out your costs.

Fixing Sunny Day Shadows and Color Casts with Corel PHOTO-PAINT®

By Steve Bain

Whether you’re a professional, a tourist or just a weekend photo hobbyist, there’s nothing like taking a few pictures in the great outdoors on a bright, sunny day. Sometimes, though, that sunshine can work against you. The bright light and harsh shadows may hide the person, place, or thing you specifically want to capture.

Five Top Photo Fixes using Corel PHOTO-PAINT

By Steve Bain

Whether you’re out snapping photos with your digital camera or just scanning old family album favorites to disc, you’re bound to end up with little anomalies that you wish you could fix quickly. In this tutorial, we’ll show you five common problems with scanned images and digital camera photos, and the techniques you can use to fix them using the tools and filters in Corel PHOTO-PAINT. Although this tutorial shows version 12 in use, most of these techniques apply to any recent version of the program.