Cell phones rock, but their photo capabilities suck rocks. Try these software tricks to improve your cell-phone photos.

 

WHAT YOU NEED

> Cell phone with built-in camera such as a Motorola RAZR V3, ($199.99,
www.motorola.com)
> Graphics-editing software such as Adobe Photoshop Elements ($79, www.adobe.com)

 

Today's digital cameras pack massive megapixelage, precision optics, and endless shooting modes into a package that fits in the palm of your hand. But it never fails: When inspiration strikes, that trusty camera is back at home, leaving you to make do with your cell phone's built-in camera. Too bad cell-phone cameras lack the pixels, optics, and processing power of your digicam; pictures come out blurry, off-color, and with horrendous exposure. But with a careful eye and some software help, you can make your cell-phone photos worthy of more than MySpace. Here, we cover fixes for the three most common problems: poor exposure, noise and blur, and off-balance color. Open your photo in Adobe Photoshop Elements or Photoshop CS2 and get ready to impress yourself.

 

---

 

Step 1: Try a Sample

 

Open the Info palette (Window > Info) and select the Eyedropper tool in Elements (CS2: click and hold the Eyedropper and select the Color Sampler). Now move the tool around the image to find the deepest black. The Info palette displays the corresponding RGB (red, green, blue) values. Elements users should jot down the numbers for future reference; in CS2, click to set the value, which will appear in the Info palette as RGB#1. Next select what you would want as the brightest white. Again, the Info palette displays the RGB values for you to jot down (Elements) or click to set (CS2).

 

In RGB terms, high numbers are light and low numbers are dark.

 

---

 

Step 2: Add a Levels Layer

 

Open the Layers palette (Window > Layers) and select Layers > New Adjustment Layer from the menubar (in CS2, select Layers > New Adjustment Layer > Levels and click OK in the first dialog). Select Red from the Channel menu and enter the R values for your black-point and white-point samples (from step 1) into the first and third Input Levels boxes, respectively. (See the screenshot for an example.) It's a little confusing, but you want to enter the low number (black point) in the left-hand box and the high number (white point) in the right-hand box for each of the three channels. Feel free to fine-tune the values using the respective sliders, and when you're happy, click OK.

 

No time for numbers? Just twiddle the sliders until you like what you see.

 

---

 

Step 3: Knock Out Some Noise

 

You're almost done. Flatten the image (Layers > Flatten Image) and select Filters > Noise > Reduce Noise. Use the plus-sign icon below the preview window to zoom in to 300 percent, and then click and drag to get some solid-color area and some detail area showing in the window. The trick here is to clean up the solid area, where noise is more apparent, while keeping tabs on the details, which will start to go soft as you crank up the sliders.

 

You want to smooth out the solid colors without mushing the details (like this).

 

---

 

Step 4: Sharp, Unsharp

 

Photoshop CS2 and Elements both provide numerous methods for sharpening an image that's blurry because of your shaky hands and/or the relatively shoddy little lens in your cell phone. Unsharp Mask sounds self-contradictory, but it's the sharpest knife in the drawer in terms of effectiveness and ease of use. Select Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask and slide the adjustment bars as needed, using the values in our screenshot as a baseline. You can magnify the preview, as in the previous step, but in our experience, doing so only complicates the procedure.

 

As they say in Paris, très sharp!

 

---

 

BONUS: Beat the Color into Balance

 

Color balance is mostly voodoo; even a high-priced digicam can muck up white weddings with twinges of pink and purple. You can twiddle color-channel sliders and histogram levels all day, or use our favorite secret weapon: Color Variations (Enhance > Adjust Color > Color Variations in Elements, or Image > Adjustments > Variations in CS2). This setting shows multiple previews of different color tweaks so you can visually adjust color by example. This screenshot shows Elements' version of Variations; Photoshop CS2's is slightly different, but just as easy to use.

 

 

1. Adjust the intensity slider to set how strong a nudge you get.

2. Click on any of the preview thumbnails to nudge the master in that color direction; click it again to nudge more.

3. Go through all four choices shown here to adjust each tonal range.

4. If you get carried away, click Undo to cancel the last nudge (subsequent clicks cancel preceding nudges). Click Reset Image to...reset the image.