Ishi

If you wanna take a quick screenshot of only a portion of the screen, I suggest you use the Snipping Tool. Windows 7 and Windows 8 should have it by default. Just type it on the Start Menu search box. By then, you might not need to resize the screenshot anymore and risk losing image quality.

Have you actually used the Image>>Resize option? Its on the menu bar and you just have to set a new value for width or height. You must also have "maintain aspect ratio" checked if you do this. It works much better than trying to resize the picture manually, using the resizing handles and then cropping the image.

Use the Magic Wand on the solid color background and press Delete on the keyboard. You may have to adjust the tolerance if the selection would flood some parts of the image you want to be untouched. You may also use the Eraser to delete any remaining bits of the solid color more precisely. Create a new layer, paste your Confederate flag over it (CTRL+V), resize if needed and move this layer under your Background layer. Flatten the picture by going to Image>>Flatten :Flatten: . Save :Save: it and there you go.

Actually, the Alpha Mask plugin could be of help here. http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/1854-alpha-mask-import-plugin-20/

I do love recoloring. I have gained enough dexterity to use the mouse and brush over my desired areas but as Huggles did say, the lines and curves tool will do you a favor if you are not so good with free hand painting. My technique in recoloring actually involves, creating a new layer for the paint. On this new layer, I'll be painting all the sides of the area to be recolored first then I would flood the area with color using paint bucket tool. I would then change the blending mode of the paint layer into overlay or multiply because they seem best for this kind of job. I would apply just a bit of Guassian blur to smoothen the edges, change the layer opacity and presto, its done. My new profile picture is actually black and white and I did some experimentation with Multicolored Gradient plugin to render color to the background and to that twisted kaleidoscopic psychedelic sunglasses there.

Glad I could be of help there mate. That was my own technique of recoloring and maybe I should publish a tutorial for that. Recoloring is one of the main bits of editing that I do.

There are several categories of plugin effects really. If this were to be made possible, then something must be added on PDN's code for it to recognize and include subfolders under the Effects or Filetypes main folders. However, creating the subfolders themselves and moving the individual DLLs to their categorized subfolders have to be manual.

Once you have deleted the white background using the magic wand or eraser, save the image as a .png first before you paste it on another program. I found out about that yesterday when I deleted the white background of a clipart I was working on and pasting it directly to MS Word. It did not retain its transparency. It still had a white background until I saved it as a new .png file.

I recommend you try the Levels tool under Adjustments. If you really don't wanna alter the current brightness of that image, I suggest you follow these steps: 1. Add a new transparent layer over your picture, change the blending mode of the new layer into Multiply. Make sure you select this layer before proceeding. 2.Use a brush with grayish color, paint over the cream or white areas you want, then lower the layer's opacity way down to around 85. You might increase or lower the layer opacity beyond that, depending if you want a lighter or darker shade of gray. 3. Do apply Guassian Blur to smoothen the edges of the repainted areas. Just see what blur radius works well for you. 4. Flatten the image by clicking on Merge layer down button. Then save it or save it as a new image if you want.

I had to rely heavily on the Curves+ tool to lower the red and increase the blue under RGB and lower the magenta under CMYK mode to balance the colors and the Levels tool for the shadows and brightness . I then used Vibrance just to add a little more saturation. I also used the plugin called Sharpen Landscape to add an artificial sky gradient and this is what I came up with.

I did some experiment with PDN for regarding this and it turns out to be possible in just one Normal transparent layer. For letter A as an example, I just used the Line tool with rounded tips and since PDN 4 can now change the blend mode of lines, fills and brushes, I used a Multiply blending mode for my Line tool and painted the parts of the letter, one on top of the other. I also used the brush with the right size to paint the little circles between the joints and this is what I came up with.

The way to achieve this is to have each individual part of the letter placed in different layers, one one top of the other, each with a Multiply blending mode. The letter A for example would need 3 transparent layers for its 3 parts with 3 different colors, each with Multiply blending modes. But it won't produce the very similar effect.

A plugin called Vibrance adjustment (formerly called Soft Saturation ) can do some magic for me in increasing the color but in a more controlled way. http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/18811-ed-harvey-effects-v-35-2012-02-13/ Also, I rely heavily on Curves+ adjustment in lowering the magenta or the yellow under its CMYK mode. If there's too much red, I'd just lower the red under the RGB mode or increase the blue. http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/3749-curves/ I recently found the built-in Levels adjustment tool to be a very good friend in adjusting the shadows as well.

I have shown PDN many months ago to a close friend who was a user of Photoshop. I was doing the planets and star thing and thankfully we got the Shape 3D plugin (that still works on PDN 4 apparently) to do just that. He was not a Photoshop expert but he was amazed on how PDN had rendered the 3D sphere much more efficiently than what he might have imagined could have been done on Photoshop to achieve the same thing. Random Shape Fill is another awesome plugin and I'm yet to discover more. We do have aces in our side of the table, against Photoshop lol. I wish somebody would write an "Awesomize" plugin for PDN that would do what its entitled to do in the first place which is to make an image so awesome in just a few clicks that the Photoshop fanboys would pop their eyes and drop their jaws in pixelated awe.

Thanks for the tips and explanation Huggles. I do understand that our beloved Paint.NET has limitations when it goes head to head with Photoshop. However, there are a few among us who are stubborn enough and would stick to what we love and accustomed to use rather than adapt something more advanced. There are those among us who would defend Paint.NET to the bitter end, to the fatal finish because we have developed what I call a ''fanboy idolatry" to this beauty of a free program. I did install a "portable" version on Photoshop which is Photoshop 7.0, released maybe 12 years ago since I'm using a low-end netbook machine and that version must have been built to not hog as much resources like the recent ones with the "CS" titles do. I have done the Extreme HDR Tutorial both on PDN 4.03 and Photoshop 7.0 and I would say that PDN, along with its plugins still gets my vote, if only it had Photoshop's burn, dodge, sponge, sharpen and blur tools. Hopefully in a a near future version, we shall witness the arrival of those tools for PDN and we shall celebrate because that would be a step closer to a better and more competitive industry standard. The only direction for PDN is to move forward. I'm no pro but I have done many-yer than many things with with PDN's Curves +, Levels and particularly some of those plugins under the Object category. Last week, I even decided to edit pictures of some of my Facebook friends and turn them into scary creatures from zombies to an Avatar-ish creature for my Halloween gig. The Multiply and Overlay blending modes have done so much magic on the types of edits that I do. I do wish PDN has those other blending modes for us to have fun with. Photoshop's sharpening and detail-enhancing effects are what are what I'm after in mimicking in PDN. Resourcefulness and efficiency will play a key role.

Since I've done this many times, I'm already doing fine with tracing around the body using only the eraser. For parts that are tricky to trace like the hair, I would suggest using a small eraser size with low hardness setting of course if you are using PDN 4. The soft eraser would minimize the jaggedness around the traced portion. Also keep in mind that plugins such as AA's Assistant and Feather under the Effects>>Object are quite good in eliminating the jaggedness at the sides as well if you have already pasted your traced-out section in a new transparent layer. But AA's Assistant could dissolve the little details at the sides as well, like hair.

The HDR effect did something good for me but its still nowhere near to what I found on the Photoshop tutorial site where the skin can be made to pop out its details and be sort of glossy at the same time.

Not a a bad bit right there. Gotta try that tutorial and wait for more suggestions. Thanks..

http://learnphotoediting.net/ Its a Photoshop tutorial and what it does as it makes the details pop out in such an amazing way. It makes the skin look 3D-ish and digitally painted as well. I was wondering if there is a PDN technique or plugin somewhere that can mimic that effect.

You can try unintalling a program like Paint.NET 3.5.11 using Revo Uninstaller to completely remove its orphaned components. However, Paint.NET 4 won't work with any operating system below Windows 7 SP1.

That's OK. There are differences to between their functions.

That's for that TechnoRobbo. I'm testing it now. Gotta find more images to test this with. Thanks again.. It deserves to be popularized....

Not 3.5 compatible? That's why it didn't appear on mine...

I am aware of making another layer and using a transparent gradient to mimic a light source. I have tried that multiple times but it has limitations. I think I might have used something like that on the shadow side of the planet of my profile picture. However, it would have been better if it can be applied without needing another layer. Such a plugin would greatly affect and enhance an image that needs directional lighting to be added. I recently used the Sharpen Landscape plugin for enhancing a dull landscape image I found and it has good effects, thanks to its multiple adjustment controls. Maybe a new plugin for rendering a light source with comparable mechanics can be made. And thanks Goonfella for linking that Light Rays Plugin. I was looking for that plugin but that's another story.

I have always wondered if there was a way or a plugin that can control where the light source on a image or layer comes from. The Curves and Levels tools are not always reliable. I like to render a light source that comes from one direction such as from the left side, right side, from above or even below. The light source can be vertical, horizontal or in a tilted diagonal angle. And there should also be an option if it expands and fades as it comes closer to the center of the image. Imagine the rays of the sun of the light beam of a flashlight? I want to render that kind of lighting. It would be very useful in creating an artificial light source. If there isn't a plugin written for this yet, let me be the first to make a call towards making one. Thank you.