Photo Editing

It's no secret that a Google Pixel makes most cameras obsolete, especially when taking pictures inside museums, churches, etc. The only thing it lacks is color. I have yet to find out if it's a good phone to capture the northern lights. Pictures that were taken with a Pixel phone show a decent amount of color when seen on the phone, but this does not happen when you download those to your computer. If you're reading this from a phone, you'll probably find that these pictures have nice colors, but if you're using a computer, you'll probably see them with less color, just like I do. Here are some examples:

                             

                              

Windows 10 came out perhaps in 2017. In early 2018, they added editing tools that would allow those of us who are not familiar with Photoshop edit pictures for free. This awesome tool lets you add color and make images a little sharper with a feature called "clarity." At first, this clarity feature would ruin the edges of your photos, which would later require cropping those edges just like some people remove the bread's crust. Eventually this was minimized, but still requires cropping. Spot fix is also a good way of getting rid of light reflections that you often find inside places like royal palaces, as well as outside places that are illuminated by artificial lights. Here are the same four pictures shown above, but after editing with Windows 10:

After adding a decent amount of color you may notice that Pixel pictures have a greater yellow saturation, but a paid program called Photopad (the 2nd editing filter that I use) lets you balance colors. It also allows you to do things such as fixing levels (whatever that means). This second step is done on my personal computer:

Windows 11 has a way for you to reduce shadows, which helps make objects brighter. It also enhances colors a little differently, which may make most pictures look a little better, but as it lacks the clarity and spot fix features of Windows 10, this is now the third editing step, also with my personal computer. 

Luckily my work computer still has the Windows 10 editing tool. I worry about the day that it's gone. I wonder if Photoshop can help me edit these pictures quickly, while producing at least these great improvements that I just described.