Help on Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2

Remember – always work with a copy of the original – you can simply copy and paste the images you want to work with into a different directory – or, when you have finished use the “Save As” option to save the doctored image in a different directory – although this program does have a “failsafe” mode on the ordinary “Save” button.

I use this program, but using a batch process is not a good idea because it applies the same settings to each picture. Typically, this isn’t a good idea.

But what do you actually want to do in this batch? You may have found something I haven’t considered.

Yes, of course it is being compressed – both in terms of the image size, and the file size. But that isn’t the only reason it seems to be less sharp.

There are various was to increase/decrease sharpness in X2. You can simply use the sharpness/softness tools in “Adjust” drop down menu. Or you can use the sharpness setting in the “Smart Photo Fix”, also in the “Adjust” drop down menu. You can even use them in combination.

If you want to resize photographs, decide what format you want – standard photographc, or monitor size.

Use the crop tool to cut out anything you don’t want and then resize the resulting image to the width you want (be sure to maintain aspect ratio).

Use the crop tool again to cut out the surplus bits top and bottom in order to get aspect ratio you require in depth.

For instance, I crop my photos to fit my monitors width/depth (1920×1080). So I crop my image ensuring it is both wider than 1920 and much deeper then I expect to use.

Then I resize the cropped image to 1920 pixels wide.

Then I cut off the top and bottom by putting 1920 in as my width (ie not changing the width), then I enter the depth I need (1080). Then I can grab the box and move it up and/or down on the image as required to end up with a 1920×1080 picture showing what I want.

This is the only method I know of (apart from simply cropping out a single 1920×1080 box) that will maintain the perspective of the original image.

Using this method I can also create quite nice desktop backgrounds, putting the subject of the photograph somewhere where it will be less likely to be covered by icons and desktop gadgets.

If you use the “Save As” option to save the final image, there is an “Options” button click on it and you will find all sorts of options for compressing your image (or not).