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How to use Aviary Photo Editor for Windows 8

Kurtis Seid

Kurtis Seid

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aviary iconBest known for their Web app graphics suite, Aviary released a Windows 8 version of their popular photo editor. Aviary Photo Editor is a very light weight editor that skips many of the complex features found in other image software. This becomes more obvious by the fact that Aviary Photo Editor lacks features found in editors such as Photoshop or GIMP. Still, Aviary Photo Editor is great for simple and fast editing jobs.

We’ll show you how to get the best out of Aviary Photo Editor.

aviary layout

All of Aviary Photo Editor’s tools are laid out at the bottom of the app. This allows for intuitive easy access.

Most Common Tools

Aviary rotate

Orientation and Crop tools are Aviary Photo Editor’s best features. Orientation is very straight forward, allowing you to flip or rotate a picture.

Aviary rotate

Crop is only means of changing an image’s dimensions. You can drag out a rectangle of your own or select from twelve different presets.

aviary slider

Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, and Sharpness are other good tools for touching up and adjusting your photo. The simple to use sliders will show you how your image will appear. Unfortunately, you have to use each of these tools one at a time.

Brightness slider

Increasing Brightness will lighten highlights and shadows equally. Decreasing Brightness will darken the entire image.

Contrast slider

Contrast will separate highlights and shadows. Increased Contrast will lighten highlights and darken shadows. Decreased Contrast will instead darken highlights and lighten shadows.

Saturation Slider

Similar to Contrast, Saturation will separate colors. Increased Saturation will cause colors to pop out from each other. Decreased Saturation will make them to mesh, causing them to become gray at the lowest setting. Saturation will not affect black and white images that have no colors.

Sharpness Slider

Sharpness will separate edges. Increased Sharpness will cause edges to be more pronounced. Decreased Sharpness will blur edges together.

Touch Up Tools

aviary whiten

Red eye, Whiten, and Blemish are excellent tools for finishing touches. Just be sure to use each tool in the applicable location such as eyes, teeth, or around contours.

aviary blur

Because the tool has a large diameter you’ll need good precision. Otherwise you might smear or brighten more than you want.

aviary effects

The Enhance and Effect tools offer quick filters that will change the hue and lighting of the whole image. You can combine multiple filters together for various results.

aviary many effects

If you want a realistic image it’s recommended that you don’t use these tools too much, as your image may start to appear eerie. However, using several filters is great if you want to make something surreal or artistic.

Extra Tools

aviary stickers

Stickers can be used to add in such as glasses, pipes, and word bubbles. These are very cartoony, and unlikely to match most images. Unless you want to make a humorous image try to avoid Stickers.

aviary text tool

The Text and Drawing tools are also rather gaudy looking. Neither of these tools have feathering or a diverse color palate. Generally using these tools will make your image look strange and comedic.

Aviary Photo Editor has some handy and intuitive tools, while others have impractical results. Crop, Orientation, Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, and Sharpness are the best means of properly touching up a photo. Red eye, Whiten, Blemish, Effect, Enhance can be used sparingly and carefully; overuse will generally create tacky images. Stickers, Text, and Drawing are likely bad choices unless you want to make your picture funny. Whether you want a professional looking picture or something more lighthearted, Aviary Photo Editor is a great way to quickly improve images.

Kurtis Seid

Kurtis Seid

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