Windows 8.1 is released with several improvements over Windows 8, offering more options for the Start interface. The highly customizable Start interface features varying sizes of app icon blocks, along with diverse background designs and colors, making Windows 8.1 unique. The Photos app integrated into Windows 8.1 will make it easy for you to edit your photos.
Guide to Editing Photos with Photos App on Windows 8.1
Step 1: There are various ways to open the Photos app—via the Start menu, in the Apps section. However, the quickest and easiest way is to right-click on the file you want to open and choose Open with\Photos.
Step 2: On the main program interface, you can preview the before and after images. To edit an image, left or right-click on the image, and various tools will appear, as shown below.
Main screen functions include:
- Delete: Delete the current image.
- Open with: Open the image with other applications like Paint or Windows Photo Viewer.
- Set as: Set the current image as the lock screen background (Lock Screen) or as an icon for the Photos tile (Photos tile).
- Slideshow: View all images in the Pictures library in slideshow format.
- Rotate: Rotate the image.
- Crop: Crop the image.
- Edit: Used for adjusting effects, coloring, brightness, and more.
Step 3: Among these functions, the Edit function is the most crucial in photo editing. Let's explore the Edit function. Clicking on Edit brings up the interface below.
Firstly, the Auto Fix section, where you can choose from 6 effects on the right.
Basic Fixes section offers 4 tools: Rotate to turn the image, Crop to cut the image, Red Eye to fix red-eye issues, Retouch for smoothing.
Light section includes 4 tools: Brightness to adjust brightness, Contrast to tweak contrast, Highlights to accentuate details, Shadows to highlight shadows.
Color section provides 4 tools: Temperature for a warmer tone, Tint to emphasize different hues, Saturation for a cooler tone, Color Enhance to select and highlight a specific color. For instance, I'm using these tools to fix red-eye in the girl's eyes in the picture.
Effects section has 2 tools: Vignette blurs the surroundings around the central point of the image, Selective Focus lets you choose a focal point, with 5 levels of blur - least, mild, normal, strong, strongest.
Step 4: After completing the edits, right-click on the image and select Save a Copy to save a new image in the Pictures library or Update Original to save directly over the edited image.
Within the article limits, we've guided you on how to edit photos with the Photos app on Windows 8.1. This tool rivals professional photo editing software, bringing unique photos exclusive to you. Starting from Windows 8, the developer has integrated utilities for online photo storage via OneDrive. Additionally, Google has introduced Google Photos, a free tool for storing photos and videos. You can download Google Photos on your computer or devices like Android and iPhone for photo storage.
