Editing a Photo Using Windows 7 Paint

Thanks to the popularity of social media and sharing sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, photo editing has become a national obsession. Luckily, you don’t have to spend a fortune on expensive photography software to express your creativity. There are a number of free, easy-to-use ways to edit your pictures. And one of these may already be at your fingertips if you’re using Windows 7.

Windows 7 improved drawing utility – Paint – is a great way to edit your pictures, improve their quality, and add fun effects like colors or text. For those who are new at manipulating their photos, Paint is a great way to learn the ropes.

Begin by clicking on Start from your Windows menu, then select All Programs, followed by Accessories and then Paint. This will get you into the Paint program. In order to find a picture to edit, click on the application icon, and then select Open. (The application icon is the small picture of a document located in the top left corner.)

A window will open up, allowing you to choose a picture file. Simply click on Pictures, and then open the folder that contains the picture you’re looking for. Once you choose a picture, click Open.

Your selected picture will then appear in the open Paint window. From here, you can explore some of the editing tools available. For example, you can add colors from the color palette. Just click on a colored square from the selection on the Home tab. Then choose a tool. Brushes allow you to paint the color on like an artist, while the dropper dabs color in small drops. You can also draw shapes or objects and then use the Fill tool to fill them with color. To add a shape, click on the Shapes button and select a shape. Then click and drag anywhere on your image to draw a rectangle, ellipse, circle, etc.

You can also customize the color palette to get exactly the shade you want. Click on the Edit Colors button. This opens up an area where you can add various colors to get a shade that’s completely unique. Once you’re happy with the look, Click on Add to Custom Colors, followed by Ok to save your new color.

To add a name, phrase, or other text to your picture, click on the Text button. You can then drag the image around to create a text box where you can type. You can also edit this text in the same way you would a Word document – changing the color, size, and font.

Finally, you can modify your photo with the buttons found under the Image section. Here you can re-size your picture, flip it around to create a mirror of itself, stretch your photo out, and more. Once you’re happy with the look, click the Save button to save the changes to your picture. You can also print or email yourself the image.