Have you just recently purchased a copy of Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate and aren’t sure where to start? Or are you looking for information on how to use some of the more advanced tools in the digital photo editing application? Bright Hub’s Digital Photography Channel has a number of Paint Shop Pro tutorials for enthusiasts of all levels. Here’s a sampling of some of the topics covered in these user guides.
Changing Colors – If you’ve ever wondered what you would look like with green eyes or wanted some help with choosing a new color to paint your house, Paint Shop Pro’s color changer tool can help. For a more advanced color-changing tool, you may also want to 
look into trying out certain plugins like AKVIS Coloriage.
Fix Minor Technical Problems – Even with the best-planned shot, things can sometimes go wrong. Instead of throwing your hands up in disgust, you can correct most of these problems in Paint Shop Pro by using features such as the straightening tool and crop tool.
Get Rid of Distracting Backgrounds – There are times when a distracting background can take away the spotlight from the real object you want to focus on in a digital photo. One way to solve this problem is to apply a depth of field effect that will blur out any unnecessary scenery or people in the background of the photograph. If that’s not enough, you can get rid of the distraction completely using the new background remover tool that comes packaged with Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate.
Installing Plugins – A great feature in Paint Shop Pro is that you’re not just limited to the tools that come with the software. There are a number of add-on applications that are compatible with the application, and many of these plugins are free! However, sometimes these plugins can be a little difficult to install. If you’re having trouble with this issue, check out these tips for loading third-party plugins in Paint Shop Pro.
Layers – Image layers are one of the most powerful tools found in any photo editing application, and Paint Shop Pro supports nine different layer types. To find out more about what makes these objects so special, see this tutorial on how to use layers when editing digital photographs in Paint Shop Pro.
Makeover Tools – Not too thrilled about how you look in that last family photograph? The makeover tools in Paint Shop Pro can do everything from whiten teeth to remove skin blemishes. You can even give yourself a suntan or make yourself look thinner.
Photo Compression – With today’s high resolution digital cameras, individual photos can be quite large in size. In fact, they may be so large that emailing them or uploading them to the internet can take a while One way to speed up this process is to compress the JPEG images in Paint Shop Pro before sharing them with others. (However, if you want to compress these images for storage reasons, you may want to consider a lossless form of compression like that found in WinZip 12.) It’s important to note, though, that JPEG compression can cause some noise problems to appear in the photos. To get rid of this noise, you may want to try a special noise removal plugin such as Topaz DeNoise.
Next: Continue on to page 2 for more Paint Shop Pro tutorials.