The following will help you navigate through the controls in Snapseed. If you haven’t already, please read and watch HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH, EDIT, AND SUBMIT YOUR DRAWINGS ONLINE, also in Blackboard.
Snapseed is easy to use but there are a few tools that are more useful for our purposes than others. To save you time, here are the ones I use most often:
1) Photograph the drawing on a table or other flat surface in even daylight (near a window is best). Fill the frame but leave a little space on all sides for editing. Be sure you’re not casting a shadow (or other cast shadows) on the drawing.
2) If the photo comes out sideways or upside down (depending on how you were holding the camera), go to TOOLS and use ROTATE.
3) After every operation, be sure to click the check mark, lower right, to accept the change. Click the X, lower right, to undo.
4) Go to TOOLS / CROP and crop to the outermost point on each side of the drawing.
5) Go to TOOLS / PERSPECTIVE and eliminate any distortion by dragging the edges of the drawing to the edges of the window.
6) Go to TOOLS / WHITE BALANCE and adjust the TEMPERATURE of the image by making the values as neutral as possible; neither too warm or too cool.
7) Go to Tools / DETAILS to bring out more delicate or faint lines.
8) Go to TOOLS / TUNE IMAGE. Click on the TUNE IMAGE icon in the bottom menu and go to HIGHLIGHTS. Since your background is probably too dark, move the slider to the right until the white of the paper is white–probably all the way to the right in most cases.
9) Go to TOOLS / TUNE IMAGE / CONTRAST to strengthen the contrast between the lines/values and the white of the paper. Be careful not to add too much, which will distort your mid-tones (in a value drawing).
10) Go to TOOLS / TUNE IMAGE / BRIGHTNESS, if needed, to bring up the light overall.
NOTE: Some images need different proportions of these three adjustments (more of one, less of another) to get the desired effect. Use trial and error until the image on the screen has the tonal feeling of the original.
11) If portions of the background (white) are still shaded or uneven in value, go to TOOLS / SELECTIVE. Tap the screen wherever the paper is less white. A “B” in a circle will appear. Adjust the brightness slider at the top of the screen and that region of the drawing will lighten. Repeat in as many parts of the drawing as you like.
12) Check out the AMBIENCE control under TUNE IMAGE. Not sure how it works but it can sprinkle some fairy dust on the whole thing and just make it look better (in some cases).
There are plenty of other useful controls, as you’ll see, and some might come in handy, but the ones above should give you a good result.