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Senior Computer Tutor
Don Edrington Home Profile
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IrfanView - Create Panoramic Images
Ralph Ewton wrote to ask if IrfanView is just a viewing program or if it can also be used to edit images. And Hank Mason asked if IrfanView can display two pictures side-by-side and then convert them to a single image. Hank wants a finished picture showing someone at two different ages. Regarding Ralph’s question, IrfanView (free from IrfanView.com) was originally an image viewer with just a few basic editing functions. Over time, however, some very useful editing features have been added, including tools to accomplish Hank’s desired task. How to combine 2 photos: Launch IrfanView and click Image>Create Panorama Image. Click Add Images, browse to the first target picture and double-click it. Repeat the above steps to place the second picture alongside the first. Finally, click Create Image to display both photos side-by-side. To fasten their touching edges together draw a rectangle around the two images with your left mouse-button depressed. Finally, click on the toolbar Scissors, followed by clicking the toolbar Paste icon. This will cut the outlined image and paste it back in as a new image. Now click File>Save As to give the image a new name, assign JPG formatting, and choose a storage location on your hard drive or on an external storage device. As you probably guessed, the above "Create Panorama" procedure lets one combine many images side-by-side. Of course, it is assumed you will be using pictures of the same height. If any are of a different height, use IrfanView to crop and/or resize them to match. Beyond all the above, the reason I recommend IrfanView is that nowadays nearly everyone has a digital camera and/or a scanner for converting snapshots to bitmap images. Expensive programs such as Photoshop have lengthy learning curves, which often require professional training, while most of IrfanView’s helpful features can be learned in a couple of days. Yes, I realize that the concept of do-it-yourself photo-editing may seem strange to folks who grew up being cautious about taking snapshots because of how much the film and all those glossy prints would cost. This was especially the case when many of the shots didn’t come out all that well anyway. Well, with digital photography there is no film to buy and you only need to print the pictures that come out well. Moreover, you can use IrfanView to fix the ones that came out, say, overexposed or too large or slightly crooked or which show too much extraneous background. When downloading IrfanView, I recommend including all the add-ons. When asked which file-name extensions you want to associate with the program, I suggest All Image Files. |
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