IT Tutorial by Gill Irving

Video courtesy of the Lancashire Evening Post

Lancashire College ICT teacher Gill Irving has a simple way to repair damaged pictures on your computer.

"I have been using computers in some form or another for about 22 years.

I was weaned on Amstrads before Windows appeared in the 1990s. And since then, I've never been further than a few feet away from a computer.

My office at home looks like something from Dr Who I have that many things plugged into the PC – so teaching ICT is kind of a dream job, it means I can spread the word!

I first got interested in photo-editing about six years ago and that, along with video editing, is my favourite aspect of using the computer, although if I think about it hard enough there isn't much I don't like about it.

The great thing about photo-editing these days is that there are free packages you can download from the internet to get you started – you don't have to spend a fortune to get a basic programme, nor do you need to be particularly artistic or a great designer – you can stick to touching up damaged photos or cropping off people and things from the edge of your pictures.

The programme I am going to demonstrate is called Paint.net (not the Paint programme that you get as standard with Microsoft Windows), and it can be downloaded for free from www.getpaint.net – click on the free download section on the right hand side of the screen and follow the link to "Download now" (I used www.download.com for my copy).

Other free programs available include Irfanview or Picasa – pop either name into Google and you should find links to both, Adobe Photoshop is in the process of producing a free editing programme called Photoshop Express – there are some test versions on the internet for you to have a look at.

Most of all you will need patience – see each photo you work on as an on-going project that you might spend not only hours but weeks on. Have a few projects on the go at once so you don't get bored.

And always make sure you keep a copy of the original!

My biggest tip? Don't forget to blink. Honest."

Gill teaches a range of ICT courses at Lancashire College. For more information on forthcoming courses, see the Weekly Courses page and the Learning Breaks page.