We are used to seeing some quite complicated and detailed manipulations of digital images, but very often all some images needs are some small tweaks.

Little uncomplicated changes in whatever software we use, which can lift your image from being a nice snap to a good photograph. You should be making every attempt to ensure your pictures are sharp and well exposed at the taking stage and I am sure we always do that, don't we?

However, it's rare to get an image straight from the digital camera that would not benefit from a little tweak or two. If only little tweaks could be bought in our favorite photo store ?

Well, they can't, but the good news is they are very simple and quick to do.

We shot this kitty below who was prowling around a cafe where we were having lunch.

If you would like to download the original file used in this tutorial, click the image below. Your use of this image is to follow this tutorial only and the image must not be used one it's own or in any other compilation.

The weather was bright, but the cat was sitting in the shade. Wise cat and lucky for us that the lighting was so nice. We shot the basic picture with a Nikon Coolpix 990 and used Photoshop for our tweaks.

A good tip when photographing animals like dogs and cats is to try and get down to their level. Your pictures will be far more appealing than those shot from a standing position. The LCD screens on most digicams make this easier and the swivel lens on the Coolpix makes this a breeze.

Step 1. Your first job is to cover up the two big high lights just above the cats head, which are very distracting. These are very easy to do and usually you would use the clone tool for small areas like this, but on this image you will be able to simply spray black over the white areas with your airbrush.

Enlarge the image so that the high lights are fairly large on screen and using a soft edged airbrush carefully cover those white areas. Just covering those two white shapes helps the image enormously and if you did nothing else you already have a better shot.

Tip. Photoshop allows you to decide the content of various palettes and you may find it a good idea to have your airbrush options in the same palette as your brushes. To do this call up your airbrush options by double clicking the airbrush icon from the tool bar. You can remove any items that you don't require by clicking the name tab and dragging it to another part of your desktop. Close down what you don't require and then call up your brushes via Window-Show brushes. Click on the brushes name tab and drag it into the Airbrush options palette as we have shown below. Every time you call up the palette the two main tools will be available to you.

Step 2. The second simple tweak is to adjust the levels. There are a lot of ways to do this, but try this simple way first. Call up the levels palette using the shortcut keys Ctrl+L. Click the small eye dropper icon bottom right of the palette and then touch down on the lightest part of your image that still retains detail. Get your selection right and your image will be transformed, get it wrong and you can simply undo it and have another go. You will soon get the hang of this simple selection and it works a treat.

Try touching down around the cats eye where the fur is bright, but still retains detail.

Step 3. The third tweak is to increase the saturation of the cat a little. Call up the hue and saturation palette via the shortcut keys Ctrl+U. Move the saturation slider to the right to increase the saturation, but be careful not to overdo it. While you are dealing with the saturation you may like to make a simple freehand selection of your cats eyes and adjust the saturation and/or the contrast just a little more for them.

The eyes are going to be the focal point of your picture so a little more saturation or contrast can make a lot of difference.

Those three small and simple tweaks will make a world of difference to your picture as you can see above, but there is more you can do.

Step 4. Sometimes when shooting in cloudy conditions you may notice a slight blue cast in your pictures and this was evident in the background of our cat. To overcome this make a selection as close to the cats fur as you can until all the background has been selected. Feather the edge of that selection by choosing Select - feather from the menu bar. Try about 5 pixels to start with and then go back to your hue and saturation command.

This time move the hue slider until you lose the blue cast in the background.

Step 5. A final tweak may be to darken the edges of your image a little, which also helps to keep the viewers attention on the cats eyes. You can do this by making a free hand selection of just the outer edges of the background or via an oval selection. Feather the edge of that selection by about 100 pixels and call up the levels again via Ctrl+L. Move the centre slider gently towards the right to darken the selected area. Simple small tweaks that make all the difference

The finished image.

Give these simple tweak's a try and turn your snaps into photographs.