Part Two
A fun exercise might be to take a headshot, use the rectangular selection tool to select half the face. Copy and Paste the selection, Use Object, Flip to flip it horizontally and move it to create a face made up of two mirrored images - You can get some strange results!
Another exercise could be to try and add one of the pupils to an old photo. Use the selection tools to draw round them in one photo, then copy and paste into another one.
Once you are happy with your result you can flatten the image - merging the new objects into the background using the Object, Combine command. You will need to do this before you start doing any colour correction or any changes will only affect the object which is currently selected.
The third button on the toolbar is the crop tool. Draw your box, adjust it to size using the handles then Right Click, Crop to Selection.
A common problem with old photos is that they are often too dull. Rather than use a brightness control, which just brightens everything, you are better using what is usually called Level Equalisation. Confusingly Corel have renamed this, from previous versions, as Contrast Enhancement which you'll find under the Image, Adjust menu. What this tool basically does is makes the darkest parts of the image Black and the lightest parts White. The mountain range display, in the screenshot below, represents the range of levels in the image. Drag the top left arrow, and the top right arrow to where I've placed the red arrows. The Gamma correction below controls how the midtones (everything apart from Black and White) are distributed. Move the slider (a tiny fraction!) to make the midtones brighter or darker. Having said all that, the Auto Equalise command will do it for you automatically!
Under the Image, Adjust menu you'll also find Desaturate to make the image Black and White, and the Colur Hue which is a nice quick way to get a sepia effect - just click on the yellow, red and magenta buttons till you get an effect you like. Alter the step control for finer changes.
I very rarely use dust and scratch filters on my photos (they make things appear too 'smooth' for my taste), but they are available under Image, Correction. Basically set the threshold high and the radius low to remove the dust marks but retain the detail.
Good Luck and if you want any more advice feel free to post here or send me a PM.
Cheers
Gary