Late July update

I haven't gotten round to looking at any online Photoshop tutorials as yet.

One question I have recently wanted to get answered is: what are RAW files? Photodoto has a glossary of photographic terms, and says

You might think of a RAW file as the digital equivalent of a film negative.

They are a feature of some high-end cameras, so unlikely to be supported by my Sony compact.

And the August issue of Digital Camera Magazine has an article on How can we train our eyes to see shots?

Class 6 notes

A recap of what we've looked at over the past 6 weeks.

Notes and files for collage available

Class notes for class 4 on creating a basic collage have been uploaded.

I am supplying the files for you to have a go at creating the postcard which appears in the previous entry.

cow.jpg

port.jpg

To download files right click the link and select Save Link As... or whichever command indicates that it will download or save the file to your hard disk.

Of course you may want to use your own files. Either way follow the steps in the Class 4 notes. Notes only go as far as we covered in class.

Please let me know of any errors or any thing that needs clarified.

Basic collage

Here is my attempt at a basic collage combining a selection layer and a text layer, as per last night's lesson. Expanded notes on how to achieve this with your own photos to follow. The magnetic lasso (in full Photoshop) is fiddly but allows for more accuracy in making a selection.

DVD-RW and DVD+RW

I mistakenly thought there was a similar division amongst CDs ie CD-RW and CD+RW but it seems there isn't.

What the distinction is between DVD-RW and DVD+RW is not clear but see the Wikipedia articles:

DVD-RW
DVD+RW

They seem to be competing formats. cdfreaks has an article from June 2003 Why DVD+R(W) is superior to DVD-R(W) (it's a bit technical:).

Archiving your photos

Make sure that you store your photos in a logical manner on your computer. Organize your digital pictures has some suggestions.

Archive your photos fast suggests setting up a reminder to carry out archiving of photos on a regular basis.

The only point that I wish to make is the fairly obvious one that you only need to backup a set of photos once, ie you only need to backup the photos you've stored on your computer since your last backup. Hence the importance of organising your photos on your computer.

Scan resolution

Tom Ang (Digital Photography An Introduction DK) gives the following formula:

input resolution = (size of output x output resolution)/size of orignal

Suppose your original is 2 inches long and you want a print 10 inches. If you need an output resolution of 300 lpi (lines per inch) then you need

10 x 300 pixels

and the input resolution must be

3000/2 = 1500 ppi (points per inch)

The important thing is to know what the output resolution may be

• inkjets between 80 and 200 lpi
• screen 72 dpi or 96 dpi

He also gives some rules of thumb based on file size.

Picasa

from Google. A free digital photo tool.

I've been using the clone tool

I took this pic yesterday and only after I uploaded it did I notice the branches in the top left corner, rather spoiling the pic.

So this AM using Photoshop and the clone tool, in a job of a few minutes - branches gone:)

Writing files to a CD

CD Burning Becomes Routine in Windows XP I hope this is correct.

Files for Layers example

The Digicamhelp Layers introduction posted on Monday can help us see other uses for layers. I have provided two graphic files, a jpg and a transparent gif, to help get started with this mini tutorial.

heart - transparent gif
cow - jpeg
cow parade - my attempt at combining text and graphics

Download the first two of these files, and have a go at following the steps at the Layers introduction page. Play around with the type tool in Elements.

Movie Maker 2.1 for XP

The download page for Movie Maker 2.1

Scanning in photos

Scanning - using the Scanner and Camera Wizard

• Scan a photo for the highest resolution for which the image will be used. Standard for video monitor is 72 dpi
• For printing scan at the same resolution as will be used as when printed (eg 300 dpi)
• Scanning at a higher resolution is acceptable, at a lower resolution is not
• Ensure any print, especially those with a glossy surface, are scrupulously clean. Any specks of dust, fibres, loose hairs will show up sharply on the resulting scans

(from Photoshop Elements 3 by Carole Matthews and Doug Sahlin)

But note:

A Note on Resolution: The vast majority of scanning projects require resolutions lower than 300 dpi. For example, scanning a photograph at resolutions higher than 150 to 200 dpi only produces a larger file, not more detail.

from Scanning 101 - All about digital images

Digicamhelp

...is here - Digicamhelp.

Layers introduction by means of making a simple Valentine's day card in Photoshop, not Elements but the steps carried out will apply in Elements just as well.

Ransom notes with Flickr

The Pod

Photodoto review of The Pod beanbag tripod.

Midlothian at BBC Scotland's Your Pictures

Crichton Castle near Gorebridge featured in BBC Scotland's Your Pictures last Friday.

And Vogrie Park also featured in a snap taken by someone from Gorebridge.

Photodoto

Photodoto looks interesting (and not too overwhelming), with tips and techniques by photography enthusiast John Watson (flagrantdisregard - fd of fd's Flickr toys).

Eg How to photograph a child on a swing

fd's Flickr toys

Good fun to be had with fd's Flickr toys.

Flickr tools

Uploadr for Windows XP etc.

Organising your digital photos

Tips on how to organise your photos on your hard disk using the XP system.

What is a layer?

See the Wikipedia article section on layers.

Class notes available online

I have added a section to the sidebar on the right hand side of the page entitled My class notes. This will provide links to pdf versions of the notes for each lesson. To download a copy of the notes right-click a link and select Save Link as... this should begin the download process.

Eg to download class 1 notes, move the mouse pointer over the link Class 1 and click on the link using the right mouse button and select Save Link as...

Judy Howle

Judy Howle's site has lots of interesting links to sites on digital photography, Elements (v 3), and much else related to creative computing.

Mistakes to avoid

Just as important as any top 10 tips

Top 7 Digital Camera Newbie Mistakes to Avoid

1. Sending enormous files by email
2. Not backing up your photos
3. Using the camera's digital zoom feature
4. Using too much in-camera compression to reduce memory use
5. Using low resolution to reduce memory use
6. Settling for the software that came with the camera
7. Not taking time to learn the equipment

Online tutorial on Adobe Photoshop Elements

Keith Cooper is a photographer and photography tutor in Adult Ed who has kindly made his tutorial in Elements, and his sample images, available online. This is what he had to say in reply to my request for use of his materials

That's not a problem - I'm always happy for the images to be used for teaching purposes. Do let me know if you have any comments or feedback on their use, since I'm always trying to make the site more useful...

• Elements tutorial on techniques
• images - these will not download in the Library but will be available for you to download at home. Of course they are also available from Keith's site.

The idea here is to

• download the practise images to your hard disk (right-click the images link above and choose Save Link as...)
  
• unzip them (achieved by double clicking the downloaded file)
• move the resulting folder to, say, your My Pictures folder
  
• open the tutorial in your web browser (click the link Elements tutorial above and scroll down to The techniques)
  
• launch Adobe Photoshop Elements
  
• work through the tutorial on The techniques
  
• switch between the tutorial for instruction, and
  
• carry out the instructions in Elements

If you do not have Photoshop Elements 4.0 you can download a trial version from Adobe - download page for Elements tryout.

The screenshots in Keith Cooper's tutorial are from an earlier Macintosh version of Elements. This should not cause too much confusion if you read the instructions and concentrate on the commands shown in the screenshots.

Introduction to the course

Suitable goals for the course might be:

• to become familiar with the operation of our digital cameras
• to feel comfortable working with digital images under Win XP
• to be able to use a digital imaging tool to carry out simple editing of our photos
• to be able to back up our digital images to secondary storage
• to be able to make use of our photos creatively
• to take better photos
• to be able to digitise existing conventional photos
• be able to email photos

However I am open to suggestions and would value your input at any level.