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Joseph Ciaglia, Barbara London, John Upton, Ken Kobre and Betsy

1. Input Level fa 255 Auto Otons Black point eyedropper White point eyedropper Middle gray 128 Preview Button Pure black 0 Paper white 255 CHAPTER 14 THE IMPORTANCE OF BRIGHTNESS CONTRAST 213 FIGURE 14 10 Normal con trast The image has a range of blacks whites and grays FIGURE 14 11 High contrast The whites and blacks are clus tered at either end with very little gray in between 214 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 14 12 Low contrast The tones are bunched toward the middle of the histogram almost no whites or blacks Low contrast images can be saved by setting a new black point and a new white point When printing a conventional photograph you start by trying to ensure that the print will have bright whites and deep blacks both with some detail You might make test prints before making a final print Black Point and White Point Setup Photoshop lets you define black points and white points to improve the brightness and contrast of an image simultaneously Brighter images with sufficient contrast are much more interesting than washed out bland images When you set black points and white points you first set the highlights then the shadows and finally you tweak the midtones The following exercise shows you how to set up the Levels dialog box to improve brightness and contrast for images that will e
2. I consten Prosoniens eae image Bicunic 5 Change the printing size of the image by typing a number in the Width Height or Resolution pixels per inch field A change to any one of these fields will update the values in the other fields For example if the current print width is 15 inches and you want a 10 inch wide print type 10 in the Width field The Resolution value is helpful as it tells you how many pixels per inch will appear in the print so you can estimate how sharp it will look Most color inkjet printers are very happy printing images at 150 300 pixels per inch ppi If you enter a number in this range in the Resolution box the image will print well on the printer The following section continues with this exercise after explaining the purpose of resampling Resampling an Image Sometimes you must change the number of pixels in an image by resampling This often happens when you need to reduce downsample a large image for a Web site or enlarge upsample a low res image for a large format printer For these situations you must resample the image An image that begins its life as a print 2 400x1 600 pixels in resolution must be made much smaller to be viewed on the Web anywhere from 90x60 to 800x600 Resampling down is usually not a problem if there is more information than you need see Figure 9 6 Let Elements use fancy math to remove this data properly CHAPTER 9 BASIC EDITING WITH PHOTOSHOP
3. Images that include large areas of single colors or slight gradients such as the sky display these image artifacts prominently see Figure 7 3 JPEG compression is primarily designed for photographs The reason is that JPEG sacrifices colors for brightness The human eye is very sensitive to brightness changes but not color changes For this reason the JPEG compression algorithm can remove or average color information in an image without affecting brightness infor mation The JPEG format has specific advantages among file formats FIGURE 7 3 High compres sion in JPEG files creates visi ble banding and image arti facts in areas with no tonal variation CHAPTER 7 FILES AND FILE FORMATS 87 E Excellent image fidelity The JPEG format was designed to be fast and provide high fidelity in compressed images This format was also designed to be adjustable so that users could dial in the desired level of compression caution Do not use the JPEG for mat for computer gener ated images such as those used for 3D com puter graphics The com pression algorithm will introduce artifacts and noise in the image JPEG should only be used for true continuous tone images E Platform independent The format is simple enough to be included among many different operating systems and soft ware programs E Flexible Almost any continuous tone still image can be compressed in JPEG regard less
4. 1 Choose Select Modify Expand or Select Modify Contract to make the selec tion grow or shrink in every direction by the number of pixels you specify in a dialog box see Figure 11 18 FIGURE 11 18 The Expand command expands by the specified num ber of pixels 2 Expand with the options in the Select menu E Select Grow operates like a magic wand It selects neighboring pixels in the image that resemble those in the existing selection Tolerances are taken from the Magic Wand options bar CHAPTER 11 ADVANCED SELECTION TOOLS 167 E Select Similar selects pixels in the image that resemble those in the existing selection but unlike the Grow command the pixels do not need to be physically connected by similar pixels Tolerances are taken from the Magic Wand options bar E Select Modify Border changes the selection which is a solid area into a hollow ring or donut shape see Figure 11 19 The thickness of the ring is specified in a dialog box FIGURE 11 19 Modifying the border of your selection E Select Feather gives the selection soft edges so that pixels at the edge are partly selected whereas pixels at the center are completely selected You will use Select Feather a lot often with a setting of two or three pixels Feather softens selection areas by blending the specified number of pixels with the area outside the selection This softens whatever edits you make to a selection E Select Inverse
5. Windows Bitmap format that originated with Windows Paint This 24 bit format is still used as wallpaper within Windows Images can be saved in Windows or OS 2 format an older operating system format from IBM In Windows this format uses the bmp extension The Encapsulated PostScript EPS format is used to share images with page layout software such as FrameMaker QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign EPS format can include clipping paths which are often used in page layout software to flow text around an image EPS format images must be printed on PostScript capable printers In Windows this format uses the eps extension An older format created for the DOS program PC Paintbrush Clip art is still found in this format but the format is not current with today s printers and software and should not be used In Windows this format uses the pcx extension An Apple Mac OS image format that bridges compatibility between graphics and page layout applications Enables color RGB images to be saved in 16 bit or 32 bit format This format is not supported very well in Windows In Windows this format uses the pct exten sion A royalty free alternative to the GIF format that is lossless supports 24 bits instead of GIF s 256 color palette and antialiased back ground transparency PNG supports RGB indexed color and grayscale images In Windows this format uses the png extension Scitex Continuous Tone CT format is used by hi
6. 3 Click on the Pen tool and then click along an edge of a simple object in your drawing see Figure 11 9 Move the mouse and click again A line is created Continue tracing an object with the Pen tool don t worry about precision at this point and then return to the starting point Click again and the selection will be enclosed Move to a new object that has some curves and try your hand at curved paths 1 2 Click to set the first anchor Move the mouse to the next location where you d like to create an anchor point Click and hold down the mouse button then drag the mouse see Figure 11 10 You just created a second anchor point but are modifying it so that it has a curve to it Click and drag again at the next anchor point Notice that the direction in which you drag the handles will lead the path for the next anchor point You can influence the lead of the forward anchor handle by pressing down and holding the Alt 3 for Mac users key With the Alt key pressed click on the forward handle and move it in the direction of the next anchor point then release the mouse button and the Alt key Continue with your anchor points see Figure 11 11 Return to the starting point of your path and click Choose Window Paths to access the Path palette 160 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 11 10 Creating anchor points FIGURE 11 11 Press down and hold the Alt key
7. 3 In the Select Directory dialog box select where you want to save the file 4 If the drive was formatted make sure you select No Fat Consecutive in the drop down list Otherwise it should say FAT 1 If you experience problems try FAT 2 5 Click OK The file will appear in the directory If no files appear it s possible the flash media drive was formatted or a logical drive wasn t detected Return to step 3 and change settings in the Select Drive dialog box such as Use FAT and Skip Bad Clusters If a logical drive wasn t detected highlight the drive and click Find Logical Drives Partially Corrupt Files Images recovered from badly corrupted flash media will occasionally be partially missing This happens when newer files have overwritten the image s data or because the recovery software doesn t know how large the file is The latter can be remedied To determine whether the entire image can be restored try the following 1 Choose Object Options Files Make sure the Find Lost Files check box is checked CHAPTER 8 FILE RECOVERY FINDING LOST IMAGES 103 2 Change the Default file size to a number somewhat larger than the typical file size generated by your digital camera Table 8 1 shows typical files sizes for digital cameras Choose the megapixel size of your camera and read across to find a suggested setting for default file size Table 8 1 Average JPEG Default File Sizes for Digital Cameras Averag
8. The addition of a small amount of Gaussian blur to convey the mood of the holiday CHAPTER 13 THE IMPORTANCE OF FILTERS 199 200 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Noise Filters Despeckle and Dust amp Scratches FIGURE 13 11 An old depart ment store photo scanned at 600 samples per inch The somewhat 70s ish tex tured photo pattern is prominent The two most important Noise filters are Despeckle and Dust amp Scratches Despeckle blends dots of color Dust amp Scratches is an amazing tool that blurs dust that might have come through on a negative scan but retains the sharpness of the actual image Using Despeckle If you scan a print at a high resolution the actual paper grain will appear see Figure 13 11 One way around this is to scan the negative but if you don t have it or can t find it you might have to remove this grain The Despeckle Noise filter can help The first thing to try is a filter called Despeckle The Despeckle filter detects the edges in an image parts of the image with significant color changes such as the edge of a roof against a sky and blurs everything but the edges By blurring Despeckle removes noise yet is capable of preserving detail Too much Despeckle can blur the image The goal is to remove film grain and retain detail The following steps walk you through the process 1 After scanning an image save the file with a new name
9. 1 Open an image in Photoshop Select an image with a rich range of colors see Figure 20 13 Before you can check your image for gamut problems ensure that you have the correct printer profile installed To see whether the profile for your printer is installed choose Edit Color Settings Working Spaces CMYK in Photoshop Without the correct profile Gamut Warning is not accurate Edit the image as you normally would and then prior to printing choose View Gamut Warning When the Gamut Warning is turned on any colors that your printer cannot properly reproduce will be concealed behind a mask of flat color see Figure 20 14 The underlying colors are not altered they are simply hidden from view The hidden colors are those that cannot be accurately reproduced by CMYK printing devices such as your inkjet printer your printer actually prints in CMYK not RGB FIGURE 20 13 Monitor image with out of gamut colors FIGURE 20 14 Gamut warning colored mask CHAPTER 20 COLORTHEORY 303 4 The best way to correct the out of gamut colors issue is to desaturate those colors Use a selection tool like the Magic Wand or even better the Color Range command to select the problem colors after they are selected use the Saturation command to decrease saturation in those colors see Figure 20 15 304 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 20 1 5 Oi smile tif 33 3 RGB Desaturating ji ou
10. 146 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 10 16 This Soyuz seems too dark Let s fix it 2 Evaluate the image with Levels Choose Image Adjust Levels to view a his togram of the image which enables you to evaluate highlights and shadow pixels The Level s histogram shows that the image has few white tones or even light gray tones see Figure 10 17 This means that it is too dark and has low con trast FIGURE 10 17 _ x A histogram of hamel re wf the dark image Potte foo fess shows that most _Sacel_ data is confined ia to the dark side _ seve of histogram ao This results in eS Sa Options little or no Qutput Levels p ps contrast D Preview CHAPTER 10 EDITING WITH SELECTION TOOLS 147 If the image is clipped if data was never scanned because of a scanner error scan it again or reshoot the image Remember that an image that intention ally has large areas of pure black or white should not be diagnosed as clipped 3 Adjust the contrast and brightness with Levels sliders Adjust the white and or black sliders to improve the contrast and brightness using both your aes thetic judgment of the image and a technical evaluation of the histogram see Figure 10 18 You can read more about Levels in Chapter 15 The Importance of Levels and Curves FIGURE 10 18 _ x Slider bars at Channel ra l Loox bottom of Input Levels f fico E Histogram con
11. E EAE ACC Adhesive lt Plastic base MLL lt Antihalation coating prevents light reflection 42 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Chromogenic film is somewhat different from conven tional silver halide film A chromogenic emulsion contains dye couplers as well as silver halides During development the presence of silver that has been exposed to light leads to a proportional note buildup of dyes The original silver is then bleached lt out leaving the dyes to form the visible image Most color materials use chromogenic development to produce the final color image as do several types of black and white film You probably are famil iar with the C 41 process common at all 1 hour photomats and pharmacies The C in C 41 means chromogenic In Figure 3 8 notice the darker parts of the original scene Receive less light develop less silver density and show less detail FIGURE 3 8 ie an SEEGREGESBHGERReeae Te peg pe Each of these 7 z images received 3 e one stop less light WeSseGRBeRERBERRRFRRRReeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees Eventually those parts of the negative become clear of silver and print as black When a highlight area like the sky gets too much light it blocks up with solid silver density appears dark in the negative and prints as white THE ABSOLUTE MiNiMUM This chapter focused on film which you might not have expected to see in a digital photography book However fi
12. For this type of camera A normal focal length lens is 35mm 50mm 2 1 4x2 1 4 6x6cm 75mm 4 x5 150mm Usage varies somewhat For example lenses from about 40mm to 58mm are also referred to as normal focal lengths for a 35mm camera A lens of normal focal length has certain advantages over lenses of longer or shorter focal length Normal focal length lenses have the following characteristics E Faster They open to a wider maximum aperture so they can be used with faster shutter speeds or in dimmer light than lenses that do not open as wide E Less expensive The lenses are the least expensive of all lenses because they are manufactured in such large quantities E More compact Normal focal length lenses are often the smallest lenses available If you re traveling with a 35mm camera a 50mm is a must have E Lighter These lenses often weigh less than even wide angle lenses What you choose for your lens suite is a matter of personal preference however Some photographers habitually use a shorter focal length because they want a wide angle of view most of the time others prefer a longer focal length that narrows the angle of view to the central objects in a scene If you have a 35mm camera a 50mm lens is a good focal length to start Focal Length and Digital Cameras CHAPTER 4 THE IMPORTANCE OF LENSES Lenses for 35mm cameras have a different focal length on a digital camera The CCDs used in these cameras are physi
13. The following exercise will show you how feathering blends edited areas into an image Figure 11 20 is the subject Feathering and antialiasing are available options In the Feather box you enter a number the width of the feathered zone will be several times this number Other selection tools offer similar options You can also feather any selection after it is cre ated Images with no antialiasing and no feathering stand out immediately after any changes are made see Figure 11 21 Antialiased selections are surrounded by a one pixel wide ring of partially selected pixels Feathered selections have a border from one pixel to whatever value you enter for the partially selected pixels see Figure 11 22 The width of the border can even be big enough to let you create such fea tures as vignettes FIGURE 11 20 A harmless looking taillight will be our sub ject FIGURE 11 21 The taillight selected with lasso no feather and no antialiasing Notice the sharp edge after filling FIGURE 11 22 The taillight selected with lasso four pixel feather and aliasing Notice the soft grada tion between image and black fill CHAPTER 11 ADVANCED SELECTION TOOLS 169 170 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Don t Forget the Crop Tool Selections can be used to crop an image or you can use the Crop tool found near the top left on the toolbar cropping can also be done by drawing a recta
14. This of course could cause problems for serious color photographers CHAPTER 2 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF DIGITAL CAMERAS 17 As you use Photoshop and digital photography more often you will need to ensure that you have the most accurate color setup by tweaking Color Settings Most digital cameras rely on sRGB Only the higher end cameras provide the richer Adobe RGB color space Always try to use Adobe RGB if your camera can capture in that color space These color spaces matter significantly when printing with a high end inkjet printer You can read more about this in Chapter 18 Printers and Printer Resolution The CCD Image Sensor FIGURE 2 2 A light sensitive image sensor shifts pixel val ues along rows to the processor The CCD charge coupled device image sensor was invented in 1969 and introduced to the public in 1974 The CCD sensor is the most common sensor used for TV cam eras because it provides high quality low noise images When reading from such a sensor the pixel values charges are transported across the sensor line by line and then shifted into an analog to digital converter turning each pixel s value into a digital value see Figure 2 2 oaae oaae oaae oaae oaae psa eee DODO Pee OOOO s onnon Vertical shift into the Read Out Register Horizontal serial Read Out e g within 64us per row Vertical charge Transfer shift e g every 20ms Duration approx 500u
15. Use Black Gusto rattan Beng Mode Normal z Opxity i F Preserve Transparency note You might want to add some noise to your changes Choose Filter Noise Add Noise Use Uniform not Gaussian and experiment with the amount by starting at 6 Less is more in this situation so be careful 8 Click OK in the Fill dialog box and then zoom out to see the results Click Undo and try again if 60 opacity isn t enough That s it see Figure 22 10 This simple method retains a lot of the highlights in a person s eyes but isn t very good at actually eliminating the red color The other methods which are possible in Photoshop Elements as well are recommended 336 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 22 10 Fixed using the different methods in this chapter THE ABSOLUTE MiNiMUM Portraiture is a great way to move from amateur to advanced or even professional photographer If you can capture your subject s personality or make them look flat tering your services will be in demand Keep these tips in mind when experimenting with portraits E Professional photographers use handheld light meters to take light readings In camera meters can only measure light reflected off the subject Studio pho tographers use flash meters E In camera light meters can only meter light off the subject This leads to the underexposing or overexposing of images based on the reflectivity of
16. You can create your own Web page Do you have photographs you d like to show to a wider audience A personal Web page is one way to do so Most Internet service providers let their subscribers have their own Web page that part is easy Now all you have to do is create your own page or pay someone else to do so The simplest pages contain text plus photographs and graphics see Figure 23 5 More advanced designs can include music video and animation You will want to investigate different software pro grams that are available for building Web sites such as Microsoft FrontPage Macromedia Flash and Dreamweaver FIGURE 23 5 Yahoo Images is a great place to start upload ing your images to create your first photo gallery Web page CHAPTER 23 DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE WEB 345 J Yahoo Photos Microsoft Internet Explorer PiE Pa bi vew fFansees Jab hei Gu 14 12 I n ran t OS ES Yates Mevaroo Mail YAHOO Photos HM ss Yahoo Photos Photo Album Created by f Stites bones Onder Prinits FA ab N b FF om of a ms IE ka fp Ce You must change your photo files into a form usable on the Internet Software such as Adobe ImageReady or Macromedia Fireworks automatically converts a photo graph that is already in digital form for example in a Photoshop file into a Web compatible format JPEG compresses your image file for the Web in low medium or high quality The hi
17. 173 Understanding Different Terms for Resolution 174 Input Resolution 176 Digital Cameras and Resolution 176 Resolution of Film How Many Pixel ence sessed Seah da dks Seer towns 178 Scanner Software and Resolution 180 Understanding Bit Depth 183 12 and 16 bit Scan Rates 184 How Can a 48 Bit Scan Help Me oaaae es ee oe Pee diane 184 Drawbacks to 48 Bit Images 185 Output Resolution 186 Digital Methods for Increasing Resolution 186 Printing Press Output and Resolution 188 13 The Importance of Filters 191 Sharpening Prints 192 CONTENTS vii Degrees of Unsharp Masking 193 Correcting Images with Curves 226 An Exercise with Unsharp Curves for People in a Hurry 226 Mask 00 194 Understanding the Curves i Dialog BOX iaoa ach etna gg eck 227 Taking Advantage of Blur 197 Getting Information About the Removing Moir Patterns and Image oo oc eee 230 Halftone Dots 197 Color Corrections with Curves 231 Using Blur to Add an Artistic TOUCH foe i an dpe aia 8 Barat 198 Accessing Levels and Curves Noise Filters Despeckle and Adjustment Layers 231 Dust amp Scratches 200 16 The Importance of Layers and 14 The Importance of Brightness Masks 04 235 Contrast 205 f Adjustment Layers Are a Different Introduction t
18. Formatting in the Camera You usually should not format a flash media card in a Windows XP machine Use the camera to format the card instead Most cameras and portable devices will not accept media that has been formatted with the FAT32 filesystem which is the default format for Windows XP If a flash media card is formatted in Windows XP as FAT32 and you place it in a camera you might see the following error messages Error message asking to reformat the flash card Error message that the flash card is not formatted Error message indicating that the card is anomalous CHAPTER 8 FILE RECOVERY FINDING LOST IMAGES 109 You can change the formatting utility in Windows XP to FAT16 using a drop down list under Windows Explorer but even this is dicey Some cameras will 4 not accept cards that have been formatted with this setting either note If you inherit a flash card that won t work and you suspect it was formatted in Windows reformat the card in the camera Ensure that the camera is not connected to the PC when you perform this opera tion Every camera has a slightly different operat ing system so check your user manual for If you cannot format a flash card in a camera either the card is physically locked look for a lock the card is cor An interesting irony of FAT32 versus FAT16 is that rupted and essentially useless or formatting steps you can now purchase high speed flash media that your camera does
19. J Layers Y Channets Paths Y X Che A Yt oT aa LA ay 4 3w ac S 7 Sorc oY 5 Sekction Em Ei Operation I New Semcon af z 5 ExStispa 2004 Nicholas E Papadakis The majority of Photoshop features are compatible with Photoshop Elements as long as you use the PSD format psd JPEG and TIFF features aren t as big an issue between the two programs The following sections explain the science behind each popular format JPEG TIFF and Photoshop and explore when one format should be used rather than another 86 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY JPEG File Format FIGURE 7 2 JPEGs saved with 12 quality 670KB and 0 quality 39KB in Photoshop The original TIFF file was 1 3MB JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group is the favored format for compressing color photographs and other multicolor images and has become a standard format on the Internet JPEG can compress images to as little as two to five percent of their original file size but as the degree of compression increases there is a corresponding loss of image quality JPEG is called a lossy compression process because visual information is lost dis carded in the compression process The compression algorithm extracts essential information from an image and discards unnecessary information see Figure 7 2 Because of the lost information highly compressed images show visible distortions called compression artifacts P p
20. Layer Compression RLE option TIFF Options dialog box 94 Layer Compression ZIP option TIFF Options dialog box 94 layer masks 252 253 layer sets compatibility Photoshop file formats 85 Layer Style dialog box 238 239 layers 235 adjustment 236 237 color banding 242 243 curves levels 231 232 data loss 242 243 images printing without color management 301 adjustment layer masks 263 collages 239 241 compatibility Photoshop file formats 84 85 composite images 244 247 creating 331 grouping 243 image adding people 241 242 blending 238 239 color images 295 296 creating 237 238 Opacity 238 239 merging 240 naming 238 opacity 238 red eye fixing 331 332 resolution 241 242 saving 241 selecting Pen tool 247 252 semitransparent 238 storing 237 type 236 Layers command Window menu 331 Layers palette accessing 237 Layers tab 331 Layout option Print dialog box 129 Leica Web site 14 lenses AF automatic focus 54 56 catadioptric 54 conversion factors 49 depth of field 58 61 digital camera limitations 14 15 fisheye 52 53 focal length 46 depth of field 60 61 digital cameras 49 52 normal 47 48 macro 53 perspective control 53 soft focus 53 tele extenders 51 telephoto 51 terminology 14 levels 219 adjustment layers 231 232 Auto Levels feature 220 color images gray tones 222 histograms 222 223 images fixing histogram
21. Matching color balance and saturation is important to making realistic collages In the preceding image one layer has a cyan blue color cast which can be corrected with the Image Adjust Color Balance command or with Levels or Curves The other layer is balanced but it has too much color saturation The Saturation command via Image Adjust Hue Saturation could remedy this Scale and Resolution in a Collage An object s size must harmonize with its background If an object is placed any where that gives clues as to its spatial relationship with the background it is easy to see whether it looks too large or too small It s also easy to see a clash between an object and the background if they differ in sharpness or graininess A conflict of perspective can occur when two images taken by lenses of different focal length are combined For example imagine two people shown talking face to face The result will look peculiar if one person was photographed with a wide angle lens and the other was photographed with a telephoto lens The quality of the light on an object can make that object look like it doesn t belong in the picture Sunlight casts shadows and creates sharp boundaries between the sunlit and shadowed parts of an object whereas light from a cloudy sky is smooth and without shadows Make sure your subjects are all lit from the same angle before blending The direction of light is important too If the background light appear
22. Types of Color Film 31 Negative Film 31 Reversal Film Slide Film Transparency Film or Chromes 05 31 Professional Film 31 Films for Specialized Color Balance and Exposure Times 32 Selecting and Using Film 32 Color Balance and Film 33 Do You Need a Film for a Special Purpose 34 Storing Film Properly 35 Film Speed kouis ah gnoes 35 Film Speed Rating Systems 36 Film Speed and Grain 37 How Film Responds to Light 41 Il Digital Basics 43 4 The Importance of Lenses 45 Lens Focal Length 46 Normal Focal Length Lenses 47 Focal Length and Digital Cameras 00 eee 49 Long Focal Length Lenses 49 Short Focal Length Lenses 51 Special Purpose Lenses 52 Automatic Focus Types of Autofocus Center Weighted Autofocus Lock 56 Focus and Depth of Field 58 Controlling Depth of Field 58 Lens Focal Length Aperture and Light 60 Exposure and Focus 63 Digital Cameras and Color Balance 020055 64 Color Balance and Film Color Balance and Slide Film 66 Exposure Latitude 66 Film Latitude 67 Getting Your Pix Onscreen 71 Working with Scan Software 73 Making a Scan Step by Step 74 Determining the Samples per Inch of a Scan 76 Scanning for Internet Output 77 Scanning for
23. and advanced color printing papers are available for much less Experiment with printing to see what quality you can produce The goal should be to print an image that a friend or rela tive won t recognize as a computer printout Keep these tips in mind as well Inkjet printers print dots of color that fool the eye into seeing continuous col ors just as a magazine uses dots of color Ink is extremely expensive per gallon but not per cartridge To avoid the insane costs of ink buy a printer with the largest inkjet cartridges you can justify for printing photos The larger the cartridge the less expensive the ink Inkjet cartridges now have intelligent chips that shut off the cartridge before ink runs out Unfortunately they shut off the cartridge when there is still usable ink in it This waste of resources adds up when you must return again and again for new ink cartridges The most vivid photographic paper for printing images is called film it is pure plastic If you plan to print a considerable number of prints look into a bulk ink delivery system Search the Internet for the phrase bulk ink IN THIS CHAPTER The Importance of Paper Archival Paper Advantages of CD ROMs Archiving Your Own Photo Gallery PRESERVING YOUR IMAGES Today s inkjet printers rival machine prints from your local drugstore or photo lab However these printers will only print to the quality of the media you put in th
24. any noticeable fading artifact Any visible degradation of the details of a digi tal image caused by the methods used to capture store or compress the image A common form of artifact occurs dur ing lossy compression when bogus details appear near the edges of objects In other artifacts bands of solid colors appear in places that should exhibit subtle gradations banding An artifact that spoils the appearance of an image s subtle gradations of color and tone In banding bands or blocks of solid color appear in place of gradations binary number A number that is the result of changing information into computer readable form A binary num ber is composed of one or more single digits each of which can represent either one or zero All information in a com puter is stored as binary numbers bit A single digit of a binary number a quantity repre senting either 0 or 1 bit depth The number of bits used to represent the color of each pixel bitmap An image made up of rows and columns of pix els Also called a raster image Each pixel represents a spot of solid color brightness value In digital images numerical value of a pixel that represents its brightness level from black to white In gray scale images it ranges in value from 0 black to 255 white In color images it is a combination of the values of each color channel Brightness is one of the three terms that are used to exactly describe a color the others are s
25. but even this small delay makes action photography impossible 14 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY The camera should be an extension of you It should feel as effortless as riding a bike This is currently only possible with digital SLRs which fortunately are as fast as film SLRs But any delays will affect your photography Your pictures will not be the same Your goal should be to find a camera that has no delay or at least a delay you don t notice With no delay you will be able to use the camera much more often Sensor Resolution and Crummy Lenses Lens quality and pixel resolution affect the resolution of a digital camera Four five six and higher megapixel cameras with quality lenses can match the resolu tion of amateur 35mm photographs Digital cameras with fewer pixels such as a CCD of 2 3 2 megapixels are fine for snapshots but just don t have the resolution of film If film like resolution is required definitely consider a camera with a chip of five or more megapixels Surprisingly more important than the CCD is the lens In fact the quality of the lens is so important that you should seriously consider only the finest lens manufacturers for your digital camera Companies that produce the best lenses include the following E Carl Zeiss Considered the best optics on the planet ww zeiss com E Nikon Exclusively on Nikon cameras ww nikonusa com Canon Appear on Canon cameras ww canonus
26. contrast and color Histogram controls for precise adjustments to brightness contrast and color Curve controls for complex adjustments to brightness contrast and color Most scanner software will show changes in the Preview window immediately Determining the Samples per Inch of a Scan Unless you have a powerful computer unlimited RAM and unlimited disk storage for your files you ll need to limit the size of your scans The scans shouldn t have more resolution number of pixels than you need for the task at hand The follow ing steps show you how to produce scans that have just enough resolution 1 Determine the size in inches of the largest print you intend to make from the image For example perhaps you intend to make a print measuring 10x15 inches 2 Determine the cropped size in inches of the film or print to be scanned For example if you are scanning a 35mm negative with no cropping the size of the scanned image is 1x1 5 inches Some scanner software shows the dimen sions of the scan With other scanners you ll need to measure the original print or film Table 6 1 shows some typical magnifications from uncropped 35mm film Table 6 1 Typical Magnifications from Uncropped 35mm Film Final Output Approximate Magnification for Scanned Negative Dimensions Required An image in a print 12 inches 8 inches 8x An image on a monitor 6 inches 4 inches 4x A poster size image 48 inches 32 inches 32x
27. ground 7 Make whatever changes you want to the selected area 8 Choose Select Deselect or press Ctrl D to remove the selection marquee Using the Rectangular Marquee Tool The Rectangular Marquee tool is pretty straightforward The important part to know about this tool is that keyboard shortcuts are available Follow these steps to use the Rectangular Marquee tool 1 Click on the Rectangular Marquee tool 2 Before you draw a selection press down and hold the Alt key Now draw a selection The marquee tool will draw from the center of the rectangle instead of the edge 3 Press down and hold the Alt and the Shift keys and draw another selection see Figure 10 14 Now the marquee is restricted to a square 144 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 10 14 Keeping the great red spot in the center by pressing Alt Shift with the Square Marquee tool 4 You can click on the center of a subject and press down and hold the Alt key then drag the cursor out to create a rectangle around the subject Using the Elliptical Marquee Tool The shortcut keys that are available to the Rectangle Marquee tool are also avail able when you need to create ellipses and circles 1 Press down and hold the cursor on the Rectangular Marquee tool until the fly out menu appears Select the Elliptical Marquee tool 2 Before you draw a selection press down and hold the Alt key Now draw a selection The marquee tool
28. image downsample resulting in an image that is usually not as good as the original That being said if you really have to resample follow these steps 1 2 Open the problem image and save it with a new name With the image open in Photoshop Elements choose Image Resize Image Size Check the Resample Image box if it is not already selected With this box checked you can change the number of pixels in the image Check the Constrain Proportions box When this box has a check it keeps the shape of the image constant Whenever you make a change to the width or height Elements automatically adjusts the other dimension Choose Bicubic from the Resample Image pop up menu if it is not already selected see Figure 9 8 The Bicubic algorithm resizes the image with the greatest amount of image quality possible Use the faster but lower quality methods Nearest Neighbor and Bilinear only if Bicubic resampling takes too long with your computer Image Se x Pixel Dimensions 361K was 361K Width fase pieis dJa Rese Height fara pieis z He dd m Document Size Resolution a piels inch z Width s64 inches z Height 3 864 inches 5 J 6 V Constrain Proportions JV Resample Image Bicubic z Nearest Neighbor Bilinear Bicubic N Change the number of pixels There are three ways to do this E Type the number of pixels you want in the Pixel Dimensi
29. in case your dream camera has a drawback CHAPTER 2 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF DIGITAL CAMERAS 13 Capture Delays FIGURE 2 1 Any type of fast action is almost impossible to capture with a consumer level digital camera By far the biggest problem with consumer level digital cameras is the delay Unlike most film cameras some consumer digital cameras have a significant delay when you depress the shutter see Figure 2 1 When you take a picture with fixed focus 35mm film cameras the picture is taken immediately This isn t always the case with digital cameras It may take several seconds before the camera can capture the image because the camera must perform the following actions E Autofocus on the subject E Open the shutter when autofocus is finished to expose the sensor to light E Accumulate enough charge on the sensor E Close the shutter At this point the image is captured but processing must occur before the image will appear on the built in camera screen which creates a significant and insanely annoying delay before you can take your next shot For this reason you really cannot use consumer level digital cameras for any type of sports photography or photography involving uncontrollable or moving subjects This of course includes children and pets If you already own a camera with signifi cant delays determine how long it actually takes to take a photo Chances are it takes less than two seconds
30. magenta yellow black and a composite channel of every color Each channel is a grayscale image of brightness values for that color Like the dye layers in slide film these channels blend together when the image is viewed normally and the appropriate colors are applied The power of Photoshop and Photoshop Elements lies in the capability to view and manipulate these channels separately or in combination with more than one channel 256 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY With Photoshop you have the capability to view and edit channels however in Photoshop Elements you can save only selections iPhoto does not allow you 4 to save channels or selections Because color chan nels are more advanced and more complex than note layers it s important to know the difference lt between a layer and a color channel E A layer is an individual full color image Layers can be stacked to create a composite Photoshop Elements does not include channels or the Channels palette Any ver sion of Photoshop more recent than Photoshop 3 includes chan E When you edit color channels you edit the nels however color channels of one layer at a time The active layer the one selected in the Layers palette is the only layer on which the color channel editing is happening image E Color channels are the color components of a layer Each RGB layer has three color channels Sometimes it can help to edit only one co
31. s scanner software includes numerous set tings that can help you get the best scan resolution onto your hard drive Follow these steps to scan an image at the appropriate resolution See Chapter 6 1 Install the scanner software before you con Getting Your Pix nect the scanner if you haven t done so Onscreen for a detailed descrip already Reboot your computer if this is your tion of scanners first time using it Connect the scanner 3 Open Photoshop and choose File Import name_of_scanner_software You can 6 also access the scanner software through the Start Programs menu but the software may differ and not be as robust The driver that interfaces with Photoshop or your favorite image editor usually is best When the scanner software appears you might see a beginning interface with few settings or a more advanced interface see Figure 12 2 Try to access the Advanced settings Dust off the scanner glass and your print or negative and place it on the scanner flatbed Click Preview to preview the image When the print or negative appears in the preview window the scanner software might detect its borders automatically If not click and drag with the mouse to select the area to be scanned You might have to click on a Marquee tool before selecting this area depends on your scanner software By setting the area to be scanned you also tell the scanner what area to adjust automatically for color an
32. snow or sand and very dark shadows the scene s brightness range the overall con trast is greater than the exposure range of the film or sensor If the shadows are correctly exposed the lightest areas will be blank white If the light areas are well exposed the shadows will be featureless black You can compro mise and expose for the most important part of the scene You can also bracket shoot additional pictures with different exposures The best solution to greatly con trasting scenes is to use an electronic flash or a large reflector to add light to the shadow areas thus reducing the scene s contrast Figure 5 4 Low contrast lighting has a smaller tonal range and thus allows film and digital cameras to easily capture details in both the bright and dark areas In addition such lighting is more forgiving of exposure errors than greatly contrasted lighting Fill in flash can also lighten contrasted shadows Even though negative film is more forgiving remember that you will lose additional detail when you scan in an image Scanning an overexposed or underexposed nega tive results in loss of detail in shadows and highlights This situation is even worse when you scan in prints 70 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY THE ABSOLUTE MiNiMUM Photoshop and Photoshop Elements can correct many color balance issues by setting the white point using the Image Adjustment Levels option For the best images howe
33. to fix the print s problems see Figure 20 10 The most useful layer tools are Layer New Adjustment Layer Hue Saturation and Layer New Adjustment Layer Levels see Figure 20 11 Use the adjustment layer s to modify the monitor image in the direction opposite from that of the print For example if the print is too green use the adjustment layer to make the monitor less green more magenta If the print s midtones are too dark make the monitor s midtones lighter Make another print mE Layers N channels C Paths F Norma Opacity hoo 6 Compare the new print to the image on the monitor with the adjustment layer temporarily turned off The secret of this shortcut is to print with the adjustment layer turned on and compare the print to the monitor with the monitor s adjustment layer s temporarily turned off 7 Keep modifying the adjustment layer s until you have a print see Figure 20 12 that is close to the monitor s image with the adjustment layer turned off Save each adjustment layer as a settings file Click the Save button in the layers dialog box name your settings file put the name of the printer in the file s name and save it on a personal diskette for later reuse Whenever you print a new image on the same printer edit the image until it looks correct on the monitor Then create an adjustment layer or layers and load your saved settings from your diskette into the adjustment layer
34. ver halide crystals and a thinner emulsion compared to fast films which increases its capability to render detail sharply 40 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 3 5 Low light photo taken with ISO 1600 speed film FIGURE 3 6 Film with an ISO rating of 100 400 is usu ally fast enough for most out door photo graphy If light is moderately bright a film of medium speed still lets you use a relatively fast shutter speed so you can hand hold the camera or record moving objects sharply The slowest film speeds would require a tripod to hold the camera steady during a longer exposure of the same scene Medium speed films are also useful if you want to maximize the depth of field by using a small aperture which is not always feasible with a very slow film CHAPTER 3 FILM BASICS 41 Slow Speed Film Maximum Detail Slow speed films of ISO 50 or less are mostly color The reason is that grain has been reduced so much in black and white films that few are still available at speeds under ISO 100 A slow speed color film produces brighter colors and a crisper image than faster color films The original Kodachrome film was rated at ISO 25 Fuji s hugely success ful Velvia film is rated at ISO 50 One exception to color dominating slow speed films is the black and white record ing film called Technical Pan 2415 Normally this ISO 25 rated film is used for recording text and other high contrast applicat
35. 1 Frame the subject within the focusing brackets 2 To temporarily lock in the focus press the shutter release button halfway down 3 Keeping the shutter partially pressed reframe the scene move the subject out of the center then press the shutter release button all the way down Wide area focus systems provide more elaborate electronics The viewfinder displays several focusing brackets By rotating a dial or thumbwheel on the camera you select FIGURE 4 8 Begin panning before a fast moving subject is in front of you This is always prefer able to playing catch up CHAPTER 4 THE IMPORTANCE OF LENSES 55 a bracket that covers the subject you want to be sharp When you press the shutter the camera focuses on the selected area This feature allows you to maintain your framing without autofocus locking and reframing each picture It also allows you to shoot fast moving subjects that are not in the center of the frame see Figure 4 8 Some wide area autofocus systems use the light reflected off your eyeball to deter mine where you are looking in the viewfinder and therefore what aspect of the pic ture to bring into sharp focus Other systems automatically select the nearest subject in the picture and focus there Types of Autofocus Your camera might let you select among manual single shot and continuous focus With single shot autofocus sometimes called focus priority the camera will not let you take a pictu
36. 26m0 sR Q Be200 2ipa SHAR 24000732 4 NAND Aa anoman Ji oA aaa 102 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Recovering Specific Images After PC Inspector File Recovery scans bad media it lists the files it found in a File Recovery window You can select a specific image and have PC Inspector File Recovery copy the image from the corrupt media to a healthy hard drive or disk The following steps walk you through the process of selecting and recovering files from the File Recovery window 1 The File Recovery window should be onscreen If it isn t follow the steps in the preceding section The File Recovery window will display three main fold ers Root Deleted and Lost Expand all the folders You should see a DCIM directory under Root or Deleted Continue expanding until files appear If the drive is especially corrupt you might see garbage filenames These files are probably history although something might be salvageable 2 Select a file and right click on it Only select one file do not select multiple files just yet The right click menu will appear Click Save To Do not select multiple files in the right window until you ensure that you can recover one file If you select multiple files and the software can t recover one of them the software will hang and it will be difficult to close it A hang is often worse than a crash because your system slows down so much you can t close an application
37. 3 Calculate the magnification enlargement by dividing the size of the final print by the size of the scanned artwork In this example the 10x15 print matches the shape of a 1x1 5 inch 35mm color slide Fifteen inches divided by 1 5 inches equals a magnification of 10 4 CHAPTER 6 GETTING YOUR PIX ONSCREEN 77 This example scales properly a 1x1 5 inch print easily scales to 10x15 inches But what if the output doesn t match the aspect ratio of the negative or print You will need to crop either the input or the output For example if the image to be scanned is 3x3 you could crop the dimensions of the scan to 2x3 This will crop some of the image but later it will print properly Table 6 2 shows some typical requirements for scanner samples per inch Table 6 2 Typical Requirements for Scanner Samples Per Inch Final Output Scanner Sample Final Output Pixels Per Inch Rate Required An image in a print 8 magnifications x 250 pixels perinch 2 000 samples per inch An image on a monitor 4 magnifications x 95 pixels perinch 384 samples per inch A poster size image 48 magnifications x 50 pixels perinch 1280 samples per inch Offset magazine 8 magnifications x 300 pixels perinch 2400 samples per inch printing at 120 screen lines per inch 5 If the image scales naturally or after cropping determine what the output requires in ppi pixels per inch A photo printer can handle from 150 300 ppi Most Web sites assume images ar
38. 35 technologies 34 film development process 295 296 film photography versus digi tal 7 9 film scanners printing large images 282 284 Filter Processing option scan ners 181 filters 191 blurs adding 198 Bayer masks 20 Gaussian Blur 197 198 halftone dots removing 197 198 moir patterns removing 197 198 dust amp scratches 201 Noise 200 203 unsharp mask 192 197 Fireworks Macromedia creating Web images 345 fisheye lenses 52 53 flags FAT File Allocation Table 105 flash fill light adding 321 media formatting 108 109 memory 6 Flatten Image command Layer menu 241 247 332 flattening composite images 247 floodlights adding fill light 321 Fluorescent option white balance settings 64 fluorite lenses 14 fly out menus Selection tools 137 focal length lenses 46 depth of field 60 61 digital cameras 49 52 normal 47 48 focal length multiplier 177 focus AF automatic focus 54 56 depth of field 58 61 wide area 54 focus priority 55 formats See file formats formatting flash media 108 109 forums discussion groups film 30 31 Foveon CCD charge coupled device image sensor 20 Free Tranform tool 124 125 Free Transform command Edit menu 124 262 Freeform Pen tool 160 Frequency option Magnetic Lasso tool 155 Friends of Photography Web site 344 front lighting 316 full diffused light 309 full frame fisheye lenses 52 Fuzziness sett
39. 35mm cam era should be at least 1 125 second if the camera is handheld For a 200mm lens you will need at least 1 250 second Otherwise camera movement might cause blur ring A tripod or other support is your best protection against blurry photos caused by camera movement CHAPTER 4 THE IMPORTANCE OF LENSES 51 A tele extender or teleconverter contains an optical ele ment that increases the effective focal length of a lens It attaches between the lens and the camera body and magnifies the image from the lens onto the film With these devices the effective length of the lens increases but less light reaches the film A note converter that doubles the lens for example loses two f stops of light Regardless this tiny addition to your lens collection is welcome A tele extender can turn a normal telephoto into a super telephoto Photographers com which comes in handy if you re birding or in a sit monly call any long lens a uation where you re extremely far away and can t telephoto or tele even though get closer to the subject not all long lenses are actually of telephoto design A true tele R photo has an effective focal Short Focal Length Lenses length that is greater than the dis A short focal length lens increases the angle of view tance from lens to film plane and shows more of a scene than a normal lens used from the same position A short lens Commonly called a wide angle lens is useful when you
40. 400 or higher will help Qualities of Artificial Light The same properties are present in artificial light as in available natural light The direction of light and the amount of its diffusion can create a hard edged light or a soft and diffused light Because you set up and arrange artificial lights you need to understand how to adjust and control them to produce the effect you want The bigger the light source relative to the subject the softer the quality of the light The sun although large produces hard edged dark shadows because it is so far away that it appears as a very small circle in the sky Similarly the farther back you move a light the smaller it will be relative to the subject and the harder the shad ows will appear The closer you move the same light the broader the light source will be the more its rays will strike the subject from different angles and the softer and more diffused its lighting will appear The more diffused the source the softer the light A spotlight focuses its light very sharply on a subject producing bright highlights and very dark hard edged shad ows A floodlight is a slightly wider source but still one with relatively hard edged 314 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 21 8 Diffused illumi nation created from diffused light coming from the right of the object shadows especially when used at a distance A softbox or umbrella reflector is much more diffused
41. A ANE WED 2 u ckccines 357 The Main Light The Dominant Your Own Virtual Gallery 358 Source cee eee 315 Glossary 2 0c eee eee 361 The Fill Light To Lighten Shadows lt ceeeceee 319 Index cece eee eee 369 V Using Your Digital Pictures 323 22 The Portrait 325 Converting Color to Black and WIRE aces o eheiw een 328 Color to Black and White Using Grayscale or Desaturate 328 Color to Black and White Using Channels Plus Grayscale 330 Fixing Red Eye 330 x ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY About the Authors Joseph Ciaglia is an educator landscape photographer and author of Prentice Hall s Introduction to Digital Photography He enjoys shooting panoramic landscapes of the American West using a combination of film and digital techniques Peter Kuhns is a validation analyst technical writer and aspiring photographer Mr Kuhns has co written game titles and Windows related books He is currently researching wireless and handheld computing Barbara London and John Upton are the authors of Photography now in its eighth edition It is a major college textbook that has dominated introductory col lege courses in photography since its publication and now in its eighth edition Barbara London has published many critically acclaimed five star photography books for beginning and intermediate photographers including A Short Course in Photography CON
42. Chamel Raa a l with most of its pixels at the lower end of the tonal range in other words dark pixels either needs cor rection or is a night shot that conveys a dark mood FIGURE 15 6 This histogram with most of its pixels closer to white is either an outdoor shot on a brightly lit overcast day or a mistake cour tesy of excessive flash CHAPTER 15 THE IMPORTANCE OF LEVELS AND CURVES 223 Leves o U xj Chamel Gray EE Input Levels fa 1 00 ess esaj Load Save Auto tions Output Levels 0 255 FIREA iv The bottom line is that each image you open has a different distribution of tonal values The graph shows how many pixels contain a specific brightness value Dark images will always have most of their pixels on the left side of the histogram Bright or light images will have the majority of their pixels at the far right end Images with excessive gray values will have a pixel distribution in the center of the his togram The goal is to have pixels represented at each point on the x axis of the his togram Fixing an Image To fix images with awkward histograms use the slider triangles under the histogram to change the distribution of tonal values in the image Follow these steps to fix a sample image 1 2 3 Open an image that needs correction and save it with a new name Select Image Adjustments Levels The Levels dialog box will appear Look
43. Click Quick Mask on and select the Brush or other painting tool from the Toolbox revert back selected area The selection is still there Zoom out then choose Edit Fill and you ll see that the selection is still real Choose Edit Undo to 3 Select white as the foreground color by clicking the arrow above the black and white swatches 4 In the Tool Options Bar set the Brush to 100 percent opacity and Normal mode 5 Paint over the area you want to turn into a selection The white appears as a transparent overlay If you paint beyond the area you want to select switch the foreground color to black by clicking on the inverse arrows Paint white on the parts you want to remove from the selection CHAPTER 11 ADVANCED SELECTION TOOLS 157 FIGURE 11 6 Using Quick Mask mode 6 Click back to standard view to change the quick mask into a selection You can now make changes to the selected area gt ti p Press Ctrl I to invert the Th e Am azi n g ly Ve rsati le mask then continue paint P Ti ing an area to remove any en Iools mistakes This is the fastest The Pen tool creates paths which are vector lines way to perfect a selection that you can save with an image Choose area Window Paths to access the Paths palette see Figure 11 7 Paths are extremely important selection tools If you ve been confused about their purpose fear not They are not confusing If you ve ever worked with Illust
44. FIGURE 9 20 The Photo paper selection in Presets will force the printer driver to print at its highest resolution ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY This dialog box is common among all printers You can create a white border around a printed image by moving the margins slider bar 2 Click the Style drop down arrow and change the print layout see Figure 9 19 Options include Contact Sheet Full Page Greeting Card N up the same image printing however many times you need it Sampler and Standard Prints two 4 x6 images per page Print Printer 59000 E Preset a Contact Sheet Styl Greeting Card N Up Sampler Standard Prints Copes ee D C Preview Save As PDF Advanced Options Cancel Print Mal 3 Click the down arrow next to Presets to force the printer to print on photo paper at a higher resolution see Figure 9 20 Print H Printer 59000 7 ed w Presets v Standard SS Photo on Plain Paper ae Photo on Photo Paper Margi Photo on Matte Paper P E Coples z i D Preview Save As PDF Advanced Options Cancel Print 4 To access more powerful features available on your printer click Advanced Options at the bottom of the Print dialog box The advanced options available for higher end photo printers such as the Canon S9000 include numerous features such as
45. Inkjet and Dye Sublimation Output 78 Scanning for Laser and Offset PANNO oe ssa cgce ck et de ee 79 Alternatives to Scanning 79 Files and File Formats 81 Photoshop Elements and Photoshop File Format Compatibility 84 JPEG File Format 86 How JPEG Works 88 The Replacement for JPEG JPEG2000 ris a eed eee os 90 TIFF File Format 91 Photoshop File Format 95 8 File Recovery Finding Lost IMAGES 5 scene ed eee es 97 Using PC Inspector File Recovery 2 5 99 Recovering Lost Images from Flash Media 100 Recovering Specific Images 102 Partially Corrupt Files 102 Filesystems at Work The File Allocation Table FAT 103 What Happens to Lost Data 106 Preventative Maintenance Defragmenting Flash Media 107 Formatting Flash Media 108 Formatting in the Camera 108 Another Disaster Point USB 109 Ill Image Editing 111 9 Basic Editing with Photoshop Elements and iPhoto 113 Finding an Image on Your Computer 114 Editing with Photoshop Elements 2 55 116 Printing Resolution 116 Resizing an Image Step bY Stepp iii anes ai aa 116 Resampling an Image 118 Rescan or Resample a Photo 119 Resampling 101 120 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Modifying an Image in Elements 121 Persp
46. Magenta absorbs green and yellow absorbs blue The color wheel is used in photography printing and computer monitors Red green and blue RGB are primaries in additive systems like television Cyan magenta and yellow CMY are the subtractive primaries in photography and print ing processes In the additive process three beams of colored light combine to produce all other colors see Figure 20 2 Green plus blue produces cyan blue plus red produces magenta and red plus green produces yellow White is produced when all three col ors mix in equal amounts Blue Green In the subtractive process colors are produced when dyes or inks absorb color see Figure 20 3 Inks of the three subtractive primaries cyan magenta and yellow here overlap on a white sheet of paper White light the illumination is a mixture of all wavelengths of light Where the cyan and magenta inks overlap they absorb red and green only blue is reflected from the paper Where magenta and yellow over lap only red is reflected A mixture of yellow and cyan inks reflects only green If inks of all three colors are mixed all the light is absorbed and the paper appears black Color film uses the same principle layers of dye absorb light as it passes through the film CHAPTER 20 COLORTHEORY 295 FIGURE 20 3 Magenta Subtractive process Three Image Layers Create Color Images A color photograph begins as three superimposed layers of light
47. Resizing an Image Step by Step If you use an image more than once you ll probably need to change its size In digi tal imaging changing the dimensions of an image is called resizing In Adobe Photoshop Elements 2 0 resizing is performed via the Image Resize Image Size command CHAPTER 9 BASIC EDITING WITH PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS AND iPHOTO 117 The Image Size dialog box offers two very different ways to resize the image depend ing on whether the Resample Image check box is checked This check box causes the image to change dramatically through a process called interpolation Interpolation is a mathematical method that increases image resolution artificially If the Resample Image check box is not checked changing the Width Height or Resolution fields does not really change the file onscreen Changes will influence how the image prints but the file will not actually change Any modification to these Image Size fields merely tells the printer to print the image larger or smaller If you only want to change the print size uncheck the Resample Image check box If Resample Image is checked and then you change the Width Height or Resolution the file will change in size resolution and quality When Resample Image is checked see Figure 9 4 Elements changes the number of pixels in the image Resample Image fundamentally and permanently changes the image the computer increases or decreases the number of pixels in the image data is usual
48. about selection tools in the next chapter 1 If your test image is still open choose the Lasso tool and select a specific item or area Then choose Image Adjust Levels or Image Adjust Curves to lighten or darken the selection the equivalent of dodging or burning see Figure 10 10 FIGURE 10 10 Adjusting levels on a selected x Channel RGB ppe area l E IroutLevels fiat fico s5 m Load Auto l A Options Output Levei z pss LL a F Preview 2 Press Ctrl Alt I to invert the selection 3 Choose Image Adjust Hue Saturation then move the saturation slider bars all the way to the left to eliminate any color 4 Click OK and then choose Edit Undo or press Ctrl Z Z for Mac The change will revert 5 Press Select Deselect or Ctrl D D for Mac to remove the selection Using the Magic Wand Tool The Magic Wand is useful when selecting areas of similar colors see Figure 10 11 Set options for the Magic Wand in the Tool options bar Experiment with the amount of Tolerance which defines the color range the Magic Wand will select CHAPTER 10 EDITING WITH SELECTION TOOLS 141 FIGURE 10 11 BEHI ganm Toernce fio M Antiabased 7 Contiquaus I Use AlLayers Magic Wand at work Selecting Anti Aliased in the options bar smoothes the jagged edges of a selection and is useful when cutting copying and pasting selections to create composites The To
49. also photos adding people via layers 241 242 background component image selections 247 black and white converting color images to 328 330 color converting to black and white 328 330 creating three image layers 295 296 gray tones 222 component composite images 244 247 How can we make this index more useful Email us at indexes quepublishing com 360 IMAGES composite 244 247 creating Internet 338 339 editing 136 177 fixing histograms 223 grayscale masks 259 importing 274 large printing 282 284 locating 114 115 merging 262 263 pixels selecting 164 165 printer settings 273 printing resolution 177 resizing Selection tools 136 137 saving CD ROM 288 292 DVDs 292 TIFF files 274 saving to CD ROMs 80 saving to CDs 79 scaling 245 scanned cropping 74 scanning 71 72 film 178 step by step 74 79 viewing monitors 282 Import command File menu 73 84 importing images 274 plug ins scanning software 73 RAW file formats 84 indoor available light 312 313 Info command Window menu 215 Info palette accessing 215 infrared film 34 ink printer resolution 275 276 Epson 280 ICC profiles 277 279 photo paper 281 282 inkjet printers dpi dots per inch 270 error diffusion 272 scanning images for 78 settings 273 Input levels 225 input resolution bit depth 183 186 digital cameras 176 177 film pixels 178 179 scanner software 180 183 inspectors
50. an image layer mask By painting the mask black around the object you ll make the layer around the object disappear To create a layer mask choose Layer Add Layer Mask Reveal All As a result of choosing Reveal All a transparent mask is created When you paint black onto the mask that part of the image becomes invisible This is a forgiving procedure if you make an error while painting you can erase and repaint E Adjustment layer masks Creating an adjustment layer creates a transpar ent mask in the Channels palette Whenever the adjustment layer is active in CHAPTER 16 THE IMPORTANCE OF LAYERS AND MASKS 253 the Layers palette its mask becomes visible in the Channels palette When you paint on the mask the paint masks the adjustment layer the effects of the adjustment layer are eliminated Painting directly on an adjustment layer mask is the best way to force a change on only certain objects Adjustment layers affect the entire image unless they re grouped with a particular layer By grouping with a layer and then painting on the adjust ment layer mask you can selectively edit an image The changes will only appear wherever the mask is transparent or partially transparent Masking an Adjustment Layer A mask attached to an adjustment layer controls the intensity of the layer s effects In Figure 16 17 an adjustment layer was used to decrease contrast until the image was almost a featureless gray However the mask pro
51. and change its resolution by choosing Image Image Size Photoshop or Image Resize Preventing Color Banding and Image Size Elements Data Loss in Adjustment Layers Normally as you edit an image its data is altered forever For example if you change gray pixels into pure white pixels the changed pixels are given new values of red 255 green 255 and blue 255 If you cannot Undo the change all records of the original values are lost forever Often after a series of edits the original data is so altered that only a few thousand of the original 16 million colors remain The result is that banding is visible see Figure 16 6 The image on the right in Figure 16 6 has gaps that look like the teeth of a comb These gaps represent brightness levels where data was lost during editing At the left is the histogram box for an image that has had the same editing done with adjust ment layers The image has smooth gradations and all of its original tones are pres ent in the histogram Without adjustment layers colors can show bands A histogram can be used to diag nose banding This image was previously edited with Curves Color Balance Hue and Saturation commands Banding is visible the tonal gradation has an abrupt staircase appearance instead of a smooth normal transition FIGURE 16 6 Banding occurs when you edit colors without adjustment layers CHAPTER 16 THE IMPORTANCE OF LAYERS AND MASKS 243 Adjust
52. and paste each image into the master by selecting the image or a por tion of it using Select All and then Edit Copy and Edit Paste Each pasted image will appear on a new layer Use the Lasso tool or the Pen tool if you want to select only a portion of an image Apply color and tonal corrections to each layer to make it match the master image Layers enable you to make tonal corrections without affecting the other images layers You can also move the layer s image until you have a satisfactory composition 242 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY 7 Keep file size in mind while you work If you are pasting a large number of images you might need to merge down some layers to keep the computer RAM happy The only indication that things are out of control RAM wise is that Photoshop will slow to a crawl Use the Layer Merge Down command to keep layers organized note 8 Adjust the tones and colors of each individ If you paste in an image and it is dramati cally larger or smaller than the other images the file resolution ual layer using adjustment layers If your composition works you will create an artifi cial but interesting group portrait or a com plete joke i might need to be changed Delete This general exercise is just a guide to help you the new layer or choose Edit consider the issues common to photographers and Undo and then return to the artists who merge images together image
53. and white in Photoshop is to use channels Like a color film image a digital color image in RGB mode is composed of three pri mary colors red green and blue Each of those colors can have different contrast levels and may convert to black and white differently as a result To see how each of the three colors converts to black and white choose Window Show Channels By look ing at the image in each channel red green and 4 blue you may find a black and white version that already looks close to what you want in your final note print gt Converting to black and white using this method involves deleting two channels Converting to Grayscale while in the remaining channel strips its color but retains its contrast information This often translates to fewer contrast adjustments following the conversion Photoshop Elements does not include channels below the color composite channel An eye icon shows which image is selected Click on each thumbnail to see its effect on the image Usually the green channel is best because it contains the most brightness information closest to black and white With your final choice highlighted in the palette choose Image Mode Grayscale to discard the other channels and convert the image to black and white and then choose Save Fixing Red Eye Another common fix for portraits is the dreaded red eye see Figure 22 5 This isn t really an issue in black and white photography but i
54. area of any size or shape by drawing around it freehand see Figure 10 13 note When Anti Aliased is checked the selection will be surrounded by a border of partly selected pixels tip Holding down the Shift key while making a new selection adds the new selec tion to the old one Conversely holding the Option or Alt key while clicking subtracts the newly selected pixels from the original selection Try your hand at the Lasso tool This tool is great for small irregular selections Anything larger though and you really should use the Pen tool described in Chapter 11 The Importance of Selections Follow these steps to select an area using the Lasso tool 1 2 Click on the Lasso and drag the mouse to outline the area to select Press and hold down the Alt key while drawing with the lasso and watch what happens Press Delete or Ctrl Z Z for Mac if you need to undo the last polygon added to your selection CHAPTER 10 EDITING WITH SELECTION TOOLS 143 FIGURE 10 13 Using the Lasso tool _ ep CWA 3 Complete the loop to select the item and then release the mouse 4 To add more click on the Add symbol in the Tool options bar and outline the additional area You can also press and hold down the Shift key to add to an existing selection 5 After the areas have been selected release the mouse 6 Choose Select Inverse if you want to deselect the object and alter the back
55. areas of smooth flat tone where there is no difference between neighboring pixels the filter doesn t change the pixels Unsharp masking gets its paradoxical name from a rarely used darkroom procedure that creates an illusion of sharpness in prints An out of focus unsharp low con trast positive image mask is made by contact printing from a negative The two films are sandwiched together and printed with higher contrast CHAPTER 13 THE IMPORTANCE OF FILTERS 193 To sharpen your own images open an image in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements and choose Filter Sharpen Unsharp Mask In the Unsharp Mask dialog box you need to adjust three settings Amount This slider controls the strength of the sharpness mask Amount also controls how much the contrast between pixels is increased Radius This slider controls distance Radius controls how far from each pixel the effect extends Ugly effects are often caused when too large a radius is chosen For most printed images a radius of 5 to 2 is sufficient Threshold This slider controls sensitivity Threshold sets a requirement on the amount of contrast between neighboring pixels If the contrast between neighboring pixels is below the threshold no sharpening will occur The range is 0 255 In images with skin tones a higher threshold number is rec ommended to prevent unwanted skin texture Experimentation is an essential part of learning to use Unsharp Mask You can always
56. as luminance chrominance and YUV color How JPEG Works An RGB image is comprised of three channels The JPEG compression algorithm per forms the following steps on the image to reduce file size without affecting quality 1 Converts the RGB image to Y C C a different color space that defines each pixel based on brightness Y and chrominance C C This color space is also known as the YUV color space and was created for video processing The Y value represents the brightness of the pixel C represents one component of the chrominance blue and C represents another component of chromi nance red The C C values represent the hue or color information in the file 2 Immediately reduces the file size by up to 50 percent by sampling the entire image and cutting the chrominance information in half The luminance component is left alone Remember our eyes are sensitive to changes in brightness The chroma information will be reduced 2 1 horizontally and either 2 1 or 1 1 no change vertically see Figure 7 4 This process is called 4 2 2 sampling and is a standard in the television industry This step reduces the data volume by one half or more It seems lossy but actually it has little or no visual impact 3 Scans the image starting at the top left and creates blocks of pixels see Figure 7 5 8x8 pixels in size 64 pixels total 4 Converts brightness values in each block from 0 255 to 128 to 127 Processes each block t
57. at the histogram for your image If the graph looks balanced with pixels at every tonal value you might not need to do anything If the black triangle is to the far left of the graph slide it to the right until it is under the start of the histogram If the white triangle is to the far right of the graph slide it to the left until it is under the start of the histogram Click Preview to view the change to your image The image should appear brighter with more contrast and generally more appealing If the change is not what you wanted click Cancel or press and hold down the Alt key and click Reset the Cancel button changes to Reset when you press and hold down Alt On the Mac press 3 to see the Reset button 224 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY The Purpose of Levels Triangles The sliders under the Levels histogram represent absolute black 50 black middle gray and absolute white see Figure 15 7 These colors correspond with values of 0 for black 128 for middle gray and 255 for white Histogram of Image FIGURE 15 7 Levels his togram Black gray white eyedropper Black gray white slider triangles Here is a breakdown of the sliders Examine Figures 15 8 and 15 9 for a visual aid in understanding how these sliders work FIGURE 15 8 UG Adobe Photoshop sculpture_screwedup td 50 RGB FE Fhe E anapa Laver Sekt Fee Ver Wher Heb Some images seem to have a gray haze over
58. black and white image Channel y lt lt r Cutpst Levels z x ps5 This chapter will show you how to use Levels and Curves The Levels tool is a little easier to understand and is powerful enough for most photographers Curves pro vide tremendous editing capabilities for specific luminance values but can be learned quickly so anyone can use it This chapter explains the use of each tool in detail and also provides tips on how to leverage these tools when you re in a hurry Using Levels to Fix Your Images Most image editors include a fast fix for bland images In Photoshop for example you can take the following steps 1 Open your image 2 Select Image Adjustments Auto Levels 3 The image will adjust to improve contrast and correct the distribution of tones in the image 4 Save your image as a JPEG GIF or TIFF file The Auto Levels feature is for those in a hurry You can fix an image in seconds and then email or print it This automated feature comes in handy when you are in a hurry but often it doesn t fix an image properly For example look at Figure 15 2 The goal in Figure 15 2 to convey the calm stage set before the big show doesn t fall in line with Photoshop s goal adjusting tones to take advantage of all the tonal values Auto Levels simply pulls out all the brightness it can muster and ruins the image For this reason you should learn more about the Levels dialog box FI
59. channel In this example the airplane image is pasted into the land scape s new channel see Figure 17 8 This creates a mask containing an image of the aircraft FIGURE 17 8 Paste the object into a new channel 5 Return to the landscape by clicking the top channel Load the ghost image mask as a selection in the landscape 6 Now create two adjustment layers Hue Saturation and Curves They affect only the selection the ghost plane The adjustments create the ghostly image in the sky see Figure 17 9 In this example the plane has been copied several times and reduced using Edit Free Transform CHAPTER 17 THE IMPORTANCE OF CHANNELS 263 FIGURE 17 9 A ghostly armada over the Greenland landscape orken Opscity fw P boc g ra rifos Alpha Channels Where Masks Are Stored Masks are stored in the Channels palette and are i called alpha channels Photoshop and other d When you create an effect advanced image software Freehand or Corel make sure you move the Photopaint enable you to work with alpha adjustment layers slightly channels Because color channels are also found away from each other so in the Channels palette it is important to know their effects are not exactly that the two have little in common superimposed Color channels contain the color information about an image The information in color chan nels is part of the image Color channels are visible in the image However masks stored
60. color balance sepia tone greeting card black and white conversion and even print scheduling see Figure 9 21 FIGURE 9 21 Edit an image through your printer driver Just be sure you have plenty of paper FIGURE 9 22 A photo printer might have a more advanced printer driver than its host application iPhoto CHAPTER 9 BASIC EDITING WITH PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS AND iPHOTO 129 D Preview Save As PDF Standard Options Cancel Crain Print Printer 9000 E3 Presets Standard E Special Effects A Simulate Illustration Contrast meee 3 b Dark Ligie z E FA Monochrome Effects fh s O Sepia O Blue O Pink Green O Select Color Color Ei Vivid Photo The Canon printer driver includes a number of options that may be available on your photo printer as well see Figure 9 22 E Copies amp Pages Standard print options available in the standard iPhoto Print dialog box E Layout Change printout to horizontal and change contact sheet or N up printouts from left to right to right to left Print Printer 59000 a Presets Standard E V Copies amp Pages Output Options Scheduler Paper Handling ColorSync Quality amp Media Color Options Special Effects Borderless Printing iPhoto Summary PDF Standard Options Cancel Corrine Output Options Export the image as a PDF
61. contrast after looking at test prints For example you d evaluate brightness by making several exposures on a test strip then develop and examine the results You d change con trast by using a different grade of printing paper or by changing a poly contrast filter after examining the developed test print With digital imaging you make changes using various commands as you look at the image on a computer s monitor screen Your changes are immediately visible You of course don t need to make a print until you are satisfied with the onscreen image 206 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 14 1 The Brightness amp Contrast dia log box in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements Photoshop Photoshop Elements and other image editors include several ways to adjust the brightness and contrast of an image digitally see Figure 14 1 In Photoshop the Brightness Contrast command Image Adjust Brightness Contrast has the advantage of being easy to use but is limited in its capacity to change the image Brightness Contrast m xj Brightness ZA OK nS Reset Contrast fz aaa The Levels and Curves commands Image Adjust Levels and Image Adjust Curves are more complicated but their effects are much more powerful and useful Using Levels you make separate adjustments in three tonal areas highlights shadows and midtones Curves enable you to make nearly unlimited adjustments to tonal a
62. converge because of distortion FIGURE 9 9 Correcting per spective ona building photo graphed from ground level Doesn t look right does it 122 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY To correct perspective problems 1 Open your image and save it with a new name 2 Choose Select All or press Ctrl A A for Mac users to select the entire image 3 Choose Edit Transform Perspective A border will appear around the image and the options toolbar will change 4 Move the cursor to the top left or top right corner anchor point Press down and hold the Shift key and then click and drag horizontally with the mouse see Figure 9 10 FIGURE 9 10 The Perspective command in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements replaces the need for a perspective control lens 5 Click the check mark in the options toolbar to submit the change If you don t like the change and aren t sure how to undo it manually simply click the cancel icon at the top of the toolbox This perspective correction fixes the perspective issue by making the sides of the building look parallel Rotating an Image in Elements A large percentage of photographs taken by amateurs and even pros are not level see Figure 9 11 Often this is intended but more often it s an accident Fortunately you can fix a tilted horizon via the Rotate commands available in Photoshop and Elements Follow these steps to fix an image that you received or took a l
63. cost or convenience Digital is not necessarily less expensive but is more convenient Traditional photography is in many ways less expensive than digital photography Suppose you are about to take your first photography class and you need all the equipment You have nothing required for the class and you need to spend as little as possible Table 1 1 illustrates how much this equipment would cost Table 1 1 Entry Costs for Digital Versus Film Photography Type of Camera Photography 35mm Film Developing Prints Total Film Developed Used Pentax 10 rolls Developing Photo paper 340 amp printed by K1000 with used color film chemicals 10 100 sheets 8x10 yourself zoom lens 150 from drug used enlarger 40 and store 20 kit trays chemicals 100 110 20 60 Film Store Used Pentax 10 rolls 10 rolls Prints included 170 developed with used zoom color film developed and in developing amp printed lens 100 from drug printedatthe 0 store 20 drugstore 50 Digital Print eBay 2 megapixel 128MB CF Used computer Printer 100 817 yourself camera 100 or SD card and new and 100 sheets 30 and flash media of photo paper batteries adapter 25 and ink 12 42 500 50 175 8 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Table 1 1 Continued Type of Camera Photography 35mm Film Developing Prints Total Digital eBay 2 megapixel 128MB CF Visit printer Print 100 172 Store printed camera 100 or S
64. dark the shaded areas are in the single light portraits shown in Figures 21 10 15 You might want such contrasty lighting for certain photographs but ordinarily fill light would be added to make the shadows lighter see Figure 21 16 Some daylight scenes benefit from fill light It is easier to get a pleasant expression on a person s face in a sunlit outdoor portrait if the subject is lit from the side or from behind and is not squinting directly into the sun These positions however can make the shadowed side of the face too dark In such cases you can add fill light to decrease the contrast between the lit and shadowed side of the face You can also use fill light outdoors for close ups of flowers or other relatively small objects in which the shadows would otherwise be too dark A reflector is a simple effective and inexpensive way to add fill light A reflector placed on the opposite side of the subject from the main light bounces the main light into shadow areas A simple reflector or flat can be made from a piece of stiff cardboard 16x20 inches or larger with a soft matte white finish on one side The other side can be covered with aluminum foil that has first been crumpled and then partially smoothed flat The white side will give a soft diffused even light suitable CHAPTER 21 LIGHTING 321 for lightening shadows in portraits still lifes and other subjects The foil side reflects a more brilliant harder light A floodl
65. eee eee eee eee 323 22 The Portrait esiaste a a e e due eked ea 325 23 Digital Photography amp the Web 00 2000 000 005 337 Glossa rgs wn esana de ahaha NS Rees ace Sas done a eae 347 lidek Skitaighetee etd Ga an bo bua ee dee ae ee Ad Ale b s Beiter 4 353 Table of Contents I Digital Quickstart 1 Quickstart to Digital Pix to Print in Seconds wiccawe ead tae as 3 What Do You Mean by Digital Photography 4 Why Flash Media Is Important 5 Photography and the Internet 6 Is Digital Photography Expensive Is Traditional Photography Really Less Expensive 7 Advantages and Disadvantages of Digital Cameras 11 Capture Delays 13 Sensor Resolution and Crummy Lenses 00s eee eee 14 The RGB Color Space 15 The CCD Image Sensor 17 CCD and Color Using a Color Mask sack gana ot ede dons 18 CCD Competition Low Cost CMOS Image Sensors 20 What About Foveon 20 Aliasing and Other Imager Problems 2 5 21 Highlights and CCD Sensitivity 23 Digital Camera Technologies and Standards 23 EXIP 2 2 0 enan e eee eae week 24 EXIF PriNt ceco od ce bos dee este wae 26 PictBridge 26 Direct Print 27 Design Rule for Camera File Systems 20005 27 Digital Print Order Format 27 3 Film Basics 00 29 Choosing a Color Film 30
66. features see Figure 21 14 Butterfly lighting was often used in the past for idealized portraits of Hollywood movie stars The lighting is named for the symmetrical shadow underneath the nose The main light is placed high and in front of the subject which smoothes the shadows of skin texture while producing sculptured facial contours FIGURE 21 14 Side lighting Lighting can influence the emotional character of an image Figures 21 10 15 show how the mood of a photograph can be influenced merely by changing the position of one light If photographs never lie some of these images at least bend the truth about the subject s personality Most photographs made with artificial light employ more than one light source A fill light or reflector is almost always used to lighten shadows Sometimes an accent light is used to produce bright highlights and a background light is added to create tonal separation between the subject and background Any one of these lights alone will not create the image necessary see Figure 21 15 They must work together Here is more information on the lighting arrangements demonstrated in the previ ous figures These concepts are applicable to portrait lighting and all photography using artificial light CHAPTER 21 LIGHTING 319 FIGURE 21 15 Back lighting The Fill Light To Lighten Shadows Fill light adds light to shadows When you look at a contrasty scene your eye auto matically adjusts f
67. film is projected on a screen color problems are obvious so it is important to know how the film will respond to your subject matter Magazines such as Popular Photography regularly feature comparisons between films In addition film manufacturers publish techni cal data sheets for their film Data sheets can be found at camera stores that cater to professional photographers You can also find these data sheets on the manufacturers Web sites usually in the Professional section The best resource though is the forums Photographers post messages in online dis cussion groups forums in which they describe their experience with films they have tried Some of these excellent forums for digital and film photographers are listed here ww photo net www imaging resource com CHAPTER 3 FILM BASICS 31 www dpreview com www pcphotoreview com www largeformatphotography info Types of Color Film In digital photography there is essentially only one kind of film You could say that file formats differ widely such as RAW JPEG and TIFF but this is just a software issue You could also say that high speed CF cards are much different from memory stick media However they both store the same information so again it s not a real dif ference Slide film however works much differently from negative film The differ ences reveal advantages and disadvantages to each format Negative Film Reversal Negative film produce
68. first two entries are reserved for the filesystem the third entry and those following are assigned to clusters of disk space which catalog the entire data area This complex system is designed to know where files are located that are not stored successively in other words some files are often split into pieces and stored in sepa rate noncontiguous clusters in the data area The operating system must know where a file s pieces are located in the data area This is the task of the File Allocation Table FAT For any cluster used by a file that is not the file s last cluster the FAT entry will con tain the number that is the location of the next cluster used by the file When a program asks the operating system OS to provide the content of a file the OS reads the first cluster of a file It then looks at the corresponding first cluster entry in the FAT and finds where the file continues the file s next cluster number Now the OS reads the associated cluster in the data area After this cluster is read the OS repeats the entry check until the whole file is read This process is called reading the FAT chain FAT entries may contain special values called flags which indicate whether the clus ter is occupied free or some other condition Here are some examples of flags for a FAT16 system OOOOH The cluster contains one or more sectors that are physically damaged and should not be used FFF7H This cluster is the fina
69. from JPEG images Follow these steps to experiment with compression 1 Select the Save For Web command from the File menu The Save For Web dia log box enables you to experiment with compression and color settings for images These settings enable you to find the best compromise between image quality and download speed 2 Click the monitor color and download rate button 3 A pop up menu appears Check the settings you want to use When choosing a download rate remember that many viewers modems work much slower than they are supposed to work 4 Choose how many versions of your image you want to view You can open two or four image windows at once click an image window 5 Select a JPEG quality setting for the image window you selected Do this for each window CHAPTER 23 DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE WEB 343 6 Compare the quality of the images To approximate what you see on a moni tor compare these two images from twice your normal reading distance An estimate of the time it requires to download appears under each image The Internet Resource and Gallery Photographers are increasingly using the Internet There are two good reasons why There are interesting places to visit and you can show your own work there Many groups companies and individuals have created sites that provide material such as online magazines product advertising educational information and more Newsgroups let you post and receive materi
70. image to the whitest area that should have detail In this image it is the side of the dress closest to the sun Click there to set the white point see Figure 14 15 Setting the white point for this very low contrast photo shifts the center midtone slider and the right highlight slider to the left At this point most images have been improved so much you ll be satisfied Most will benefit from adjusting the midtones however Here even with a crisp white and deep black the photo is too dark in the faces 1 Move the middle gray slider under the histogram to the left or right A slight move to the left improves the image see Figure 14 16 2 Continue slight adjustments until you are satisfied with the balance of dark and light in the midtones Save the image when you have finished In the next chapter you will explore more tricks with Levels and also with Curves which are even more powerful at correcting images 218 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 14 16 Adjust the mid tones as the fin ishing touch and now the underexposed image is cor rected Levels x thamet acs a eae a om ps Cancel Auto Options i all ZEZ D i AN THE ABSOLUTE MiNiMUM A few point regarding histograms and adjusting brightness and contrast in images E Histograms show the distribution of pixels in an image across 256 brightness values Pure black is on the left pure white i
71. in Elements Photoshop and Photoshop Elements include the Free Transform tool which enables you to scale add or remove perspective rotate and distort an image You can access the Free Transform command by choosing Edit Free Transform or Image Transform Free Transform FIGURE 9 15 The Scale tool is often used in conjunction with the Info palette CHAPTER 9 BASIC EDITING WITH PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS AND iPHOTO 125 The Free Transform tool is capable of all these actions but it s often more difficult to work with than a dedicated command For this reason Photoshop and Elements include each command separately E Scale Enlarge or shrink a selection by dragging its corner horizontally and vertically Press and hold down Alt Shift to adjust the entire image symmetri cally see Figure 9 15 Press and hold down Shift to retain the aspect ratio as you scale one corner Now choose Image Resize Scale z z gt E Skew Transform a rectangular selection into a parallelogram by dragging one corner horizontally or vertically Choose Edit Transform Skew E Distort Freehand distort an image with this command by dragging a corner see Figure 9 16 This command is often used to place images on other objects as textures Choose Image Transform Distort The options bar provides more precise changes to images by enabling you to enter specific degrees for rotation pixels for scaling or measurements that Distort should use Als
72. included in every digital camera also enable you to obtain even faster better prints and lower costs This section discusses several not so well known technologies you may have seen advertised with digital cameras The acronyms and catchy logos probably made as 24 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY much sense to you as instructions for setting your VCR clock This of course meant you forgot them immediately However technologies and standards such as EXIF DPOF and DCF come in handy when you need to move images from the camera EXIF 2 2 The Exchange Image Format is a digital camera standard for recording important exposure and camera information in JPEG files created when an image is captured Digital cameras have adopted the EXIF 2 2 also called the Exif Print standard which was developed by the Japan Electronics and Information Technologies Industries Association JEITA The EXIF standard creates an image header in JPEG images that includes impor tant exposure information camera information and thumbnail images of the photo that was just created Some or all of the following EXIF information is recorded with each picture E White balance E Flash E Exposure mode auto manual bracket ti p E Exposure time E Light source The EXIF 2 2 standard also uses the sYCC format E Subject distance 2h j which is larger in colors E Subject area than the sRGB standard color E Captured scene typ
73. is commonly used to increase the apparent sharpness of images Blur Gaussian Blur is often used to blur corrections made to an image Noise Despeckle is used to fix grainy scans 192 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Sharpening Prints Adjustment layers are FIGURE 13 1 Controlling an unsharp mask This chapter will explain the use of these filters Keep in mind while reading that filters only work on layers that contain pixels In other words make sure the T correct layer is selected or the filter won t do any thing In particular filters do not work on adjust note ment layers so make sure the actual image is selected rather than an adjustment layer Py Digital sharpening accentuates the existing details explained in Chapter 16 in an image It increases the perception of sharp The Importance of Layers and ness in a print but it cannot create detail where Masks there is none Most scanned images need some sharpening because the scanning process can blur fine details The most helpful sharpening technique is called unsharp masking see Figure 13 1 i Amant 60 x Radus 10 pisei Threshold 3 byes Unsharp Mask is a filter that works by comparing neighboring pixels and increasing the contrast between them It makes light pixels lighter and dark pixels darker so that the contrast of fine details is enhanced In
74. isn t the most efficient way to capture color for several reasons E Three pixels are required for each virtual pixel Three separate pixels devoted to red green and blue are combined in software to create a virtual pixel in the center of these sensors The end result is a virtual pixel that repre sents the light and color at that point in the CCD The problem is that pixels are wasted in this system and the space between pixels adds up over the width of the CCD In addition only a percentage of green is captured The lost part of green results in a loss of sharpness E A square shape isn t the most efficient By placing three pixels together to cre ate a virtual pixel in the center the amount of space between the actual pix els and the virtual pixel is sizable Fuji has developed a SuperCCD technology using hexagonal pixels to reduce this blank space but even this technology results in a loss of sharpness E Software interpolation software must combine imperfect red green and blue values into an imperfect color During this software driven interpolation color artifacts and mosaic problems can appear see Figure 2 4 Programmers have been successful at reducing common mosaic problems but this issue still occurs 20 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY In addition the inaccurate sensors used with a Bayer mask require blur fil ters to reduce color artifacts The random appearance of artifacts and the re
75. magenta yellow and black are the colors used in offset printing Although CMY ideally would be a better set of inks for printing adding K black is a practical necessity because CMY inks do not produce satisfactory black tones by themselves color cast An unwanted color tint to an image caused by exposure of the film or digital capture under inappropri ate lighting conditions color channel One of the ways information is organized within an image Color channels store the brightness values of the pixels in each of the primary colors Contrast with alpha channels Color Management A software system designed to deliver accurate color calibration and consistent color matching among computer monitors scanners and any output devices such as printers and offset presses color space A scientific description of a set of colors A color space numerically describes all the colors that can be created by a device such as a camera or a printer compression A software process in which image data is squeezed to reduce the size of the image file Compression methods can be lossless as in compressed TIFF images or lossy as in JPEG compression continuous tone printer A color printer whose smallest color markings can be any of millions of distinct colors Dye sublimation printers are the most common type of continu ous tone printer data Anything put into processed by or stored in a com puter Data can also be the input from a c
76. means much fewer colors are possible YUV A television standard used in Europe that enables backward compati bility with black and white televisions A variant called YIQ is used in North American television systems In addition all DVDs rely on the YUV YIQ color space The engineers who invented the YUV color space needed a way to make color television broadcasts backward compatible with black and white TVs The color signal they came up with also needed to conserve bandwidth because three channels of RGB data would not fit into the limited broadcast signal space The YUV color space uses RGB information but it creates a black and white image luminance from the full color image and then subtracts the 16 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY three primary colors resulting in two addi tional signals to describe color Combining the three signals back together results in a full color image Note that in either case if the chrominance color information is ignored note the result is a black and white picture CMYK Color printers and large offset printers rely on the CMYK color space This color space matches the color pigments cyan magenta and yellow The color black the K in CMYK is included but not Sheme relies on YUY required The colors C M and Y absorb col winien is alko known zs YCbCr fou This color space enables the com ors on paper creating black This differs T i from the RGB color space which
77. mem trol amount of m contrast in sw _ image aw _Options _ Quipstleves PSS EE a I Preview 4 Move the white slider to the left until the onscreen appear ance of the light tones is correct The dark tones need very little adjustment You only need to move the black slider a tiny bit to the right caution Be careful not to unin tentionally clip an image when you increase its contrast When you move a white slider to the left all the pixels to the slider s right will be clipped made white Unless this effect is desirable be careful to avoid it The farther you move the slider to the left the more the data disappears The black slider will also clip all pixels to the left of it all pix els will become black 5 Adjust the gray tones with the gray slider until the mid tones of the image look cor rect In this image the gray tones are a lit tle dark even after correcting with the white point As a result the image feels heavy Moving the gray slider to the left gives the midtones a lighter appearance 148 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Color Balance 101 Color images often need color correction For example someone s shirt might be too bright or even the wrong color because of incorrect lighting tungsten when it should have been strobe fluorescent when you should have used sodium and so forth To fix these problems try the following techniqu
78. not have stores pictures much more quickly than older enough battery power media These media usually are high capacity and expensive Today s high speed flash media soon will surpass 2GB Because the media must be formatted using FAT32 the flash media will actually be slower than flash media formatted as FAT16 Another Disaster Point USB USB is the universal way to connect Flash Media readers to your PC Two standards now exist that apparently are backward forward compatible USB 1 1 and USB 2 0 Some USB 2 0 multitype flash card readers do not function properly in USB 1 1 ports however As such this is a potential trouble spot in Windows The author recently lost data on an MMC card thanks to a faulty USB 2 0 card reader If you have a computer manufactured before 2002 it most likely has USB 1 1 ports newer machines sport USB 2 0 ports Check the manufacturer s Web site to ensure that USB 2 0 readers will work in USB 1 1 drivers and that you don t need any firmware or operating system upgrades Another USB pitfall is in pulling a USB flash media reader out of its USB port while the operating system is trying to write data to it Windows XP can safely recover from this surprise but the media might not In other words improper removal of flash media will destroy the file structure on a disk The correct and safe way to remove flash media from Windows 98 2nd Edition Me 2000 and XP is to use the Remove Hardware button located
79. of lossless compression unsharp masking A software process that increases the apparent sharpness of an image Actual image detail is not increased vector image An image formed without pixels Lines and solid filled areas are created by specifying the location of line endpoints and the positions of lines straight or curved between them Adobe Illustrator creates vector graphics and there are some vector elements such as paths in Adobe Photoshop that coexist with the bitmap features virtual memory disk Space on a hard drive that is used as a substitute for RAM by image editing software when the software runs out of real RAM Because hard disks operate more slowly than RAM using virtual memory slows the computer down Numbers 0000H flag FAT File Allocation Table 105 12 bit scan rates 184 16 bit scan rates 184 35mm film 33 76 38 bit depth JPEG2000 file format 90 48 bit scan rates 184 186 220 film 34 A Acquire command File menu 74 active tracking system AF autofocus 56 Add Anchor Point tool 161 additive color processes 293 294 Adjust Color Hue Saturation command Enhance menu 328 332 Adjust Levels command Image menu 146 Adjust Brightness Contrast command Image menu 206 Adjust Color Balance com mand Image menu 148 240 Adjust Curves command Image menu 140 186 206 226 Adjust Desaturate command Image menu 328 Adjust Hue Saturation
80. of the lens and those in the far distance will be sharp It is not a lens for every situation but it can produce startling and effective views Macro Lens A macro lens is useful for extremely close shots The lens allows you to focus at a very close range see Figure 4 7 and is corrected for aberrations that occur at close focus ing distances The lens is occasionally called somewhat inaccurately a micro lens Some zoom lenses come with a macro feature They focus closer than normal but not as close as a fixed focal length macro lens Copyright 2004 Nicholas E Papadakis Soft Focus Lens Aberrations are deliberately introduced in a soft focus lens also called a portrait lens The goal is to produce an image that will diffuse and soften details such as facial wrinkles Perspective Control Lens A perspective control lens brings some view camera adjustments to other types of cam eras The lens shifts up down or sideways to prevent the perspective distortion that 54 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY causes parallel lines to tilt towards each other if the camera is tilted Before Photoshop these lenses were the only way 35mm and medium format architectural photographers fixed the distortion of buildings These lenses are now essentially obsolete because you can fix the problem in Photoshop Catadioptric Mirror Lens A catadioptric lens also called a mirror lens is similar in design to a telescope It in
81. on a CD ROM type disc Some companies that offer film developing and prints by mail also offer scans on CD ROM The images are not as high resolution as Kodak Photo CDs but might be satisfactory for small prints or for Internet use You can find these mail order service bureaus in the back of most photography magazines THE ABSOLUTE MiNiMUM Scanners enable traditional film photographers to become digital photographers If you are a film photographer and would like to edit your images onscreen keep these tips in mind Scanners range in price from 40 40 000 Research and then buy the best scanner you can afford The difference in quality is significant If you are serious about digital photography and will continue to use film invest in a good negative scanner or flatbed scanner that can scan negatives Dust is a serious pain when scanning Keep your scanner clean and invest in gloves an antistatic brush and a can of compressed air Scans of slides include the most tonal information followed by negatives and then prints 48 bit depth scans are much larger in size than 24 bit scans but they contain much more color and tonal information It is always better to scan at the correct resolution than to resize the image afterward Determine the output size before you scan If you want to make copies of a print scan at 300 samples per inch then print at 300 ppi on your printer This ensures that the print stays the same size FILES AND FiL
82. opacity of a layer to less than 100 percent it becomes semitransparent and the layers beneath it can be seen Blending and Opacity Experiment FIGURE 16 4 Layer Style dialog box in Photoshop Try your hand at blending If you have two images blend them together using these steps 1 Open two images in Photoshop 2 Click on one of the images to select it Choose Select All and then Edit Copy to select the entire image 3 Paste the image into the new image by choosing Edit Paste Photoshop auto matically places it on a new layer 4 In Photoshop double click the new layer thumbnail icon to access the Layer Style dialog box see Figure 16 4 Photoshop Elements does not include this powerful dialog box but for this exercise the Opacity slider on the Layers palette provides the same effect T Drop Shadow T Inner Shadow F Outer Gow F inner Gow I Contour T Texture T sath T Cobr Overlay F Pattern Overtay F Sirois T Bavel ant Eribors I Gradien Overlay Undertyi ard Light Bindi Wd Light Paar Light TIPin Light Difference Exclusion hha Saturation Color urinozit bets as Grop tes as Grow apes Layar a a faaan j ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY New Style F Preview CHAPTER 16 THE IMPORTANCE OF LAYERS AND MASKS 239 The Layer Style dialog box in Photoshop includes many effects The General Ble
83. or 256 brightness values for each color Three times eight is 24 which is the origin of the term 24 bit color By default most cameras and scanners capture in 24 bit RGB but this can be changed in your printer options during scanning This means that more than 16 million possible brightness and color combinations are possible for each pixel Although this is impressive your eye can actually take advantage of even more color EIGHT BIT AND 24 BIT USED INTERCHANGEABLY Often you will read about a 24 bit capture and then the same image referred to as 8 bit The terms are related Remember a 24 bit image consists of three colors RGB at an 8 bit depth 3x8 24 So a 24 bit image or scan comprises three 8 bit channels of color 12 and 16 bit Scan Rates Every scanner and digital camera is capable of producing 24 bit images Higher end scanners are capable of 36 bit and 48 bit scans This works out to 12 bits or 16 bits per color R G and B This increase in bit depth enables more brightness and color levels to be captured for each sample in a scanned image A 16 bit scan can sense up to 65 536 discrete levels of brightness This is considerably higher than the 256 levels of an 8 bit image This dramatic increase in sensitivity enables the scanner to capture subtle shadow detail in the darker areas of an image A 16 bit scan creates a 48 bit image This of course means 16 bits of data for the R G and B channels in an RGB scanner The r
84. s Photoshop with people and other subjects is more difficult Restoration amp Retouching and requires more than the Dust amp Scratches from Que Publishing filter 204 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY THE ABSOLUTE MiNiMUM Photoshop and Photoshop Elements provide the same filters The most common fil ters you will use are Blur Dust amp Scratches and Unsharp Mask Keep these tips in mind while working with images that require the use of these tools The best sharpening tool is Unsharp Mask Use it instead of the other Sharpen commands In Unsharp Mask Threshold is adjusted last Set it to zero until you are fin ished adjusting Amount and Radius The Dust amp Scratches tool can work wonders but isn t foolproof Try to keep dust off your images using a brush and antistatic gloves With the Dust amp Scratches filter Threshold is adjusted last Set it to zero until you ve adjusted Radius Use the Clone Stamp tool to remove a few scratches or pieces of dust Use the Dust amp Scratches filter to remove a large amount of dust from a selected area Gaussian Blur is often used to soften skin especially close ups Use it sparingly IN THIS CHAPTER Introduction to Histograms Correcting Brightness and Contrast Setting and Using Black Points and White Points THE IMPORTANCE OF BRIGHTNESS CONTRAST When you print a photograph in a darkroom you make decisions about changing brightness and
85. scanner resolution 300 ppi Max In other words your printer can print at 300 ppi your scanner s maximum scan resolution is 1200 samples and the image you want to enlarge is 4 x6 In this example you would follow the following rules to achieve specific enlargement sizes E 100 Image scanned at 300 samples and printed at 300 ppi E 200 Image scanned at 600 samples and printed at 300 ppi 284 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY 400 Image scanned at 1200 samples and printed at 300 ppi 800 Image scanned at 1200 samples and printed at 150 ppi If you scan a 4 x6 image at 300 samples and then print at 300 ppi on your printer the image should print at 100 If you scan the image at 600 sam ples and print at 300 ppi the print will be doubled at 8 x12 If you scan at 1200 samples and print at 300 ppi the print will be four times the size Keep in mind that most prints cannot be scanned very well beyond 600 samples per inch there just isn t enough information in the print For this rea son the effective maximum enlargement is around 4x To do this you would scan at 600 samples and print at 150 ppi THE ABSOLUTE MiNiMUM note The effective maximum you can enlarge a print is 4x for most scanners Scan at 600 samples and print at 150 ppi Film negatives and slides can be scanned at much higher resolu tions using film scanners High resolution color printers are available for under 100
86. see Table 3 2 Table 3 2 Some Typical Film Speeds and Their Uses Film Speed Uses Grain Slow ISO 50 or less Brightly lit subjects Finest grain Medium speed around General outdoor use Medium fine grain ISO 100 Fast around ISO 400 Indoor or dimly lit scenes Medium grain bright scenes with fast moving subjects Extra fast more than Very dark scenes especially Coarsest grain ISO 400 with moving subjects Film Speed and Grain The faster the film the more visible its grain see Figure 3 3 The light sensitive part of film consists of many tiny particles of silver halide spread throughout the film s emulsion A fast film is fast because it has larger crystals than a slower film The 38 FIGURE 3 3 The photo on the left was taken with film camera using ISO 800 speed film The photo on the right was taken in low light with a dig ital camera at ISO 400 larger crystals more easily capture the few rays of light in a dark environment When the fast film is developed its larger crystals yield larger bits of sil ver The advantage is that the film needs less light to form an image The potential disadvantage is that these larger crystals in very fast films repro duce what should be uniform gray areas not as smooth tones but with distinctly visible specks or grain In general each increase in speed also increases graininess If maximum sharpness and minimum graininess are your desire select slower rat
87. see the brightness PSD file values 2 Choose Image Adjustments Levels The bell shape of the histogram confirms that this photo has very low contrast without much black or white see Figure 14 13 3 Use Threshold to find the extremes Threshold is great to use immediately before Levels Choose Image Adjustments Threshold to find the blackest and whitest part of the image see Figure 14 14 Open the Threshold window and then move the slider all the way to the left Slowly move it to the right until you see black appear in areas you recognize Those areas are the darkest part of the image Move the slider to the right and then slowly move it left to see where the brightest areas are in the image Remember these locations in the image and then select them with the black and white eyedroppers in the Levels dialog box later 4 Click on the black point eyedropper and find the darkest part of the image that should have detail In this image it is the eye unfortunately Click to set the black point 216 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 14 13 White underex poses especially on a bright sunny July afternoon FIGURE 14 14 Threshold shows you the darkest and lightest parts of an image FIGURE 14 15 Setting the white point CHAPTER 14 THE IMPORTANCE OF BRIGHTNESS CONTRAST 217 5 Click on the white point eyedropper in the dialog box Move the cursor over the
88. sensor 4 5 17 20 CD ROMs saving images to 80 288 292 CDs saving images to 79 cells halftone 189 center weighted autofocus locks 56 channels 255 alpha 163 263 264 color 255 257 263 color images converting to black and white 330 composite 257 creating 262 masks 257 263 red eye fixing 333 335 Channels command Window menu 163 257 Channels palette accessing 163 257 charge coupled device CCD image sensor 4 5 17 20 chromes 31 chromogenic film light responses 42 Ci LAB color space definition 16 clipping paths 252 Clone Stamp tool removing dust amp scratches 203 clusters FAT File Allocation Table 104 105 CMOS Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductors 4 20 CMY cyan magenta and yellow subtractive color processes 293 296 CMYK cyan magenta yel low and black color channels 255 color space definition 16 printers 271 printing color management 302 304 collages 239 241 color converting to black and white 32 device profiles 299 gamut troubleshooting 303 masks 259 reproducing monitors printers color manage ment 297 306 YUV color space 88 color balance 63 148 149 color film 32 digital cameras 64 65 film 33 34 66 Slide film 66 color banding adjustment layers 242 243 color channels 255 adjusting 231 versus alpha channels 263 editing 256 257 RGB 257 thumbnails 257 turning on off 257 v
89. site requires minimal work unless you need to keep it fresh every day as most commercial sites must do You may want to redesign the site periodically to keep up with new technology and trends but this might only be nec essary every 12 months If you don t know how to program you ll have to learn how or get someone to do it for you However there are software tools that you can learn to use such as Microsoft FrontPage Dreamweaver and Macromedia Flash that make Web development easier see Figure 23 1 Db plratnge aphy Microunlt treme Kxepharey 215 x KY m a Om G Ei D JO Sawn Se Pacts Bee OS SR J Aaron hom nth TOs be lone Many photographers who don t want the commitment of learning these programs and maintaining the site or want a much more high tech site than they can develop on their own will join other photographers on a group Web site This distributes the cost enabling them to hire a professional Web programmer to build maintain and update the site If you plan to build your own site keep these tips in mind E Most images need to be resized before uploading to a Web site Most scanned images have more pixels than a Web page can display so you usually will need to reduce an image s resolution Along these lines not all monitors dis play the same number of pixels as your monitor you will need to design your Web pages to accommodate different monitors E Variations among monitors can also cause
90. stor age or file size consisting of approximately one thousand bytes The actual value is 1 024 bytes laser printer A computer printer that uses laser copier technology to print from computer data Printing is much faster than with inkjet and dye sublimation printers but image quality is often compromised by banding layer A software feature that permits an image to con tain a number of separate images viewed as though they are stacked upon each another Some software allows spe cialized layers such as adjustment layers which contain no visible images but contain commands that change the tones and colors of the layers below or type layers which contain editable letters and numbers LCD panel liquid crystal diode Many digital cam eras have illuminated LCD screens that are used as viewfinders They also permit the editing of pictures after they have been captured lossless compression A file compression technology that reduces the size of files in ways that result in the origi nal file being intact after decompression There is no loss of the original data TIFF compression is lossless lossy compression A file compression technology that reduces the size of files in ways that result in permanent changes to the original file after decompression Depending on the degree of compression used the image may exhibit noticeable artifacts JPEG compression is lossy marquee An outline of moving dashes that appears on the monitor t
91. store You don t even need the camera 4 At the camera store insert the flash media into a printer and print away Most professional store printers will automatically color correct the image provide simple editing features or both There are of course many more ways to create and print digital images This is sim ply one of the less expensive ways to get in on the act The rest of this book explores taking better pictures and also printing and displaying your own digital images Photography and the Internet Another choice for instant photography is the Web The goal of most photographers is to capture a moment or a memory and display it to others The Web is perfect for achieving this goal because everyone can access the Web worldwide If all you have is a camera and a PC you can share images immediately after taking them Take some pix and get them up on the Net using one of the free Web page construc tion sites offered by Yahoo or AOL Every major site includes features for adding photos and building a Web gallery for displaying images see Figure 1 2 FIGURE 1 2 Yahoo Photos Microsoft Internet Explorer provided by ES Lilly and Company Fle Edt vew Faverites Tods Help A Web based weak BE a Asah revos Anoy Sp X gallery enables Address a Tefalbum dre santfrandscok sre ph stare prodd amp done http a l pa photos yahao com ph pkuhnsjmy photos z Pao Links Sa you to proudly Yahoo My sheol
92. terms in the next section Input Resolution Scans from a scanner and images from a digital camera come into your computer at different resolutions Cameras import images at 72 ppi and scanners import images at whatever resolution you specify in the scanner software The resolution you use to input images into your computer might not be the best res olution for output to a printer or the Web The next few sections discuss input resolu tion and how you can change it in your favorite image editor Digital Cameras and Resolution Resolution for digital cameras is simple because only two numbers apply sensor resolution and output resolution Sensor resolution is the size in pixels of the sensor for example 2 megapixel 4 megapixel 5 megapixel 6 megapixel 8 megapixel and so on This is the big number you see advertised in the paper The larger the sensor the higher the resolu tion of the image when it s taken Table 12 1 contains the approximate resolution of some digital cameras Table 12 1 Digital Camera Sensor Resolutions Sensor Size Approximate Image Size 22 megapixel for medium format cameras 4056x5356 13 7 megapixel 4536x3024 11 megapixel 4064x2704 8 megapixel 3264x2448 6 megapixel 3072x2048 5 megapixel 2608x1952 4 megapixel 2272x1704 3 3 megapixel 2048x1536 2 1 megapixel 1600x1200 1 3 megapixel 1280x960 0 3 megapixel 640x480 CHAPTER 12 THE IMPORTANCE OF RESOLUTION One term that cannot be used with digi
93. the small dots which are laid up to create specific colors CHAPTER 18 PRINTERS AND PRINTER RESOLUTION 271 Most printers are CMYK printers in other words they only have cyan magenta yel low and black K inks To print all the colors of the rainbow they must combine dots and simulate colors This technique of halftoning similar to the printing press tricks the eye into seeing a specific color Its this combination of inks that generates the dpi numbers you see in advertisements To create a specific color such as green for example a CMYK printer must combine several colors and drop them onto the same tiny spot The printer will lay down a little cyan and a little yellow in a specific area see Figure 18 2 It will then lay down some black if the color was the least bit dark All of these spots are printed near each other to fool the eye into seeing the color green for this specific pixel Pixels per inch is the number of pixels that will be printed per inch Select View Image Size in Photoshop or Image Resize Image Size and check the ppi rating for your image Inkjet printers are good for around 150 300 pixels per inch high end photo inkjets can handle 400 pixels per inch For example a 3 1 5 1 or even 7 1 relationship is necessary to create the color green depending on the number of separate inks in a printer It takes multiple spots dots per pixel location on a printer to create the color intended for that pixel For
94. the value of the interpolated pixel The number of adjacent pixels the cubic algorithm uses is not fixed Instead the algorithm approximates and optimizes the sine cosine function Cubic convolution provides the highest quality interpolated image but requires the most processing power and time For image processing the bilinear interpolation is a fine compromise between quality and time Avoid the nearest neighbor interpola tion method unless you re in a hurry 188 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY These techniques should only be used if you re in a bind For example if you ve scanned or downloaded a small image and need to increase its resolution so that you can print it at a much larger size Printing Press Output and Resolution At some point your images might end up in the printing press Printing presses use a plate containing a special screen to print images This system relies on dots as well but the term used for printing presses is line screen or lines per inch lpi Lines per inch is the number of dots that appear on a halftone screen see Figure 12 7 A halftone screen is a plate containing a uniform pattern of transparent holes in an opaque background The plate is usually metal and is etched by a laser and chemicals The plate is put on a massive roller and coated with ink on every revolu tion The paper travels through at high speed and receives the ink This line screen enables printing presse
95. these tubes 4 Highlight one of these choices and then press OK The camera is ready for unusual lighting CHAPTER 5 EXPOSURE AND FOCUS 65 The color temperature of white light is measured on the Kelvin scale see Figure 5 1 Warm colors of light have low color temperatures cool colors of light have high color temperatures FIGURE 5 1 The Kelvin scale measures color 20 000 K Blue north sky temperature 10 000 K Gres Ces Electronic flash 5500K daylight type film Noon sunlight Afternoon sunlight 3400K Type A film photoflood bulb Photoflood bulbs 32000K Type B film Tungston film Quartz halogen lamps 100 watt bulbs Candlelight fireworks Different color films are manufactured for different color temperatures Daylight film is balanced for 5 600 Kelvin or K light and gives accurate color with midday sun light or electronic flash Indoor film called Type B or tungsten film is balanced for 3 200 K light and gives excellent color with professional quartz halogen lights pow erful lights up to 1 000 watts It will give acceptable slightly warm color with ordi nary incandescent light bulbs which are 2 500 K to 2 800 K Video cameras and some digital cameras have circuitry to automatically adjust the color balance to match the color of the light source Digital cameras also provide set tings that enable you to emulate the warm yellow cast of indoor lighting or the harsh green color common with fluo
96. they are drawn A path can be moved stretched and curved The lines of a path are so flexible that they can be made to curve around and enclose complex shapes If the path s two ends are joined together to form a complete enclosure the entire path can later be turned into an ordinary selection which can be further edited with any of the regu lar selection modifying commands Creating a path does not automatically create a selection you must convert the path into a selection with a command Drawing a Straight Line FIGURE 16 11 Creating a selection with the Pen tool and straight lines Follow these steps to draw straight lines with the Pen tool see Figure 16 11 You will eventually turn these lines into a selection Select the Pen tool and create an anchor point by clicking on the image wherever you would like to create a selection outline Move the pen and then click the mouse to set the next anchor point A path will appear between the two points Click repeatedly to place additional anchor points as you trace an object in the image This creates anchor points with straight lines between them When you return to the starting point the cursor will display a small circle This means you can click at that point to close the path If the path is indeed closed right click on the path with the Pen tool and choose Make Selection A small dialog box will appear asking for some set
97. this reason the dpi rating you see in printer advertisements should be divided by the number of inks to obtain a rough estimate of printed ppi pixels per inch Today s modern photo printers can accept high ppi ratings but the human eye cannot per ceive much beyond 16 pixels per millimeter For this reason the maximum ppi rat ing for an image should be around 360 or some number divisible by your printer s advertised dpi resolution 272 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Software Dithering and Error Diffusion FIGURE 18 3 Another soft ware trick is dithering as shown in the scan of an inkjet print Printers include software features that further trick the eye into seeing pure continu ous tones Inkjet printers employ dithering techniques which print random colored dots to smooth harsh lines and blend colors that cannot be printed accurately using the fixed set of inks Wherever lines on the image create harsh differences such as between the corner of a building and the sky the printer will print lighter or darker shades in a somewhat random pattern to fool the eye into seeing smooth edges or smooth continuous tones You can see the dithering created by the printer to help simulate a continuous tone along the edge of the structure see Figure 18 3 Error diffusion is another software technique used by inkjet printers Dots of the opposite color near a specific pixel are printed to create the illu
98. time The Quick Mask is the red tinted area cover ing the image It is visible in the image win dow because its eye icon is switched on Note that the eye icons of the adjustment layer mask and the alpha channel are switched off Masks whose eye icons are not visible cannot be seen in the image window Alpha channels are a part of the image s file they may remain when the image is saved One disad vantage is that they increase the file s size For example an RGB image file that is three megabytes can expand to four megabytes with one alpha channel When your image editing is complete you may have no reason to keep extra channels so you can note When you discard alpha channels be careful not to unintentionally discard masks attached to layers Masks with names that appear in italics in the Channels palette are not alpha channels These masks are used by adjustment layers CHAPTER 17 THE IMPORTANCE OF CHANNELS 265 drag the alpha channels to the trash can in the Channels palette Don t discard them if you expect to rework the image later If you want to keep channels save your files in Adobe Photoshop format Some formats such as JPEG cannot save alpha channels Troubleshooting Keeping Track of Layers Channels and Masks Selections layers channels and masks make image editing software the tool of choice for thousands of artists but such power also brings complexity and the poten tial for confus
99. to this relatively new medium The two you ll notice first and most often are battery drain and shutter delay For this reason remember this Research and read reviews before purchasing Do your homework before buying your next digital camera Research and always look at battery life and shutter delay The Web has a number of wonderful camera review sites that you can rely on They haven t sold out yet Sites such as the follow ing are just a few www dpreview com www steves digicams com www photo net In addition magazines such as Popular Photography and Shutterbug are excellent resources IN THIS CHAPTER Selecting and Using Film Special Purpose Film Film Speed and Grain How Film Responds to Light FiLM Basics Today s digital cameras evolved from film cameras and require the same understanding of sensitivity color and resolution Many of the same rules that apply to traditional photography also govern digital In addi tion a number of digital photographers still use film They just rely on scanners to get their images onto the hard drive If you leapfrogged traditional film photography entirely you will under stand digital better by learning the history of film If you inherited or purchased traditional film equipment the more you know about film the better your scans and edits will be on the computer This chapter discusses negative and positive film and the terms that are used to measure and des
100. undo your changes by choosing Edit Undo Unsharp Mask afterward or File Revert to return to the original image Degrees of Unsharp Masking You can easily ruin an image by abusing this powerful filter Take the following image for instance see Figure 13 2 The image was printed at 300 ppi without the Unsharp Mask filter The original image is basically acceptable FIGURE 13 2 Image before using Unsharp Mask ry a oe 194 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 13 3 Image with Unsharp Mask applied In the second image see Figure 13 3 an unsharp mask was applied with these settings Amount 20 percent Radius 2 pixels Threshold 6 levels 24s ee 7 ee f wee a eioh on gt s These settings bring out more detail and look presentable In the third image see Figure 13 4 the following unsharp mask was applied Amount 400 percent Radius 4 pixels Threshold 6 levels This excessive sharpness brings out all the water droplets and makes the image look spastic Some professionals prefer the maximum amount of sharpness however so this excessive application of the Unsharp Mask filter cannot be discouraged com pletely An Exercise with Unsharp Mask Before you sharpen an image determine how it will be used Will you make a print or put the image on the Internet If you print it you must know how many pixels per inch t
101. your images will be that large 92 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 7 6 Annotations are viewable but not editable in Elements om Hockey Game Penguins vs Red Wings December 2000 E Image Compression LZW Save the file with Lemple Zif Welch compression LZW is a lossless compression format that is best for large areas of a single color such as a sky wall or a screenshot File sizes can be reduced by up to two thirds with no loss of data caution If you are going to give a friend customer or service bureau a TIFF file ask about compres sion options before you save it To ensure compatibility with others never use compression on TIFF files E Image Compression ZIP A lossless compression format similar to LZW This format is best used for images with large areas of a single color E Image Compression JPEG JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group compression that uses the same DCT function as the JPEG standard Use the slider bar to control the amount of compression see Figure 7 7 Note that most programs other than Photoshop and Photoshop Elements will not be able to open TIFF files saved with this compression technique FIGURE 7 7 JPEG compres sion in the TIFF Options dialog box can lead to the same pixi lated mess if you choose too much compres sion CHAPTER 7 FILES AND FILE FORMATS 93 Byte Order IBM PC Determines how the TIFF file is sa
102. 0 25 in the Magic Wand s Tolerance box if the wand is selecting too many pixels When using the marquee tools press and hold down Alt Shift Shift to cre ate perfect square or circular selections Selecting hair is difficult See Chapter 17 The Importance of Channels for tips IN THIS CHAPTER Quick Mask in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements The Amazingly Versatile Pen Tools When Your Software Tools Quit Working The Power of the Color Range Command Feathering and Antialiased Selections Photoshop Elements Workarounds for Pen and Quick Mask ADVANGED SELECTION TOOLS In the last chapter you were introduced to the most common selection tools in Photoshop through a short exercise This chapter expands on that walkthrough by drilling down into all the selection tools available A number of these selection tools will remain a mystery or be forgotten unless you experiment heavily with them Eventually you will develop your own method for selecting complex areas Photoshop and Elements are so flexible that you can choose from a host of powerful selection tools besides the traditional Rectangle and Lasso Advanced Lasso tools Polygonal Lasso and Magnetic Lasso Specialized Marquee tools Single Row and Single Column 152 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 11 1 The Audi Cabriolet we ll be using in this chapter E Pen Path tools The Pen Freeform Pen Add Anchor Delete Anchor and Conve
103. 011 0012 gt 0029 gt 0030 gt EOF Data Area 1 System information Directory Entry file name size and i first cluster number File name First cluster Size are determined from CONTRACT DOC 0011 45691 the directory entry 2 Further cluster numbers are found from the file allocation table FAT and read from the corresponding clusters in the data area File Data 0011 0012 0022 0030 DATA DATA When a disk is formatted a number of special areas of the disk are set aside for organization Master boot record Partition table Boot record File Allocation Table from which the FAT system takes its name Root directory At a low level disks are organized into 512 byte groups called sectors The FAT sys tem allocates space for files using a unit called a cluster made up of an integral side by side number of sectors A boot record is a sector that contains code executed by the computer A boot record contains important information about the FAT filesystem such as the cluster size and the positions of the file allocation table data area and the root directory The master boot record is the first boot record that the computer executes when it accesses the hard disk CHAPTER 8 FILE RECOVERY FINDING LOST IMAGES 105 The file allocation table located next to the boot record is a database that associ ates clusters of disk space with files For each cluster the FAT stores an entry of 12 16 or 32 bits Because the
104. 1 launching 126 354 APPLICATIONS locating images 114 115 Print dialog box 127 130 Photoshop Elements 116 resampling 118 121 rescanning 119 images 114 118 121 125 printing resolution 116 APS Advanced Photo System film 34 archival paper 288 area specific encoding JPEG2000 file format 91 art line art 274 artifacts adjusting 21 22 artificial lighting 313 314 320 ASA American Standards Association film rating sys tem 36 aspherical lenses 14 authoring software 292 Auto Levels feature 220 Auto option white balance settings 64 auto sharpening turning off 197 Automate Web Photo Gallery command File menu 339 automatic focus AF 54 56 available light 310 313 320 axis lighting front lighting 316 back lighting 319 background images compo nent image selections 247 backgrounds blurring 59 balance color 32 34 63 66 white setting 64 bar graphs histograms 221 adjusting pixels 207 209 exposure problems 210 217 levels 222 223 baseline optimized compres sion method JPEG Joint Photographics Experts Group 88 baseline sequential compres sion method JPEG Joint Photographics Experts Group 88 battery life continuous auto focus 56 Bayer mask limitations 18 20 Bezier curves 249 251 bicubic resampling 245 Bilinear option interpola tion 187 bit depth input resolution 183 186 TIFF Tagged Image File Format 91 95 Bit Depth option scanner
105. 16 Color Range Sect Sampled Colers Selection C Image Selection Preview None X Another advantage of Color Range is selecting pixels within an existing selection Ordinarily Color Range selects similar pixels everywhere in the image However if a selection already exists Color Range will select only within that selection This is useful if you want to edit only one part of the image If you want to add a Color Range selection outside an existing selection hold down the Shift key while choosing the Color Range command To see the selection in more detail you can apply a colored overlay a mask to the unselected areas of the image itself by choosing a mask from the Selection Preview pull down menu A white mask is shown see Figure 11 17 After completing the selection a complex curve is created to bring out the shadow detail if any without blowing out the midtones Modifying Selections You can increase or decrease the size of a selection The changes do not have to be made with the original selection tool you can lasso a selection add areas to it with a color selection tool and then shrink it with the Contract command The following commands are available in Adobe Photoshop 6 and higher 166 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 11 17 The White Matte Selection Preview high lights areas that will be selected 4 C Selection image Selection Preview WhileMatte v
106. 2 Choose Filter Noise Despeckle This filter has no dialog box so the effects are immediate FIGURE 13 12 Image before and after using Despeckle CHAPTER 13 THE IMPORTANCE OF FILTERS 201 3 Click Filter Despeckle again or press Ctrl F F for Macs to run the filter again The film or paper grain pattern will slowly fade into the image You also will see the moir disappear In some cases you might have to repeat the process The following images show the scanned photo before and after the Despeckle filter was applied four times see Figure 13 12 Using Dust amp Scratches The Dust amp Scratches filter provides several slider bars for removing dust and scratches from image scans This filter works best on areas with little detail such as skies and solid colored walls that have excessive dust This filter includes two slider bars E Radius The radius in pixels that Photoshop searches for differences among pixels Always adjust this number first Larger numbers blur the image so use the smallest number possible This blurring effect is one reason why Dust amp Scratches should only be used on large areas with little detail such as the sky E Threshold This slider sets the degree of difference among pixels that will be affected by the filter Adjust this slider after finding the appropriate radius value Start at zero and then move the slider to the right until detail emerges but dust does not The higher the better b
107. 3 RCB tare Te ER image Lever Select Fte Vio Window Helo The Polygonal FE ae tame Ba soa Lasso tool at lt work DIETIN A bee BEM 2EM P Constrain sactan segmant ts 45 degree mcramants 4 If you make a mistake press Delete The last line will be removed Press Delete again and the line before that will be removed 5 Continue clicking until you return to the starting point and then click a final time You will enclose the selection 154 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY 6 Press Ctrl D or choose Select Deselect to remove the selection Mag netic Lasso Press the Alt key to switch to the traditional Lasso tool The Magnetic Lasso helps when you need to select a complex subject such as a wave or flower and don t have time to use the Pen tools 1 Click and hold the mouse button on the Lasso tool until the fly out menu appears Select the Magnetic Lasso tool while you have the Polygonal Lasso selected 2 Click on the edge of something in your sample image an area with a difference in contrast and then drag the mouse along the edge see Figure 11 3 The Magnetic Lasso notices the edges of objects and tries its best to stick to the edge as you move the cursor The options available let you fine tune this tool s stickiness When one of the lasso tools is selected press Shift L to toggle among the three lasso tools E Width Enter a numbe
108. 4 When you re satisfied with the look of the image convert to 24 bit using Image Mode 8 Bits Channel 5 Save the new 24 bit image on the hard drive with a new name and then delete the massive 48 bit file or burn it onto a CD DVD RW as a backup You really do not need to work with every image at 48 bit depth only with the most important images in your collection For casual photography 24 bit depth is fine After sitting through actually sleeping through a 48 bit scan you will see why this feature is only worthwhile on your most important images Output Resolution Images that output print on a printer use dpi for their resolution This includes laser printers inkjet printers dye sublimation printers and even offset printers The latter are used to print magazines newspapers and books You can read more about printer resolution and dots in Chapter 18 Printers and Printer Resolution The next section will explain how you can upsize an image that might not be at a resolution you can use This process of interpolation is not fool proof and is often a last resort method for salvaging an image Digital Methods for Increasing Resolution Photoshop and other image editors are capable of increasing the resolution of an image using interpolation Interpolation is a software technique that uses mathemati cal algorithms to increase the number of pixels in an image see Figure 12 6 This FIGURE 12 6 Interpolation options
109. 66 exposure latitude 67 69 professional 32 Revert command File menu 193 RGB red green and blue additive color processes 293 294 bit depth 183 color channels 255 257 color space definition 15 16 printing color management 302 304 RIP Raster Image Processor 189 RLE Run Length Encoding file format 94 roll film 33 rotating images Photoshop Elements 122 124 rows Single Row Marquee tool 155 156 Run Length Encoding RLE file format 94 S S curves 226 Safely Remove Hardware dia log box 110 samples per inch 76 77 175 saturation hue image edit ing 148 332 333 Save As command File menu 277 Save As dialog box 277 Save for Web command File menu 342 Save for Web dialog box 342 Save Image Pyramid option TIFF Options dialog box 93 Save Selection command Select menu 163 170 171 246 261 Save Transparency option TIFF Options dialog box 93 saved selections compatibili ty Photoshop file formats 85 saving editing images 136 images CD ROM 80 288 292 CDs 79 SELECTION TOOLS 365 DVDs 292 TIFF files 274 layers 241 paths 248 selections 163 259 scalability collages 240 images 125 245 JPEG2000 file format 90 scanners 71 72 large images printing 282 284 options 181 182 software 73 180 186 step by step scans 74 79 scanning drives PC Inspector File Recovery 100 103 scanning images cropping 74 film 17
110. 8 Scheduler option Print dia log box 129 Schneider Web site 14 Scitex CT Continuous Tone file format 83 scratches removing 201 203 screens halftone 188 search engines Internet resource 343 sectors FAT File Allocation Table 104 Select Directory dialog box 102 Select Drive dialog box 100 Select Sector Range dialog box 101 Selection Brush 170 171 Selection tools 133 135 151 152 fly out menus 137 Lasso tools 139 142 143 Magic Wand 138 140 Magnetic Lasso tool 154 155 How can we make this index more useful Email us at indexes quepublishing com 366 SELECTION TOOLS Marquee tools 138 143 144 modifying images 140 Pen tools 157 162 Polygonal Lasso tool 153 154 Quick Mask 156 157 resizing images 136 137 saving selections 163 Single Column Marquee tool 155 156 Single Row Marquee tool 155 156 toolbox 137 troubleshooting 163 antialiasing selections 168 Color Range command 164 165 Crop tool 170 feathering selections 168 selection modifications 165 168 selections compatibility Photoshop file formats 85 creating masks 257 258 expanding 335 expanding shrinking 165 168 feathering 259 335 hiding showing 163 layers Pen tool 247 252 restoring 163 saving as masks 259 semitransparent layers 238 sensitivity specks 41 sensor resolution digital cameras 176 177 sensors CCD charge coupled device 17 20 shadows fill light 319 321 Sharpen
111. ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE Digital Photography 4 No prior digital photography experience necessary Joseph Clagliia Barbara London John Upton et al with Peter Kuhns ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE Digital Photography Joseph Ciaglia Barbara London John Upton Ken Kobr and Betsy Brill with Peter Kuhns Que 800 East 96th Street Indianapolis Indiana 46240 Absolute Beginner s Guide to Digital Photography Copyright 2004 by Que Publishing All rights reserved No part of this book shall be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means electronic mechanical photocopying record ing or otherwise without written permission from the publisher No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions Nor is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein International Standard Book Number 0 7897 3120 7 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2004100876 Printed in the United States of America First Printing April 2004 07 06 05 04 43 2 1 Trademarks All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized Que Publishing cannot attest to the accuracy of this information Use of a term in
112. AN HP Business Inkjet 33 99 69ml 58 65m1 2 325 76 10 Black C4844A HP Business Inkjet 33 99 28ml 23 8ml 5 405 50 11 Cyan C4836AN Canon BCI 6M 11 75 13ml 11 05ml 4 024 32 Magenta Lexmark No 82 32 65 14ml 11 9ml 9 405 15 Black 18L0032 Lexmark No 83 37 75 7ml x 3 5 95ml 24 013 82 Tri color inkjet 18L0042 HP s largest and most economical ink cartridge for their large capacity consumer inkjets In other words their least expensive consumer level ink The store prices shown here were the actual prices advertised by a number of office supply stores at the time this book was written The tri color ink cartridges are much more expensive because if you run out of one you have to buy all three The lesson here is avoid tri color ink cartridges Stick with printers that have separate ink car tridges 276 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH In the first fiscal quarter of 2001 HP reportedly had an operating loss of U S 1 billion in its hardware business which included printers and PCs However its net income in ink car tridge sales was U S 5 billion that s in three months Some printers are less than 80 retail However if you were to print only five pages a day for a year your cost in supplies would be 360 45 Most people will hold onto a printer for three years so the total cost to operate the printer comes to 1 081 35 The first two ink purchases would exceed t
113. BOOK Get closer To set yourself apart from the billions of amateur photographers and their common full length portrait snapshots put yourself in the story by getting closer Almost all amateur photos are the same people smiling at the camera from 6 12 feet away All nationalities are guilty of this monotony but Americans seem to have mastered it When you take a picture of anything or anyone move in closer to the subject or the action Eighty percent of the time the background doesn t matter the person s legs don t matter and framing the subject in the center doesn t matter All that matters is a person s expression and what his or her eyes convey If you can t get closer use a telephoto lens Get closer and see how your images improve THE ABSOLUTE MiNiMUM This chapter shows you how to jump into the digital photography hobby quickly without burning through your savings account Keep these important points in mind if you re shopping for a camera or eager to print your first series of images A digital camera is all you need to go digital The least expensive form factor for digital film is Compact Flash CF The most prolific form of digital film is Secure Digital SD Use in store printers to print your photos This is by far the best way to get your pix in print The rest of the book will show you how to take better pictures import the images and correct them before printing You will also learn how to
114. D card at warehouse 4x6 prints 30 and club 0 on dye batteries sublimation 12 42 printer 30 For someone starting from scratch no computer no camera who is serious about editing images tradi tional photography can be much less expensive In addition the equipment for traditional photogra phy is much more sturdy a solid Pentax versus a cheap plastic CCD camera the camera won t become obsolete for quite a while and most impor tant the camera will keep working when its batter ies run out Not so for digital Most people have their own computer which of course is the largest expense If this is the case the biggest cost outside the camera is printer ink You can even get around this cost by printing at ware house clubs or at free standing kiosks You can read more about the true cost of ink in Chapter 18 Printers and Printer Resolution note One major benefit of digital photography is that it has finally lowered the cost of traditional film and developing Remember when a roll of film cost at least 5 per 24 exposure roll and developing that roll cost 7 Photography was expensive Today some drugstore chains are giving away film to lock you into their developing which only costs 3 with coupon And warehouse chains now sell five rolls of film in bulk packs for 7 Thank you digital CHAPTER 1 QUICKSTART TO DIGITAL PIX TO PRINT IN SECONDS 9 IF YOU LEARN ONLY ONE THING IN THIS
115. E FORMATS Most modern image editing software on the Mac and PC save images in a number of different formats Photoshop and Photoshop Elements for either platform enable you to save images in 14 formats Table 7 1 defines the purpose of each of these formats and when they should be used 82 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Table 7 1 File Formats Available in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements File Format Photoshop CompuServe GIF JPEG Photoshop PDF Pixar TARGA Purpose Photoshop and Photoshop Elements native format This format enables you to retain the channels layers paths and other settings you used editing an image In Windows this format uses the psd extension Graphics Interchange Format created by CompuServe now AOL GIF became a Web standard because of its lossless compression and capability to save images in specific 256 color palettes Licensing and royalty issues with the GIF compression format LZW have forced some Web developers to choose the PNG format instead In Windows this format uses the gif extension Joint Photographic Experts Group format By far the most popular format for images because of its continuous tone and compression capabilities JPEG provides variable compression capabilities In Windows this format uses the jpg extension Portable Document Format Saves images that Adobe Acrobat reader can open and display This Photoshop format is mainly used for docum
116. E MiNiMUM Channels are a more advanced selection and editing tool than layers Most begin ners do not need to use channels for simple editing and adjustment to images Alpha channels are merely storage areas for masks To turn a mask into a selection Ctrl click on the channel name or select Selection Load Selection Channel names in italics are adjustment layer masks not alpha channels Do not delete them If something doesn t work make sure a selection isn t hidden Press Ctrl H to unhide the selection marquee Still stumped as to why a command won t work Make sure you don t have the wrong layer selected such as a text layer part V DigiTAL OUTPUT Printers and Printer Resolution 269 Preserving Your Images 285 Color Theory nnan 65s ee eee e eee eee beans 293 LIGKUIG treewe vag eae kobre Head n kanang 307 IN THIS CHAPTER The Correct Settings for Printing Images What Resolution are My Images Ink and Resolution Tips for Quality and Saving on Cost ICC Profiles Paper and Resolution Tips for Quality and Saving on Cost PRINTERS AND PRINTER RESOLUTION Understanding what a printer is really capable of in terms of resolution has become something of a science Today s printer brochures say 1200 dpi for one thing and 4800 dpi for another see Figure 18 1 In truth all inkjet printers are pretty much capable of the same output resolution because of limitations w
117. E The flash media is physically damaged E Viruses or something else have destroyed the data E Files have overwritten the disk If files are to blame only a portion of the image is recoverable Believe it or not half an image can be recovered CHAPTER 8 FILE RECOVERY FINDING LOST IMAGES 107 Preventative Maintenance Defragmenting Flash Media A defragmented hard disk drive can speed up disk writes and reads because files will be stored contiguously next to each other As flash media increases in size defrag mentation will become more of an issue Currently flash media is not large enough to warrant defragmentation If you would like to experiment with defragging a large flash media device any thing over 512MB you will need a Windows PC All flash media uses the FAT 16 or FAT 32 filesystem a byproduct of DOS and Windows If you are a Mac user bother a friend with a PC and ask to defrag your camera s flash media The read and write process on flash media is much slower than on a hard disk so be prepared to wait while this operation takes place The following steps are Windows specific because only Windows is capable of defrag ging a flash media device FAT 16 or FAT 32 filesystem If you are a Mac user use the digital camera to reformat the flash drive which will erase images and clean up the flash drive in one operation Follow these simple steps to defragment a flash media card 1 Plug the flash media into y
118. ELEMENTS AND iPHOTO 119 FIGURE 9 6 Downsampling f FES iol Eise O Phebus 22 oc wan a Joven 4 Reset sec pao pwes i Ho is usually fine Use Resample BEF t Az OF p euman Sem gt wan fram vores a Des if Pesokiion 2 ween FF Catan Proteetions F Paare tnag fioe z Image to down sample when necessary FOEN wa Rescan or Resample a Photo For photos that weren t scanned in at the correct resolution should you resample or scan again If you need the image to be larger that what you currently have con sider scanning the image again at a higher resolution instead of resizing it see Figure 9 7 A rescanned image will have better quality than one you make larger by resampling FIGURE 9 7 E bbls Andy or tr Soes GLET Rescan rather f than resample g if you need a larger size POCISNO Ry PEDONE RAZO Ce aas L 120 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY It s usually best to scan photos and negatives at the highest resolution possible then downsample later There is a limit to this however Scans of photos at resolutions above 2400 samples per inch usually bring out the photo grain which begins to degrade the scan Resampling 101 Resampling an image permanently alters it Some of its data is discarded when you FIGURE 9 8 Bicubic is the highest quality algorithm for resizing an
119. F 83 91 95 TARGA file format 82 tele extenders 51 teleconverters lenses 51 telephoto lenses 51 tenting diffused light 308 text layers compatibility Photoshop file formats 85 third party ink printer reso lution 276 Epson 280 ICC profiles 277 279 photo paper 281 282 Threshold option 193 196 201 203 thumbnails color channels 257 TIFF Tagged Image File Format 83 91 95 274 TIFF Options dialog box 91 94 Tolerance option Magic Wand 141 tones correcting with curves 228 229 toolbox Selection tools 137 tools Add Anchor Point 161 Clone Stamp removing dust amp scratches 203 Convert Point 162 Delete Anchor Point 161 Free Transform 124 125 Freeform Pen 160 Magnetic Lasso 170 171 Marquee 138 143 144 Pen layer selections 247 525 Selection 133 135 151 152 fly out menus 137 Lasso tools 139 142 143 Magic Wand 138 140 Magnetic Lasso tool 154 155 Marquee tools 138 143 144 modifying images 140 Pen tools 157 162 Polygonal Lasso tool 153 154 Quick Mask 156 157 resizing images 136 137 saving selections 163 Single Column Marquee tool 155 156 Single Row Marquee tool 155 156 toolbox 137 troubleshooting 163 170 top lighting 317 tracking system AF autofo cus 56 Transform Distort command Edit menu 125 Transform Free Transform command Image menu 122 124 Transform Perspective com mand Edit menu 122 Transform Scale comman
120. GURE 15 2 The result of Auto Levels occasionally doesn t produce the desired effect Levels Dialog Box FIGURE 15 3 A histogram The x axis shows 256 gray brightness val ues the y axis shows the amount of pix els with each gray value THE IMPORTANCE OF LEVELS AND CURVES 221 CHAPTER 15 Before Auto Levels After Auto Levels The Levels dialog box in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements is a subset of Curves It isn t as powerful as Curves but it is actually easier to use The reason is that the Levels feature includes a visual representation of your image called a histogram A histogram is a visual graph that shows the amount of pixels in an image that use specific brightness values tip You can also view a his togram of your image in Photoshop by clicking Image ay Histogram This view provides significantly more informa tion on the tonal values in an image but the informa tion isn t really valuable unless you plan to use Curves If you have an image open examine its his togram by choosing Image Adjustments Levels In Photoshop Elements choose Enhance Brightness Contrast Levels In 8 bit mode an image can have 256 luminance values or different brightness val ues for each color In other words 256 shades of gray between pure black and pure white are available for each pixel in each channel in a color image A histogram see Figure 15 3 shows whether all 256 tones are bei
121. ICC profiles third party ink 277 279 iDVD authoring software 292 Image Compression JPEG option TIFF Options dialog box 92 LZW option TIFF Options dia log box 92 None option TIFF Options dialog box 91 ZIP option TIFF Options dia log box 92 image editing brightness contrast 145 147 color balance 148 149 Selection tools 133 136 151 152 fly out menus 137 Lasso tools 139 142 143 Magic Wand 138 140 Magnetic Lasso tool 154 155 Marquee tools 138 143 144 modifying images 140 Pen tools 157 162 Polygonal Lasso tool 153 154 Quick Mask 156 157 resizing images 136 137 saving selections 163 Single Column Marquee tool 155 156 Single Row Marquee tool 155 156 toolbox 137 troubleshooting 163 170 image editing applications Apple iPhoto launching 126 locating 114 115 Print dialog box 127 130 IMAGES 359 resizing 130 131 white borders 128 Photoshop Elements features 116 Free Transform tool 124 125 locating 114 Magnetic Lasso tool 170 171 perspective corrections 121 122 printing resolution 116 resampling images 118 121 rescanning images 119 resizing 116 118 rotation 122 124 Save Selection command 170 171 Selection Brush 170 171 troubleshooting 265 266 image layer masks 252 image layers blending 238 239 color images creating 295 296 creating 237 238 opacity 238 239 Image Size dialog box 117 118 ImageReady Adobe creat ing Web images 345 images See
122. IF in the Section drop down list The most helpful information is probably the date the image was created and the X and Y sizes which tell you how large the image is in pixels Exif Print is another name for the EXIF 2 2 standard but it s a little snazzier The Exif Print standard records exposure information and information about the camera and thumbnails in a JPEG image when it is created The Exif Print standard ensures cameras include the following data in every JPEG in the following order Number of pixels Compression mode Date taken Device name Color space Thumbnail image 160x120 Image data E E 26 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY For a more detailed list of data included in an EXIF image see the preceding section on EXIF 2 2 PictBridge PictBridge is a printer standard that enables cameras to connect directly to printers with no PC necessary This standard relies on Exif Print information which includes detailed information about the camera that captured the image A camera can con nect directly to a PictBridge printer using a USB cable and then print an accurate color print of the image with no need for a PC Direct Print Direct Print is a Canon corporation standard similar to PictBridge that enables Canon cameras and Direct Print compatible cameras to connect to Canon printers directly via USB cables Design Rule for Camera File Systems The Design Rule for Camera File Systems DCF
123. IFF files with LZW compression Table 7 2 compares the file sizes of a single image saved in a variety of TIFF and PSD formats Table 7 2 File Size Reduction Using Compression File Formats Photoshop format 48 bit depth 45 6MB Photoshop format 24 bit depth 22 8MB TIFF with no compression 48 bit 70 1MB TIFF with LZW compression 48 bit 55 1MB TIFF with no compression 24 bit 22 8MB TIFF with LZW compression 24 bit 17 9MB TIFF with ZIP compression 24 bit 15 2MB TIFF with JPEG compression quality 0 565KB TIFF with JPEG compression quality 6 1 4MB TIFF with JPEG compression quality 12 11 6MB As you can see the Photoshop format isn t that much better than TIFF with LZW compression Nevertheless when you re halfway through a major project and need to keep layers channels paths and masks in perfect registration the PSD format is the only choice 96 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY THE ABSOLUTE MiNiMUM Most image editors provide numerous choices when saving files The most popular file formats are GIF JPEG and TIFF The TIFF format is the photographer s format use it to save and transport files between applications Here are some other tips related to file formats Photoshop Elements can open files created in Photoshop and vice versa Web browsers can only open and display GIF JPEG and PNG files and noth ing else The GIF file format is used for the Web almost exclusively because it
124. L PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 22 1 The best way to experiment with portrait photography is with one strobe and a reflector When shooting indoors window light is a convenient source of light during the day Contrast between lit and shaded areas will be very high if direct sunlight falls on the subject so generally it is best to have the subject lit only by indirect light bouncing into the room Even so a single window can be a contrasty source of light causing those parts of the subject facing away from the window to appear dark A main light plus reflector fill is the simplest setup if you want to arrange the light ing yourself see Figure 22 1 Bouncing the light into an umbrella reflector rather than lighting the subject directly softens the light makes it easier to control and may even eliminate the need for fill Window light can be quite contrasty so keep an eye on the amount of contrast between lit and shaded areas A reflector opposite the window can bounce fill light onto the side of the subject away from the window see Figure 22 2 Sometimes a nearby light colored wall can do the same Follow these steps to try a simple lighting scenario that will look good in black and white 1 On an overcast day plan a portrait by sitting your subject next to a window The light from an overcast day is bright but not harsh 2 Use a large white board such as foam core or cardboard and have your assistant hold it on the other side o
125. Levels Section 225 viii ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Advanced Selection Techniques The Pen Tool 247 Drawing a Straight Line 248 Other Uses for Paths 249 The Purpose of Clipping Paths 252 Layer Masks Attaching a Mask to a Layer 252 Masking an Adjustment Layer 253 17 The Importance of Channels 255 Using Masks to Create Selections 257 Seeing Through a Mask 259 Removing an Object from an Image and Pasting into Another MIGE a e ai a Balas 260 Using a Mask Created from an Image to Create Special Effects in Another Image 262 Alpha Channels Where Masks Are Stored 263 Troubleshooting Keeping Track of Layers Channels and Masks er hices coicewicndint 265 The Image Editing Software Stops Working 265 The Last Command Did Not Work the Way It Should Have Worked 20000 265 I m Still Not Getting the Results WV AINE oi cua dine a s ee Stas a 265 A Command Is Grayed Out or Is Missing from the Menu 266 IV Digital Output 267 18 Printers and Printer Resolution 269 Printer Technology 270 Software Dithering and Error Diffusion 272 The Correct Settings for Printing IMAGES ocean 273 What Resolution Are My Images 065 273 Ink and Resolution Tips for Quality and Saving on Cost 275 Third Party Ink and Prin
126. Mail w m display your YAHOO Photos Hrg images in Yahoo Photos My Photos view cart minutes Back to My Photes san francisco Didar Prinw amp Bins 3st prints of your favorite first 10 Free Plus Share This Album Edit Album Inte lideshpve Add Photos Order Prints j Edit Check ail clear alt i E T Hebidos F anin F comevbar CHAPTER 1 QUICKSTART TO DIGITAL PIX TO PRINT IN SECONDS 7 Is Digital Photography Expensive Cost is a huge consideration in this hobby profession Digital photography is just like driving a Mercedes CL500 does exactly what a new Hyundai does Both travel at highway speeds have heat and air conditioning and include seat belts However one costs 80 000 U S the other can be had for around 8 000 U S Digital photography is very much the same You can buy a two megapixel camera on eBay for under 100 a closeout Epson printer for 150 and glossy photo paper at the local warehouse club for 25 Or you can go the high ticket route by spend ing 3 000 on a Canon 1 800 on a wide format HP printer and buy only the finest Galerie paper from Ilford approximately 5 per print Which raises the question Is Traditional Photography Really Less Expensive Film technology which has been perfected over the past 100 years is being overrun by a technology that has only been around for 5 years Usually a new technology overtakes a more traditional technology for one of two reasons
127. OGRAPHY the editing effects are partial For example if you increase contrast the image under the transparent areas of the mask shows high contrast but the image under the semitransparent areas of the mask shows only a smaller increase in contrast FIGURE 17 2 Masks cover an image except for those areas that are cut out Masks are not selections additional commands are used to create selections from masks For example in the Channels palette clicking the Load channel as selec tion icon turns the currently highlighted channel into a selection see Figure 17 3 You can also Ctrl click on the channel where the mask is stored or choose Selection Load Selection FIGURE 17 3 Loading a mask in the Channels palette Ctres Ctre Load channel s selection CHAPTER 17 THE IMPORTANCE OF CHANNELS 259 Seeing Through a Mask A mask can be easier to use than an ordinary selection because of its visibility Ordinary selections are visible because their edges are marked by a moving marquee the marching ants But if it s a feathered selection the marquee doesn t show exactly where its edges are A mask is better you can see all of it A mask appears on the monitor as a blanket of color over the image The colored blanket is most dense where the mask is fully opaque and is transparent where the mask is transparent You choose both the color of the mask and how opaque you want it to appear on the monitor Usual
128. ORTANGE OF RESOLUTION In a few pages you will encounter a table that you should photocopy and stick on your wall It contains the final solution for resolution con fusion The one subject in digital photography that is most difficult for beginners will be explained as clearly as possible The Sunday paper usually includes a 16 page color ad from your local electronics store filled with gadgets The descriptions use terms few of us really understand Surely you ve encountered the terms dpi ppi lpi cpi 24 bit megapixel Mb MB Kb and KB How comfortable are you with them 174 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Individually these terms might make sense on an alert day but when these terms and their associated technologies are used together to edit or output a digital image only experienced graphic artists and photographers really understand what is going on Here is an example Sarah an ambitious beginning photographer is asked to photograph her best friend Cynthia s graduation party She arrives at the party with her 4 megapixel digital camera and fills up her memory card with dozens of images At home Sarah copies the images to her computer Cynthia calls and asks Sarah to put the best images on Sarah s Web site for review Sarah picks the 10 best images and begins to upload Even with her fast DSL connection the upload takes 20 minutes far longer than Sarah expected Cynthia gets online sees the ima
129. PC Inspector File Recovery 99 103 interactivity CD ROMs 290 International Center for Photography Web site 344 International Color Consortium Web site 277 International Organization for Standardization ISO film rating system 36 Internet 337 displaying photos 6 images creating 338 339 online galleries 343 345 resources 343 344 scanning images for 77 Web Photo Gallery 339 343 interpolation 117 output resolution 186 188 software Bayer masks 19 Inverse command Select menu 142 143 167 inverting masks 261 iPhoto Apple images locating 114 115 resizing 130 131 white borders 128 launching 126 Print dialog box 127 130 iPhoto option Print dialog box 130 ISO International Organization for Standardization film rating system 36 ratings 30 size paper 287 J JEITA Japan Electronics and Information Technologies Industries Association 24 JPEG Joint Photographics Experts Group file format 82 86 88 compression step by step 88 90 Web Photo Gallery 342 343 YUV color space defini tion 16 Internet images 339 JPEG2000 format 90 91 JPEG2000 file format 90 91 K Kelvin scales measuring color temperatures 65 key lights 315 318 Kirlian Web site 344 Kodak Photo CD 79 Kodak Picture CD 79 L LAB mode converting color images to black and white 329 laser printers scanning images for 79 Lasso tools 139 142 143 latitude 63 66 69
130. Paths accessing 157 248 paper 285 archival paper 288 dye sublimation printers 288 ISO size 287 multiple printers color man agement 305 306 photo paper 281 282 286 287 plain paper 287 Paper Handling option Print dialog box 129 passive tracking system AF autofocus 56 paths clipping 252 compatibility Photoshop file formats 85 creating 157 162 247 251 curved creating 159 160 saving 248 Paths command Window menu 157 Paths palette accessing 157 248 patterns moir 197 198 PC Inspector File Recovery 99 103 PCX file format 83 PDF Portable Document Format file format 82 Pen tool layer selections 247 drawing straight lines 248 paths 249 252 people adding to images 241 242 perspective correcting Photoshop Elements 121 122 perspective control lenses 53 Photo District News Web site 343 photo galleries creating 290 292 photo paper 281 282 286 287 photography Internet resources 343 photos See also images color converting to black and white 328 330 displaying Internet 6 exposure 327 lighting 325 327 red eye fixing 330 335 Photoshop color space determining 279 EPS file format 83 EXIF 2 2 Exchange Image Format 24 26 file formats 82 83 compatibility 84 85 JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group 86 91 PSD 95 TIFF Tagged Image File Format 91 95 navigation buttons creating 291 PDF file format 82 Photoshop DCS 1 0
131. S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY note Some printers today can speak the language of digital cameras You no longer even need a computer to move from digital images to prints note Be sure to check out the full color online gallery of digital photographs including photographs featured in this book at the companion Web site www quepublishing com Type the ISBN excluding hyphens or type in the title of the book in the Search field and click on the web Resources link PART DiciTAL QUICKSTART Quickstart to Digital Pix to Print in Seconds 3 Advantages and Disadvantages of Digital CameraS cite eee ede paraded edas dad bake 11 FUNG BASICS Soya 48 Se shea ee ea es ie ae 29 IN THIS CHAPTER What Do You Mean by Digital Photography Turning Ideas into Prints Quickly Is Digital Photography Really Less Expensive Is Traditional Photography More Expensive UICKSTART TO DiciTAL iX TO PRiNT iN SECONDS You are fortunate to be part of a revolution that only began about five years ago the digital imaging revolution This is not some fad that fades into the background In fact on September 10 2003 Kodak the largest film company on the planet announced it was no longer investing money in the development of traditional film technologies The company that single handedly invented the business of photogra phy acknowledged the shift away from film Kodak which profited for over
132. Saturation and contrast are linked in principle Saturation always increases when the image s contrast increases and saturation always decreases when the image s contrast decreases ENHANCEMENTS TO THE BASIC PROCESS In Photoshop you can use the Variations command Image Adjust Variations to preview the effects of adjustments to Brightness Color Balance and Saturation Some tools are more powerful than others For example the Curves control is superior to Levels for adjusting brightness contrast and individual colors You will also learn that adjustment layers are the best way to manage editing and corrections Adjustment layers shield the original image from Levels Color Balance Hue Saturation and Curves changes 150 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY THE ABSOLUTE MiNiMUM The full version of Photoshop includes valuable tools for selecting parts of an image such as the Path Pen and Lasso tools Photoshop Elements includes the Magnetic Lasso which performs a similar function depending on the sensitivity you set in the options toolbar The bottom line is this Photoshop s most powerful selection tool is the Pen tool Learn how to use it by following the exercises in this book Photoshop Elements most powerful selection tool is the Magnetic Lasso Adjust Frequency and Edge Contrast to control its sensitivity If an image looks faint or washed out try increasing its saturation Enter a value between
133. Sectors are grouped together to form clusters Clusters in a FAT16 filesystem are 16KB in size regardless of the data stored therein A 1KB file for example will occupy one cluster and take up 16KB Disk defragmentation is healthy maintenance you should perform on your computer every few months It isn t necessary for flash media however Windows users have a built in disk defragmenter Mac users should check out DiskWarrior PART j IMAGE EDITING Basic Editing with Photoshop Elements and IPhOtO 66462 5 6 eager a aha dd meniti au 113 Editing with Selection Tools 133 Advanced Selection Tools 151 The Importance of Selections 173 The Importance of Filters 191 The Importance of Brightness Contrast 205 The Importance of Levels and Curves 219 The Importance of Layers and Masks 235 The Importance of Channels 255 IN THIS CHAPTER Finding an Image on Your Computer Editing with Photoshop Elements Resizing an Image in Photoshop Elements Editing with iPhoto Working with the Print Dialog Box in iPhoto Resizing an Image in iPhoto BASiG EDITING WiTH PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS AND iPHOTO This chapter introduces two common easy to learn image editing appli cations for today s new digital photographers Adobe s Photoshop Elements 2 and Apple s iPhoto Elements is much more powerful than iPhoto but the latter is much better at org
134. TENTS xi We Want to Hear from You As the reader of this book you are our most important critic and commentator We value your opinion and want to know what we re doing right what we could do bet ter what areas you d like to see us publish in and any other words of wisdom you re willing to pass our way As an executive editor for Que Publishing I welcome your comments You can email or write me directly to let me know what you did or didn t like about this book as well as what we can do to make our books better Please note that I cannot help you with technical problems related to the topic of this book We do have a User Services group however where I will forward specific technical questions related to the book When you write please be sure to include this book s title and author as well as your name email address and phone number I will carefully review your comments and share them with the author and editors who worked on the book Email feedback quepublishing com Mail Candace Hall Executive Editor Que Publishing 800 East 96th Street Indianapolis IN 46240 USA For more information about this book or another Que Publishing title visit our Web site at ww quepublishing com Type the ISBN excluding hyphens or type in the title of a book in the Search field xii Preface This book is about digital photography which includes every operation from taking the picture to delivering the print In 23 chapt
135. URE 4 9 Most autofocus cameras by default focus on the center of the image FIGURE 4 10 Place the sub ject in the cen ter press down halfway on the shutter to focus and hold the shutter release down FIGURE 4 11 Reframe the image before pressing the shutter all the way down CHAPTER 4 THE IMPORTANCE OF LENSES 57 58 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Focus and Depth of Field Controlling Depth of Field FIGURE 4 12 Photo taken at f 2 8 with a 300mm lens What exactly is sharpness and how much can it be controlled In theory a lens can only focus on a single distance at a time the plane of critical focus and objects at all other distances will be less sharp However in most cases part of the scene will be acceptably sharp both in front of and behind the most sharply focused plane Objects will gradually become more and more out of focus the farther they are from the most sharply focused area Depth of field is the part of a scene that appears acceptably sharp in a photograph Depth of field can be shallow with only a narrow band across the 4 scene appearing to be sharp or it can be deep with everything sharp from nearest to farthest To a note large extent you can control how much of it will s be sharp There are no definite endings to the depth of field objects gradually change from sharp to soft the farther they are from the focused dis tance Physically small ap
136. UTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 17 4 Adding type to a Layer mask Luminosity Opacity 00 J gt toc jyt rit Eox T Removing an Object from an Image and Pasting into Another Image How would you remove an object from one image and paste it into another image The following steps will show you how to move a person from one image to another 1 Use the Quick Mask tool to create a selection First switch to Quick Mask mode by clicking the Quick Mask icon on the toolbar see Figure 17 5 FIGURE 17 5 The Quick Mask icon Quick Mask CHAPTER 17 THE IMPORTANCE OF CHANNELS 261 2 Use the paintbrush at varying sizes to mask over the subject to be inserted Press Ctrl I I for Mac to invert the mask Occasionally you will need to invert the entire selection to remove mistakes Hair is always a problem and is only roughly selected in the image see Figure 17 6 More work must be done on the hair This is especially difficult in images where it s difficult to see the hair against the background FIGURE 17 6 cr zs ener Selecting a per son s hair with in Quick Mask mode Celer Sho PN AP ESS taille g D C at rag to mave liyar Or mown a copy of selec Son Shalt coni aint 1 45 degron increments 3 To turn the mask into a selection simply switch out of Quick Mask mode by click ing the icon to its left and then click Select Save Selection T
137. Unsharp Mask com mand Filter menu 193 196 sheet film 34 short focal length lenses digital cameras 51 52 Show Channels command Window menu 330 Show Layers command Window menu 237 Show Selection Edges com mand Select menu 168 Show Selection Edges com mand View menu 163 showing selections 163 shrinking selections 165 168 side lighting 318 silver halide crystals 41 Similar command Select menu 167 Single Column Marquee tool 155 156 Single Row Marquee tool 155 156 single shot autofocus 55 sites See Web sites skewing images Photoshop Elements 125 slide film 31 color balance 66 developing 296 sliders triangles levels 224 225 slow film speed 41 soft focus lenses 53 softboxes artificial light 314 software Adobe Gamma 297 Adobe ImageReady creating Web images 345 authoring 292 image editing troubleshoot ing 265 266 interpolation Bayer masks 19 Macromedia Fireworks creat ing Web images 345 scanners 73 180 186 Special Effects option Print dialog box 130 specular lighting direct 307 308 speed film 30 35 41 sRGB color space definition 15 standard focal length lenses 47 48 Stop a Hardware Device dialog box 110 storing files See FAT File Allocation Table film 35 layers 237 masks See alpha channels subtractive color processes 293 296 Summary option Print dialog box 130 T Tagged Image File Format TIF
138. View Window Help Tool options for BHlearms Tolerance fi IZ Anti atased I7 Contiguous I Use All Layers the Magic Wand appear after clicking on the tool RDN 8 2 amp Fw aa 2 2 eT AN BF 7a D 3 allo A 4 After you select a tool you can refine it by adjusting its options in the Options bar Fly Out Menus The toolbox contains more tools than those that appear Wherever you see a small arrow in the right hand corner of an icon a fly out menu is available see Figure 10 5 Related tools are accessible by clicking on the icon and holding down the mouse button until the fly out menu appears 138 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 10 5 o _ Rectangular Marquee Tool M The Toolbox C Eliptical Marque Toot m a and several of bes om shee Rie MrT PA Single Column Marquee Too its expanded 4 choices 7 a Lasso Tool t vA a 5 y Polygonal Lasso Tool L Fs WE Magnetic Lasso Tool L O k T f Pen Toot P Qo Freetorm Pen Toot P FEA 1 Ad Anchor Point Too W y Delete Anchor Pont Tool N Convert Paint Toot The Most Popular Selection Tools Selection tools let you extend photographic techniques such as burning and dodging that are used to change a specific area in a photograph By using a host of different selection tools you can define and refine an area and then change it a little ora lot Photoshop and Elemen
139. When you print the set tings in the adjustment layer s will approximately compensate for the difference between your printer and your monitor and make the print approximately match the monitor with the layer s turned off You ll probably need to do another print to get perfect colors and tones This shortcut has limitations It s not as convenient as a real color management sys tem If you do not use the same monitor each time it will be less effective Also dif ferent types of paper produce different colors so you might need to create and save different settings for different papers 302 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 20 12 The resulting adjusted image Printing in RGB and CMYK RGB and CMYK are the two modes commonly used to edit color images Some print ers especially inexpensive inkjet printers work better if your image is edited and printed in RGB mode These printers built in automatic RGB to CMYK conversion software produces better looking prints than you will get if you edit in CMYK mode Other printers produce better quality output from CMYK mode images If your printer makes better prints in one particular mode always use that mode When you edit an image in RGB mode without color management you can use Gamut Warning to locate and adjust colors that the printer cannot reproduce Unfortunately Photoshop Elements does not have this feature If you use Photoshop follow these steps
140. a com E Leica Leica lenses are considered the sharpest among 35mm photographers www leica camera com index_e htm1 Schneider An American company that manufactures lenses for Kodak www schneideroptics com Look for ultra low dispersion glass fluorite a mineral glass apochromatic lenses and aspherical lenses These technologies which add significantly to the cost of a lens can even be found on instamatic digital cameras such as those from Kodak Schneider and Sony Carl Zeiss You might encounter a number of different terms when shopping for a lens E APO apochromatic These lenses have special coatings that focus differ ent wavelengths of light red green and blue more precisely Nikon calls its APO technology ED for Extra Low Dispersion Fluorite This type of glass creates lenses that have no distortion whatso ever Aspherical These lenses are ground into nonspherical shapes that enable more compact lenses to be manufactured Aspherical lenses also reduce coma which is common in wide angle lenses Coma occurs when rays of light pass CHAPTER 2 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF DIGITAL CAMERAS 15 through a lens far from its center The rays do not focus on a point inside the camera but instead create a cone of light which looks like a comet tail The RGB Color Space All digital cameras rely on a color space definition to capture color This definition which is part of a processing algorithm f
141. a fea wets Pint Sge Width Height Scalo pu sfz sefi 75 lt Simple Modo Color photo 2 ScanGear C5 FIGURE 6 4 fsa n oaae rl e A preview scan enables you to crop an image before scan ning This saves considerable time with high resolution scans Hisoodl i944 i270 343MB Hi Man Settings Select source Platen Color Mode Output Resolution Paper Size tidh Crop Selection Width Height 340 1232 i p ono E pe rua Apal Reset Units prel X PrintSge Height Scao Width Jao spa2 so a x lt lt Sirol Mode Color photo Eii soodpi ft 940 imiz O 3 31 Me 8 In the scanner software set the color space Grayscale RGB or CMYK the bit depth if necessary and the sampling rate Set Sampling Rate to 72 or 96 for the Web and 150 300 for prints For film scans indicate whether the image is a negative or positive consult the scanner instructions 9 Click Scan then wait a few seconds The wait depends on how many samples you chose Higher sampling rates such as 300 1200 samples per inch ppi take much longer than 72 samples per inch 76 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY More advanced scanner software enables you to correct the preview image for brightness contrast and color balance There could be several ways to make these adjustments Slider bars for basic adjustments to brightness
142. a hundred years to the tune of tens of billions of dollars was admitting in a single statement that film its cash cow is no longer a growing business Fortunately for us something more exciting is taking its place digital 4 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY This chapter will introduce the relatively new hobby known as digital photography Read the next few pages to learn how you can begin taking and printing digital pic tures almost immediately without burning through your savings account The rest of this book will show you how to take better pictures import the images and correct them before printing What Do You Mean by Digital Photography In digital photography integrated circuits which are sensitive to light record images as a grid of pixels rather than using the silver and light sensitive dyes that film use These integrated circuits are called CMOS complementary metal oxide semi conductor sensors or CCDs charge coupled devices These circuits are the backbone of digital cameras In other words everything revolves around these chips which record light and then translate them into ones and zeros When a CCD is charged with electricity the sensors in the CCD become sensitive to light The CCD chip is made up of millions of sensors that can record light similar to conventional film see Figure 1 1 FIGURE 1 1 Photosensor From silver to K silicon digital EEELEEEEELREEL Vertic
143. ack left end or white right end of the graph see Figure 14 5 An image with contrast too high would have peaks of pixels at the extreme black and or white ends of the graph To increase contrast drag the black and white sliders toward the middle of the graph see Figure 14 6 To create a very highly contrasted image try moving these two sliders very close together Note that this picture is still too dark overall Move the gray slider triangle to correct the image without changing the overall contrast The gray slider transforms what ever pixel it is placed beneath into middle gray a brightness value of 127 midway between O black and 255 white 210 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 14 6 Move the sliders closer together to increase contrast 2 Je ronte 2 ioo a Output Levels p z LL a Using Histograms to Diagnose Exposure Problems There are some exposure problems that Levels can t fix Some scans or digital cam era images have important tonal detail missing Shadow detail might be missing the shadows are pure black highlight detail might be missing the bright areas are pure white or both Just as film can be underexposed and overexposed digital camera images or scans can suffer from the same problems Often you can tell whether an image is badly exposed by simply looking at the monitor but its histogram will help you make a more co
144. age ment Rather it provides a quick thumbnail image before opening and enables you to rotate images For more thorough file management you need something like Adobe Album which is a chronological view of all the images on your computer see Figure 9 2 Album provides a much more manageable interface For Macintosh users one applica tion iPhoto provides features of Elements and Album Unlike Photoshop Elements browser iPhoto s image browser dominates the desktop This browser is more of an in your face file location tool see Figure 9 3 iPhoto s browser is so powerful that professional photographers use it to organize their clients photo shoots FIGURE 9 2 Adobe Album an optional image man ager might come in handy if you have problems find ing files on your computer FIGURE 9 3 iPhoto s browser can be used to organize your entire photo collection CHAPTER 9 BASIC EDITING WITH PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS AND iPHOTO 115 SR My Catalog Adobe Photoshop Album 2 0 Lex ee ee te et eee ne Dew at dnns Tad fiw ira gt AR owe A nal FG Lande Ay Pel Marne Gn Poe GR Gow First let s explore Photoshop Elements which is available for the Mac and Windows 116 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Editing with Photoshop Elements Photoshop Elements is available for Mac and PC computers and includes features designed specifically for amateur photographers Table 9 1 hi
145. al lt a ct me i im ee ees ee Imaging photography shift 1H RHH EEE BHB area relies on grids register EEEREN BEHEE of sensors EEEE my E o E E E E opica FIT EE EEE E F mask Type E E E E a E Storage coD area Horizontal readout register Output terminal Two scientists at Bell Labs invented the CCD in 1969 Bell Labs toyed with it but gave up after a few years The Japanese specifically Sony began experimenting with the technology early and developed an industry around it Today most CHAPTER 1 QUICKSTART TO DIGITAL PIX TO PRINT IN SECONDS 5 professional photographers have already converted to new chip based cameras It took more than 30 years for these optimistic researchers to achieve their goals If you just purchased your first digital camera or inherited one you are ready to join the digital revolution If you don t have a camera yet fortunately you now can find one below the 100 mark The emphasis in digital photography is on speed which is one of the benefits of dig ital film After taking a picture you can have a print in seconds Gone are the days of waiting a week or even an hour for your photos to be ready The fastest least expensive way to get rolling with digital photography doesn t even involve a PC or a fancy color printer In some cases you don t even need a digital camera The choices for the budding photographer are now greater than ever Why Flash Media Is Important The key t
146. al about photography Some groups let you participate in online discussions with people interested in topics like the history of photography and photographic techniques and equipment The Web displays pages with text graphics photographs sound and video You can view photographs from individuals stock agencies and museums You can put your own work up for display If you have a site on the Web you don t need to convince a curator or gallery owner that your work should be shown At a low cost you can cre ate your own electronic gallery for people around the world to visit where you can show what you want Exploring the Web How do you find photography sites on the Web You ll find some addresses listed in books and magazines and you can link to many sites from other Web pages Suppose you are interested in a topic but don t know the exact address of a related Web site Try using search engines like Yahoo ww yahoo com or Google ww google com Using these sites is like doing a subject search in a library catalog Type in a subject or keywords and a list of sites related to that topic is displayed Photography Sources The site for the book Photography 7th edition by Sherry London features simu lations and chat rooms demonstrations of various photographic processes a study guide and links to other sites ww prenhall com london The Web site for the magazine Photo District News features commercial pho tography and di
147. alance is the film or CCD s response to colors in a scene Latitude is the amount film or a CCD can be under or overex posed and still deliver a decent picture Digital cameras are capable of overexposure and underexposure but actually have no more latitude than print film For this reason your images must be technically accu rate for both types of media By comparing film and film technologies to the capabilities of digital cameras you will certainly learn new techniques to try in digital This chapter explains color balance and then examines the capability of both mediums to handle extreme exposure situations 64 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Digital Cameras and Color Balance Digital cameras are not immune to color balance issues although white balance features in most cameras help to reduce problems when used properly White bal ance enables photographers to set the white point for a camera before pictures are taken This forces a camera to consider a specific color of lighting as purely white light The purpose of a white point white balance is to force the camera sensor to see the color you designate as pure white To avoid off color images taken indoors with fluo rescent bulbs or zenon bulbs you might need to point the camera at a white object such as a piece of cardboard or a white wall and then set the white balance on the camera By setting a white point the camera will not have color cast issu
148. aling up isn t going to be pretty with small pixel wise images 132 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY THE ABSOLUTE MiNiMUM Comparing Photoshop Elements and iPhoto is somewhat like comparing apples to oranges Both applications enable you to adjust photos but Photoshop Elements is a much more advanced tool Elements includes resizing tools and transformation tools that enable you to scale rotate and adjust perspective for distorted images iPhoto is essentially an image manager with basic retouching tools Regardless of which tool you use keep these ideas in mind Image management is a necessary evil in digital photography Images are now easier to lose than they were when we used shoeboxes and three ring binders Photoshop Elements includes the same transformation tools as Photoshop which are Scale Rotate Skew Distort and Perspective All cameras import at 72 ppi Images should be printed at 150 300 ppi You must resize the image after importing it Resampling an image should always be a last resort especially if you need to increase the image s size Rescan or reshoot if possible IN THIS CHAPTER Introduction to Selection Tools The Photoshop Toolbox Introduction to Image Editing Color Balance 101 DITING WiTH SELEGTION OOLS Have you ever cut out parts of several pictures and pasted them together into one image Or have you ever had a portrait in which you wished you could somehow eliminate the bac
149. amera or scanner or the output to a computer accessory such as a printer or modem default A predetermined setting in a computer program that will be used unless the user chooses another device profile A database used by color management software It contains information about the actual colors that a device such as a monitor or printer produces The color management software uses the information to ensure that the device produces the desired colors digital camera A camera that captures an image ona CCD chip and digitizes it so that it can be downloaded to a computer or a digital printer digital image An image created by a digital camera or a computer scanner Digital images are composed of pixels digitization The process of converting analog informa tion into digital data that a computer can use disc or disk Terms used to describe computer media that store data on a revolving platter Magnetic storage media are called disks floppy disks Zip disks and hard disks while media that use lasers CDs and DVDs are called discs dithering A process used by some types of printers to cre ate the appearance of millions of distinct colors from as few as four basic CMYK colors In dithering nearly invisible dots of each basic color are placed so close together and the basic colors mixed without any visible pattern that the eye is fooled into seeing a solid distinct color at that spot Inkjet printers are the most common ditheri
150. ample to be printed correctly without changes You can read about EXIF printing in Chapter 2 Advantages and Disadvantages of Digital Cameras For example you can connect an HP camera directly to an HP photo printer and print a picture at the highest resolution possible If you are more interested in editing images however you will need to change the resolution of your images after you ve imported them This is pretty simple 1 Connect your digital camera to your computer and import the images 2 Once they are on the hard drive open Photoshop or your favorite image edi tor and open the first image 3 Change the resolution In Photoshop for example choose Image Image Size and then change Resolution to 200 300 or 600 depending on the quality of your printer Click OK when finished Photo printers with high quality glossy photo paper can accommodate 300 600 ppi Traditional color inkjet printers can accommodate 200 300 ppi 4 Put glossy or matte photo paper in your printer make sure you have the cor rect physical size of the image use Image Image Size again if necessary and print your photo 178 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Resolution of Film How Many Pixels The first high end consumer cameras in 1998 were 1 megapixel or less and could create digital images up to 1280x960 resolution Since 1998 the digital camera industry has continually released better cameras Cameras pr
151. an adjust specific color channels In an RGB image for example select the Green channel to correct a color problem see Figure 15 17 You can see in the curve shown in Figure 15 17 that green is emphasized when a picture is taken through a tempered car windshield causing magenta shadows and greenish highlights FIGURE 15 17 0 x Adjusting the Channel Green a gt green channel j curve cae Load Save Options Input 214 A Output 193 The green curve is raised in the shadows which adds green and lowered in the highlights which subtracts green Accessing Levels and Curves Adjustment Layers Now that you know how to use Curves and Levels you need to learn the best way to access them There are two ways to open the Levels and Curves dialog boxes Clicking Image Adjustments Curves or Image Adjustments Levels opens the ordi nary controls Layer New Adjustment Layer Curves or Layer New Adjustment Layer Levels opens these tools in an adjustment layer Either method produces the same interface and changes the image s appearance in the same way Professional photographers always use adjustment layers to keep changes away from the original image This improves clarity in the image and enables you to turn on off each change you make to an image 232 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Follow these steps to edit an image with a Curves adjustment layer 1 Use an adjustme
152. an image from an old brochure or magazine If you scan the image there are three possible results the actual halftone screen used by the printer will appear a moir pattern will appear or both will appear in the scanned file A moir pattern is an interference pattern produced by overlaying similar but slightly offset templates see Figure 13 7 The printer uses a screen a metal plate with a pattern of holes to produce the printed material Your scanner has its own pattern that it uses to scan The two screens usually interfere with each other creat ing a moir pattern IM i I i i i pom a i ja ANG i ae th m n an Hy nh hse ik ae sh Hl il Mi il ti AANA AAA AACA The easiest way to reduce or remove a halftone screen pattern or moir pattern when scanning is to turn off auto sharpening Most scanner software will automati cally sharpen a scan to compensate for the imperfections of the scanner hardware Turn off this feature if possible to reduce these patterns To reduce or remove the effects of moir and halftone screens in Photoshop use the Gaussian Blur filter Gaussian Blur smoothes differences in an image by averaging pixels next to the hard edges of defined lines and shaded areas 198 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY By applying the correct amount of blur you can remove these unwanted patterns and still retain some sharpness in the image Follow these steps to apply t
153. and soft Use the type of light and its distance to control the light on your subject If you want sharp dark shadows use a directional source such as a photoflood or direct flash relatively far from the subject If you want soft or no shadows use a broad light source such as a softbox or umbrella reflector close to the subject A softbox provides a very soft and diffused illumination The light scatters over the subject from many directions providing almost shadowless lighting Photographers often use a softbox or an umbrella reflector to produce the natural look of a broad diffused window light see Figure 21 8 A floodlight or direct flash produces directional lighting see Figure 21 9 Notice how dark and hard edged the shadows are compared to the photo above FIGURE 21 9 Direct illumina tion from the right creating prominent shadows CHAPTER 21 LIGHTING 315 The Main Light The Dominant Source Where do you start when making a photograph with artificial light Using lights like photofloods or electronic flash that you bring to a scene and arrange yourself requires a bit more thought than making a photograph by available light where you begin with the light that is already there and observe what it is doing to the subject The most natural looking light imitates that from the sun see Figure 21 10 One main light source casting one dominant set of shadows so usually the place to begin is by positioning the mai
154. anizing images on your com puter Both are excellent programs for importing storyboarding organ izing and printing your images You don t need Photoshop to manage your images unless you plan to make a career as a photographer writer Web developer or graphic artist As the industry standard Photoshop includes numerous features that you will never need such as offset printing and registration tools Web development and animated GIF tools and color profiles and modes such as CMYK 114 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Finding an Image on Your Computer FIGURE 9 1 The file browser in Elements enables you to find an image quickly Elements and iPhoto include file browsers which provide a directory tree of your computer s innards These browsers provide a fast easy way to find images on your computer Not sure where a picture is located Open the file browser and start poking around In Photoshop Elements choose Window File Browser see Figure 9 1 The browser provides thumbnails of your images and includes file information O adobe Photoshop Elements File Browser AEN De ER ma Ehake laym Soet Fte Wer Window Heb EIES mool or es a Sa iagt a oo peon la E a o aL e reL eA N MY Computer Loca Disk D mnages iripsist DA ees oy Ceroctis or RE TERPEN WAA te PTE The file browser in Elements isn t really meant for top to bottom image man
155. are physically prevented as by the walls of a room from moving back as much as would be necessary with a normal lens For a 35mm camera a commonly used short focal length is 28mm A comparable lens for a camera using 2 1 4x2 1 4 inch film is 55mm For a 4x5 inch view camera it is 90mm Wide angle lenses have considerable depth of field A 24mm lens focused on an object seven feet away and stopped down to f 8 will show everything from four feet to infinity in sharp focus Photographers who work in fast moving situations often use a moderately wide lens such as a 35mm lens on a 35mm camera as their nor mal lens They don t have to pause to refocus for every shot because with this type of lens so much of a scene is sharp At the same time it does not display too much distortion Pictures taken with a wide angle lens can show both real and apparent distortions Genuine aberrations of the lens itself such as curvilinear distortion are inherent in extremely curved or wide elements made of thick pieces of glass which are often used in wide angle lenses Although most aberrations can be corrected in a lens of a moderate angle of view and speed the wider or faster the lens the more difficult and or expensive that correction becomes A wide angle lens can also show an apparent distortion of perspective but this is actually caused by the photographer not the lens An object that is close to a lens or your eye appears larger than an object o
156. are several rating systems for film speed The most common in English speaking countries are ISO International Organization for Standardization and EI exposure index ASA American Standards Association is an older rating system All use the same numer ical progression The film speed rating doubles each time the light sensitivity of the film doubles CHAPTER 3 FILM BASICS 37 The higher the number in a given system the faster the film and the less light you need for a correct exposure see Table 3 1 An ISO or EI or ASA 200 film is twice as fast as an ISO 100 film one stop faster half as fast as an ISO 400 film one stop slower For a correct exposure the ISO 200 film needs half as much light as one stop less than the ISO 100 film twice as much light as one stop more than the ISO 400 film Table 3 1 Film Speed and Shutter Speed Film Speed Sample Exposure ISO 100 f 2 8 aperture at 1 30 sec shutter speed ISO 200 f 2 8 aperture at 1 60 sec shutter speed ISO 400 f 2 8 aperture at 1 125 sec shutter speed ISO 800 f 2 8 aperture at 1 250 sec shutter speed ISO 1600 f 2 8 aperture at 1 500 sec shutter speed ISO 3200 f 2 8 aperture at 1 1000 sec shutter speed Film speed influences heavily how the film is used Sports photographers that still shoot with film must use high speed film because higher shutter speeds capture motion with no blur Slower film speeds are used for portrait photography because maximum clarity is desirable
157. arty brands such as Kodak Experiment with a number of papers and figure out the cost per page Use Table 18 2 as a starting point for determining resolution for printing your images All photo papers are engineered to prevent color bleed so the resolution of the image doesn t matter much as long as the paper you re using is termed photo paper The only paper that might bleed is matte paper Perform some tests on this type of paper at a low resolution 150 ppi for example before trying higher ppi settings Table 18 2 Printing Resolution for Specific Papers Type of Paper Recommended Maximum ppi Setting Film 300 400 ppi Glossy or Ultra Glossy Paper 300 400 ppi Pearl Paper semi gloss 300 ppi Matte Finish Photo Paper 150 300 ppi Plain Paper 100 150 ppi 282 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY The best photo papers for longevity are made of 100 cotton and are acid free Cotton papers can last decades but don t have the pop plastic papers contain The two most important factors that affect the quality of paper are the presence of impurities and an acidic pH Finished papers may contain natural impurities such as lignins glues that hold plant cells together that have not been removed during processing and unnatural impurities such as residual chemicals like sulfites which are not washed out during final processing Why Do Images Look So Good on the Monitor The monitor has the lowest resolution
158. at a higher resolution If you need to make scans for any missing compo nents be sure their pixel resolutions are compat ible When reducing the size use the Image Image Size command see Figure 16 9 Check the Resample Image box and select Bicubic from its drop down menu Bicubic resampling retains the highest image quality although it takes more time than other options Adjust the contrast color balance and satura tion of all the components You will get a chance to fine tune them later so this adjustment can be approximate You can also scale the image after pasting it onto the background Click Edit Transform Scale and hold down the Shift key while scaling 246 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 16 9 ETT a x Changing your Pixel Dimensions 6 08M was 24 3M image size Width 50 percent X Jo Reset using the Image Height i92 pixels Ao Size dialog box Document Size width 5347 inches Height 3973 inches gt Ja Resolution o0 pres nh IV Constrain Proportions IV Resample Image Bicubic Select a Component and Copy It The proper selection process will make component images blend into the back ground image more easily Almost all selection procedures are easier and more pre cise if you zoom the monitor image to 200 to 400 percent magnification Keep these tips in mind when selecting complex objects in an image If the c
159. aturation and hue Brush An imaging software tool that paints colors or spe cial effects on a layer byte In a computer an organized grouping of eight bits of memory or storage A byte is often used to represent the 348 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY brightness value of a single pixel in a gray scale image ora single character number or letter in word processing calibration The act of adjusting the brightness and col ors of one device such as a monitor to match those of another such as a printer Calibration may also be used to simply adjust a device to some standard of performance CCD charge coupled device In a digital camera a charged coupled device is a light sensitive silicon computer chip that converts the light from the camera lens into elec trical current The chip may have millions of separate sen sors each of whose current reading is translated by an analog to digital converter into a digital brightness value CD ROM Compact Disc Read Only Memory A nonrewritable compact disc used as a storage medium for digital data CD RW Compact Disc Rewritable A rewritable compact disc clipping In image capture with a scanner or digital cam era an exposure error that causes a loss of information at the highest and or lowest brightness levels CMY Cyan magenta and yellow are three subtractive color primaries Used by some printing processes notably color photographic paper CMYK Cyan
160. ave Photoshop follow these steps for a tour of color profiles Let s create an image save it with out color profile information and then open it to note see what happens i 1 Open Photoshop choose File New and cre ate a new image Don t worry about the set tings Just click OK in the New dialog box You can read more 2 Now save this blank image Choose File about ICC profiles at the Save As In the Save As dialog box uncheck International Color Consortium the ICC Profile check box see Figure 18 6 home page at ww color org and then save this temporary file some where 278 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 18 5 Photoshop Elements does not provide much color pro filing options Photoshop pro vides extensive color profiling tools FIGURE 18 6 Uncheck ICC Profile to save an image with its existing color profile E Qroose your color management No color management F Linited color management optinwed for Web graphics _ Reset F Fulicolor management optinwed for Print Hep Color settings ee zj M Settings Photoshop 5 Default Spaces z asn i COK OK a gaol heer Loc le Working Spaces Reset Reset RGB ji x CMYK 5 Default CMYK A Ladi Gray Gray Gamma 22 zj Save Spot foot Gain 20 z v V Preview Color Management Policies 4 RGB Preserve Embedded Profiles y CMYK Preserve Embedded Profiles Gray Preserve Embedded Profil
161. awbacks to 48 Bit Images A negative that is only 24x36 millimeters scanned at 2400 samples per inch ata 48 bit depth approaches 36 megabytes MB in file size A medium format negative 6x7cm can be upwards of 300MB Modern G5 Macs and Pentium 4 PCs won t have too much trouble opening these large files but edits can bog down even a high end system Not only that but some functions just plain aren t available 186 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY You cannot use adjustment layers on 48 bit images because Adobe wants you to make your tonal corrections with Curves or Levels and then convert the image to 24 bit For this reason you should use Levels or Curves or both to adjust and then convert the file to 8 bits per channel using Image Mode 8 Bits Channel Later you can edit the file with Photoshop s tools Follow these steps to convert from 48 bit to 24 bit 1 Scan your negative slide or photo at 48 bit depth Use a realistic scan resolu tion 1200 samples per inch on a 8 x10 print will not even open in Photoshop Stick to 300 samples on prints and 1200 samples on medium for mat negatives and a maximum of 3200 samples per inch for 35mm nega tives 2 When the image appears in Photoshop save it to your computer s hard disk before you make any changes as a TIFF file Make sure the filename includes wording like _48bit or _16bit 3 Make your adjustments in Image Adjust Levels or Image Adjust Curves
162. ayers Preventing Color Banding and Data Loss Advanced Selection Techniques The Pen Tool Layers Masks Attaching a Mask to a Layer THE IMPORTANGE OF LAYERS AND MASKS Using layers is the most reliable and quickest way to combine images Layers are images within the image They appear stacked on top of each other like layers in a cake or cards in a deck Unlike cards images in lay ers do not have to be the same size Photoshop and Photoshop Elements provide the same layer tools and layer palette An image composed of layers is like a stack of glass plates with a pho tograph glued to each plate The transparent areas outside each pho tograph let you view photographs on the layers below You can move the pictures from side to side or change the order of pictures in the stack 236 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Layers enable image editors to perform the following tasks E Reposition the image in each layer vertically and horizontally The image in a layer can be moved within the layer Change the stacking order of layers A layer can be shuffled up or down Apply editing commands to just one layer Each layer behaves like an inde pendent image Color balance hue saturation levels selections and brush effects can be applied to a layer without affecting the other layers Make a layer semitransparent so you can see through it In addition a layer mask can be applied to a layer letting you control t
163. be able to see a slight border of the person s original eye color around the red iris If not use another method in this chapter to remove red eye Ie 2 Open an image and choose File Save As to save a copy Make sure the Layer tab is visible by choosing Window Layers if you don t see it onscreen Create a new layer by clicking the new layer icon in the lower right corner of the Layers window Make sure the new layer is active highlighted in the Layer window Zoom in on the red eye as much as possible Use the Eyedropper tool to click a color closer to the person s actual eye color The color will most likely appear as a gray tint in the image Choose a brush or airbrush and paint over the red part of the eye on the new layer Avoid any other part of the eye including the eyelids Blur the paint job by choosing File Blur Gaussian Blur A blur value of 1 00 should be okay 332 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 22 6 Slide Saturation all the way to the left to elimi nate red eye In the Layer tab click the down arrow next to Normal and change the Layer Blend mode to Darken or Saturation If the color is too weak and too much red eye still exists create a duplicate layer and set it to darken If this method yields acceptable results choose Layer Flatten Image to merge all the layers Eliminating Red Eye Using Hue Saturation You can completely eliminate the color red f
164. be exposed at speeds as high as ISO 800 and still produce printable nega tives This differs from conventional films which require you to expose the whole roll at a single film speed Chromogenic film must be developed as if it were a color negative in Kodak s C 41 chemistry or Ilford s version of the same process which is available at your corner drugstore CHAPTER 3 FILM BASICS 35 Storing Film Properly Store film away from heat Heat affects any film badly so don t leave it where tem peratures might be high such as in the glove compartment of a car on a hot day or near a heater in winter For long term storage refrigerate film Refrigeration extends the life of film Room temperature is fine for short term storage but for longer storage especially in warm weather a refrigerator or freezer is better for most films Make sure that the dealer has refrigerated film if that is what the manufac turer recommends Protect film from moisture The original film packaging should be moisture proof but if you refrigerate the film after opening the box put the film in a moisture proof container like a tightly closed plastic bag caution Do not freeze or refriger ate Polaroid instant picture film In the freezer the film s devel oping chemicals could separate or burst In the fridge even unopened Polaroid film can fail because of moisture Let refrigerated film warm to room temperature before using it to p
165. bient light and under lighting or side lighting to differenti ate your images Always bring a large reflector with you on photo shoots It can be something as simple as a car windshield blind or a large piece of crumpled aluminum foil Reflectors often are the best form of fill light and fortunately are inex pensive PART V Usine YOUR DiciTAL PiCTURES The Portrait anaaaa naaa aaa aaa aaa 336 Digital Photography and the Web 346 IN THIS CHAPTER Simple Portrait Lighting Converting from Color to Black and White Several Ways to Fix Red Eye THE PORTRAIT You don t need a complicated lighting arrangement for portraits or many other subjects Often the simpler the lighting the better Many photographers prefer to keep portrait setups as simple as possible so the subject is relaxed Lights tripods and other paraphernalia can make some subjects overly conscious of the fact that they are being pho tographed resulting in a stiff awkward expression When shooting outdoors open shade or an overcast sky provides a soft even light The person is not lit by direct sunlight but by light reflected from the ground from clouds or from nearby surfaces such as a wall Open shade or overcast light is relatively bluish so if you are shooting color film a 1A skylight or 81A light yellow filter on the camera lens will warm the color of the light by removing excess blue 326 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITA
166. ble grain The big prob lem is the cost Some scanner manufacturers have created more advanced flatbed scanners that include negative and slide sleeves You place the negative in the sleeve and place it on the flatbed scanner see CHAPTER 18 PRINTERS AND PRINTER RESOLUTION 283 Figure 18 9 This way you can scan at up to 2400 dpi or higher These lower cost flatbeds are a great way to scan negatives inexpensively FIGURE 18 9 Flatbed scan ners now enable you to scan your negatives This type of hybrid technology will enable you to print much larger prints Regular scanners which can only scan images usually scan from 600 samples to 1200 samples per inch Considering that your printer can only print at a realistic 300 Need to increase the ppi you can double or triple the size of a print by printed size of a scanned scanning negatives and slides You can read image and only have the more about samples per inch and its relationship print Scan the image at 300 to ppi in Chapter 6 Getting Your Pix Onscreen samples per inch and then print it at 150 ppi This will double the size Or scan at Assuming your printer s maximum print resolu tion is 300 ppi here is a simple enlargement formula 600 samples and print at 300 ppi or 150 ppi If your scanner soft ware allows you to scan at per print enlargement centage values 100 200 and so on you can also choose this method It s that simple Max
167. cally smaller than a 35mm frame For this reason lenses used on digital cam eras with removable lenses have a longer focal length In other words a 50mm lens will actually be 80mm on some digital cameras If you already own lenses for a traditional film cam era and are shopping for a digital camera that will work with them find out what the focal magnifier is for each camera it varies depending on the manufacturer and even the model line CCD and CMOS sensors in these cameras vary greatly in size Long Focal Length Lenses A long focal length lens provides greater image magnification and a narrower angle of view than a normal lens For a 35mm camera a popular and useful long focal FIGURE 4 4 A short focal length lens left distorts a sub ject s nose Use a longer focal length lens right 49 note Conversion factors for lenses will cease to be an issue as fewer manufacturers pro duce 35mm cameras In the future you ll have to use a con version factor for traditional film cameras because all lenses will be for digital length is 105mm For a camera using 2 1 4x2 1 4 inch film the comparable focal length is 150mm For a 4x5 inch view camera it is about 300mm Long lenses are excellent when you cannot or do not want to get close to the subject They are also preferred for portraits most people become self conscious when a cam era is too close to them so their expressions are often artific
168. cannot read anything This is the reason why end users ti p think data is gone The data is still in the data area however Finding this data can be difficult If you re up to it defrag because the entire drive must be examined ment your flash media Read If the file was not fragmented that is every clus the section Preventative ter for the file was stored successively this loss Maintenance Defragmenting of sector information doesn t really matter If the Flash Media in this chapter file was fragmented by frequent writing and for tips erasing the chances for recovery are relatively slim Fortunately file fragmentation on a flash media card rarely occurs unless you have been using a card for months and selec tively remove images while retaining others If missing files are visible under the Deleted folder in PC Inspector File Recovery you can try to recover them but you might be out of luck File Recovery will assume the files are not fragmented and try to recover them based on the maximum file size set in Object Options Files The end result is the recovery file might contain a lot of garbage especially if the drive was fragmented the file s information was spread all over the disk Data is completely lost whenever content is damaged or overwritten In this situa tion the file was not lost because of incorrect information in the FAT or the directory entries but rather from one of the following causes
169. ce a light small enough or far enough away that its actual size is irrelevant 308 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 21 1 Direct light has hard edged shadows A spotlight is one source of direct light Its diameter is small and it often has a built in lens to focus the light even more directly If you think of a performer on stage in a single spotlight you can imagine an extreme case of direct light the lit areas are very light and the shadows are hard edged and black unless there are reflective areas near the subject to bounce some light into the shadows The sun on a clear day is another source of direct light Although the sun is large in actual size it is so far away that it occupies only a small area of the sky and casts sharp dark shadows It does not cast direct light when its rays are scattered in many directions by clouds or other atmospheric matter its light is then directional dif fused or even fully diffused Degree of Diffusion From Hard to Soft Light Diffused light scatters onto the subject from many directions It shows little or no directionality Shadows if they are present at all are relatively light Shadow edges are indistinct and subjects seem surrounded by light Sources of diffused light are broad compared to the size of the subject a heavily overcast sky for example where the sun s rays are completely scattered and the entire sky becomes the source of light Fully dif
170. cene remained the same in relation to each other Less is visible in the frame as lenses increase in focal length Normal Focal Length Lenses A normal focal length lens also called a standard focal length lens approximates what the human eye sees One of the greatest modern photographers Henri Cartier Bresson who described the camera as an extension of my eye almost always used a normal lens The angle of view of most of his images is about the same as what the eye can see clearly from one position and the relative size of near and far objects seems normal A lens that is a normal focal length for one camera can be a long focal length for another camera see Figure 4 3 Film size determines what will be a normal focal length The larger the size of the film format the longer the focal length of a normal lens for that format If the focal length of a lens is about the same as the diagonal measurement of the film broken line the lens is considered normal It collects light rays from an angle of view of about 50 the same as the human eye 48 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 4 3 At A normal Nt focal length of 150mm for a large format camera is extra long ona 35mm The difference between what is considered a normal focal length lens for each type of camera is described in Table 4 1 Table 4 1 Normal Focal Length Lenses for 35mm Medium Format and Large Format Cameras
171. change using a brush airbrush The original bits of the image are not changed until the layers are flattened and saved S p J CHAPTER 15 THE IMPORTANCE OF LEVELS AND CURVES 233 THE ABSOLUTE MiNiMUM Even the most washed out images contain valuable information Photoshop and Elements are capable of pulling this information out of an image using Levels and Curves By using Threshold and histograms you can see where information lies and adjust brightness values appropriately Keep these tips in mind when experimenting Histograms of an image are available in three places Image Histogram Image Adjustments Threshold and Image Adjustments Levels Choose Image Histogram and then move your mouse over the histogram to see the number of pixels that use a specific brightness value Choose Image Adjustments Threshold in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements to view a histogram of an image Move the slider to the left to see the darkest parts of the image move to the right to see the lightest parts of the image The x axis of the histogram maps the 256 brightness values available for each pixel the y axis maps the total number of pixels in the image at a spe cific brightness value A common repair technique using Curves is to use the S shape Choose Image Adjustments Curves and create an S shape to increase brightness and contrast in the image IN THIS CHAPTER Creating Image Layers Adjustment L
172. com mand Image menu 140 148 240 Adjust Levels command Image menu 140 148 186 206 214 Adjust Variations command Image menu 149 adjustment layer masks 252 253 263 adjustment layers 236 237 color banding 242 243 compatibility Photoshop file formats 84 curves levels 231 232 data loss 242 243 images printing without color management 301 Adjustments Auto Levels command Image menu 220 Adjustments Color Balance command Image menu 198 Adjustments Curves com mand Image menu 219 231 Adjustments Hue Saturation command Image menu 332 Adjustments Levels com mand Image menu 207 219 231 Adobe Gamma 297 Adobe ImageReady creating Web images 345 Index Advanced Photo System APS film 34 AF automatic focus 54 56 aliasing antialiasing selections 168 digital camera limitations 21 22 allocation FAT File Allocation Table 103 106 alpha channels 163 263 264 American Standards Association ASA film rat ing system 36 Amount option Unsharp Mask dialog box 193 196 angles view 47 annotations TIFF Tagged Image File Format 91 Anti aliased option Magic Wand 141 antialiasing selections 168 aperture 59 61 APO Apochromatic lenses 14 Apple iPhoto images 128 131 launching 126 locating images 114 115 Print dialog box 127 130 Apple Macintosh gammas Internet images 341 applications Apple iPhoto images 128 13
173. corporates curved mirrors as well as glass elements within the lens The result is amp a very long focal length that is smaller and lighter q than a typical lens of equivalent focal length These mirrors come into vogue and then fall back out again every few years These lenses are the smallest telephoto lenses you can buy but they have some issues The front mirror in the lens has the unusual effect of causing out of focus high lights to take on a donut shape rather than the usual disk shape produced by an ordinary lens Mirror lenses are also slow because of a fixed aper ture The aperture is usually f 8 or f 11 note Catadioptrics aren t as sharp as high quality tele photos Most professionals use a telephoto and a tele extender when they need extreme tele photo capabilities Automatic Focus Automatic focus AF does the focusing for you In the simplest designs you push the shutter release button and the lens snaps the image into focus The camera adjusts the lens to focus sharply on whatever object is at the center of the viewfinder within the focusing brackets This type of autofocus works well in situations where the main subject is and stays in the middle of the picture The camera will dis play a confirmation light when it has focused but the light does not assure that the picture will be sharp overall If your subject is not within the focusing brackets you can use autofocus lock to make it sharp
174. cribe a color the others are brightness or value and hue scanner A device that converts photographs on film or on paper into digital form so they can be stored in a com puter and edited by software GLOSSARY 351 screen lines per inch Also referred to as lines per inch Used in the offset printing industry lines per inch refers to the number of rows or columns of halftone dots a screen appearing in each inch of the printed matter Do not con fuse screen lines per inch with dots per inch see dpi selection A part of the area of a digital image that has been isolated from the rest of the image for the purposes of editing operations such as changes to color or tones A variety of software tools are used to indicate to the com puter which area is to be selected service bureau A retail business that offers a variety of computer related services Many have extensive imaging capabilities such as scanning printing and rental comput ers with imaging software Some offer offset printing serv ices that may include the production of large negatives subtractive colors Cyan magenta and yellow are the subtractive colors of photography and digital imaging When equal amounts of cyan magenta and yellow inks are mixed on a sheet of white paper a gray or black tone results TIFF lagged Image File Format A file format for bitmap images that is readable by all major imaging soft ware programs TIFF allows moderate amounts
175. cribe film technology 30 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY THOUGHT THIS WAS A BOOK ABOUT DIGITAL Film photographers can be digital photographers too Just get the image from the nega tive sleeve onto the hard drive or on screen The digital darkroom is just that a place where images are developed and prints are made Once the image is onscreen the digital experience begins Digital cameras just make image transfer that much easier Traditional photographers with a decent scanner or images on a CD can accomplish the same magic onscreen and in print Choosing a Color Film Film speed influences the appearance of prints and slides Like black and white films color films are available in a range of ISO ratings which is a standard for determining film speed ISO films are graded on a scale By doubling the number you double the sensitivity Film with an ISO rating of 50 is twice as sensitive as ISO 25 speed film Color films with low ISO ratings are sharper more vivid and less grainy than high speed films Slow films also often have lower contrast which reduces the undesirable effects of overexposure Even within the same speed range different films produce different color effects Some films have a warm or red yellow overall color tint whereas others look cool or bluish You can make a comparison by exposing two films under identical condi tions Comparison testing is important with slide film When slide
176. d Edit menu 247 Transform Skew command Edit menu 125 transparencies color 319 transparency film 31 triangles sliders levels 224 225 troubleshooting exposure 210 217 gamut 303 image editing software 265 266 images histograms 223 red eye fixing 330 335 Selection tools 163 antialiasing selections 168 Color Range command 164 165 Crop tool 170 feathering selections 168 selection modifications 165 168 true fisheye lenses 52 Tungsten option white bal ance settings 64 type layers 236 U umbrella reflectors artificial light 314 under lighting 317 underexposure portraits 327 Undo feature 135 136 Universal Serial Bus USB file recovery 109 110 WEB SITE BUTTONS 367 Unsharp Mask filter 192 197 USB Universal Serial Bus file recovery 109 110 V vector objects paths 249 view angles lens focal length 47 viewing color channels 256 257 images monitors 282 virtual pixels Bayer masks 19 visibility masks 259 263 wW wavelet based compression JPEG2000 file format 90 Web browsers locating images 114 115 Web Photo Gallery 339 343 Web sites Canon 14 Google 343 International Color Consortium 277 Kirlian 344 Leica 14 Lura Tech 90 museums 344 Nikon 14 344 PC Inspector File Recovery 99 Photo District News 343 Pinhole Visions The Art of Pinhole Photography 344 Polaroid 344 Schneider 14 tips for cr
177. d sharpness Choose the appropriate settings in the scanner software You might see settings like those in Table 12 2 FIGURE 12 2 Beginner and advanced inter face for Canon gla 46 scanner soft ware lesi CHAPTER 12 THE IMPORTANCE OF RESOLUTION Simple Mode Select source Platen zj Type of orginal Photo 7 Display test image Preview Perform scan 181 Main Setings Color Select source Platen gt Color Mode Coke photo z Outpt Resolution 00 F di Paper Size FulPiten Muti Crop Apply Reset Selection Width Height Units firs reo Pant Size Width Height Scale fizs2 se frien seo 3 x Table 12 2 Common Scanner Settings Scanner Software Option Common Settings lt lt Simple Mode Purpose Color Mode Output Resolution Filter Processing Black and White Print Grayscale Print Color Photo Color Document Text Document Negative Transparency Positive Transparency 72 75 96 100 200 300 400 600 1200 and higher Unsharp Mask Descreen Tells the scanner what type of image it is about to scan Selects the number of samples the scanner will use as it passes under your image The higher the number of sam ples the larger in pixels and file size your image will be Ensures the sharpen filter is active or turns it off Unsharp Mask which is also available in almost all image edi tors is often use
178. d with scanners This feature should be used during scanning to sharpen the image Most scanners also include a descreen option to remove any line screen that appears on magazine photos Select this filter only when scanning a magazine or newspa per image 182 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Table 12 2 Continued Scanner Software i Option Bit Depth Common Settings Purpose 12 24 36 48 Specifies the bit depth you would like to use during the scan Twenty four bit depth is the default and is what Photoshop expects The higher the bit depth the more tonal values that will be available in the image You will not be able to take advantage of all the editing functions in Photoshop at any thing higher than 24 bit depth Most image editors can import high bit depth scans but usually require the image to be downsampled to 24 bit after minor corrections Color Settings Levels Curves Settings to automatically color correct Print Size Color Balance or adjust the color in an image These features do not affect resolution but do affect the color values in the image 4x6 5x7 8x10 11x17 Preset sizes for scanning This is a 13x19 640x480 convenience feature mainly used by 1024x768 1280x1024 Web developers who need to scan and Letter items at an exact resolution for the Web Photographers do not use this feature much because these dimensions can be adjusted in Photoshop After you set the optio
179. developer the printing paper and the type of enlarger used Graininess also increases when the negative is overdeveloped or overexposed Fast Speed Film When Speed Is Essential A fast film ISO 400 or higher is useful for stopping motion see Figure 3 4 Because it requires less light than a slower film you can use a faster shutter speed which will record a moving subject more sharply than a slow shutter speed a ewt Fast film is an asset in dim light Because fast film needs less light to produce a printable image it makes photography easier indoors at night or in other low light situations see Figure 3 5 If you increase the development ask your lab you can push the film which lets you expose at a film speed even higher than the one that is designated by the manufacturer How fast is fast The film speed of Kodak s T Max P3200 film for example starts at 800 Its speed can be pushed to 3200 and with a sacrifice of image quality up to 25 000 A fast film might show increased grain and loss of image detail especially if you push the film But the advantages of fast film can outweigh its disadvantages when you need the speed Medium Speed Film The Best General Purpose Film A medium speed film around ISO 100 delivers better sharpness and detail than faster films see Figure 3 6 It is useful when you want to show fine detail or want to enlarge a negative considerably with a minimum of grain The film has smaller sil
180. dragging the cursor for a short distance release the mouse button and move the cursor to the location of the second anchor point see Figure 16 14 It is important not to place the second anchor on the same spot where you released the mouse button Click again and hold down the mouse button FIGURE 16 14 Creating your second anchor point FIGURE 16 15 Creating your third anchor point CHAPTER 16 THE IMPORTANCE OF LAYERS AND MASKS 251 5 Without releasing the mouse button con tinue dragging Notice that a curve is drawn between the first two anchor r ti p points as you drag the cursor away from i the second anchor point Drag the cursor Press down and hold the so that the curve being drawn between Ctrl 38 for Mac key to move the first and second anchor points is the anchor point you just placed where you want it Release when created the curved line between the anchor points is the shape you desire 6 Click in a third location to create the third anchor point and drag to create the desired curve between the second anchor point and the third new point see Figure 16 15 7 Repeat this procedure until you have drawn the entire curve When you return to the starting point the cursor will display a small circle If you click the path while this circle appears the path will close The key to curves is that by dragging the cursor away from the last anchor point you created you create the curved line betwee
181. e DUELING GAMMAS The monitors of Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows computers are set to different gammas at the factory Gamma is a measure of contrast Photographs look different on the two systems Macintosh monitors are set to a gamma of 1 8 ideal for creating printed documents Windows monitors are set to a gamma of 2 2 the U S broadcast television standard You can prepare your Internet images on a monitor set with Adobe Gamma for a gamma of 1 8 or 2 2 or you can compromise and use a gamma of 2 0 You can preview the effects of the gamma change Choose View Proof Setup Windows RGB to preview how the image will look on a Macintosh see Figure 23 4 or View Proof Setup Macintosh RGB to preview how the image will look on a Windows computer continues 342 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 23 4 Use Windows RGB mode to preview how an image would look ona Macintosh E Adobe Photoshop Fie Edt regs Lever Ssec her vow Window Heb gt ing ShFt Cot Str Zoom Out Ont Ek on Screen Chi 0 Attus Poors rik Sie chet Stir ARC Ctr Compressing Images for the Internet with JPEG The best way to speed up your Web page is to use more image compression Slow download speed is often more of a drawback to a Web site than compression arti facts visual irregularities in images The Save For Web dialog box of Photoshop and Photoshop Elements allows you to get the best performance
182. e Image Sensor Size Resolution 1 3 megapixels 1152x864 2 megapixels 1600x1200 3 2 megapixels 2048x1536 4 megapixels 2272x1704 5 megapixels 2560x1920 6 megapixels 3072x2048 8 megapixels Sony 3264x2448 Approx File Size normal JPEG compression Enter in not RAW or TIFF 540KB 600KB 1 100KB 1 000KB 1 100KB 3 1MB 2 4MB Default File Size 1474560 1474560 2097152 2097152 4194304 6291456 4194304 3 Repeat the steps in the preceding section to determine whether a partially restored file is recovered in total If these steps don t work chances are good that the file was overwrit ten by more recent data Filesystems at Work The File Allocation Table FAT A little knowledge can be a good thing especially when it comes to file recovery This section explains how Windows stores files Every disk or hard disk on a Windows PC uses a variant of the File Allocation Table or FAT to store files on the hard disk and flash media A FAT based filesystem is built as shown in Figure 8 4 note Please note that this table lists approximate file sizes Each camera uses different compression schemes for JPEG files Most cameras also enable you to save files as TIFF files and RAW files which creates signifi cantly larger file sizes 104 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 8 4 The write process for a FAT based MBR Master Boot Record system Boot Record FAT 0
183. e portrait landscape space The beauty of this night scene larger color space is that E Digital zoom EXIF images do not get B f clipped when an image is E Custom rendered special effects edited onscreen in the sRGB for E Contrast mat Instead smart applications E Saturation like Photoshop ask whether you d like to keep the existing color E Sharpness profile E Gain control You can view EXIF data in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements in several places 1 Open Photoshop or Photoshop Elements and choose Window File Browser 2 Click once on an image in the file browser and then look at its metadata data about data in the left side of the browser window If you don t see the file information in the left side of the file browser click the double arrows to display the other half of the file browser see Figure 2 9 CHAPTER 2 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF DIGITAL CAMERAS 25 FIGURE 2 9 Click the double arrows in Photoshop Elements or Photoshop to display the directory tree and EXIF data FIGURE 2 10 Select EXIF in the image browser to view image data Exif Print Toggle Expanded View 3 Click All at the bottom of the browser window and select EXIF see Figure 2 10 The EXIF information will appear in the browser window FlashPix Version 0100 EXIF Coles Sws eGR All 4 You can also view an images EXIF metadata by choosing File File Info in Elements or Photoshop Click and choose EX
184. e 72 ppi or 96 ppi Assuming your goal is a print from a photo printer 200 ppi is adequate Finally multiply the magnification factor by the number of pixels per inch For example a magnification of 10 for a print with 200 pixels per inch requires a scan of 2 000 samples per inch Set the scanner to 2000 samples per inch Most scanners use the term dpi dots per inch instead of samples per inch If your scanner does not allow custom settings such as 2000 set the scanner to the highest number around this amount such as 2400 dpi The following sections explain further preparation for scanning for a specific type of output Scanning for Internet Output If the image is for the Internet or any multimedia presentation it must look as sharp as possible Computer monitors only display between 70 and 100 pixels per inch so even a small amount of unintentional blurring is easily noticed and results in an unprofessional looking image 78 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY If you know the exact image resolution desired for your onscreen image for exam ple 600 pixels wide x 400 pixels high simply set the scanner software to scan exactly that many pixels from the film or print Scanning for Inkjet and Dye Sublimation Output FIGURE 6 5 As you scale up an image the resolution in pixels per inch can go down This 13x19 inch image was printed at 150 ppi For inkjet and dye sublimation printers a print looks
185. e Consine Transform DCT 88 discussion groups forums film 30 31 displays viewing images 282 distorting images Photoshop Elements 125 dithering printers 272 dots halftone 189 dots per inch dpi 175 inkjet printers 270 output resolution 176 186 189 downloading PC Inspector File Recovery 99 dpi dots per inch 175 inkjet printers 270 output resolution 176 186 189 DPOF Digital Print Order Format 27 drawing straight lines Pen tool 248 Drive command Object menu 100 drivers printers 127 drives 100 105 dust removing 201 203 Dust amp Scratches filter 201 203 DVDs saving images to 292 dye sublimation printers 270 paper 288 scanning images for 78 settings 273 Edge Contrast option Magnetic Lasso tool 155 El exposure index film rat ing system 36 Elliptical Marquee tool 144 Encapsulated PostScript EPS file format 83 encoding JPEG2000 file for mat 90 91 EPS Encapsulated PostScript file format 83 Epson ink cartridges 280 error diffusion printers 272 error resilience JPEG2000 file format 91 EXIF 2 2 Exchange Image Format 24 26 Exif Print 26 expanding selections 165 168 335 exposure color film 32 portraits 327 troubleshooting 210 217 exposure index El film rat ing system 36 FILE RECOVERY 357 F f stop See aperture fast film speed 39 FAT File Allocation Table 103 108 FAT12 file system 108 FAT16 file sys
186. e and placement until you have a good design Sketching on paper is faster than using a computer to sketch a design Inspect Each Component Examine the component images together at the same magnification see Figure 16 8 Do the components and the background have compatible contrast color bal ance and saturation If you plan a realistic image do the components have similar lighting qualities hard edged light or soft light and is the direction of the light the same If the light is incompatible you might need to choose other components or play with the Render filters in Photoshop FIGURE 16 8 Open all the images and compare them CHAPTER 16 THE IMPORTANCE OF LAYERS AND MASKS 245 16 Adobe Photoshop TE Tnage Lave Sekt Re View Window Heb RERA reemer rreran acer ener mates a 21ST OOD itso se te u RAE REST N lojxi TATN I oee mimir P C or oy ever tm aren you wart ta aniar ga Chup a Esam stale on the Options Si Examine each component to see how difficult it will be to remove it from its back ground If the selection process will take too much time you might want to use another component image Adjust All the Components Compare your sketch with the components on the screen Will you need to resample any of the components so that they all have the right size Components that are too large can be scaled down but components that are too small might need to be rescanned
187. e existing JPEG format the wavelet algorithm does not divide image into blocks Instead it analyzes the entire image by treating it as three separate continuous waves R G B centered along a zero axis JPEG2000 images can be compressed more tightly preserve detail and avoid the blockiness common in highly compressed JPEG images An unusual benefit to wavelet compression is decomposition Decomposition creates a number of less detailed or smaller images When you open this file the image is reconstructed and grows in pixel size and detail Lossless encoding Lossless encoding is available in this format The JPEG format allowed for it as well but few developers integrated it into their JPEG format CHAPTER 7 FILES AND FILE FORMATS 91 Area specific encoding You can select which regions should receive a higher quality compression The process is taken care of during compression no requirements are placed on the decoder Error resilience JPEG2000 uses a packet type codestream resync markers table of content markers and start of packet and end of packet markers that add more error resilience The JPEG2000 format hasn t really taken off yet and many wonder whether it will As of this writing Internet Explorer Mozilla Opera and Apple s Safari browser do not include the capability to open JPEG2000 images QuickTime does however ActiveX plug ins are available for both Internet Explorer and Mozilla that enable you to view th
188. e of color film is intended for a specific type of light Ordinary daylight film is color balanced for daylight and electronic flash Type B tungsten film is balanced for 3 200 Kelvin or K studio quartz halogen lights although ordinary incandescent light bulbs are acceptable There are a few films for special situations Type A film is made for 3 400 K lights Type L for long negative films are designed for long expo sures 60 to 120 seconds under tungsten light Selecting and Using Film If you already own a 35mm film camera or a medium format camera and aren t ready to invest in digital you might want to stick with film You can always pur chase a decent flatbed scanner with a negative insert for less than 300 and scan your negatives Fortunately your choices for film are extensive even after five years of creeping digital This section discusses black and white and color Thanks to Photoshop and scanners converting color to black and white has become child s play However black and white still has a place in the photographer s portfolio because of its latitude con trast saturation and artistic element see Figure 3 1 Most of the information on these two pages applies to both black and white and color FIGURE 3 1 Black and white still plays a major role in today s color digital world CHAPTER 3 FILM BASICS 33 2004 Amanda J Smith Color Balance and Film Daylight balanced color films produce t
189. e scanned image is Image quality depends on the quality of the scan Just as you can t get a good darkroom print from a poor negative you can t get a good image from a bad scan or even a good scan from a bad negative or print Scans made from poorly exposed or badly scratched film require extra time to edit and rarely produce acceptable results 72 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 6 1 Scanners enable you to scan in negatives and prints for your digital dark room The scanning process is much easier if you know beforehand how the image will be used A proper scan is the best starting point for editing ti p a print or negative if you re still using film cam eras If the final result is to be realistic the scan Scanners capable of scan should produce an image as close to realism as ning negatives are much possible If the final result is to be a colorful more valuable to aspiring departure from reality the scan should be as photographers Scans of neg close to the intended colors as possible atives and slides are much Before you scan an image you also need to better for editing know how it will be presented Will the final image be viewed on a Web site or printed in a publication Will it be exhibited as a fine print and if so how large will it be A digital image has no real physical size until you print it or show it on a monitor Potentially it might be printed or displayed in
190. e than one image is open are you confused about which image is active 266 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Is an invisible layer selected such as a text layer Are you trying to edit the wrong layer Only the active layer can be edited but it is possible for the active layer to be invisible so your edits are happening but you can t see them Be sure that you have the desired layer active and that it is visible Are you trying to edit a channel or mask that isn t visible or isn t active It is possible for the active channel to be invisible so your edits are happening but you can t see them happening Be sure that the channel you want to edit is active and visible Also you might have the right channel but you might be working in the wrong layer A Command Is Grayed Out or Is Missing from the Menu Some commands are not available at certain times For example when an adjust ment layer is active many menu options are grayed out or dimmed They become available only when an image layer is active Problems like this are best solved by reading the software manual Can t Save My File Are you trying to save a file but can t You might be trying to save the file in a format that won t accept the features in your image For example you can t save a layered image in JPEG format You might be trying to save the file to a disk that can t accept new files such as a locked disk or a CD ROM THE ABSOLUT
191. e the Magic Wand Color Range partially selects pixels based on how closely they match the clicked on pixel If for example fuzziness is set to 40 and you clicked on silver see the following figure E All silver will be selected E All white pixels will be 100 selected E Grays will be 30 70 selected E Dark gray might be only 10 selected Later in this chapter you will learn more about partially selected pixels see the sec tion Feathering and Antialiased Selections The Color Range preview window will show the current selection The Fuzziness setting a slider in the Color Range dialog box allows you to numerically define the range of partially selected pixels see Figure 11 15 FIGURE 11 15 _ i Color Range Select SarpleiCaicrs gt partially selects pixels The key here is partial pixel selection Partial selection extends the capabilities of other commands such as Color Balance Hue and Saturation Because these com mands can be applied to partially selected pixels their power is given an additional dimension FIGURE 11 16 Correcting a bad scan with Color Range CHAPTER 11 ADVANCED SELECTION TOOLS 165 For example if the lightest pixels in an image are selected by Color Range and then you choose Adjust Hue Saturation the saturation of the highlights will be changed a lot the saturation of the midtones a little and the shadow saturation will be unchanged see Figure 11
192. ea inside the line shows the gamut that the CMYK inks used in offset printing can reproduce see Figure 20 8 FIGURE 20 8 Gamut with off set printing CHAPTER 20 COLORTHEORY 299 Color management a new technology seeks to perfect color matching Color man agement synchronizes the monitor and the printer by giving the computer feedback about what colors each device produces Apple Computer s ColorSynch software for example requires that color synchronization databases be made available to the computer s operating system Color management software works by comparing the color gamuts of your monitor and your printer which it can do if it has a device profile for each of them A device profile is a software database that describes the colors that the device monitor or printer can create After comparing the two profiles the color management soft ware adjusts the monitor so it only shows colors that the printer can create This means that your first print will more closely match the appearance of the monitor image Even with color management you will probably need to make more than one print to perfect your image In this respect digital printing is like darkroom printing You make test prints to come closer to a final print that expresses your idea However with color management you begin the process much closer to the end result Printing Without Color Management Some photo labs do not use color management yet If y
193. ean film Scanners are very sensitive and will capture dust spots on the film as part of the image You ll pull your hair out later cloning out dust and scratches so clean beforehand Load the film or print according to the directions Be sure to orient film so that the emulsion side is facing the correct direction The scanner instructions should make this very clear If not check out the Internet support site for your scanner On the computer open the scanner software If you have plug in software for Photoshop or Photoshop Elements open the image editing software and launch the scanner software from the File Acquire or File Import menu Preview the scan A preview scan is a quick note low resolution scan that shows you the s image in miniature see Figure 6 3 It lets you plan corrections to brightness contrast color balance and cropping For information on bit depth and color space see Chapter 12 The Importance of Resolution Crop the image if necessary by dragging the outlines edges of the scanned area until only the part of the image you want to record is within the rectangle see Figure 6 4 CHAPTER 6 GETTING YOUR PIX ONSCREEN FIGURE 6 3 Canon s 2 ScanGear CS Sa x paa se r e CanoScan print driver software Mar Settings Color Select cource fromthe CE GEEN Feer Output Resolution Papet Size Muli lero Selection Wich Height gt Units f
194. eating 338 339 Wilhelm Imaging Research 288 Yahoo 343 Zeiss 14 Web site buttons 291 How can we make this index more useful Email us at indexes quepublishing com 368 WHITE BALANCE white balance setting 64 white borders images Apple iPhoto 128 white points setting 212 214 white slider triangle 225 wide angle lenses 51 52 wide area focus 54 Width option Magnetic Lasso tool 154 Wilhelm Imaging Research Web site 288 Windows defragmentation 107 gammas Internet images 341 Windows Bitmap BMP file format 83 Working Spaces option 279 X Z Yahoo Web site 343 YUV color space YCbCr 15 16 88 Zeiss Web site 14 Zoom In command View menu 198 zooming 198
195. eces of information How accurately does your monitor reproduce colors and how accurately does your printer reproduce colors All a com puter does is send instructions to the monitor and to the printer about what color each pixel should be A computer has no way of receiving feedback about how each device actually illuminates screen phosphors or mixes inks As a result when the monitor and the printer have different ideas about what the color red 220 green 164 blue 139 looks like the print will not look like the image on the screen Even when the monitor is calibrated with Adobe Gamma software the inks and dyes used by printers rarely form colors identical to the colors of a monitor see the sidebar Human Vision and Color Gamuts 298 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY HUMAN VISION AND COLOR GAMUTS The human eye sees more colors than machines can reproduce The term gamut is used to describe all the colors that a particular machine a monitor or an inkjet printer for example can reproduce The entire shaded area represents the human color space gamut all the colors the eye can see see Figure 20 6 The area inside the line represents the colors that a computer monitor can reproduce FIGURE 20 6 Entire color space gamut Here the area inside the line shows the gamut that an inkjet printer can reproduce with CMYK inks see Figure 20 7 FIGURE 20 7 Gamut with CMYK inks Here the ar
196. ective Correction in Elements ss esc ace Gorka i 121 Rotating an Image in FIQMOENTS o cdsc0iea wo wee bs 122 Unlimited Transformations in Elemen osien aye he os 124 Editing with iPhoto 126 Working with the Print Dialog Box in iPhoto 127 Resizing an Image Step by SED sra cernat hess 130 10 Editing with Selection Tools 133 Introduction to Selection TOONS saone menasi 136 Toolbox Options 137 Fly Out Menus 137 The Most Popular Selection TOONS csiriricsprrnesisaa 138 Using the Magic Wand Tool 140 Using the Lasso Tool 142 Using the Rectangular Marquee TOO sigclingad bud erreen 143 Using the Elliptical Marquee TOO soprar eh dee eae 144 Introduction to Image Editing 145 Color Balance 101 148 11 Advanced Selection Tools 151 The Polygonal Lasso Tool 153 Magnetic Lasso 154 Single Row and Single Column Marquees 5 155 Quick Mask Mode 156 The Amazingly Versatile Pen MOONS a disicansienssast ava b ive Hae a 157 Saving Selections 163 When Your Software Tools Quit Working 163 The Power of the Color Range COMMANA 04 kae de be whos 164 Modifying Selections 165 Feathering and Antialiased Selections 0 168 Don t Forget the Crop Tool 170 Photoshop Elements Workarounds for Pen and Quick Mask 170 12 The Importance of Resolution
197. eed 36 38 RAW file format 82 84 recovering files 97 98 defragmentation 107 109 FAT File Allocation Table 103 106 PC Inspector File Recovery 99 103 USB Universal Serial Bus 109 110 Rectangular Marquee tool 143 red green and blue See RGB red eye fixing 330 channels 333 335 layers 331 333 Redo feature 135 reflectors adding fill light 320 321 relative aperture 60 Remove Hardware button 109 resampling bicubic 245 images Photoshop Elements 118 121 rescanning images Photoshop Elements 119 Reselect command Select menu 163 Resize Image command Image menu 117 120 Resize Scale command Image menu 125 resizing images Apple iPhoto 130 131 Photoshop Elements 116 118 Selection tools 136 137 resolution 173 collages 240 defined 174 digital camera limitations 14 15 dpi dots per inch 175 dye sublimation printers 78 images 177 inkjet printers 78 input bit depth 183 186 digital cameras 176 177 film pixels 178 179 scanner software 180 183 large images printing 282 284 laser printers 79 layers 241 242 line art printing 274 Ipi lines per inch 175 megapixels 175 monitors 282 offset printers 79 output 176 186 189 ppi pixels per inch 174 printers 269 273 282 printing Photoshop Element 116 samples per inch 76 77 175 resources Internet 343 344 reversal positive color films 295 reversal film 31 color balance
198. elect the drive letter that represents your flash media Make sure it is highlighted Any external flash media will usually appear near the bottom of this list The flash media drive might be listed as drive F or G for example and say 117MB if gt ti p the flash media is a 128MB card You can also select a specific directory This will be If you formatted the card explained later by mistake select the Use Click on the Preview button to review the FAT drop down box on the Select Drive window and choose No before continuing contents of this logical drive see Figure 8 2 If the contents or file structure looks familiar you see either a DCIM folder or jpg images choose the correct drive letter CHAPTER 83 FILE RECOVERY FINDING LOST IMAGES 101 FIGURE 8 2 Preview logical drive xj If you have EOE rea Er selected the sca fe 0302 200323 correct drive Tolal soctove k Bons bo pa saan ba Preview should Denker AFAk pia mn AA pais show the files NA ae anne TSI oh ame you re trying to Daae T LAERE recover namasa cet am mya 4 Jal 6 Click OK to close Preview and then click the OK button on the Select Drive window 7 The Select Sector Range dialog box will appear with two slider bars Slide the End Sector the bottom slider bar all the way to the right These slider bars are preset to half the capacity of the flash media unless the media is small smaller than 32MB Sliding the bo
199. em In other words don t skimp on paper Use the best paper you can afford when printing images on your printer The amazing thing about today s inkjet printers is that the technology powering the 25 000 machines is exactly the same as the little inkjet printhead in a 100 printer see Figure 19 1 The only difference is the amount of ink each can hold and the printing width The quality you see on billboards is available on a consumer level Epson or HP printer This chapter will outline the different types of papers available for inkjet printers A mini renaissance in paper science technology and manufac turing has occurred in the past 10 years thanks to inkjet printers Companies such as HP Kodak Epson Ilford Agfa and Fuji have research and development dollars and salaries working on brighter faster drying and better priced papers 286 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 19 1 Large format photo printers can be had for less than 400 MADE IN Visit your local office supply store and check out some of the new photo papers for inkjet printers Notice where they re being made the United Kingdom Switzerland and Japan The profit margins in high quality paper are tremendous as is the technology race to stay competitive Can anyone actually afford to manufacture anything in Switzerland where the average annual income is one third greater than the United States Only if the technology cann
200. em downloads data at 3 kilobytes per second the down load time will be about 25 seconds If your page takes too long to download reduce the file size of your photos by compressing them at a lower quality level or make their pixel dimensions smaller Creating a Web Photo Gallery Photoshop and Elements include the same powerful tool for building a Web site of images complete with navigation and separate pages The Web Photo Gallery tool creates a complete Web site of a directory of images If you have a number of images stored in a directory follow these steps to create a photo gallery 1 In Photoshop Elements choose File Create Web Photo Gallery to display the Web Photo Gallery dialog box In Photoshop choose File Automate Web Photo Gallery The Web Photo Gallery dialog box appears see Figure 23 2 2 Select a Web site style such as Horizontal Be sure to uncheck Dark or Simple A thumbnail of the site will Include All Subfolders if appear on the right side of the dialog box the images you d like to use are only in one directory note 340 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 23 2 The Web Photo Gallery dialog box in Photoshop Elements Web Photo Gallery m Site OK Styles Horizontal Dark Cancel Email clicclic aolcom Help E Folders Browse D mages Veuhns ereny Vemmiy_cd 7 nchide All Subfolders Destination o temp eaer eee Some of the option
201. en remove the A and B channels leaving only the Luminance channel This often produces superior results to the bland Image Mode Grayscale method In LAB mode brightness information is sep arated completely from color information If your imaging editing application has LAB mode capabilities follow these simple steps to create a great looking black and white image from color 1 Open a color image and choose File Save As Save the image with a new name to preserve the original Choose Image Mode LAB 3 Open the Channels window by choosing Window Channels or by clicking on ponr A oie ism sim the Channels tab Click on the A channel and then drag it into the Trash delete it Click Yes when Photoshop asks whether you would like to flatten layers Delete the second channel called Alpha 2 that results You should be left with only one channel called Alpha 1 Convert the image to grayscale by choosing Image Mode Grayscale see Figure 22 4 You now can save the image as a JPEG or TIFF file RA Roine Widows tert F tare Palettes _Actuat Punts FAOn Soroen print see test Olipg 1060 Gray _ 5 gt RE Dz hog 102086 Altea L AAs a D gt ick and crag to mave layer or trove a Cipy of selection SAM Const int 1 45 Gopron icromasts A 330 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Color to Black and White Using Channels Plus Grayscale Another way to convert images to black
202. ent You can save an adjustment layer as a settings file that can be loaded into other images when you are ready to print This is a poor man s color calibra tion method Select View Gamut Warning in Photoshop to see which colors in the image won t print on your printer You must have the correct printer profile installed to use this command successfully You can adjust gamut issues by desaturating areas that are out of the gamut Choose Select Color Range and then select the out of gamut colors IN THIS CHAPTER Direct Versus Diffused Light Using Available Light Using Artificial Light LIGHTING Lighting is the most important part of photography Without light you would not have an image Variations of light create brightness and con trast and both create good images Distinct combinations of light cre ate the most interesting pictures An important characteristic of lighting is its degree of diffusion which can range from contrasty and hard edged to soft and evenly diffused When people refer to the quality of light they usually mean its degree of diffusion Direct light creates hard edged dark shadows see Figure 21 1 It is specular its rays are parallel or nearly so striking the subject from one direction The smaller the light relative to the size of the subject or the farther the light is from the subject the sharper and darker the shad ows will be The sharpest shadows are created by a point sour
203. ents or drawings that need to be portable among page layout applications such as FrameMaker QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign Photoshop PDF format can include vector data such as text and specific fonts In Windows this format uses the pdf exten sion A 3D format used with 3D Pixar workstations Photoshop is capable of opening and saving images that will be used for 3D shapes and 3D animation This format was created by Pixar Studios the pro ducers of Toy Story and Finding Nemo In Windows this format uses the pxr extension A raw image format that includes no information about the image data You must know the image information beforehand This for mat is designed for scientific applications that do not yet have a standard A warning Images saved in this format might not be recoverable because you must know the correct settings before sav ing In Windows this format uses the raw extension A flexible image format that supports images of any dimensions with between 1 and 32 bits of color This format was originally cre ated to allow text to be laid over video When saving an RGB image in this format you can choose a pixel depth of 16 24 or 32 bits per pixel This format is more powerful and flexible than the TIFF format but isn t used as often In Windows this format uses the tga extension File Format CHAPTER 7 FILES AND FILE FORMATS 83 Purpose BMP Photoshop EPS PCX PICT PNG Scitex CT TIFF
204. er tures such as f 22 produce greater depth of field Large aper tures such as f 2 8 produce shal Evaluating and controlling depth of field is more low depth of field see Figure important in some situations than in others 4 12 E Ifyou are relatively far from the subject the depth of field the distance between the nearest and farthest points in a scene that appear sharp in a photograph will be greater than if you are up close CHAPTER 4 THE IMPORTANCE OF LENSES 59 If you are using a short focal length lens you will have more depth of field than with a long lens E Ifthe important parts of the scene are more or less on the same plane left to right they are all likely to appear sharp as long as you have focused on one of them But when you photograph a scene up close with a long lens or with important parts of the subject both near and far you might want to increase the depth of field so that parts of the scene in front of and behind the point on which you focused will also be sharp see Figure 4 13 FIGURE 4 13 Telephoto lenses require you to stop down the lens to f 22 otherwise sub bis j y jects not in focus will be ALALE LLS DIT DET TEET T TE iTi T E blurred al i Sometimes though you will want to blur a distracting background that draws attention from the main subject You can accomplish this by decreasing the depth of field You can use the aperture to control dept
205. er than a value of 2 0 This scale is valuable when measuring a scanner s ability to capture detail in shadows on slides and detail in highlights on negatives The greater the dynamic range the greater the capability to capture detail and not electronic noise You may see the terms Dmin and Dmax for the minimum and maximum values of density that a scanner can detect If a scanner has a Dmin of 3 and a Dmax of 3 3 the total dynamic range would be 3 0 emulsion The dye or silver halide layer on the plastic acetate base that captures the light and image you shoot through the camera Emulsion is also the name used for chemicals applied to photographic paper used in the dark room export The process of transferring data from one pro gram for example Adobe Photoshop to another for example Adobe Illustrator exposure latitude The capability of films or digital cameras to accurately record a range of brightness values in the scene being photographed A film that can accu rately record scenes with extremely large brightness ranges for example very bright highlights and very dark shad ows is said to have a wide exposure latitude file format The unique and systematic way in which information is organized in a file Formats differentiate one kind of file from another Some common image file formats include TIFF JPEG and PSD Photoshop file GLOSSARY 349 file A collection of data such as an individual image saved on a comp
206. ers you will learn about cameras film scanners portraiture print ing and presentation Did I just say the word film This beginner s guide is about digital photography not digital cameras A big difference not so apparent to ama teurs Most beginners think digital photography simply means donating the old instamatic and buying a digital Canon This book will show you that digital cameras are great because they are so convenient but even an old Pentax 35mm film camera can get you started Digital photography is also known as the Digital Darkroom because you no longer need to build a darkroom in your basement and mess around with smelly chemicals The digital darkroom includes digital cameras and traditional cameras Yes that s right Digital photography replaces the traditional darkroom not necessarily the camera you ve been using all these years If you have a digital camera photography is just that much easier But if you haven t broken down and shelled out several hundred to several thou sand for a new digital camera not to worry You can be a digital photographer too Editing your images printing pictures and showing your work to the world has nothing to do with the camera you use or the medium on which you captured your subjects How your get your pictures on the hard drive is up to you Fortunately this book explains the entire acquisition and editing process ABSOLUTE BEGINNER
207. es Open your test image if you closed it Evaluate the color balance Three basic com mands are used to improve color balance E Histograms Use the histograms of the individual color channels Image Adjust Levels to balance colors E Color Balance Choose Image Adjust Color Balance to balance serious color casts see Figure 10 19 FIGURE 10 19 Adjusting color using Color Balance C Shadows E Mictore C Highlahts FF Preserve Luminosity p E Hue Saturation Choose Image Adjust Hue Saturation to balance severe color casts Too much red appears in the midtones so the Color Balance tool is used to shift red to cyan red s opposite on the color wheel as follows 1 Evaluate the color saturation see Figure 10 20 Use Image Adjust Hue Saturation if the saturation is excessive or insufficient FIGURE 10 20 Adjusting satu ration in the Hue Saturation dialog box CHAPTER 10 EDITING WITH SELECTION TOOLS 149 ee turation gt xi J Edit Master xj 2 In this test image the colors are too saturated Move the Master Saturation slider to 30 to decrease the saturation of all colors equally In many cases you only need to adjust the saturation of individual colors In some images the saturation will be so high or low that you need to adjust saturation first before any color balance When contrast was increased it increased saturation
208. es available from many photography stores and mini labs PhotoCD Master scans offer high quality images from 35mm film with resolutions up to 3072x2048 pixels Less expensive PictureCD scans of 1536x1024 pixels are saved as JPEG files pixel picture element The smallest visible component of a digitized image The basic dot that contains a single color plug in A small specialized software program that is opened and operated by image editing software and closed when its task is finished For example scanner software is used to capture and import images and filters are used to modify the image Plug ins may be manufactured by com panies unconnected with the manufacturer of the imaging software ppi pixels per inch See dpi quantization coefficient A variable number related to the Quality setting used when a JPEG file is saved The quantization coefficient is used with JPEG quantization tables in the compression process RAM random access memory The silicon chips that are used to contain the computer s memory The memory is used to hold and process the software programs data files and commands that the computer is currently using Generally the more RAM that a computer has for image processing the more quickly the editing can be accom plished raster image Raster images also called bitmaps are made up of rows and columns of pixels resample To change the pixel dimensions of an image For example to downsample an i
209. es gt Profae Mismatches V Ask When Opening IV Ask When Pasting Missing Profiles IV Ask When Opening Description SRGB IEC61966 21 Reflects the characteristics of the average PC monitor This standard space is endorsed by many hardware and software manufacturers and is becoming the default color space for many scanners low end printers and softwara applications Ideal space for Web work but not recommended for prepress work because of its limited color r Phatazhes PSD PDD Save Options Save T AsaCopy T nman I Adie hone E Spr bo Color P ee prad Seis derei EUY W ICC Profle AGB IEC6196 2 1 R lhaia IV Use Lower Case Extension 3 Now find the image on the network and open your image in Photoshop Before the image opens a dialog box appears see Figure 18 7 The image has no color profile information As a result Photoshop doesn t know what color space created it nor what ICC color profile should be used with it Consumer digital cameras tag images with either the sRGB or uncalibrated RGB color profiles More advanced digital SLRs include the RAW mode which contains no color profile information For this reason the user must import the RAW information into a special program or plug in and then attach a working color profile CHAPTER 18 PRINTERS AND PRINTER RESOLUTION 279 FIGURE 18 7 __ z Photoshop asks i The RGB document photoshop test psd does no
210. es a specific brightness value is shown by the height of the vertical bars The higher the bar the more pixels there are at that brightness level FIGURE 14 2000 xi A histogram Channel Luminosity X of an image x_ Mean 137 99 Level 155 Std Dev 7658 Count 15194 Median 145 Percentile 53 91 Pixels 3871488 Cache Level 1 In addition to giving you information about an entire image a histogram can show information about the pixels in a selected part of an image To view a histogram for an image choose Image Histogram or Image Adjustments Levels The Levels dia log box also includes a histogram You can only modify the histogram in the Levels dialog box by moving the black 50 gray and white triangular sliders with the mouse or by typing in numbers in the Input Levels and Output Levels boxes The three sliders beneath the histogram are used to lighten and darken the image increase contrast and to lighten and darken its midtones The two sliders on the Output Levels bar are used to decrease contrast You can change a single color s brightness and contrast by selecting the color from the Channel pull down menu at the top of the dialog box This lets you make changes to the color balance You will rarely change levels for a specific color chan nel however This technique is mainly used when there is some type of color cast for example when the image is predominantly one color because of lightin
211. es later on Television news crews for example avoid strange colors and skin tones by setting the white point of their video cameras prior to every shoot Most digital cameras can accurately compensate for lighting color and overcome unusual lighting conditions However occasionally their automatic adjustment sys tems get confused This often happens indoors where lighting systems can vary greatly If you re shooting indoors under unusual lighting set the white balance on the camera before taking pictures To set the white balance for your camera follow these general steps 1 Access the menu on your camera Usually there is a dedicated Menu button somewhere on the back of the camera 2 Scroll through the menus until you find a setting for WB White Bal or White Balance 3 There might be a few more choices such as Presets Continue through the menus until you reach choices that resemble the following E Auto Automatically corrects white balance This setting is often the only one you need especially if you photograph outdoors E Daylight Set the white balance to daylight if you re shooting outside E Tungsten Set white balance to tungsten if you re shooting indoors with incandescent bulbs the screw in type from GE These bulbs emit a lot of yellow light The tungsten setting will compensate by reducing yellow and increasing blue E Fluorescent Set to fluorescent to compensate for the excessive green output by
212. ese files When the browser manufacturers finally put this standard in their browsers the out look for JPEG2000 may improve However this was predicted for the Portable Network Graphics PNG format and it still hasn t caught the attention of most pro fessional Web developers TIFF File Format TIFF Tagged Image File Format comes closest to a universal file format for photog raphers most imaging software can read it TIFF stores images in a variety of bit depths in both RGB and CMYK It includes lossless compression and is designed into most imaging hard ware such as digital cameras and scanners The TIFF format supports the Grayscale Indexed Color RGB YcbCr CMYK and CIELab LAB color spaces note One minor drawback to TIFF is that it cannot store vector graphics such as Photoshop text or paths Also there is no progressive load option as with GIF and JPEG images Photoshop TIFF files When you click File Save As and choose the TIFF can store annotations format the somewhat intimidating TIFF Options Photoshop Elements can open dialog box appears Read through these options to and display these annotations overcome any fears but they cannot be edited see Figure 7 6 Other software pro grams including older versions of Photoshop do not display these annotations however Image Compression None Save the file with no compression TIFF files have a four gigabyte file size limit Ideally none of
213. esult is tremendous clarity but unfortunately a dramatically larger file size How Can a 48 Bit Scan Help Me If you are scanning negatives and need the highest quality possible scan at 16 bit depth The resulting 48 bit scan will provide much more brightness values to work with in your image editor When you apply a Levels or Curves adjustment to the resulting image you have much more data to work with than with a traditional 24 bit image Convert to 8 bit after you make your tonal corrections by choosing Image Mode 8 Bits Channel see Figure 12 4 FIGURE 12 4 16 bit scans must be con verted FIGURE 12 5 Two histograms of the same image a 24 bit histogram after tonal correction versus a 48 bit histogram after correction CHAPTER 12 THE IMPORTANCE OF RESOLUTION 185 Image Layer Select Filter View Window F T E Grayscal Adjustments po S eyso Duplicate indexed Colt Body imeg W RGB Color all ions CMYK Color Lab Color Image Size patanpi Canvas Size _ Rotate Cowvas gt ET a Yop 16 Bits Channel Tri mits for Table Assign Profile ERM Convert to Profile A low bit scan which has less information than a 48 bit scan is compressed further by any changes in Levels or Curves The result is gaps that appear as brush bristles in the image s resulting histogram see Figure 12 5 The edited image has dramatic jumps in brightness levels which result in posterization Dr
214. eveloped the exposed light sensitive silver halides in each layer are converted into a metallic silver negative At the same time the developer oxidizes and combines with the dye forming chemicals built 296 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 20 4 Color negative layers into the layer Thus a color dye image appears in proportion to the amount of developed silver in each layer The silver is then bleached out leaving only a negative dye image Cyan dye forms wherever the film was exposed to red light magenta dye forms wherever the film was exposed to green light and yellow dye forms wherever there was blue light see Figure 20 4 RGB RGB RGB Red gt Green _ Blue gt gt White Lo E 3 After development bleach and fixer baths dissolve the silver in the layers Only colored dyes remain in the film forming the negative image which is actually the image in cyan magenta and yellow The process of developing slide film also called color reversal film is more complex This type of film is developed to make a silver negative first but no color dyes are pro duced A second developer chemically exposes and develops the remaining unexposed silver halide thus producing a silver positive The second developer also creates dyes that form a positive color image dark in the shadows and transparent in the high lights Next the silver is bleached out leaving only the dyes of the positive ima
215. f the same size that is farther away 52 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Because a wide angle lens can be focused close to an object it is easy to get this kind of exaggerated size relationship The cure is to learn to see what the camera sees and either minimize the distortion or use it intentionally Special Purpose Lenses FIGURE 4 6 A full frame fisheye fills the frame A number of lenses exist that do not fit into the traditional wide angle medium and telephoto lens categories Fisheye Lens For the widest of wide angle views consider the fisheye lens Super wide angle lenses allow the photographer to get very close A fisheye lens has a very wide angle of view up to 180 and exaggerates to an extreme degree differences in size between objects that are near to the camera and those that are farther away Inherent in its design is barrel distortion an optical aber ration that bends straight lines into curves at the edges of an image Two types of fisheye lenses exist E True fisheye A circular image is taken and the rest of the frame is black Literally a circle is all you get E Full frame fisheye The fisheye lens fills the entire frame Distortion still occurs but the frame has no black blank areas see Figure 4 6 FIGURE 4 7 An art piece created with a macro lens CHAPTER 4 THE IMPORTANCE OF LENSES 53 Fisheye lenses also produce great depth of field Objects within inches
216. f the subject The light from the window will reflect and illuminate the other side of the subject s face FIGURE 22 2 Window light on a cloudy day used with a reflector can often be the best light for portraits CHAPTER 22 THE PORTRAIT 327 3 Take a series of pictures at different exposures If your camera has a light meter take a photo using its value then take another picture that is overex posed Open up the aperture or decrease the shutter speed and then snap a pic Afterward underexpose by closing down the aperture or giving the cam era less light and then snapping another picture This is called bracketing If your camera s meter says 1 60 of a second at f8 take a picture at that exposure and then overexpose by taking another picture at 1 60 of a second at f5 6 opening up the lens one stop Afterward expose at 1 125 of a second at f8 increasing shutter speed one stop Keep in mind that camera meters are not very good at metering correctly especially if the subject is bright white or dark black Take a series of pictures at different exposures to compensate Overexposure and underexposure are tough to keep straight so remember the acronym WUBO White Underexposes and Black Overexposes see Figure 22 3 The reason is that all camera meters think you are metering a subject that is a neutral called 18 gray color The camera meter cannot tell whether it is metering a sub ject that is any other c
217. f4 75mm lens opening 75 THE ABSOLUTE MiNiMUM Lenses are the most important part of a camera system The quality of your images depends entirely on the glass between the subject and the film or CCD If you own a non SLR digital or film camera you re stuck with a specific lens If you own an SLR however your choices are much greater Keep these tips in mind when considering the cost or purpose of a lens Buy the best lens or lenses you can afford For SLR owners used lenses are fine as long as they are high quality A normal focal length lens in the 35 85mm range is by far the most valu able lens you can own Digital camera sensors are physically smaller than a 35mm film frame This causes regular lenses to have a longer focal length A 35mm lens for example might actually be 50mm on a digital camera SLR Fixed focal length lenses on consumer level digital cameras are often not that large This results in slower shutter speeds or more noise in low light situa tions Telephoto lenses require you use a monopod or tripod Invest in one and use it whenever you take pictures with a telephoto Fisheye lenses are fun but full frame fisheye lenses are much more useful IN THIS CHAPTER Digital Cameras amp Color Balance Film amp Color Balance Exposure Latitude amp Film Latitude Film Latitude FXPOSURE AND FOCUS Color balance and latitude are two important characteristics of film and digital media Color b
218. file Scheduler Schedule when an image prints Paper Handling Specify which paper tray will be used ColorSync Reduce or increase brightness and contrast You can also print a sepia tone image Quality amp Media Specify what type of paper will be used Similar to the Presets drop down in the Print dialog box E Color Options Set color balance and saturation Essentially editing see Figure 9 23 130 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 9 23 Edit color bal ance and satu ration ina printer driver Canon s photo printer driver for the Mac Printer 9000 E Presets Standard 4 Color Options W Color Correction BJ Standard E Print Type Photo 8 Printer Profile Recommended by Canon Brightness Normal B Color Balance 0 m E Cyan 0 Ter e eA Magenta Ha ay Yellow pan Bick Intensity 0 7 L Preview Save As PDF Standard Options Cancel Cerne Special Effects Special filters such as illustration look monochrome effects and color replacement E Borderless Printing Select the width of the margin of the image Similar to the Margins feature in the standard Print dialog box iPhoto Print multiple copies of the same image on one piece of photo paper by selecting N Up in this dialog box Summary Information about your image Always preview your image by clicking on Preview in the Print dialo
219. file format 83 PIXELS 363 Photoshop DCS 2 0 file format 83 Photoshop Elements features 116 file formats 82 83 compatibility 84 85 JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group 86 91 PSD 95 TIFF Tagged Image File Format 91 95 images Free Transform tool 124 125 locating 114 perspective corrections 121 122 resampling 118 121 rescanning 119 resizing 116 118 rotating 122 124 Magnetic Lasso tool 170 171 printing resolution 116 Save Selection command 170 171 Selection Brush 170 171 physical drives 105 PICT file format 83 PictBridge 26 pictures See also images photos Pinhole Visions The Art of Pinhole Photography Web site 344 Pixar file format 82 pixels See also resolution adjusting 21 22 207 209 converting RIP Raster Image Processor 189 film resolution 178 179 interpolation output resolu tion 186 188 megapixels 175 samples per inch 175 selecting 164 165 virtual Bayer masks 19 How can we make this index more useful Email us at indexes quepublishing com 364 PIXELS PER INCH PPI pixels per inch ppi 174 271 input resolution bit depth 183 186 digital cameras 176 177 film pixels 178 179 scanner software 180 183 resolution 273 274 film scanners 282 284 ink 275 282 monitors 282 settings 273 plain paper 287 plug ins ICC profiles third party ink 277 279 software scanning 73 PNG file format 83 Polaroid Web site 344 Polygonal Lass
220. from a German company called CONVAR Deutschland GmbH You can find it here www pcinspector de file_recovery uk welcome htm Download and install this software see Figure 8 1 PC Inspector File Recovery enables you to do the following E Reconstruct damaged files E Restore drives corrupted by a power outage or other abnormal system event E Recover from some computer viruses E Undelete files that were mistakenly deleted E Find forgotten or lost files after a disk is formatted If the flash media for your camera was physically damaged PC Inspector File Recovery will not be able to recover data from it This software is only capable of recovering from bad file operations not physical damage PRPC inspector File Recovery z Opg Edt View mla Took Hep Aog BE ekate 12431 O Mpa S34 jpg 19099608 2702 2003 2044 Ey cluster 12789 DB ospdo202mipg 19093698 27 02 2003 2007 E chaste 16505 C n3pan2to mips 19080608 27 02 20 2k07 PA chia C Dpan mipa INWG 27 072 DM 2008 Ng nl C o3pa0212njpa 19093608 27 02 200 2013 O oepa232 mip 19093698 27 02 2003 2513 C pii mips 19099608 27 02 200 2708 O Mpili mips ine 27 02 2009 2011 O ospatea2snipg 19092608 27 02 2003 20 08 C oapd0485mipa 19293638 27 02 2003 2710 0416 19m0 N32 200a 2250 Oen vec 199608 0302 20nd 2333 O Ant2dico ino 49093608 24 07 2003 1834 D ant2a100 20 9098608 24 01 2003 5 33 Lian ing IRE ANANN R 3 Dy an7t 4 pa 1998008 CANTO cipa 19092608 D ANT4_1 PS 1992608 2 3 beat
221. fused light indoors would require a very large diffused light source close to the subject plus reflectors or fill lights to fur ther open the shadows Tenting is one way of fully diffusing light FIGURE 21 2 Directional diffused light combines the qualities of direct and dif fused light Shadows are visible but not as prominent as in direct light CHAPTER 21 LIGHTING 309 Directional diffused light is partially direct with some diffused or scattered rays see Figure 21 2 It appears to come from a definite direction and creates distinct shad ows but with edges that are softer than those of direct light The shadow edges change smoothly from light to dark and the shadows tend to have visible detail Sources of directional diffused light are relatively broad Indoors windows or door ways are sources when sunlight bounces in from outdoors rather than shining directly into the room Floodlights used relatively close to the subject are also sources their light is even more diffused if directed first at a reflector and bounced onto the subject or if partially scattered by a diffusion screen placed in front of the light Outdoors the usually direct light from the sun is broadened on a slightly hazy day when the sun s rays are partially scattered and the surrounding sky becomes a more important part of the light source Bright sunlight can also produce direc tional diffused light when it shines on a reflective surface suc
222. g Correcting Brightness and Contrast for Dark Images The histogram in Figure 14 3 graphically shows that the image is too dark by dis playing a large number of pixels bunched at the left side of the graph The his togram also reveals another problem no pixels on the right end of the graph This 208 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY means that there are no white pixels in the image An image that is too light would have a histogram with pixels on the right side of the graph FIGURE 14 3 iiss me The histogram E po ps shows that this sa image is too dark Output Levels p fess EE You can correct an overly dark image by dragging the white slider the one on the right side of the histogram to the left which makes pixels that had been light tones of gray in the original image become pure white see Figure 14 4 FIGURE 14 4 Stns Change the lev Pate p oo je els to lighten the image Output Levels p f A CHAPTER 14 THE IMPORTANCE OF BRIGHTNESS CONTRAST 209 To correct an overly light image do the opposite Drag the black slider to the right not shown Correcting Brightness and Contrast for Low Contrast Images FIGURE 14 5 The histogram shows that this image has no contrast In the following image there is practically no contrast a common problem with aerial photography because of smog and haze The histogram shows no pixels at either the bl
223. g box see Figure 9 24 You will save precious photo paper and can easily cancel and return to your image Resizing an Image Step by Step The title of this section is somewhat of a joke Resizing in iPhoto is about as simple as missing that Kodak moment by half a second iPhoto includes a one click solu tion to changing the resolution of images This feature called Constrain includes the most popular sizes that amateurs like to print such as 8x10 4x6 and 5x7 see Figure 9 25 This is a simple resizing choice for quick crops FIGURE 9 24 Print Preview ensures your image will print properly FIGURE 9 25 iPhoto s Constrain func tion works in conjunction with the Crop tool CHAPTER 9 BASIC EDITING WITH PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS AND iPHOTO 131 eoe amp C t T Q Q wa Drawer Back Forward Page fof 1 Page Up Page Down Zoom in Zoom Out Tool Mode Soft Proof None 1024 x 768 Display 4 x 3 Book DVD 4 x 6 Postcard 5x7 L20 8x10 4 x 3 Portrait Book 4 x 6 Portrait Postcard 5 x 7 Portrait L 2L 8 x 10 Portrait Square Resizing using Constrain is not too difficult 1 Open an image click the Edit button and then click Constrain 2 Choose the desired size for your image iPhoto will resample it to the new size Keep in mind that images with barely any resolution are not going to scale up very well Scaling down from a large file in pixels is what Constrain does best Sc
224. g press you will need to determine pixels per inch in a different way For a laser printer use 2x the manufacturer s published screen lines per inch To find this number you will need to read the printer manual or find out from lab personnel It is likely to be between 90 and 133 so your printed image will need between 180 and 266 pixels per inch If your image will be printed on coated paper magazine type paper by an offset printer use 2x the press s stated screen lines per inch see Figure 6 6 Ask the printer or service bureau how many screen lines per inch they will print It is likely to be 120 to 144 lines per inch so your printed image will need 300 or 333 pixels per inch Uncoated paper is printed with fewer screen lines per inch usually 70 100 Alternatives to Scanning The Kodak Photo CD and Kodak Picture CD are good alternatives to scanning Kodak will digitize your negatives and transparencies put them on a CD and return the CD to you for a reasonable fee With Kodak plug in software you can open these images directly from the CD A number of higher end developers also create their own CDs for you with a faster turnaround time 80 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Another alternative is to use service bureaus shops where professional photographers advertising agencies and artists have film developed images scanned and other high end work Service bureaus will scan 35mm film and store the images
225. ge Printing Process Color negative printing paper employs the same principles as color negative film 1 During printing light from the enlarger passes through the color negative Wherever dyes are present only light that is the same color as the dye can pass through the film to expose the paper see Figure 20 5 A latent image forms in the paper 2 During development a negative dye image forms in each layer along with a silver negative This is identical to the way color film develops 3 After bleaching and fixing only dye remains in each layer As the film image was a negative the negative dyes in the photographic paper create a positive image CHAPTER 20 COLORTHEORY 297 FIGURE 20 5 RGB RGB RGB Color negative printing process Making Your Prints Match the Monitor Gamuts and Color gt Management Prints don t look exactly like the image on the monitor And just as in darkroom printing a great note deal of time and money is wasted by photogra phers who make print after print until the image is perfect Software like Adobe Gamma is very help Adobe Gamma soft ful but it only begins to solve some parts of the ware is monitor calibration problem of getting prints to match the monitor software that significantly Adobe Gamma is available with Photoshop and improves the color balance and Photoshop Elements contrast of a monitor The real problem is that a computer does not know two important pi
226. ger focal length produce less depth of field than a shorter lens at the same f stop aperture The answer relates to the diameter of the aperture opening The relative aperture the same f stop setting for lenses of different focal lengths is a larger opening on a longer lens than it is on a shorter lens see Figure 4 14 Ries Ss OEQRESUEGUEOR HS i S ee Sane ee lea aa Sy Both lenses were set at f 4 let in the same amount of light even though the actual opening in the 50mm lens is physically smaller than the opening in the longer 300mm lens The longer the focal length the less light that reaches the film or CCD chip on a digital camera therefore a long lens will form a dimmer image than a short lens unless more light is admitted by the aperture The sizes of the aperture openings are determined so that at a given f stop number the same amount of light reaches the film no matter what the focal length of the lens The f stop number also called the relative aperture equals the focal length of the lens divided by the aperture diameter CHAPTER 4 THE IMPORTANCE OF LENSES 61 Bopi lens focal length aperture diameter If the focal length of the lens is 50mm you need a lens opening of 12 5mm to pro duce an f 4 aperture 50mm lens 7 50 f 4 12 5mm lens opening 12 5 If the focal length of the lens is 300mm you need a lens opening of 75mm to pro duce an f 4 aperture 300mm lens _ 300
227. gery a stock photography startup founded by Bill Gates back in the early 1990s now owns millions of photographs from the nineteenth and twentieth century s great mas ter photographers These images are preserved inside a giant cave carved out of a moun tain in Pennsylvania This underground warehouse is kept at a constant 28 Fahrenheit to slow the aging process Archival paper with a matte or semi gloss finish is designed for pigment based inks which are common on high end photo printers Images printed on these types of printer are displayed behind non glare archival glass for many decades or more without any noticeable fading What About Dye Sublimation Printers Keep in mind the benefits of dye sublimation printers If you need to print dozens or hundreds of prints at exactly the same size 4 x6 for example a dye sublimation printer might be for you Visit your local camera store or copier house for example Kinko s where you ll be able to use their dye sublimation printer You can also pur chase your own dye sublimation printer When you buy ink for these printers the exact number of prints that can be produced is also included Saving Your Images on CD ROM Photographs printed on paper even archival paper will not last forever Printed images are vulnerable They can be lost to fire or theft they can be damaged by spills or tears or they can simply fade Storing your images electronically can pre vent these risks and a
228. ges 244 247 composite channels 257 composite images 244 247 compression file formats 95 Internet images 339 JPEG YUV color space defini tion 16 JPEG2000 format 90 91 lossless 87 91 lossy JPEG Joint Photographics Experts Group file format 86 88 RLE Run Length Encoding file format 94 step by step 88 90 wavelet based JPEG2000 file format 90 Web Photo Gallery 342 343 compression artifacts 86 CompuServe GIF file format 82 Constrain feature resizing images Apple iPhoto 130 131 Contiguous option Magic Wand 142 continuous autofocus 55 contrast image editing 145 147 contrast brightness his tograms 205 217 conversion factors lenses 49 Convert Point tool 162 converting pixels RIP Raster Image Processor 189 Copies amp Pages option Print dialog box 129 costs digital versus film pho tography 7 9 crawling ants turning off 335 Create Web Photo Gallery command File menu 339 Crop command Image menu 170 Crop tool 170 cropping scanned images 74 Cubic option interpolation 187 curved paths creating 159 160 curves 219 220 adjustment layers 231 232 Bezier 249 251 S curves 226 Curves dialog box 226 231 cut film 34 cyan magenta and yellow CMY subtractive color processes 293 296 cyan magenta yellow and black See CMYK D dark tones correcting with curves 228 229 data loss 106 242 243 Daylight op
229. ges calls and says the images are so big she can t really see them on her screen So Cynthia asks Sarah to simply print out the images and bring them to her house Frustrated Sarah opens each image in Photoshop reduces its size and then uses the File Print Command The images print out but are pixelated and a mess She takes them to Cynthia who promptly decides none of them were good enough to keep Distraught Sarah throws up her arms runs out the door and munches on cupcakes for the rest of the week The images were fine but Sarah used the wrong resolution twice online and in print She took perfectly acceptable photos but her presentation failed because she didn t understand when to use the appropriate resolution Understanding Different Terms for Resolution The term resolution is formally defined as follows The process or capability of mak ing distinguishable the individual parts of an object closely adjacent optical images or sources of light In simpler terms resolution is a measure of elements or pixels in an image The number of pixels in a digital image or dots in an inkjet printout for example Cameras currently use the term megapixel to define their resolution printers use dpi and scanners use ppi Let s sort out the terms used by digital photographers that refer to resolution Photographers and printers use the following terms when discussing resolution E ppi Pixels per inch measures how many pixels t
230. gh end Scitex Kodak Versamark color printers In Windows this format uses the sct extension The Tagged Image File Format is a common format for photogra phers and is common among many applications This lossless for mat can be compressed using LZW or ZIP compression and retains channels and layers in CMYK RGB and grayscale format LAB mode loses channels Most scanners generate TIFF images In Windows this format uses the tif extension Photoshop for the Mac and PC also includes these formats a Photoshop DCS 1 0 Desktop Color Separations format created by QuarkXPress for separations This format is commonly used when work must be imported into QuarkXPress Adobe InDesign PageMaker and FrameMaker In Windows this format uses the eps extension Photoshop DCS 2 0 An updated Desktop Color Separation format that enables CMYK images to contain a single alpha channel and multiple spot color channels In Windows this format uses the eps extension 84 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY RAW FORMAT AND DIGITAL CAMERAS The RAW format available in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements is similar to the RAW format you will see advertised with digital cameras but you must import using File Import raw camera images with a special plug in available from Adobe This plug in is available with Photoshop 7 and Photoshop CS but does not work in Photoshop Elements Elements only supports RGB based plug ins Most hig
231. gher the quality the bigger the file size Try saving in all three and see which versions are acceptable The goal is to use the smallest file size accept able for viewing GIF was developed for graphics but works for Web photos as well 346 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY THE ABSOLUTE MiNiMUM This chapter barely scratched the surface of possible uses of the Internet for photog raphers If you don t have your images up on the Net yet consider a simple photo site such as at Yahoo or MSN Use Elements or Photoshop to create your Web galleries In Photoshop choose File Automate Web Photo Gallery In Elements choose File Create Web Photo Gallery After developing a Web site that has a number of graphics focus on reducing the size of files Use JPEG compression to see how much compression is feasi ble without destroying an image Promote yourself using a Web site Register your name or a catchy company name through www register com www yahoo com OF www networksolutions com GIF files are mainly used for graphics such as company logos and banners This format only stores 256 colors and is called Indexed Color mode in Photoshop and Elements 1 bit color A system for creating raster bit map images on a computer in which each pixel uses only one bit of memory and disk storage In 1 bit color a pixel is either black or white 24 bit color A system for creating raster images in which each pixel uses three bytes of
232. ghlights several fea tures found only in Photoshop Elements by comparing it with the industry standard Photoshop the most powerful image editor available for non Unix systems Table 9 1 Features Present in Photoshop CS Versus Photoshop Elements 2 In Photoshop CS But Not In Photoshop Elements 2 in Photoshop Elements 2 But Not in Photoshop CS Paths Auto import of digital camera images Actions Palette and Recordable Actions Auto conversion of photos for the Web and email distribution CYMK Support Quick Fix window Adjust Lighting and Auto Color Correction Channels Curves and Guides Better menu bar and simplified toolbar Masking Palette Well amp PhotoMerge a panoramic stitch ing program Editable Vector Shapes Visual representation of filters and effects Photoshop CS retail price 649 Photoshop Elements retail Price 99 Many of these features might sound like marketing speak at the moment but stick with this chapter and you ll learn the purpose of each The bottom line is that for the price Photoshop Elements is pretty powerful Printing Resolution One of the most confusing parts of digital photography to a beginner is printing res olution The act of scanning in a picture or taking a picture with a digital camera at one resolution and printing at another causes endless headaches for most amateurs Fortunately today s entry level digital imaging software Elements and iPhoto makes this process easier than ever
233. gital imaging ww pdn pix com The National Press Photographers Association has issues of interest to news photographers including information about NPPA workshops ww nppa org 344 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Museums Many museums have Web sites The following are only a few of the highlights California Museum of Photography Riverside California ww cmp ucr edu Friends of Photography San Francisco California ww friendsofphotography org George Eastman House Rochester New York ww eastman org International Center for Photography New York New York ww icp org Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Reading Room Washington D C www loc gov rr print Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles California ww moca org Manufacturers Manufacturers have Web sites that provide product information and often other fea tures that can be helpful For example Nikon provides considerable technical information such as their introduction to digital cameras Who s Afraid of Digital Cameras www nikon co jp main index_e htm Polaroid s Artist s Studio has an extensive collection of work by artists using Polaroid materials ww polaroid com Other Sites Individuals and organizations have Web sites large and small dealing with every thing from the art of pinhole photography ww pinhole com to all about Kirlian pho tography ww kirlian com Your Own Virtual Gallery
234. goes out or your image file becomes corrupted edited with Photoshop on a Windows computer the use of Photoshop on an Apple Macintosh computer is very similar These tools are similar in Photoshop Elements on either platform Follow these steps to change the image size 1 Open Photoshop or Elements Open an existing image file by choosing File Open This exercise uses an image pulled from NASA s Planetary Photojournal Web site see Figure 10 3 at http photojournal jpl nasa gov index html CHAPTER 10 EDITING WITH SELECTION TOOLS 137 2 Make a duplicate of the file so that the original file remains intact by choos ing File Save As give the new file its own name 3 Check the size and resolution of your final image by choosing Image Image Size The image should be at least 1600x1200 and at least 150 pixels per inch Adjust these settings if necessary 4 Choose File Save to save the file Try some of the procedures shown on the following pages or experiment on your own Toolbox Options Every tool has options that enable you to refine the tool s effects on your image Click on a tool on the toolbar see Figure 10 4 You can adjust the effects of many of these tools in the Tool options bar that appears at the top of the screen Click on a different tool and a different set of options will appear in the options bar FIGURE 10 4 16 Adobe Photoshop ch10_002 tif 100 RGB 5 Til Fie Edt Image Layer Select Filter
235. graphers prefer the control of converting their own color images into black and white prints rather than having someone else do so note Black and white film is by no means obsolete it has rich density and can capture much more tonal variations than most color negative films For this reason many professional pho tographers still swear by it Color to Black and White Using Grayscale or Desaturate The simplest way to convert a color photograph to black and white is to choose Image Mode Grayscale This one step conversion permanently strips all the color information from the photograph and leaves a black and white image with a small file size This isn t necessarily the best way to create a black and white image from a color image however Image Adjust Desaturate in Photoshop and Enhance Adjust Color Hue Saturation in Photoshop Elements is another one step conversion that keeps the color FIGURE 22 4 On the left image was con verted using Image Mode Grayscale the right image was converted using LAB mode Notice the clar ity and contrast in the right image CHAPTER 22 THEPORTRAIT 329 information while resulting in a black and white image The file will be larger but you can then colorize the image in different channels a more advanced technique to try on your own Another option for Photoshop and more advanced image editing software users is to convert the image from RGB to LAB mode and th
236. graphic artists use the Pen tool in their work every day to isolate parts of an image Mastering this tool requires practice and patience Start with an image that needs correction in a specific area create a path with the Pen tools and turn it into a selec tion by Ctrl clicking on the Path name Later switch to Quick Mask mode to review Photoshop Elements users have almost as powerful a combination in the Magnetic Lasso and Selection Brush and with practice can isolate areas of an image Regardless of the version of Photoshop you use follow these tips when working with advanced selection tools In Photoshop s Quick Mask mode press Ctrl I to invert the mask The Selection Brush in Photoshop Elements is a hidden quick mask Select it to see a quick mask of a selection Press Ctrl Shift I s Shift I for Mac users to invert the selection In Photoshop remove a poorly placed anchor point by pressing Delete once Press Ctrl H H on Mac to hide the crawling ants selection border in either program The powerful Color Range command partially selects pixels Use the fuzziness slider to increase the amount of partially selected pixels The Single Column and Single Row Marquee tools create filled in lines Multiple lines can be created IN THIS CHAPTER Understanding Different Terms for Resolution Digital Cameras and Resolution Resolution of Film How Many Pixels Scanner Software and Resolution Understanding Bit Depth THE IMP
237. h as concrete and then bounces onto a subject shaded from direct rays by a tree or nearby building Fully diffused light provides an even soft illumination see Figure 21 3 Here the light is coming from above as can be seen from the somewhat brighter cheeks but light is also bouncing in from both sides and to some extent from below An over cast day or a shaded area commonly has diffused light 310 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 21 3 Fully diffused light Available Light Outdoors What kind of light will you find when you photograph in available light the light that already exists in a scene It may be any of the lighting situations discussed in this chapter Stop for a moment before you begin to photograph to see how the light affects the subject and to decide whether you want to change your position your subject s position or the light itself A clear sunny day creates bright highlights and dark hard edged shadows see Figure 21 4 On a sunny day take a look at the direction from which the light is coming You might want to move the subject or move around it yourself so the light better reveals the subject s shape or texture as seen by the camera If you are rela tively close to your subject for example when making a portrait you might want to lighten the shadows by adding fill light or by taking the person out of the sun and into the shade where the light is not so contrasty You ca
238. h end digital cameras that support the RAW format include their own import software that enables you to modify the raw image output it as a TIFF file then open it in Photoshop The raw file output available in high end digital cameras is preferred by photogra phers because brightness values for each pixel are imported with no modification into the plug in or the camera software Photoshop Elements and Photoshop File Format Compatibility Photoshop Elements includes the same file formats as Photoshop except for DCS 1 and DCS 2 The JPEG formats in these two programs are identical An image saved in one program can be opened in the other The Photoshop PSD and TIFF formats differ however Photoshop Elements has no Channels or Paths palette and cannot create annota tions or layer sets No matter what format you save an image as in Photoshop Elements will not display channels or paths Annotations appear and can be moved and closed but not edited Aside from these differences the following list explains compatibility regarding the PSD and TIFF file formats Layers Interchangeable between programs Save an image with layers in PSD or TIFF format in either program the other program will provide access Adjustment layers Partial compatibility in PSD and TIFF formats Photoshop Elements displays adjustment layers created in Photoshop but they are locked You can turn them off move them and paint on the layer s mask but you cannot d
239. h of field To increase the depth of field so that more of a scene in front of and behind your subject is ti p sharp setting the lens to a small aperture is A almost always the first choice Select f 16 or f 22 Slow shutter speeds at for example instead of f 2 8 or f 4 You might small apertures usually have to use a slower shutter speed to maintain the same exposure however A slow shutter speed can be a problem if you are photograph ing moving objects or shooting in low light require a tripod Keep a tri pod in the trunk of your car for just this purpose 60 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY To decrease the depth of field and make less of the scene in front of and behind the subject sharp use a wider aperture such as f 2 8 or f 4 There are other ways to control depth of field You can increase the depth of field by changing to a shorter focal length lens or stepping back from the subject although both of those choices will change the picture in other ways as well To decrease the depth of field and make less of the scene in front of and behind your subject sharp you can use a longer lens or move closer to the subject These alterna tives will also change the composition of the picture Lens Focal Length Aperture and Light FIGURE 4 14 f 4 ona 50mm lens anda 300mm lens The smaller focal length has greater depth of field at the same aperture as a 300mm lens Why does a lens of lon
240. h of the old background remains around its fringes you might try erasing the unwanted fringe with a tiny brush If this doesn t work you ll need to redo the selection process Evaluate the layer s overall quality Is the image on the new layer the right size If it is too large you can scale it with Edit Transform Scale but if it s too small you ll need a larger original Are the contrast color balance and saturation settings cor rect You can use a grouped adjustment layer to correct the contrast and color imperfections of any one of your component images Flatten the Image When Finished Before you flatten the final image by choosing Layer Flatten Image save a copy of the original with all of its layers in case you need to edit it again You can always burn the large file to CD if it s taking up too much room on your hard drive Advanced Selection Techniques The Pen Tool FIGURE 16 10 The Pen tool at work Occasionally you will need to select large areas precisely Outlining tools such as the Lasso are effective and extremely precise but they are cumbersome for drawing large selections The Pen tool combines the advantages of the outlining tools with greater speed and flexibility see Figure 16 10 248 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY A Pen tool lets you draw editable selection boundaries The Pen tool creates a series of automatically connected lines a path that can be edited after
241. has a limited color palette of 256 colors JPEG compresses images using a lossy compression technique Each time the file is saved data disappears Open and then save the best images taken with your digital camera as TIFF files after importing them from your camera If you are doing substantial work on an image and use a Photoshop product save it in the Photoshop format You can later convert it to TIFF format if nec essary JPEG2000 is a superior file format that hasn t yet taken off IN THIS CHAPTER File Recovery Finding Lost Images Using PC Inspector File Recovery Recovering Lost Images from Flash Media Partially Corrupt Files Filesystems at Work The File Allocation Table FAT What Happens to Lost Data Preventative Maintenance Defragmenting Flash Media Formatting Flash Media Another Disaster Point USB FILE RECOVERY FINDING LOST IMAGES If you haven t run out of batteries during your trip to Belize then you ve probably dropped frozen dunked or deleted the media that goes in your camera Usually this happens after the best photos are taken but a few hours before they were backed up on your laptop The result lost images Don t panic yet you can still save these lost files Today s digital photographers face potential disaster that could result in lost images or corrupt flash media cards Nature s elements Including dirt wind dust or oily potato chips Electrostat
242. hat are lined up side by side that fit within a one inch square A computer screen varies between 72 ppi and 96 ppi Scanners will scan anywhere from 300 ppi to 2400 ppi or more In other words the number of pixels it creates within an inch as it scans an image CHAPTER 12 THE IMPORTANCE OF RESOLUTION 175 dpi Dots per inch is used by inkjet printers dye sublimation printers and laser printers to define their output resolution For example some printers have 600 dpi output resolu tion photo inkjet printers will have any where from 1440 dpi to 5760 dpi This is not the same as ppi The two do not go hand in hand Ipi Lines per inch is used by printers who print magazines and newspapers Their printing equipment prints a specific number of halftone dots per inch called line screen or lines per inch A newspaper is 85 lpi and a glossy magazine is 130 lpi note Some scanners use the term dpi to represent reso lution Scanners sample an image so either term is essentially correct A sample turns into a f l pixel a sample can also be called Samples per inch This term is used with a dot scanners to represent the number of bits of information that are created per inch when scanning The scanner samples an image as it runs along it with a bright light The sampling rate such as 72 100 300 or 600 is the number of samples the scanner grabs per inch and then converts into pixels Scanner sampling turn
243. he Gaussian Blur filter to a scanned image with moir or halftone screen patterns 1 After scanning an image save it with a new name as a TIFF file 2 Make sure you are viewing the image at 50 or 100 Zoom in View Zoom In if you aren t viewing it at one of these resolutions Moir patterns can develop when viewing at other resolutions 3 Choose Filter Blur Gaussian Blur see Figure 13 8 Click the Preview check box in the dialog box if it isn t already checked FIGURE 13 8 xi Gaussian Blur 4 Drag the slider bar or enter a number to see the effect on the image Try 1 0 then 2 0 and 3 0 to start and see what value removes the halftone dot pat tern but retains some sharpness in the image 5 Click OK to close the dialog box and view the blur You can always undo the change by choosing Edit Undo or pressing Ctrl Z Z for Mac users Using Blur to Add an Artistic Touch Some images weren t meant to be tack sharp Artistic images for example might look better out of focus or with a small amount of blur added such as in Figure 13 9 for example This image looks more appropriate for its use as a Christmas card after some Gaussian Blur has been added see Figure 13 10 In this case a value of 1 0 was applied then green and blue highlights were reduced using Image Adjustments Color Balance FIGURE 13 9 A Christmas card image with a little too much detail before Gaussian Blur FIGURE 13 10
244. he CDs in a padded binder in a remote location Photographic prints last longest when printed on matte paper IN THIS CHAPTER Color Processes Color Image Layers Making Your Prints Match the Monitor COLOR THEORY Color images can be created by adding primary colors together or by subtracting primary colors from white light The first color photographic processes made use of additive color but for the past 60 years subtrac tive processes have been the choice of photographers and printers The additive color process mixes the light of the primary colors red green and blue known as the RGB colors to create all possible colors When equal amounts of red green and blue light are mixed the result appears white Television tubes and computer monitors are the most common examples of additive color systems The subtractive color process uses the inks or dyes of the primary colors cyan blue green magenta a purplish pink and yellow known as the CMY colors The three CMY colors are complementary to or opposite the RGB colors used on the color wheel shown in Figure 20 1 294 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 20 1 Color wheel FIGURE 20 2 Additive process Cyan Red Blue Magenta When white light which contains all colors shines on paper or passes through film the CMY inks or dyes absorb their opposite colors Cyan ink absorbs red light thus subtracting red from the image
245. he cost of the printer Just for comparison Milk 1 99 per gallon High end interior acrylic high gloss enamel paint 22 97 per gallon Gourmet ice cream 35 per gallon Dom Perignon Champagne Brut 92 1 5 liter 681 15 per gallon Printer ink costs four to seven times as much as Dom Perignon Highway robbery Well yes For this reason you might want to consider refills and third party ink However does it affect resolution Third Party Ink and Printer Resolution If you have a printer and love it save your empties Don t ever throw away an empty cartridge You might want to reuse it some day soon Even Epson users may be able to benefit from old cartridges read the section Epson Printers and Big Brother for details Companies on the Internet and local companies now sell their own ink ink refill kits and paper Here are some examples Economy ink Web companies now contract with third party ink companies and manufacture ink cartridges that fit into your printer These cartridges cost half to three quarters the cost of OEM cartridges One line of cartridges uses high end ink that runs IRIS printers which are used at prepress facilities Store brand ink cartridges Office supply stores now sell cartridges for the most popular or oldest most popular printers This is similar to generic cereal in the cereal aisle at your local supermarket Generics are usually less expen sive but often do not use the same qual
246. he face making it easier to select the entire eyeball If you cannot access the Channels tab or aren t sure what a channel is you can still select the red eye using the ellipse selec tion tool 334 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 22 7 The red channel provides the most contrast enabling you to select the red eyes more easily FIGURE 22 8 Both eyes selected in the red channel You now need to select the offensive eyes in the image 1 Click the Magic Wand tool on one of the eyes The Magic Wand should select most of the eyeball Press and hold down the Shift key and select the other eyeball At this point you should have both eyes selected see Figure 22 8 FIGURE 22 9 Fill the red eye with a darker color CHAPTER 22 THE PORTRAIT 335 3 Expand the selection if necessary by choosing Tools Modify Expand and clicking two pixels The selection will expand a little 4 Choose Tools Feather and then feather the selection by two pixels 5 Click the RGB channel again to return to the color image The image should switch from black and white to color Your eyes should be highlighted 6 Turn off the crawling ants around the eyes by pressing Ctrl H in Windows or H on a Mac 7 Time to fill the eyes with something darker Choose Edit Fill The Fill dialog box appears see Figure 22 9 Select the color black and an opacity of 60 or higher Fa SS ae
247. he mask is shown as light red where is it opaque and is To improve hair selections transparent over the former selection edit the quick mask you ve 4 Now load the selection by clicking Select created by painting Delicate Load Selection detail can be preserved with 5 Copy the selection by clicking Edit Copy Serran patent DHS OKES or pressing Ctrl C C If you have inverted the selection click Select Inverse or press Ctrl Shift I s Shift I 6 Move to the new image and paste it by clicking Edit Paste or Ctrl V xV The selected area was then copied and pasted into another image which appears behind the figure s hair 262 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Using a Mask Created from an Image to Create Special Effects in Another Image Follow these steps to merge two images and create art 1 Open any image that you want to become the background In this example a landscape from Greenland will become the background 2 Open an image that will become the mask In this example a Mosquito reconnaissance plane from WWII will be the mask 3 Create a channel in the landscape by clicking on the New Channel icon in the Channels palette see Figure 17 7 or by choosing Window Channels Name it ghost image FIGURE 17 7 Create a new Layers Channels Paths 3 channel D H Ctris2 a E A f 4 4 Outline the image using the Lasso tools or the Pen tool and then paste it into the new
248. he most natural colors in the relatively bluish light of daylight or electronic flash Tungsten balanced color films give the best results in the relatively reddish light from incandescent light bulbs Digital cam eras must deal with lighting colors as well but often their automatic white balance feature overcomes any color cast Thirty five millimeter cameras use 35mm film which is packaged in cassettes of 12 24 or 36 exposures per roll Some 35mm films can be purchased in 50 or 100 foot rolls then bulk loaded into separately purchased cas settes This reduces the cost per exposure and if you use a great deal of film can be worthwhile Medium format cameras use roll film Roll film is wound around a spool and is backed with a sepa rate strip of opaque paper to protect the film from light Depending on the camera 120 roll film makes 16 6x4 5cm 12 6x6cm 10 6x7cm or 8 6x8cm images Each size applies to different cam eras Fuji makes a popular studio camera that note Thirty five millimeter takes 6x8cm images Mamiya is the leader in film is listed as 135 film 6x7cm cameras Hasselblad leads with 6x6 cm because 135 was the original cameras and Pentax and Bronica make excellent Kodak product number for this 6x4 5cm cameras film size Other manufacturers later adopted the designation 34 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Most of these cameras accept another type of roll film called 220 which has
249. he transparency more precisely For example a mask can make an image in a layer transparent or semitransparent in its center but opaque around its edges Adjustment Layers Are a Different Kind of Layer Adjustment layers do not contain images Instead they contain editing commands such as Levels or Color Balance that are applied to some or all of the image layers below them see Figure 16 1 FIGURE 16 1 i gt Adjustment lay Normal Opacity ers protect an anno Fa foo image while you edit it Effects 7 Outer Glow a E 4 f Leyels 1 Create new Fill or adjustment layer Type layers are a third kind of layer Type layers contain numbers and letters that appear in the image see Figure 16 2 Type layers can be reopened for editing CHAPTER 16 THE IMPORTANCE OF LAYERS AND MASKS 237 FIGURE 16 2 SS ay Type layers foma opa oon Te enable you to edit type with out sacrificing nee Yosemite 03 2004 Indianapolis Astronomy Club Annual Outing In Adobe Photoshop layers are stored in the Layers palette To see the Layers palette choose Window Show Layers The order of the layers in the palette matches the top to bottom order of the layers in the image The eye icon is present when a layer is visible Making layers temporarily invisible is helpful when editing other layers Many types of editing can be done to only one layer at a time You must click to select the layer you want to edi
250. her than faster films Some newer films have reduced graininess Recent advances in technology have changed what used to be a fairly direct relationship between film speed and grain The silver halide crystals in T grain or core shell emulsions such as in Kodak s Max or Ilford Delta films have a flattened surface that exposes more of each crystal to light The result is film with significantly reduced grain for its speed ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY note On some films you might see the European DIN Deutsche Industrie Norm rating for example ISO 200 24 The DIN rating adds 3 to the rat ing each time the film speed dou bles DIN 24 equivalent to ISO 200 is twice as fast as DIN 21 half as fast as DIN 27 Except for the unlikely case of using a piece of equipment marked only with DIN numbers you can ignore the DIN part of an ISO rating Other factors also affect grain Graininess is more obvious in areas of uniform tone such as the sky than it is in textured areas Also graininess becomes more apparent the more a picture is enlarged That is why a print from a 35mm negative usually looks grainier than the same size print from a larger negative Grain is also affected FIGURE 3 4 Action and sports photogra phy is the last film stronghold Digital cameras are only now fast enough for sports photo graphy CHAPTER 3 FILM BASICS 39 by factors such as the film
251. here will be in your print You can read more about pixels per inch in Chapter 18 Printers and Printer Resolution CHAPTER 13 THE IMPORTANCE OF FILTERS 195 FIGURE 13 4 Another exam ple of Unsharp Mask Follow these steps to perfect your approach to the Unsharp Mask command 1 Open an image in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements and save it with a name In this example we will use Figure 13 5 FIGURE 13 5 An aerial photo of the Montana fires of 2001 196 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 13 6 Determining the radius in the Unsharp Mask filter 2 Choose Filter Sharpen Unsharp Mask Check the Preview check box A check in this box lets you preview the sharpening effect across the monitor screen Set the image magnification at 100 Clicking Preview on and off repeatedly lets you compare the sharpened and unsharpened images 3 Determine the radius first For a printed image divide the pixels per inch in the print by 200 For example for 180 pixels per inch divide 180 by 200 The radius is therefore 9 If you are printing at 300 pixels per inch divide 300 by 200 your radius will be 1 5 see Figure 13 6 If you are preparing an image for display on the Internet or in multimedia simply use a radius of 5 loshor Mask Radius E pixels Threshold S levels aonana IO 4 Determine the best amount Temporarily set the threshold to 5 and adjust the amount Try amoun
252. hese equations create curved lines which are called Bezier curves Because a Bezier curve is only a set of numbers it takes less memory and disk storage than a memory hungry bitmap This means that an ti p image file composed of a picture plus a set of f 8 paths will be smaller than the same picture plus If you need to outline a saved bitmapped selections Selections are saved number of items in an as alpha channels image use paths instead of If you d like to experiment with Bezier curves selections Paths take much and the power of paths follow these steps for less disk space than alpha channels which is where selections are stored creating a path around an image 1 Open an image preferably one with a sharp distinct object that you can trace with the Pen tool This exercise will trace a round object so that you can see how Bezier curves are formed with the Pen tool 2 Click to create the first anchor point and hold down the mouse button while dragging the cursor in the direction you want the curve to go Two odd look ing direction lines will appear see Figure 16 13 250 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 16 13 Creating your first anchor point 3 To create a curved line that follows the curved shape in the image direction lines with handles at their ends will grow out of the first anchor point One of them will follow the dragged cursor Ignore them for the moment 4 After
253. hrough the DCT Discrete Cosine Transform function to create a frequency map of values FIGURE 7 4 During JPEG compression chroma color information is sampled inter mittently Luminance brightness sampling occurs at regular inter vals FIGURE 7 5 Blocks of pixels 8x8 are created during JPEG compression CHAPTER 7 FILES AND FILE FORMATS 89 Ww s s RE Sampie Luminance gt O e O gomm O b Oo Coe lt pe oe Oe peoe Oe 5 In each block divides each of the 64 frequency components by a separate quantization coeffi cient and rounds the results to integers This is when information is lost The larger the quantization coefficients the more data is discarded Even the minimum possible quantization coefficient 1 loses some information because the DCT function does not normally output integers The higher frequencies in the block are quantized less accurately given larger coefficients than lower because they are less visible to the eye The precious luminance data is 8x8 pixel block note Downsampling is not applicable to grayscale data As a result color images are more compressible than grayscale images 90 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY quantized more accurately than the chroma data by using separate 64 ele ment quantization tables These tables were provided by the Joint Photographic Experts Group and provide a sca
254. ht have heard the terms wide angle and telephoto used instead of these numbers Aperture and depth of field Open the lens to f2 8 and see depth of field disappear 46 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY E Focus Focus by hand or use autofocus E Special lenses Use special lenses for close ups panoramas and other spe cial images Carpenters must know their tools to stay in business The same can be said for pro fessional photographers Besides your creativity nothing influences the quality of your imagery more than the lens Studying the characteristics of lenses will make you a better photographer Lens Focal Length FIGURE 4 1 A lens of short focal length bends light sharply The most significant difference among lenses is their focal length A lens is often described in terms of its focal length such as a 50mm lens or its physical length short medium long Technically focal length is the distance between the lens s rear nodal point and the focal plane when the lens is focused on infinity a far distance from which light reaches the lens in more or less parallel rays The focal length controls magnification or the size of the image formed by the lens The longer the lens you will find the size of objects in the image greater A lens of longer focal length bends light rays less than a short lens does see Figure 4 1 The longer the focal length the less the rays are bent the farther behind the
255. ial A long lens also avoids the kind of distortion that occurs when shorter lenses used close to a subject exaggerate the size of whatever is nearest the camera in a portrait usually the nose see Figure 4 4 50 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 4 5 Telephotos especially large ones make dis tant features seem close together 300mm lens Compare the size of the nose and chin in the two pictures of the same subject in Figure 4 4 Photographing a person at too close a lens to subject distance makes fea tures nearest the camera appear too large and gives an unnatural looking dimen sion to the head There are subtle qualities that can be exploited when you use a long lens Because a long lens has less depth of field objects in the foreground or background can be photographed out of focus so that the sharply focused subject stands out clearly Also a long lens can be used to create an unusual perspective in which objects seem to be closer together than they really are see Figure 4 5 Long lenses do have some disadvantages E Long telephotos are heavier bulkier and more expensive than normal focal length lenses E Because they have relatively shallow depth of field long lenses must be focused accurately E Long lenses are difficult to use for handheld shots because they magnify lens movements as well as subject size The shutter speed for a medium long lens such as a 105mm lens on a
256. ic energy Nothing like static to ruin a perfectly for matted disk 98 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Fahrenheit Celsius Flash media is designed to operate between 5 C and 55 C Industrial flash media is designed to operate between 40 C and 85 C note H O Water is a hazard to media Liquids in general including Jolt Cola and every other sugary sweet soda are even worse Extraction Pulling out the media from the camera while it s writing to disk or pulling out media from the USB flash reader while If you ve been fortu nate to this point and it s writing haven t had any media failures Read failure Media readers that are you might be in the minority The incompatible with the operating system or author had his Smartmedia give the drivers on the operating system up the ghost with 120 images thanks to a USB card reader with a firmware issue Ninety images were recovered successfully the rest went down with the Titanic Old age Even though flash media are solid state the contact surfaces do wear off In addition they become covered in finger print oil This won t kill a card however Physical damage to a flash media card such as that from water soda or exposure is difficult or impossi ble to recover from however formatting or deletion errors electrostatics or a corrupt or virus riddled computer can be reversed Software is available for every operating system to hel
257. iewing 256 257 color film 30 32 295 color gamuts color management 297 306 human vision 298 COLOR TEMPERATURES 355 color images converting to black and white portraits 328 330 creating three image layers 295 296 gray tones 222 color management color gamuts 297 298 multiple printers 305 306 printing 299 301 printing RGB CMYK 302 304 Color Management Policies option 279 color masks CCD charge coupled device image sen sor 18 20 Color Mode option scan ners 181 color negative film develop ment process 295 296 color negative printing paper printing process 296 Color Options option Print dialog box 129 color processes 293 296 Color Range command Select menu 164 165 Color Range dialog box 164 color reversal film develop ing 296 Color Settings command Edit menu 279 Color Settings option scan ners 182 Color Settings CMYK Setup command File menu 305 Color Settings Working Spaces command Edit menu 302 color space See gamuts color temperatures measur ing 65 How can we make this index more useful Email us at indexes quepublishing com 356 COLOR TRANSPARENCIES color transparencies fill light 319 ColorSync option Print dia log box 129 columns Single Column Marquee tool 155 156 compatibility Photoshop file formats 84 85 Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor CMOS 4 20 component images compos ite ima
258. ight or flash can also be used for fill lighting A light source used as a fill is generally placed close to the lens so that any secondary shadows will not be visible The fill is usually not intended to eliminate the shadow altogether so it is normally of less intensity than the main light It can have lower output than the main light it can be placed farther away from the subject or have a translucent diffusing screen placed in front of it A black reflector is useful at times It is a sort of anti fill that absorbs light and prevents it from reaching the subject If you want to darken a shadow a black cloth or card placed on the opposite side of the subject from the main light will remove fill light by absorbing light from the main light THE ABSOLUTE MiNiMUM Proper lighting is an acquired skill that can only be learned by trial and error Rent strobes and experiment or just go to the hardware store and buy two halogen lamps Whatever you do keep these tips in mind When two strobes are used to illuminate a subject they need to be different strengths or different distances from the subject Different intensities create shadows and depth avoiding the washed out flat look common with on camera flash Side lighting is preferable for photographing men or masculine looking shots Butterfly lighting is preferable for women s portraits Experiment with unusual forms of lighting Combine colored gels a balance of strobes with am
259. ily FAT 12 File System The oldest type of FAT uses a 12 bit binary number to hold the cluster number This filesystem can hold a maximum of 4 086 clus ters which is common on flash media smaller than about 16MB and floppy disks This filesystem isn t too common anymore because even flash media are larger than 16MB FAT 16 The filesystem used for almost all flash media relies on a 16 bit binary number to hold cluster numbers A flash media card using FAT16 can hold a maximum of 65 526 clusters which is 16MB 2 048MB Today s CF cards are already over 2GB therefore the need for FAT32 FAT32 Today s flash media larger than 2GB require formatting using the FAT32 filesystem FAT32 formatted media can theoretically handle 268 mil lion clusters and will support drives up to two terabytes in size Almost no flash media is formatted with the FAT32 filesystem even with these advantages smaller file size greater capacity and so on The reason is that access times are long with 32 bit addresses FAT32 tables must be accessed much more often because they contain so many more clusters This matters when you are a pro fessional photographer and have to shoot dozens of rolls in an hour The time it takes to write each image to a FAT32 card is much longer than with FAT16 Rather most digital cameras rely on FAT16 or even FAT12 Flash media up to 16MB use FAT12 media between 16MB and 2GB use FAT16 and some media above 2GB use FAT32
260. in Photoshop CHAPTER 12 THE IMPORTANCE OF RESOLUTION 187 technique is essentially JPEG technology in reverse JPEG compression performs a series of steps to compress an image initial input discrete cosine transform quanti zation and encoding Ee zi Pixel Dimensions 132M width Do Cance Height fos __ pies Iy Auto Document Size Width SD E Height 7469 inches ol Resolution pera IV Constrain Proportions I Resampie Image Bilinear x Nearest Neighbor Bilinear Cameras scanners and image editors provide interpolation technology to increase the resolution of an image For example Photoshop includes several algorithms that enable you to increase the resolution or physical size of an image To access these options listed here choose Image Image Size Nearest neighbor Nearest neighbor interpolation is a simple interpolation method Each interpolated pixel is assigned the value of the nearest pixel of the input image If more than one pixel has the same distance to the pixel to be interpolated one of these is chosen The drawback to this method is the poor quality of the interpolated image Bilinear Uses four adjacent pixels to calculate the interpolated pixel value Bilinear interpolation is a relatively simple interpolation method However image quality is better than if you use nearest neighbor interpolation Cubic Cubic convolution uses adjacent pixels to determine
261. in alpha channels are not part of the image they are never seen in the image Alpha channels are merely storage areas for masks nothing more and masks are just editing tools that help create selections see Figure 17 10 You never see the mask itself in the completed image Here are the different types of channels E Color channels The Red Green and Blue channels and the RGB compos ite channel are part of every RGB image CMYK images have five channels and LAB images have four channels These types of channels are all related to color information E Adjustment layer masks The channels appear when corresponding adjustment layers are selected in the Layers palette Only one adjustment layer mask is displayed at any time no matter how many adjustment layers the image contains 264 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 17 10 Different types of alpha chan nels color adjustment layer alpha quick mask E Alpha channels The channel named sky in the preceding image is a mask that was created to lighten the dark tones in the clouds E Quick Mask There is a second type of alpha channel on this palette a Quick Mask Quick Masks are convenient temporary alpha channels in Adobe Photoshop They are created by clicking the Quick Mask Mode icon on the tool bar not shown You can convert a Quick Mask into an alpha channel by loading and saving it but you can have only one Quick Mask at a
262. in the system tray Follow these steps to protect data on a flash media device 1 Double click the Remove Hardware icon 110 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY 2 In the Safely Remove Hardware dialog box click on the flash media reader to highlight it It might be listed simply as USB Mass Storage Device 3 Click Stop The Stop a Hardware Device dialog box will appear Click on the USB device to highlight it and then click OK If a message appears saying it is safe to remove the hardware you re fin ished If a message appears stating the media is in use and to try again later you might want to close all applications you think might be accessing the media or shut down reboot and remove the media THE ABSOLUTE MiNiMUM In January 2004 the Mars robot Spirit stopped operating because of corrupted flash memory Engineers at NASA spent 10 days diagnosing and recovering the robot s flash memory before science operations could begin At some point you might find yourself in the same situation courtesy of your digital camera s flash memory Fortunately a number of tools exist for the Mac and PC to recover images that you might have written off as corrupted or lost Keep in mind these points when recover ing or working with files on flash media Consumer level digital cameras use the FAT16 filesystem and high end SLR digital cameras now use FAT16 and FAT32 filesystems Filesystems use sectors to store file information
263. ing Color Range dialog box 164 G galleries online 343 345 photo creating 290 292 Web Photo Gallery 339 343 gammas monitors Internet images 341 Gamut Warning feature 302 304 gamuts color management 297 306 determining Photoshop 279 definition digital camera lim itations 15 17 human vision 298 troubleshooting 303 Gaussian Blur filter 197 198 General Blending option Layer Style dialog box 239 George Eastman House Web site 344 GIF Graphics Interchange Format file format 82 Google Web site 343 grain film speed 37 39 removing 200 201 Graphics Interchange Format GIF file format 82 graphics See also images photos graphs bar histograms 207 217 221 223 gray tones color images 222 gray slider triangle 225 grayscale images converting to black and white 328 329 masks 259 Group with Previous com mand Layer menu 243 grouping layers 243 Grow command Select menu 166 halftone cells 189 halftone dots 189 197 198 halftone screens lines per inch lpi 188 hiding selections 163 high contract film 34 high side lighting 316 highlighting digital camera limitations 23 24 Histogram command Image menu 207 221 histograms 221 exposure problems 210 217 fixing images 223 image editing 148 levels 222 223 pixels adjusting 207 209 hue saturation image editing 148 red eye fixing 332 333 Hue Saturation command Adjust menu 165
264. ing Software and low resolution sen sors work together to degrade the resolution of an image by blurring pixelation Highlight disaster Some digital cameras improves a digital suite and how cannot handle highlights in an image a low quality camera hinders your resulting in bright white streaks photography Delays Forget action or sports photography with a consumer level digital camera Stopping action at the exact moment you desire is something of a guessing game and a very expensive digital SLR Single Lens Reflex is necessary Wide angle lenses CCDs in digital SLRs are smaller than the standard 35mm film frame The result is a magnification of lenses so that a 35mm becomes a 55mm Wide angle is difficult unless you buy an exotic that is expensive lens Prints Blame it on genetics or culture but digital prints do not command the same respect as regular prints Battery drain Digital cameras drain batteries faster than any electronic device With a small LCD screen constant auto focus and flash normal alkaline batteries barely survive a roll of 36 pictures Price Low end digital cameras currently match instamatic cameras in price but above this consumer level a serious SLR digital camera body costs two to three times as much as a traditional camera body As you can see digital cameras aren t perfect Fortunately technology is rapidly overcoming these drawbacks You owe it to yourself to research these issues
265. intensity by 50 percent see Figure 2 7 the color balance of the raw Bayer mask data is about right FIGURE 2 6 Red Pixels The CCD mask creates a red green and blue image Bayer RGB pattern 22 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 2 7 Decrease green by 50 percent to achieve color balance The next step is to interpolate the CCD data Interpolation is a mathematical process of estimating a missing value by taking an average of known values at neighboring points The camera processor includes filter software that interpolates these pixels to approximate the correct color for each pixel The following grid pro vides a simple example of how this is achieved Note that the pixel in the center does not really exist It is created using the color data in the pixels around it a drawback of the Bayer mask method The filter software then interpolates the red and blue data The result is a rough ver sion of the color image with RGB values for every pixel Camera software then goes to work on the image using an unsharp mask to recover some resolution and then interpolate non square pixels resulting in something that approximates the final image The actual processors in digital cameras are much better at removing artifacts and pixelation Each manufacturer uses different software to maximize the color and detail available to the number of pixels in the camera CCD The drawback to this amount of
266. ion Tips for Quality and Saving on Cost Often the paper is more important than the printer If your color printer already pro duces halfway decent images on plain paper photo grade paper such as that from Ilford Legion and Epson can create amazing images The most vivid photo papers contain no paper in them at all They are simply plastic and are called photo film They usually provide the most pop and will make images look much more professional Here are your choices of papers for printing images Film Pure plastic with no actual paper in it Film is often used when rear projection is required Prints look great on this paper Glossy or Super glossy The most common photo paper and what works best when printing photos on an inkjet Pearl A smooth medium glossy paper that is often used for presentation It has the softness of matte paper but still shines A common paper among fine art photographers Matte The best archival paper If longevity is an issue try matte paper This paper is also used for business graphics and scientific engineering work where gloss is not necessary Plain Common printer copier paper Even this paper has become high end with different brightness formulations Usually this paper is only used for everyday work Most of these papers are available at your local photography store and online at major photography sites Compare your printer manufacturer s paper to generic brands or third p
267. ion You might be stumped when the software does not do what you expect it to do In such an event the following troubleshooting tips might help The Image Editing Software Stops Working Try closing a palette to see whether the computer is frozen If a palette won t close try switching from the image editing software to Microsoft Windows or the Macintosh Finder If you can do this the computer is okay and your problem is with the image editing software Is your image so large that the computer is still working on your last com mand If not you might need to exit and restart the image editing software If the computer is frozen restart the computer or get help from a support technician or a geeky friend The Last Command Did Not Work the Way It Should Have Worked Stop Do not issue new commands as you could accidentally edit the image As a precaution use the software s Undo command to undo your last known successful command Does Undo work the way you expect If it does cancel the Undo command If Undo does not work something you weren t aware of occurred after your last successful command Don t cancel the Undo command as it might undo an action you do not want to undo I m Still Not Getting the Results Want So you ve tried the suggestions and still no luck You have no idea what s going on Back up and ask yourself a few questions Are you are trying to perform an edit outside of the selection If mor
268. ion are closing in Digital film backs extensions that fit onto the back of the camera for medium format cameras already surpass this resolution but are incredibly expensive 10 000 and up minus the camera and slow shutter speeds of one second or longer The pictures produced from disposable cameras equal the resolution of a 2 to 4 megapixel camera because of their plastic lenses fixed shutter speed fast film and amateur hands see Figure 12 1 So if anyone asks whether digital cameras are available that equal the quality of film the answer is yes and no The yes part means that cameras and lenses are available that equal film camera quality The no part is that these tools rely on the photographer CHAPTER 12 THE IMPORTANCE OF RESOLUTION 179 FIGURE 12 1 Closeup of a scan from a dis posable camera negative anda 4 megapixel image the digital camera wins A professional photographer with a disposable camera will be able to take pictures that are indistinguishable from a top of the line 6 megapixel camera An amateur with a 14 megapixel camera will make the same mistakes as he would with a dis posable camera 180 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Scanner Software and Resolution If you have a scanner you probably will be scan s ning negatives or photos The resolution you would like to use when scanning is measured in pixels per n ot inch or samples per inch e Today
269. ions Develop this film with a special Technidol developer however and normal photographs are possible The extremely fine grain and high resolution of this film enable you to blow up 35mm negatives to 20x30 inches with no apparent grain How Film Responds to Light FIGURE 3 7 Black and white film construc tion illustrated Recording an image on film involves a reaction between light and silver halide crys tals see Figure 3 7 The crystals spread through the gelatin of the emulsion are a compound of silver plus a halogen such as bromine iodine or chlorine If a crystal were a perfect structure lacking any irregularities it would not react to light However a number of electrically charged silver ions are also in the structure and move about when light strikes the emulsion eventually forming an image The crys tal also contains impurities such as silver sulfide which play a role in the trapping of light energy An impurity called a sensitivity speck and the free moving silver ions build a small collection of uncharged atoms of silver metal when the crystal is struck by light This bit of metallic silver too small to be visible even under a microscope is the begin ning of a latent image The developing chemicals use the latent image specks to build up density or the metallic silver required to create a visible image Light sensitive crystals lt Thin protective coating lt Emulsion 60 gelatin and 40 crystals
270. iptical marquee isn t always easy Be Channels aren t avail sure you press down and hold the Alt key so that able in Photoshop the marquee expands outward Another aid is to Elements Use the layer method choose Select Modify Expand and expand the described in the section Using selection by a few pixels Layers to Reduce Red Eye instead Using Channels to Reduce Red Eye A fast quick and dirty way to reduce red eye in Photoshop is to use channels This method is so simple that even beginners can get acceptable results in minutes and keep family members happy Follow these steps in any version of Photoshop to reduce red eye using channels 1 Open an image and choose File Save As to save the original from any mis takes you might make Name the new image 2 Make sure the image is in RGB mode by choosing Image Mode If the file is in CMYK or LAB change it to RGB mode by choosing Image Mode RGB 3 Zoom in as much as possible on any red eye 4 The easiest way to select only the red eye is to use the red channel of the image Click the Channels tab to access the image s red green and blue channels choose Window Channels if Channels isn t onscreen 5 Click on the red channel see Figure 22 7 The other channels should be de selected and only the red channel should be highlighted checked The color image will become black and white The red channel provides the most tonal separation from the eyes and t
271. is a standard for file naming and the storage of digital camera images DCF created a file structure and file naming sys tem for cameras The result is the confusing DCIM directory folder name on your digital camera media The DCF standard also dictates how images are named when a picture is taken resulting in the somewhat confusing naming convention for digi tal images Most likely you ve seen files named something like DSCFO026 JPG this is because of the DCF naming standard The good thing about the DCF standard is that all cameras use it You can pop an SD card out of your Kodak digital camera and put it in a Nikon digital camera and continue shooting Nothing will be overwritten because each camera stores images in its own folder Digital Print Order Format Digital Print Order Format DPOF is a standard created by Panasonic Kodak and Fuji that enables cameras to store edited photo information and printing informa tion on the camera prior to printing A simple text file is stored on the camera s stor age media that travels with the images and provides additional details about the image such as cropping color correction and the number of prints the user would like to make DPOF enabled cameras can even attach an email to an image that can be sent automatically when the camera is synced to the computer CHAPTER 2 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF DIGITAL CAMERAS 27 THE ABSOLUTE MiNiMUM Now you know what some disadvantages are
272. is index more useful Email us at indexes quepublishing com 362 MARQUEE TOOLS Marquee tools 138 Elliptical Marquee tool 144 Rectangular Marquee tool 143 masks adjustment layer masks 263 color 18 20 259 grayscale images 259 inverting 157 261 layer 252 253 Opacity 259 Quick Mask 156 157 264 selections 257 259 storing See alpha channels unsharp mask filter 192 197 visibility 259 263 master boot records FAT File Allocation Table 104 media digital cameras 5 flash memory 6 medium film speed 39 megapixels 175 memory flash 6 Merge Down command Layer menu 240 Merge Visible command Layer menu 241 merging images 262 263 layers 240 micro lenses macro lenses 53 Microsoft Windows gammas Internet images 341 mirror lenses 54 Mode command Image menu 163 Mode 8 bits channel command Image menu 184 186 CMYK Color command Image menu 305 Grayscale command Image menu 328 329 LAB command Image menu 329 RGB Color command Image menu 257 modes LAB mode converting color images to black and white 329 Quick Mask 260 261 Modify Border command Select menu 167 Modify Contract command Select menu 166 moir patterns removing 197 198 monitors color reproduction color management 297 306 gammas Internet images 341 images viewing 282 multimedia CD ROMs 289 multiple printers color man agement 305 306 Museum of Contemporary Art Web s
273. itch in the ink cartridge and renders the cartridge useless In other words when the warning goes off the ink cartridge no longer squirts ink These chipped ink cartridges are unusable if you would like to refill them with third party printer ink Small companies however have found ways to fool these chipped cartridges into thinking ink remains These technologies include the following E Hardware chips A chip resetter is a small punch that pulls the old Epson chip and replaces it with one that fools the printer into thinking the cartridge is full E Software A small program is available in Europe that fools Epson printers into thinking a new ink cartridge has been placed in the printer This small software program bypasses the chip in the inkjet cartridges with a FULL notice Continuous ink supplies As mentioned in the last section a few compa nies sell simple external ink supply systems that snake PVC tubing to the printheads in the printer Instead of installing a small 15ml cartridge you attach a hose with a four ounce or more bottle of ink The savings are tremendous if you are a frequent printer Ink refill kits are almost mandatory for digital photographers Fortunately these kits are available over the Internet from a number of companies through eBay and at your favorite warehouse club Warehouse clubs also have finally started selling ink refill kits CHAPTER 18 PRINTERS AND PRINTER RESOLUTION 281 Paper and Resolut
274. ite 344 museums Internet resources 344 naming layers 238 National Press Photographers Association NPPA Web site 343 navigation buttons creating 291 Nearest neighbor option interpolation 187 negative color films 295 negative film 31 color balance 66 exposure latitude 67 professional 32 New Adjustment Layer Curves command Layer menu 231 232 New Adjustment Layer Levels command Layer menu 231 New Channel icon 262 New dialog box 277 New Layer command Layer menu 237 New Layer icon 237 Nikon Web site 14 344 noise adding 335 Noise filters 200 203 Noise Add Noise command Filter menu 335 Noise Despeckle command Filter menu 200 Noise Dust amp Scratches com mand Filter menu 203 normal focal length lenses 47 48 NPPA National Press Photographers Association Web site 343 O objects vector 249 offset printers scanning images for 79 online galleries 343 345 opacity layers 238 239 masks 259 Open Drive icon 100 Options Files command Object menu 102 106 outdoor available light 310 312 320 Output levels 225 Output Options option Print dialog box 129 output resolution 176 digital cameras 177 interpolation 186 188 printing presses 188 189 Output Resolution option scanners 181 overexposure portraits 327 P palettes Channels accessing 163 257 Info accessing 215 Layers accessing 237
275. ith a new name Make these steps a habit so that your original digital camera images do not accidentally become overwritten the next time you import photos LINE ART AND TRUE RESOLUTION Print line art at the highest resolution your printer will accept such as 600 ppi The only time an inkjet prints its true resolution is for line art which requires no dithering The color is either black or white so multiple dots are not required per pixel CHAPTER 18 PRINTERS AND PRINTER RESOLUTION 275 Ink and Resolution Tips for Quality and Saving on Cost Almost everyone except budding photographers uses the ink manufactured by the printer manufacturer Unfortunately this is expensive after a few dozen prints When the ink runs out it s time for a trip back to the store for another 25 to 35 cartridge That s for one cartridge Multiply that by four CMYK and printing starts to get expensive Want to know just how ridiculously expensive and profitable ink is Take a look at Table 18 1 Keep in mind that one fluid ounce in the United States is equal to 29 57 milliliters A gallon contains 128 fluid U S ounces Table 18 1 Printer Ink by the Gallon A Comparison Amount Used When Ink Store Amount in Refill Light Blinks Cost per Cartridge Price Cartridge 85 used Gallon HP 27 black inkjet 17 99 10ml 8 5ml 7 990 00 print cartridge C8727AN HP 28 tri color inkjet 21 99 8ml x 3 6 8ml 12 210 91 print cartridge C8728
276. ith bright areas fading off quickly into shadow see Figure 21 6 The contrast between light and dark is often so great that you can keep details in high lights or shadows but not in both If however there are many light fixtures the light can be softly diffused illuminating all parts of the scene see Figure 21 7 When shooting indoors expose for the most important parts of the picture The eye adapts easily to variations in light you can glance at a light area and then quickly see detail in a nearby dark area However there will often be a greater range of con trast indoors than film can record Rather than make an overall meter reading you need to select the part of the scene that you want to see clearly and meter for that PUeUU SEER PREM ee eee pel HE FIGURE 21 7 Diffused light indoors occurs when light comes from several different directions such as from win dows on more than one side of a room CHAPTER 21 LIGHTING 313 Light indoors is often relatively dim If you want to use the existing light and not add flash or other light to a scene you might have to use a slow shutter speed and or a wide aperture Use a tripod at slow shutter speeds or brace your camera against a table or other object so that camera motion during the exposure does not blur the picture Focus carefully because there is very little depth of field if your lens is set to a wide aperture A fast film speed ISO
277. ith inkjet printer technology Some color laser printers and all dye sublimation printers print higher resolution images than today s top of the line inkjet printers However these printers still are beyond the reach of most consumers This chapter will sort out the terms used by inkjet printer manufactur ers and provide a realistic reasonable assessment of today s printer capabilities More important we ll examine the least expensive way to get the best prints and highest resolution possible 270 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 18 1 Thanks for the confusing marketing speak A printer s adver tised resolution print quality technology print technology HP Thermal Inkjet print quality black Up to 1200 rendered dpi blackwhen printing from a compuler print quality colar Up to 4800 optimized dpi up to 4800 x 1200 optimized dpi color when printing from a computer and 1200 input dpi resolution technology PhotoREt Pro Printer Technology Today s color printers make instant photos possible Several types of printers exist but the most common and affordable technology is inkjet printers Today s note inkjet printers are capable of printing what many consider to be photographs because of new tech f nologies The inkjet printer industry changes almost as frequently as digital cameras but a few basic rules persist regarding how to print great photos This cha
278. ittle off the horizontal 1 Open the off kilter image and save it with a new name 2 Choose Image Transform Free Transform A bounding box appears around the entire image Elements might ask you to place the edit on a layer Click OK twice to continue CHAPTER 9 BASIC EDITING WITH PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS AND iPHOTO 123 FIGURE 9 11 Almost art This image needs to be level 3 Move the mouse cursor outside the image Click and drag down on one of the corners of the bounding box see Figure 9 12 When the image looks level click the check box to commit the change FIGURE 9 12 Straightening the horizon 124 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 9 13 The Crop tool as it appears in Photoshop Elements FIGURE 9 14 Using the Crop tool to remove blank empty areas caused by the Rotate com mand You probably will need to crop the image a little to remove the empty blank areas in the corners 4 Click the Crop tool see Figure 9 13 Click and drag from one corner to the other to select the entire image A bounding box will appear around the image Erop Teo Crop Tool C Crop Tool C 5 Press down and hold the Shift key then click a corner of the bounding box and drag with your mouse see Figure 9 14 Adjust each edge until the empty blank areas aren t visible 6 Commit to the change by clicking the check mark icon in the toolbar Unlimited Transformations
279. ity ink CHAPTER 18 PRINTERS AND PRINTER RESOLUTION 277 Ink refill kits for empty cartridges Remanufactured ink cartridges Old spent cartridges are cleaned and refilled tip with third party ink nothing fancy here just recycling at work Save your empties When an ink cartridge runs out of Continuous ink systems A few compa i ink do not throw it away nies sell simple external ink supply sys tems that snake PVC tubing to the printheads in the printer Instead of installing a small 15ml cartridge you attach a hose with a four ounce or more bottle of ink The savings are tremendous if you are a frequent printer You might need it later if you decide to refill the cartridge with third party ink Trust me ink is so expensive that all digital photographers eventually consider this cost savings technique How do these third party ink cartridges and refill inks affect printer resolution They don t but they can affect color For this reason small software plug ins called ICC profiles have been invented that overcome a number of color issues ICC Profiles ICC profiles are plug ins to image editing programs that describe the exact color pro file of an output device such as a printer or monitor If you are serious about printing photographs make sure the printer or software you use can support ICC profiling Photoshop Elements has a much simpler color space system see Figure 18 5 If you h
280. kground Ever receive or take a photo and wish you could lighten a shadow on the face of a friend The first step to making changes like these is to tell the imaging soft ware what parts of the image you want to work with This process is called selecting an area of the image or simply making a selection see Figure 10 1 This chapter explains in depth all the selection tools avail able in Photoshop to budding digital photographers 134 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 10 1 After you select part of an image you can change it or its background in many ways CHAPTER 10 EDITING WITH SELECTION TOOLS 135 This chapter walks you through the most important selection tools Magic Wand A fast way to select similar color pixels E Rectangular and Elliptical marquee note The number one tool for cropping photos 7 E Lasso tool The most popular tool for quick freehand selections You will find some tools such as Curves do not appear in Photoshop Elements If a tool is not available in Elements a workaround is explained later in this chapter Later you will see how easy it is to apply different filters to a selected area with commands such as Blur and Sharpen Photoshop and Photoshop Elements palettes which include Layers History and Navigator will also be introduced see Figure 10 2 FIGURE 10 2 colina cena hs x Wevigator Photoshop s palettes tip In Ph
281. l cluster in the file FFF8 FFFFH End of File EOF But how does the OS know what files are on the disk and where to find the first clus ter of a file This is the reason for the directory entries which are also stored in the data area Each directory entry has a size of 32 bytes and includes information about the file or directory name size first cluster number and its attributes At a higher level operating systems such as DOS and Windows allow for two types of drives physical drives and logical drives Physical drives are the actual physical disk drives installed on your computer Logical drives are sections on the physical drive A physical drive can have multiple logical drives For example you can install a physi cal drive on your machine then partition it into three logical drives if necessary Flash media rarely requires partitions or logical drives It is basically used for one thing so multiple logical drives aren t required You will usually see only one drive letter listed as a drive 106 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY What Happens to Lost Data Deleted data from flash media cards is not really lost but simply ignored by the operating system If you delete a file the first letter of a directory entry is replaced with a special character In addition information about the order of the clusters is removed If the directory entries or the FAT or both are incorrect or deleted the operating system
282. l hide the image editing software and display its own interface and controls When scanning is complete the plug in software will exit return to your image editing program and display the new scan ready for editing Scanning is not difficult The best approach is to practice scanning different types of prints different size prints and negatives if possible 74 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Making a Scan Step by Step The following steps walk you through the scanning process The most important thing to remember as you work through these steps is to treat lint and dust like the plague In addition rely on the scanning software that comes with your scanner Perfect the image before you scan If you have a negative or print you re ready to scan follow these steps to get the best image possible onscreen 1 Prepare the scanner and the area around the scanner Ideally you already have the scanner connected and working Did you install the scanner driver and have you successfully calibrated the scanner using its built in calibra tion software Prepare the area by removing anything that can attract dust If you re work ing with a flatbed scanner make sure the glass plate is clean Keep the top closed and prepare a cloth made for cleaning optical glass surfaces you can pick one up at a camera store Dust the film or artwork Wear antistatic gloves and use an antistatic brush or compressed air to cl
283. l out of the save and then choose Layer Flatten Image Layers are saved only when the file is saved in Photoshop PSD format or TIFF for mat Layers are not saved in JPEG or GIF formats Save an archival copy of your image in Photoshop format if you believe you might work on it again in the future Creating an Extended Family Follow these steps to add people to an image using layers 1 Find several digitized images of your family or friends Your artistic goal is to combine people from the separate images so they seem to belong together or to make the image obviously artificial but acceptably plausible Use the selection tools Lasso Rectangle Marquee and Pen to copy images of people with or without their surroundings from two or more sources and paste them into a third image Consider whether you want realism or an arti ficial look Realism requires much more work You ll be combining images from several sources so you ll need to plan ahead to ensure that the people s images are the right size relative to each other Choose one image as the master Choose Image Image Size in Photoshop or Image Resize Image Size in Elements Note the Resolution in the Image Size dialog box All the other images should have a similar resolution Check the resolution in the other images to be copied and ensure they have the same resolution If they do not you can change their resolution in the Image Size dialog box Copy
284. lens the image is focused and the more the image is magnified see Figure 4 2 The size of the image increases in proportion to the focal length If the subject remains at the same distance from the lens the image formed by a 50mm lens will be twice as big as that from a 25mm lens Focal length 25mm FIGURE 4 2 A lens of longer focal length bends light rays less than a short lens does CHAPTER 4 THE IMPORTANCE OF LENSES 47 Focal length 50mm odl p Focal length also controls the angle of view the amount of the scene shown on a given size of film A long focal length lens forms a larger image of an object than a short lens As a result the long lens must include on a given size of film less of the scene in which the object appears If you make a circle with your thumb and forefinger and hold it close to your eye you will see most of the scene in front of you the equiva lent of a short lens If you move your hand farther from your eye the circle will be filled by a smaller part of the scene the equivalent of a longer lens You will have decreased the angle of view seen through your fingers In the same way the longer the focal length the smaller the angle of view seen by the lens The effect of increasing focal length while keeping the same lens to subject distance is an increase in magnification and a decrease in angle of view Because the photog rapher did not change position the size of the objects within the s
285. lerance setting determines which pixels will be selected A low Tolerance set ting 10 for example will select only pixels that are almost exactly the same in brightness and color to the pixel you click on a high Tolerance setting 120 will allow more pixels in the selection see Figure 10 12 FIGURE 10 12 _ The results of increasing Tolerance A Tolerance of 25 is seen on top a Tolerance of 75 is on the bot tom 142 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY The Contiguous setting selects only adjacent pixels within the tolerance range Otherwise all pixels within the range even on the object would be selected Follow these steps to use the contiguous settings option 1 With your test image open select the Magic Wand tool Click on an area of the picture to select it then release the mouse To select an unconnected area of similar color and brightness highlight the icon for Add To an Existing Selection in the Tool options bar and click the Magic Wand again To select an item in a picture with a plain background if your image has one use Magic Wand to select the background areas of common color and then choose Select Inverse which will select the item This is easier than trying to draw around the item with other tools Press Ctrl D or choose Select Deselect to remove the selection marquee Using the Lasso Tool The Lasso tool enables you to select an
286. ling multiplier that the user you can adjust the Quality slider bar in Photoshop Encodes the reduced coefficients using the Huffman method which is a loss less mathematical model for compression Outputs the file with the appropriate header information including the com pression information When the JPEG file is opened it is decompressed based on the header information of the file The Replacement for JPEG JPEG2000 New developments in the JPEG file format specifically the JPEG2000 format prom ise improved quality and greater compression This format has been approved by the JPEG group but is not supported yet by many applications Photoshop CS includes a JPEG2000 plug in and many high end digital cameras support this for mat but you need to install a plug in for most browsers The company Lura pro duces these plug ins which can be found at ww 1uratech com Key advantages of JPEG2000 over JPEG include the following Scalable by resolution color channel or quality By organizing the codestream in different ways the compression can generate multiple levels of compression 38 bit depth Up to 38 bit depth is available in addition to the standard 24 bit depth This standard also allows for big images up to 2 rows and columns 16 384 components and different bit depths for each channel Wavelet based compression JPEG2000 uses the CWT Cosine Wavelet Transform algorithm to compress images Unlike th
287. llow you to keep your images for posterity The best way to store your images electronically is to save them on a CD ROM Granted with technology changing at the speed of light CD ROMs will be obsolete before a protected inkjet print starts to fade but at the very least you ll have your images in a format that can be moved digitally to the next storage medium FIGURE 19 2 CD ROMs hold more than just music CHAPTER 19 PRESERVING YOUR IMAGES 289 Whether this medium is dual layer DVD blue laser DVD or kryptonite doesn t mat ter Just keep your eye on new storage technologies and you ll be in a position to save these images forever In addition to music CDs can hold information such as photographs graphics text audio and video see Figure 19 2 CD ROMs are used for encyclopedias language programs software training tutorials books games and in many other ways The Advantages of a CD ROM One advantage to a CD ROM is the large amount of information the disk can hold One CD ROM can hold over 650 megabytes enough for 12 000 images By compari son only 25 pictures of that size could fit on a floppy disk Other advantages are the low cost of reproducing CD ROMs compared to printing on paper and the ease and minimal cost of shipping a small lightweight product see Figure 19 3 The disk is read by a laser beam so unlike a floppy it won t wear out Because the disk can only be read not written on data can
288. lm can easily become part of your digital work stream If you have any doubts about its lifespan film will survive the digital onslaught just as theater survived radio cinema survived television and bookstores survived Amazon Whether you choose digital or film keep in mind these important points when tak ing pictures The speed of digital and film is measured using an ISO rating Double the ISO speed and you double the film s sensitivity ISO 800 film is recommended for indoor low light photography Slide film has less perceptible grain and is better for scanning PART jj DiegiTAL BASICS The Importance of Lenses 05 45 Exposure and FOCUS 0s wale es dw ede ss hes 63 Getting Your Pix Onscreen 2005 71 Files and File Formats 05 81 File Recovery Finding Lost Images 97 IN THIS CHAPTER Lenses amp Focal Length Focal Length amp Digital Cameras Autofocus amp Manual Focus Controlling Depth of Field THE IMPORTANGE OF ENSES Good photographers know their cameras and how they work This chapter explains the science behind the most important part of that equipment lenses The more you know how to work with lenses the better a photographer you will be Fortunately even beginners have been exposed to what this chapter covers Focal length You probably have heard the numbers surround ing lenses such as a 28mm lens and a 400mm lens You mig
289. lor channel On occasion one channel may be less sharp than the others or it may appear too grainy see Figure 17 1 To fix this you might remove grain in one color channel by blurring it with a filter while you sharpen another color channel with a different filter If you d like to try this yourself and have a copy of Photoshop just follow these steps FIGURE 17 1 EF H ete aa A Y E Ravigator info Removing grain using the Despeckle filter in one color channel CHAPTER 17 THE IMPORTANCE OF CHANNELS 257 1 Open Photoshop any version and open a color image Save the image with a new name to preserve the original 2 If the image is not in RGB mode convert it to RGB by clicking Image Mode RGB Color 3 Open the Channels palette if it isn t already open by clicking Window Channels 4 Click one of the color channels in the Channels palette The other channels will turn off and only the selected channel will display Again an RGB image has three color channels plus the composite channel Individual color channels are displayed in Photoshop as thumbnail images in the Channels palette The composite channel is labeled RGB and represents all three channels together When the eye icon is present next to the composite RGB channel s thumbnail the image is displayed in full color in the main image window When working with channels it s always easier to see your edits when the composite RGB channel is unchecked I
290. ly lost and the file size is changed FIGURE 9 4 xi Resample Pinel Dimensions 364K was 364k Image perma Width 97 pixels z Je Cancel nently alters the Height pa pies z He image informa tion Only use Document Size this when you Width E inches z Jo are forced to Height 2 864 inches resize an image Resolution a pieiszinch gt IV Constrain Proportions BR ete image l Bicubic X Interpolate the pixel information The following steps explain how to use the Image Size dialog box to convert digital photos and scans to a resolution that will produce the best photos If you need to resample an image make sure you modify a copy of the original to keep any mis takes from ruining your original image 1 Open an image in Elements through the file browser Window File Browser or through the File menu File Open 2 Before you do anything choose File Save As and save the file with a new name 3 With the image onscreen choose Image Resize Image Size 4 When the Image Size dialog box appears uncheck the Resample Image check box see Figure 9 5 118 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 9 5 Uncheck Resample Image to pro tect the file x Pixel Dimensions 45 9 _ Width 3176 pixels Cancel Height 2524 pixels Auto Document Size Height paa inches z Width fi 587 inches z Resolution foo pixels inch z
291. ly you don t want a mask to be so opaque that you can t see the image beneath it You can also temporarily make the mask invisible if it blocks your view of what you re doing note A feathered selection blends into the area out side the selection In Photoshop make a selection then click Select Feather Adobe Photoshop treats masks as grayscale 8 bit images This has significant consequences Because the software treats masks like images you can edit them like images This means you can use a brush to paint on a mask making the mask either more opaque blacker or more transparent whiter Because masks are treated as images you can also paste shapes and other images into masks For example you can put type into a mask the shapes of the letters can then be transformed into colors or effects see Figure 17 4 You can paste images into masks but only 8 bit grayscale images Selections also can be turned into masks Clicking the Save Selection As Channel icon in the Channels palette turns the selection into a mask Why do this Most complex selections start with a simple selection as you might make with the Lasso tool or the Magic Wand by turning them into masks you can edit them more pre cisely Finally they are turned back into selections This might sound roundabout but it is a powerful technique For example it is helpful when creating extremely complex selections such as around someone s hair 260 ABSOL
292. mage SGE Ez between ay f A 3 Piel Dimensions 142M Layers ls NY resets UL 150 300 ppi ES a We A ae AET ke ere Z 2 J Height 1021 pixels gt i pha oa fool RARS before printing c m Document Size With Fla s or Dna Height E nches z Resolution poo pielszndi R Ucnstrain Srapetion T resample image E1 udk r 3 Save the image with a new name as a TIFF file 4 Load up the printer with glossy or matte photo paper and print Most cameras create JPEG images that lose detail every time you save them You really need to keep the original image safe and secure in case you want to come back later and modify it For this reason create a copy of the image and save it as a TIFF file after you import it You can mess around with this image to your heart s content and still have the original as a backup caution Always save your image as a TIFF file after you import it from the cam era Most images come in as JPEG files which lose detail every time you save them For this reason keep your originals safe and pristine Always save a copy as a TIFF after importing lt When you import a photo from a digital camera change its ppi rating first and then save it as a TIFF file Choose Image Image Size in Photoshop or Image Resize Image Size and change the Pixels Per Inch text field to 200 300 ppi Afterward save the image as a TIFF file w
293. mage from 2000x1000 pixels to 500x250 pixels or to upsample an image from 400x600 to 800x1200 pixels Resampling permanently alters the image resize To alter the physical size of an image how big it is printed or how large it appears on the monitor without resampling its pixels resolution Resolution determines the apparent sharpness of an image Resolution is the number of pixels per inch or other measure like millimeters in an image For example an image printed 8x10 inches with 200 pixels per inch will appear much sharper than an 8x10 print printed with 30 pixels per inch When the capabilities of printers are dis cussed the resolution of the printer is described as the num ber of dots per inch that the printer can put on the paper See dpi RGB Red green and blue the primary additive colors of photography and digital imaging Computer monitors cre ate images using the RGB colors samples per inch The number of times per inch that a scanner samples an image Note however that if a scanner records 2 000 samples per inch but its software enlarges the image by 10 times the final image will have only 200 pix els per inch See dpi for related information saturation The degree to which a color is pure and undi luted by light of a different hue If a color is 100 satu rated it contains no light of another hue If a color has no saturation it appears gray with no apparent hue One of the three terms used to exactly des
294. many sizes but if you select the wrong settings you might end up with a sub par image Your scanning decisions must be based on both the physical size you want and the characteristics of the printer or display device CHAPTER 6 GETTING YOUR PIX ONSCREEN 73 Working with Scan Software Scanning software is simplified image editing software see Figure 6 2 To get a good scan you might need to adjust the size brightness contrast and overall color bal ance of a negative or print before you actually scan it Fortunately these basic adjustments are available in good scanning software FIGURE 6 2 x Some scanner uj Bi plug ins are just ge ea Chenrel as advanced as hg 2 3 C m many image c editing pro Co a z x grams laput 72 Z pm A SS a N Burput 70 245 Tone Cuyo Viewer g2 Show Outpul A Bra Balance Inj Alows you to select a shadow curve form n A A Two types of scanning software come with scanners E Normal Like ordinary software you open the scan software wait for it to find the scanner scan the image and save the image as a file for editing E Plug in Many scanners include plug in software that works in conjunction with another program You must open your favorite image editing software Photoshop Photoshop Elements iPhoto and so on choose File Import and then select the scanner s plug in software from a list Once chosen the scan ner plug in wil
295. memory and disk storage In RGB color one byte is used by each of the red green and blue components channels of a pixel 8 bit color or 8 bit grayscale A system for creating raster images in which each pixel uses one byte of memory and disk storage This produces 256 colors or shades of gray which is enough for a high quality black and white image or a low quality color image additive colors Red green and blue are the additive colors of film based photography and digital imaging When red green and blue lights are mixed in equal amounts the result is white light aliasing In a digital image the appearance of jagged staircase effects along lines and edges especially diago nal lines Aliasing is accentuated when the pixels in the image are highly enlarged and visible to the viewer alpha channel In Adobe Photoshop software the palette where masks are stored analog to digital conversion The process of convert ing the analog information captured by a scanner or cam era into computer readable form The analog signal is translated into digital numbers by a computer chip antialiasing The process of reducing jagged aliased edges by smoothing gently blurring pixels along the edges archival paper A high quality inkjet paper usually with a matte or semi gloss finish designed for pigment based inks Images on this paper can be displayed behind Glossary non glare archival glass for many decades or more without
296. ment layers solve banding problems Adjustment layers Layer New Adjustment Layer enable you to edit many aspects of the image with out ever changing the original pixels An adjust ment layer contains no image just commands that alter tones and colors in the layer s beneath it The adjustments never alter the original pixels An adjustment layer s effects are permanently undo able even if you reopen the image years later Adjustment layers do have limits however Not all image editing can be done in adjustment layers but many important ones can Levels Curves Color Balance and Hue Saturation Certain special effects such as drop shadows and type effects can also be applied in adjustment layers Unfortu nately at this time adjustment layers cannot be used to change image resolution or to apply filters like Unsharp Mask note The History palette in Photoshop 5 and later and the Undo History palette in Elements enable you to step back ward a number of steps These Undo steps are erased each time you close the image however You cannot undo anything when you reopen the image Adjustment layers appear in the Layers palette Instead of displaying a paintbrush icon to the left of its name an adjustment layer displays an icon that indicates a mask An adjustment layer normally affects all of the layers beneath it However if you want to limit its effects you can group it with one layer
297. n t change light out doors but you can at least observe it and work with it On an overcast day at dusk or in the shade the light will be diffused and soft see Figure 21 5 This is a revealing light that illuminates all parts of the scene It can be a beautiful light for portraits gently modeling the planes of the face FIGURE 21 4 Direct light out doors can pro duce prominent shadows so it is important to notice how such light is striking a subject FIGURE 21 5 Diffused light outdoors such as in the shade of a building is soft and reveal ing CHAPTER 21 LIGHTING 311 312 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY The light changes as the time of day changes The sun gets higher and then lower in the sky affecting the direction in which shadows fall If the day is sunny many pho tographers prefer to work in the early morning or late afternoon because when the sun is close to the horizon it casts long shadows and rakes across the surface of objects increasing the sense of texture and volume Available Light Indoors FIGURE 21 6 Shooting toward a bright window or lamp indoors creates con trasty light The side facing the light source is much brighter than the side facing the cam era Available light indoors can be contrasty or flat depending on the source of light Near a lamp or window especially if there are not many in the room the light is directional w
298. n light This light also called the key light should create the only visible shadows or at least the most important ones if a natural effect is desired Two or three equally bright lights producing multiple shadows cre ate a feeling of artificiality and confusion The position of the main light affects the appearance of texture and volume as seen in Figures 21 10 15 Flat frontal lighting see Figure 21 11 decreases both texture and volume while lighting that rakes across surface features as seen from camera position increases it 316 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 21 10 A high side lighting portrait with a main light at about 45 to one side and 45 above the subject FIGURE 21 11 A portrait with frontal lighting Natural light usually comes from a height above that of the subject see Figure 21 12 so this is the most common position for the main source of artificial light CHAPTER 21 LIGHTING 317 Lighting from a very low angle can suggest mystery drama or even menace just because it seems unnatural Monsters in horror movies are often lit from below see Figure 21 13 FIGURE 21 12 Top lighting FIGURE 21 13 Under lighting 318 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Some types of lighting have been traditionally associated with certain subjects Side lighting has long been considered appropriate for masculine portraits because it emphasizes rugged facial
299. n that anchor point and the previous one 252 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY The Purpose of Clipping Paths Another valuable use for paths is as a clipping path see Figure 16 16 A clipping path is a mask When an image that contains a clipping path is exported to another software program such as Adobe Illustrator the portion of the image outside the clipping path is cropped it is invisible transparent in the other program For exam ple if you create a clipping path around one person in a group photograph and then export the image to Adobe Illustrator only the clipped person is visible FIGURE 16 16 Clipping paths rm f im g are used to cre ms ate unusual I ga shaped graph emo sf Loo a Dates j device tes sa ics You are not 1 F limited to rec at elas tangles or squares lee Layer Masks Attaching a Mask to a Layer A layer mask is a mask attached to a layer Layer masks are useful because each mask only affects what is on the layer the rest of the image is untouched Two types of layer masks are useful to photographers E Image layer masks A layer mask can make part of an image on its layer invisible Wherever the layer mask has full density black the image is hid den and wherever the layer mask is transparent the image is visible A par tially erased mask makes the layer s image partially visible Outlining an object is a common use for
300. naged Policies handle the reading and embedding of color profiles mismatches between embedded color profiles and the working spaca and the moving of colors from one document to another Two sections comprise this small dialog box Working Spaces and Color Manage ment Policies The Working Spaces settings determine what color space is used by Photoshop The bottom section determines how Photoshop handles ICC color profiles for images that are opened for editing 280 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Epson Printers and Big Brother Epson currently makes the best inkjet printers for digital photographers Epson inks which are archival and Epson paper are by far the best media for budding digital photographers However the dark side is that Epson printer ink cartridges include Big Brother technology that forces you to spend more on printing Epson includes hardware and software in its printers that monitors exactly how much ink has been used and then issues a warning before the ink cartridge runs out This sounds helpful but actually it is a clever way to force users to buy more ink The print cartridge does not issue a warning when the ink is completely empty instead it warns you that the ink will run out soon This leaves a sizeable amount of ink in the cartridge which will go to waste if you follow the rules In addition when a warning is issued for a specific cartridge the Epson software flips a sw
301. nchor points To refine the path use the Delete Anchor Point tool and remove excess anchors and then edit the remaining anchors by selecting the Direct Selection tool 162 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY E Convert Point tool After you create a path click the Convert Point tool on an existing anchor to convert it from a right angle to a curve and back again see Figure 11 14 This tool creates softer smoother anchor points in curvy areas FIGURE 11 13 Adding anchor points FIGURE 11 14 Converting paths Paths are used for much more than simply creating selections You can read more about how paths create clipping paths stroked paths and masks in more advanced books on Photoshop CHAPTER 11 ADVANCED SELECTION TOOLS 163 Saving Selections Selections disappear if you try to select some thing else You can fortunately save a selection by choosing Selection Save Selection Selections are saved as alpha channels in the Channels palette Window Channels l tip If you are using Adobe Photoshop and you acciden m tally erase a selection the The capability to save selections can save you command Select Reselect immense amounts of time Some selections take restores the last selection you hours to create such as selecting a person in a made crowd You can read more about selections and working with channels in Chapter 17 The Importance of Channels When Your Software Tools Q
302. nding mode is often the most important effect it enables you to make the image in the layer opaque or semitransparent The Opacity slider in Elements provides the same effect 5 Slide the Opacity slider down to 50 and then click OK Notice the Opacity value changed in the palette You can access Opacity in either place 6 Re open the Layer Style dialog box and experiment with the Blend If section under Advanced Blending This feature is only available in Photoshop but similar capabilities are possible in Elements by changing Normal in the Layers palette to Darken Lighten Color Dodge or Color Burn This depends entirely on the colors in the background image so your results may vary The Blend If section enables you to make parts of the layer transparent while leav ing the remainder opaque For example Blend If lets you make only the lightest pix els of the layer opaque Wherever its pixels are dark they are made transparent and the underlying image shows through Blend If also permits separate opacity effects for each primary color Harmonizing the Elements of a Collage When images are pasted into other images they often clash with their new sur roundings see Figure 16 5 Something about them looks wrong If realism is your goal an image blended into a background must match the background in several ways FIGURE 16 5 Two layers clash with their back ground 240 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY
303. nfident diagnosis see Figure 14 7 Digital images that are over or underexposed are said to show clipped histograms The term clipped suggests that the pixels necessary for a correct exposure have been clipped off the ends of the histogram by bad exposure The highlighted bright areas are clipped in the histogram Notice that there are no pixels at the left side of the graph This often indicates overexposure Adjusting the sliders will not help because no image detail was captured in the highlights In most well exposed and well scanned images some pixels are found at both ends of the graph In a clipped scan there will be a spike of pixels If a scan is clipped there is no way for editing software to fix it without hand painting details on the image or copying them from another image Be careful not to confuse a clipped image with one that intentionally contains large areas of pure black or pure white The histograms of both types of image will look the same CHAPTER 14 THE IMPORTANCE OF BRIGHTNESS CONTRAST 211 FIGURE 14 7 An overexposed digital camera Channel RGB T image and its input Levels fp fl 00 fess histogram Output Levels 0 fess There is now enough shadow detail in the image in Figure 14 8 The pixels at the left of the histogram represent shadow detail that was overexposed in the original exposure FIGURE 14 8 The same scene photographed j Shamel RSE zi h
304. ng printer download To transfer files or other data from one piece of computer equipment to another dpi dots per inch Originally a measurement of the resolution of a printer or monitor A printer that can print 1 440 dots in a row in a single inch is a 1440 dpi printer dpi is often used interchangeably with other more accurate terms pixels per inch ppi is a measure of the number of pixels lined up in a row per inch that appears on a moni tor or in a print An image may have only 200 pixels per inch but the printer may use 1 440 dots per inch to repre sent those 200 pixels per inch Thus the resolution of the printer 1440 dpi is not the same as that of the image that it prints 200 ppi Confusion results when dpi is used inter changeably with pixels per inch DVD DVR DV RAM DVD RW A family of optical storage discs that offer higher capacities many gigabytes than the CD ROM dye sublimation printer A high quality continuous tone color printer Each multicolored dot is created when dyes of the basic colors are vaporized and then condensed on a precise location on the printing paper or plastic sheet Because the amount of vaporization is highly changeable each condensed dot can be any one of 16 million colors and is thus called a continuous tone dynamic range A measurement of image density for a scanner from 0 pure white to 4 very black The dynamic range scale is logarithmic a value of 3 0 is 10 times great
305. ng software such as Apple s iDVD enables you to author CDs and DVDs Similar programs on the PC include Sonic MyDVD Pinnacle Studio and Nero 6 Use one of these tools to build your CD You can import all the media you ve created and organize it into an interactive CD For making test disks or small editions a CD R CD recordable drive will record the material onto a blank CD For larger editions the obvious choice is DVD Current DVD Rs and DVD RWSs store up to 4 7GB New dual layer technology will double that number enabling you to store four hours of uncom pressed video After that any number of disks can be produced at a low cost per copy THE ABSOLUTE MiNiMUM This chapter focuses on preserving your images in places other than your computer s hard drive The best method for backing up images is DVD ROM or CD ROM The price of CD ROMs is so small now lower than five cents each that they are excellent portable storage media Photographic prints are fine but fade unless you purchase spe cial dye inks or pigment based inks Follow these tips to preserve your images on media Typical photographic prints do not last forever nor do the inks that print the photo If you are looking for longevity consider higher end pigment based inks and cotton fiber papers The average cost for CD ROMs is four cents when you buy them in a promo tion or in a spindle of 100 CD ROMs are an excellent backup medium for images Just be sure to keep t
306. ng used the x axis of this graph and how many pixels in the image use a specific value the y axis Number of pixels 293 White 256 Brightness Values 50 Gray 222 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY How Can Color Images Use Gray Values This talk of gray tones might seem foreign if you only work with color images But gray tones play a major role in color images too Remember that all color images are made up of channels plates that store information about a specific color These channels resemble the dye layers that make up color negative film a layer of dye for each color Most digital cameras use the RGB color space which means there is a Red channel a Blue channel and a Green channel These channels by themselves are actually black and white images that contain gray brightness values As such each channel R G and B contains a combination of the 256 tonal values for brightness Working with Histograms and Levels Not all images share the same histogram Here are some histograms of different image types see Figures 15 4 15 6 as they appear in the Levels dialog box FIGURE 15 4 _ This histogram Chamel Ra gt shows a bal inputLeves ff fioo ess anced distribu tion of tones in the image Chances are good this image is bright con Output Levels 0 255 trasty and needs little if any correction LL a FIGURE 15 5 ES x This histogram
307. ngular selection and choosing Image Crop see Figure 11 23 FIGURE 11 23 Crop tool at work Photoshop Elements Workarounds for Pen and Quick Mask Elements does not include the Quick Mask feature nor does it include the Pen tool Fortunately workarounds are available in the form of Elements Magnetic Lasso its Selection Brush and the Save Selection command To select objects in Elements with the same precision as Photoshop just follow these steps 1 Open an image in Photoshop Elements and zoom in on an object you d like to select or trace 2 Click and hold down the cursor over the Lasso tool until the fly out menu appears Select the Magnetic Lasso tool 3 Begin tracing your image with the magnetic lasso You do not need to click and drag Just move the mouse As you trace the Magnetic Lasso will set anchor points see Figure 11 24 You can set your own as you trace by click ing the mouse at corners FIGURE 11 24 Tracing with the Magnetic Lasso in Elements a iy R a a a CHAPTER 11 ADVANCED SELECTION TOOLS 171 ARAL soc PECENE oe TEN a To move the image while you trace press and hold down the spacebar on your keyboard Move the mouse and then release the spacebar The Magnetic Lasso tool reappears If you have problems keeping the Magnetic Lasso from jumping all over the image increase the Edge Contrast in the toolbar If an unwanted anchor appears or if you jerk the mo
308. ns covered in Table 12 2 scan the image which will appear in your image editor Close the scanner software to return to your image editor software Save this scan with a new name as a TIFF file You can save it as a JPEG image but you should avoid a lossy compression like JPEG in case you need to edit it later Check the resolution by choosing Image Image Size in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements Notice that it is the same resolution you set in the scan ning software see Figure 12 3 Change the resolution to match your output If you plan to print the resolu tion should be 150 400 ppi If you plan to email or place the image on a Web site the resolution should be 72 150 ppi You might have to resample the image explained in the section Digital Methods for Increasing Resolution FIGURE 12 3 The scan resolu tion will show up in Photo shop as the Image Size CHAPTER 12 THE IMPORTANCE OF RESOLUTION Image Type 24 bit Color z m Pbtel Dimensions 78 9M Width 4716 Height 5847 image sze ee xi pixeis pixels 183 j Document Size Width Height Resolution fo m pe a pixeissinch W andian opatija ane Blcwnic v I Resample Image Sat the documert resolution 5 Exit the scanning software and save the image with a new name You can now edit it and print it depending on the resolution Unders
309. nt layer to make your changes Select Layer New Adjustment Layer Curves from the Layer menu or click the Adjustment layer icon at the bottom of the Layers window Be sure the Preview box is on an x is in it so that the entire image will change as you edit the curve Before you begin changing the curve click on different tones of the image This makes a marker appear on the curve corre sponding to the brightness of the pixel you clicked Use this marker to learn about the relationship of the curve to the image Click on the curve to create points and drag them until you have created a good curve for the image The image should appear sharp and with good contrast Experiment with changing the curve of each color leaving the others unchanged Then try giving each color a different curve See how these changes affect the image Click OK when you are satisfied with the note change or press and hold down the Alt key and click Reset to try again i The beauty of adjustment layers is that Ej E al You can turn them off and see the original The use of layer masks image is a little more advanced You can drag them to the trash if they re than the scope of this book If unnecessary you are interested in learning more about adjustment layers coupled with layer masks check out some of the more advanced Photoshop books by New Riders By adding a layer mask you can paint out Press and Que Publishing the
310. ntages of Digital Cameras 11 3 Filmi BASICS erg Sees ve ee seated eee aes Hew Hoh eee Ba ele np dees a Gea 29 Part ll Digitall Basics s ss 66 0 00c ie tee eee ee eee eee ee ed eee ee 43 4 The Importance of Lenses 2 0 0 eee 45 5 Exposure and FOCUS 2 2 2 0 000 eee 63 6 Getting Your Pix Onscreen sosa suren aai dt doh ari aea ee 71 7 Files amp File Formats 0 0 0 00000 0000 eee eee 81 8 File Recovery Finding Lost Images 2000005 97 Part iil Image Editing 0 s02 noon ead wee eee E ween Bh 111 9 Basic Editing with Photoshop Elements and iPhoto 113 10 Editing with Selection Tools 00000000 000 ee 133 11 Advanced Selection Tools ooann 000 00 ce eee 151 12 The Importance of Selections 000000000 eee 173 13 The Importance of Filters 0 eee 191 14 The Importance of Brightness Contrast 2 0000005 205 15 The Importance of Levels amp Curves 000000000 219 16 The Importance of Layers amp Masks 0000005 235 17 The Importance of Channels 0000000000 255 PartIV Digital Output sese eaae eee Re ee a ae 267 18 Printers and Printer Resolution n saaana aaa anaa 269 19 Preserving Yo r Images o ispercisrapa adai kia ae a 285 20 Color THEON osode pa taasi ne Ea ee 293 2M MANIN siai aae Pate a aa A Ae ey E ANE E a 307 Part V Using Your Digital Pictures ccc
311. o if you need to nudge an image one way or another enter a small value in the options toolbar instead of trying to perform the function freehand 126 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 9 16 The Distort command cre ates perspective Editing with iPhoto iPhoto is not as capable as Photoshop Elements in terms of editing but it is much more seamless The strengths of iPhoto are its fileemanagement capabilities and its integration with the hardware iPhoto provides a large organized view of all the images on your Mac This view can be scaled up or down using a simple slider You can connect your digital camera and iPhoto will open automatically You can create galleries of photos and create picture CDs directly from iPhoto You can also archive images onto CD R CD RW or DVD with the SuperDrive directly from iPhoto Not even Photoshop can perform these somewhat advanced functions iPhoto includes basic retouching tools but not much else in the main program see Figure 9 17 You cannot edit areas or color correct selections manually most editing functions are automatic However an unusual workaround exists to mitigate this lack of editing features If you have a photo printer connected to your Mac complex editing tools may be available in the Advanced Options part of the Print dialog box CHAPTER 9 BASIC EDITING WITH PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS AND iPHOTO 127 FIGURE 9 17 iPhoto File Ey view Windo
312. o Histograms 207 Kind of Layer 236 Correcting Brightness and Contrast Creating Image bayak sireni 237 for Dark Images 207 Blending and Opacity Correcting Brightness and Contrast Senma 238 for Low Contrast Images 209 PA Saree Sea F Harmonizing the Elements Using Histograms to Diagnose izing Exposure Problems 210 Of a Collage a Cine aa 233 f Scale and Resolution in a Setting Brightness and Contrast Collage 240 with the Black Point and the Managing Layers 240 WILE OUT ates iit ae Creating an Extended Famil 241 Black Point and White Point I E SEUD e yeaa doe 214 Preventing Color Banding and Brightness and Contrast Data Loss in Adjustment EXETCISe oid eds eo e 215 Layers weet ke ewe es 242 15 The Importance of Levels and Making a Composite Image CUFVES 2c eee newer wea 219 Step by Step 244 Visualize the Image 244 a Levels to Fix Your 550 Inspect Each Component 244 mages ii toe ets A Adjust All the Components 245 Levels Dialog Box 221 Sie oe crete Use G Select a Component and oe Corage NSE a COPY IE Sach enata na 246 vi fs ith Hi es oe d Copy the Selection and Paste i A Mg IE lores alt 595 It into the Background Image 247 a Penn era ce Tenia aie Flatten the Image When Fixing an Image 223 i Finished aei iea a N 247 The Purpose of Levels Triangles 224 The Output
313. o joining the digi revolution is a digital media card also called digital film Digital film is simply flash memory a special form of memory that isn t erased when it s unplugged Digital cameras use one of these types of media E Memory Stick E Memory Stick Duo E SD Secure Digital MMC MultiMedia Card E CF Compact Flash Smartmedia xD Extreme Digital Flash media is important for two reasons It isn t fragile and you can use it to print photos anywhere This is the secret to ubiquitous inexpensive digital photography printers are now everywhere Decent digital cameras use SD CF Smartmedia xD or Memory Sticks to store images You can remove this memory and then stick it in a commercial digital printer at the camera store or your local warehouse club Fortunately only the cheapest toy cameras have no removable media they must rely on a cable con nection to a PC With these types of flash media you can take your pictures every where and print wherever it s cheapest Here are the steps to inexpensive digital photography 1 If you already have a camera determine what kind of digital flash media it uses such as CF SD Smartmedia or a Memory Stick 6 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY 2 Fill up the flash memory by taking some pictures Be sure to have plenty of batteries on hand rechargeable batteries last longest 3 Remove the digital media and take it to a camera
314. o remove most of the dust Large areas will be removed later with the Clone Stamp tool 6 Threshold is adjusted after you find the best Radius for the dust When you find the correct Radius value move the Threshold slider to the right as far as possible until the dust begins to emerge Back down a little Click OK to accept the settings If dust and scratches remain in the image use the Clone Stamp tool Follow these steps to use the Clone Stamp tool to remove any remaining dust and scratches 1 Find some spots that still have dust and zoom in Window Zoom In 2 Click the Clone Stamp tool and then select a brush size appropriate for the dust The smaller the better because you have more control and the changes aren t as easy to spot 3 Before you can use Clone Stamp you need to tell the tool what area to use as a guide Move the cursor somewhere acceptable an area with no dust press down and hold the Alt 3 for Mac users key The cursor will change to a tar get Now click the mouse once You ve set the clone point 4 Move the mouse over any remaining dust ti p and then click and drag The Clone Stamp tool will copy the area you selected sarlion oveihie dust For an advanced treatment of dust and scratch removal The area you selected should be free of dust The on complex subjects such as bottom line is that even the worst scans can be people pick up Katrin saved Removing dust and scratches from areas Eismann
315. o show the boundaries of selected areas within an image See also selection mask An image editing tool used to limit the effects of image editing to certain areas of the image Masks appear on the monitor as overlays of color Unlike a selection masks can be stored and can be edited for later reuse Masks are stored in the channels palette of Adobe Photoshop megabyte MB A measure of computer memory disk storage or file size consisting of approximately one million bytes The actual value is 1 048 576 bytes megapixel camera A digital camera whose CCD chip has over one million individual sensors Each sensor usu ally creates one pixel in the camera s images metadata Data about data EXIF information included in digital camera images is one example The EXIF stan dard states what information is stored in a JPEG image and in what order This data describes the image itself modem modulator demodulator A device that con verts outgoing digital data into analog signals for transmis sion over telephone lines and digitizes incoming analog signals network A group of computers connected electronically so they can exchange data and share peripheral devices such as printers and modems palette Ona computer monitor a software component that appears as a box containing icons of tools and controls that modify the way tools operate options A command center for image editing tools PhotoCD and PictureCD Kodak scanning servic
316. o tool 139 153 154 Portable Document Format PDF file format 82 portrait lenses 53 portraits See also images photos positive reversal color films 295 ppi pixels per inch 174 271 input resolution bit depth 183 186 digital cameras 176 177 film pixels 178 179 scanner software 180 183 resolution 273 274 film scanners 282 284 ink 275 282 monitors 282 settings 273 Print command File menu 127 Print dialog box 127 130 Print Size option scanners 182 printers CMYK 271 color reproduction color management 297 306 dithering 272 drivers 127 dye sublimation 78 270 288 error diffusion 272 inkjet 78 270 laser scanning images for 79 multiple color management 305 306 offset scanning images for 79 ppi pixels per inch ratings 271 284 resolution 269 273 282 settings 273 printing images resolution 177 large images 282 284 line art 274 paper 285 288 resolution Photoshop Elements 116 printing presses output reso lution 188 189 printing process 296 professional film 31 32 profiles device profiles 299 Proof Setup Macintosh RGB command View menu 341 Proof Setup Windows RGB command View menu 341 PSD Photoshop file format 95 Q R Quality amp Media option Print dialog box 129 Quick Mask 156 157 260 261 264 Radius option 193 196 201 203 Raster Image Processor RIP 189 rating systems film sp
317. oducing images of 3000x2000 pixels are now under the 1 000 mark To the untrained eye images from these advanced third generation cameras are the same as a regular film image If today s cameras are that good have they finally caught up with traditional film in terms of resolution Essentially no The resolution of film negative and positive slide film is much much higher Film has a resolution of between 20 and 27 mil lion pixels Film is an analog medium and is affected greatly by the lens film speed type of film lighting conditions handheld stability of the photographer and scanner A compromise in quality in any of these areas will lower this resolution dramatically to that of a 6 megapixel camera or less The most significant disadvantage to film is that it must be scanned Digital images are made up of ones and zeros that can be imported into your image editor with no loss Film must be scanned and scanner quality varies dramatically with drum scanners being the best at capturing detail As you increase the resolution of the scanner however you reach a threshold where further detail becomes noise The scanner then becomes the limiting factor in this film digital comparison The scanner forces film to about a 20 million pixel limit This means that a digital camera that can produce images at 5000x4000 pixels will equal the quality of a scanned negative Today s 11 megapixel cameras which feature 4064x2704 pixel resolut
318. of any device in your computer system An older monitor is only 72 ppi pixels per inch Sony monitors and other more mod ern monitors use a shadow mask of 96 ppi Even LCD screens are up to 100 ppi So why do images look so good on a monitor Two reasons E Backlit illumination Have you ever seen an illuminated billboard on the highway Notice how much better it looks than a front lit billboard E Phosphor intensity Every phosphor onscreen can produce the intensity of every pixel in an image This differs from an inkjet printer which can only produce a dot or leave the area blank Basically the monitor can generate 255 intensity values 0 255 whereas a printer can only generate two a blank or a dot Printing Big Pictures A good scanner will enable you to scan in an image and print it much larger than its original size but only a few times larger If you really need to print large images a film scanner is required ti p Film scanners can scan at a much higher resolu 4 tion A Nikon scanner for example can scan at Film scanners have a much 4000 samples per inch Granted a 35mm nega higher dynamic range tive is much smaller than a print but even this which is the capability to pick up details in the shad ows When you scan a print detail is lost considerably in shadow areas Scan film negatives and slides for maximum quality and dynamic range size will enable you to print images up to 16x20 inches with no noticea
319. of color color space or size JPEG also supports grayscale JPEG also is not limited by a specific range of colors such as GIF with its 256 color palette E Compression or no compression JPEG provides several compression methods including a user defined scalable compression method E Sequential or progressive load Aside from traditional sequential open ing images can be saved in Progressive mode This popular format for the Web loads the image in a series of steps with each step adding detail The JPEG image compression scheme includes two compression methods lossy and lossless The lossy method uses a method called DCT Discrete Cosine Transform to compress specific size blocks of an image explained later The lossless portion of JPEG uses a predictive method for lossless compression but is rarely implemented 88 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY The lossy portion of JPEG includes several compression methods Baseline sequential The standard JPEG compression method and the fastest This method is supported by all applications but the optimized method is recommended for your images Baseline optimized This encoding uses an improved compression algo rithm that results in better compression with the same quality as baseline sequential File sizes should be around five percent smaller The following section explains how the JPEG compression algorithm works You will quickly learn some new terms such
320. ol click the Add to Selection icon see Figure 11 4 ag P E Feather Add to selection 4 Click anywhere in the image several times Notice the rows that appear 5 Press and hold down the cursor on the Single Row Marquee tool in the tool bar and select the Single Column Marquee Tool 6 Click anywhere in the image several times Notice that several columns of marching ants also appear 7 With several rows onscreen choose Edit Fill and fill with either all white or all black 8 Press Ctrl H H for Mac users to hide the marching ants Notice what you ve created black bars see Figure 11 5 156 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 11 5 The Single Column and Single Row Marquee tools are primarily WE a he te a atl used to create black horizontal and vertical lines Quick Mask Mode Quick Mask mode enables you to paint or draw a mask that will protect part of an image while you make changes to other areas Quick Mask mode is not available in Photoshop Elements you must use the standard Marquee tools to create a selec tion in this program caution If you change the feather amount for row or column you might see a warning and then not be able to see the lt To become better acquainted with Quick Mask mode keep your test image open and follow these steps 1 Choose the Lasso tool and create a selec tion around some object in the image see Figure 11 6 2
321. olor such as black or white If the subject is close to white or is very bright check the camera meter reading and then add a few stops by lengthening the shutter speed from 1 250 to 1 60 for example or opening up the lens from f11 to 5 6 equals two stops If the subject is very dark check the camera meter and then shorten the shutter speed from 1 125 to 1 500 two stops or make the aperture smaller from f5 6 to f8 one stop 328 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 22 3 Just remember WUBO white color subjects lead to under exposed images and black color subjects lead to overexposed images Converting Color to Black and White Among the many processes the computer has simpli fied is the conversion of color images to black and white images Making a black and white print from a color negative or transparency used to require either special printing paper or the production of a black and white internegative Now one digital color file can produce either a color print or a black and white print Digital imaging lets you easily confirm whether a color negative might yield a more dramatic black and white print than it does a color image The ease of conversion also lets you use just one film type and camera body when you want to make both color and black and white photographs dur ing the same shooting session Many publications continue to print only in black and white and most photo
322. olors of the background image and the component image are identi cal select the area you want to copy with the Lasso tool Feather the selection and draw the selection far enough away from the subject so that it isn t in the feathered area If the background must be removed around the edges of the subject try selecting the background with the Magic Wand or the Color Range com mand Then use Select Inverse command to deselect the background and select the subject If the background must be removed but the edges of the subject are out of focus or difficult to work with such as hair make selections with a Pen tool because pens are precise and allow selection boundaries to be changed later if they are not perfect Many experienced users prefer to use masking another process for creating editable selections You can read more about masks in Chapter 17 The Importance of Channels E Dedicated masking software such as Extensis Mask Pro works in conjunction with Adobe Photoshop These tools and plug ins offer sophisticated features that simplify creating selections After making the selection save the selection by choosing Select Save Selection in case you need to redo it CHAPTER 16 THE IMPORTANCE OF LAYERS AND MASKS 247 Copy the Selection and Paste It into the Background Image Use the Move tool in the main Tool palette to position the new image over the background Determine how well the new image blends in If too muc
323. ons Width or Height fields The print size will also change CHAPTER 9 BASIC EDITING WITH PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS AND iPHOTO 121 E Type values for the Document Size Width or Height The number of pix els will automatically change to match the new document print size This is recommended if your goal is to print the image on a specific size piece of paper such as 8 1 2x11 or 11x17 E Type a value in the Resolution pixels per inch field The number of pixels will automatically change to match the new resolution The print size will not change 7 When you finish click OK and print the image Modifying an Image in Elements Many images need to be rotated Film and prints can easily be misaligned in a scan ner and often cameras are not held level As a result architectural elements or the horizon might appear tilted To correct this you can rotate the entire image Perspective Correction in Elements You can change the shape of images to correct errors in perspective or for creative purposes Ordinary 35mm camera lenses cannot correct for perspective When a camera is pointed up at a tall building the picture it takes will show the building s sides converging toward the top of the image Perspective controls in software can correct this the sides of the building will appear parallel after editing Figure 9 9 was taken with an ordinary wide angle lens pointed upward The vertical lines of the building should appear parallel but they
324. or differences in brightness As you glance from a bright toa shadowed area the eye s pupil opens up to admit more light Film however cannot make such adjustments it can record detail and texture in brightly lit areas or in deeply shadowed ones but generally not in both at the same time If important shadow areas are much darker than lit areas for example the shaded side of a per son s face in a portrait consider whether adding fill light will improve your picture Fill light is most useful with color transparencies As little as two stops difference between lit and shaded areas can make shadows very dark even black Fill light can also be useful with black and white materials In a black and white portrait of a partly shaded subject shadows that are two stops darker than the lit side of the face will be dark but still show full texture and detail But when shadows become three or more stops darker than lit areas fill light becomes useful You can fix these problems by adding fill light rather than try to lighten a too dark shadow prior to printing 320 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 21 16 A softer photoflood studio light fills in shadows and creates detail Artificial lighting often requires fill light Light from a single photoflood or flash often produces a very contrasty light in which the shaded side of the face will be very dark if the lit side is exposed and printed normally Notice how
325. or with several layers using the command Layer Group with Previous see Figure 16 7 Layers beneath the grouped layers are not affected by the adjustment layer After you create an adjust ment layer group it with a specific layer to prevent the adjustment from affecting the entire image 244 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 16 7 An adjustment layer can be grouped with a specific layer BE J Layers W channels Paths ol Normal Opacity fron Locks _ op a Fit Group with Previous arrow Layer modifies layer below it Making a Composite Image Step by Step Web developers and artists often must combine images into a composite image much like the collage you read about earlier in the chapter If you need to combine several images for a Web graphic or just for fun this section will walk you through the important steps Visualize the Image Before starting visualize your final image and decide which component images you will use Don t plan an image that s too big for your computer or its memory Remember that by opening several images at the same time and having many layers in an image you will increase the demands on your computer Sketch what you have visualized Draw a picture of your background image the master image and place paper cutouts of each component layer over it Will the image compo nents work together visually Will they create an interesting image Make changes in siz
326. orces light values captured by the camera sensor into a defined color space Essentially the camera can only capture specific colors not the entire spectrum of color Generally this is not significant because the human eye cannot really discern colors accurately There are several color space definitions in use today Each has its advantages and disadvantages RGB Within the color model RGB are a number of color spaces such as Apple RGB Adobe RGB 1998 and sRGB Each RGB color space defines color through three axes R G and B but differ in gamut and other characteris tics RGB can be thought of as three grayscale images usually referred to as channels representing the light values of red green and blue Combining these three channels of light produces a wide range of visible colors The three colors combined generate white unlike the CMYK color space which generates black For this reason the RGB color space is called an additive color space sRGB sRGEB is currently the standard color space for cameras and computer monitors This standard was created by Microsoft and HP in 1996 as a stan dard for computer monitors and software The sRGB standard includes three important areas colorimetric RGB definition the equivalent gamma value of 2 2 and a set of well defined viewing conditions This results in a color space that is equal among all devices from the digital camera to the printer The only problem is that standardization
327. orials for making buttons in Photoshop or Illustrator pose iw c BROO REE vba esrzr 2Oc S S E 6 Prepare the text Text such as titles and captions can be created either in Photoshop or Macromedia Director or imported from a word processing pro gram such as Microsoft Word Text can be embedded in pictures using Photoshop 7 Write and lay out the text portion of your CD This is probably the easiest part of the assignment as long as you have something to say Place the sub ject matter the time the images were taken and any other story behind the pictures in your document 8 Add video if you have it You will need to learn how to import video into your project see Figure 19 5 Prepare video clips optional Videos can be con verted to digital QuickTime movies using an editing program like Adobe Premiere iMovie or Microsoft Movie Maker 292 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 19 5 Record Importing a Record Video and audio video clip into Video device Sony DV Device Windows XP s Audodevice Sony DV Device a Change Device Movie Maker Recordhmeimt 20000 I Create cips I Dissbie premew While coptunng Seting Tihe gt Video for broadband NTSC 768 Kbps IZAN pixels 30 hames p i second Dintol video camera controis Shee 17 min avateble on dive C cs nj aj a wf aj gt acl 9 Put all the elements together Authori
328. ors there is a curve for each primary color Thus Curves will do what the Color Balance command does and do it with more power and control The straight line from the bottom left corner of the graph to the top right corner is what will become a curve When you click and drag on the line it becomes elastic and forms a curve see Figure 15 11 Moving this line changes the tones of the image x m Chamel RGB hd I Lx Cancel Load Smostn Auto Options input 158 ka amp 228 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Understanding input versus output is the key to using Curves When the curve is moved the brightness of the pixels changes If the curve moves down the image s pixels become darker If the curve moves up the image becomes lighter Using a Curve to Correct Excessively Dark Tones The image in Figure 15 12 has good white tones and black tones but the midtones are too dark FIG URE 1 5 1 2 if Adobe Photoshop pla_dark_midtenes td 6 8 168 ER wage Lever Sect Re Yor Window Help The image before editing S IT 4 5 q i Correcting this image with Curves is easy Because the problem is that the midtones are too dark simply drag the middle of the curve upward the midtones are in the middle The tones become lighter wherever the curve is moved upward see Figure 15 13 FIGURE 15 13 x Correction with channel RGB gt C
329. ot be duplicated elsewhere affordably Paper technology has become a science that rivals military manufacturing As you learned in Chapter 18 Printers and Printer Resolution print papers are available in film glossy pearl matte and various shades of plain Photo Papers Photo papers are divided by size gloss and thickness The size of course depends on the printer Most printers can print a maximum 8x11 inch size paper Large for mat printers are available that can print 11x17 inch and 13x19 inch cut sheets and larger printers sometimes referred to as plotters their outdated predecessor can print up to widths of 108 inches The larger printers use rolls of paper instead of cut sheets High gloss paper is available for all sizes of printers High gloss papers with a thick ness greater than 8 mil 8 thousandths of a meter are more expensive than thinner CHAPTER 19 PRESERVING YOUR IMAGES 287 less glossy papers Usually the thicker the paper the better it is for presentation Thinner papers are good for snapshots and review work HP manufactures a Premium Photo Gloss paper that currently is available in 11 mil thickness Their older version was 10 mil Most paper manufacturers prefer to increase the thickness as their printers become better at printing on thick papers Some papers are cut to a specific standard called an ISO size You may have seen A4 paper which is the standard letter size for European
330. otoshop and other image editors press Ctrl Z While you re experimenting in Photoshop keep in mind the most important command Undo Choose Edit Undo to cancel your last action returning the image to its previous state This lets you try an effect then undo it to see how it looked before You can choose Edit Redo to rein state the command to undo and Ctrl Z again to redo the command Since version 6 of Photoshop you can perform multiple Undos by pressing Ctrl Alt Z 136 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Introduction to Selection Tools FIGURE 10 3 A test image downloaded from NASA s Planetary Photojournal As a reminder the best Undo of all is to save a copy of any image before you work on it This is especially important when working with compressed images such as JPEG files The first time you open a JPEG file for example you should save it with a new name as a TIFF or PSD file to save the original and prevent further compression of the image note Every image you open The following examples use the full version of in Photoshop should be Photoshop to prepare a digital file that is large saved with a new name to pre enough in resolution and pixel size to printon an _ Serve the original Form a habit of 8 x10 sheet of photo paper The examples were saving images with a new name immediately after opening You will thank yourself later when your machine crashes the power
331. ouble click on the layer to edit it Adjustment layers created in Elements can be edited in Photoshop however FIGURE 7 1 A channel cre ated in Photoshop left and accessible in Elements right CHAPTER 7 FILES AND FILE FORMATS 85 Layer sets Partial compatibility in PSD and TIFF formats A layer set cre ated in Photoshop is locked in Elements You can turn it off but you cannot modify it E Text and text layers Interchangeable Text is fully editable between Elements and Photoshop for TIFF and PSD images Text can be created and manipulated in either program In addition if text falls within a layer set you will not be able to access the text layer but you can edit the text Advanced text options are not available in Elements of course but every other text related feature is available Channels and saved selections Elements does not have a Channels palette but selections saved in Photoshop in TIFF and PSD are accessible by clicking Select Load Selection in Elements see Figure 7 1 You can create a selection in Elements save the image as a TIFF or PSD and open it in Photoshop as well E Paths No compatibility Elements has no Paths palette An image created with paths in Photoshop and saved as a TIFF or PSD file will open in Elements but there is no way to access paths A workaround is to create a selection from the path save it as a selection in Photoshop and then send the file to Elements
332. our PC You can do this using a flash media reader that plugs into a USB port or FireWire port 2 In Windows double click on My Computer 3 Find the flash media drive and right click on it then select Properties 4 When the Properties menu appears click the Tools tab then choose Defragment Now 5 When the Disk Defragmenter appears click Analyze to determine whether the disk needs to be defragmented If a pop up with the message You do not need to defragment this volume appears you can either close the applica tion or defragment anyway 6 If you analyzed the media and still need to defragment click Defragment Depending on the size of the media card you should be finished in a minute or two 7 When the defragmentation finishes you can view a report of the defragment operation or click Close and then choose File Exit to exit the application 8 Remove the flash media card from your PC For Windows 2000 users remem ber to detach it properly by clicking the Remove Hardware icon in the system tray in the lower right corner of the Start bar next to the clock 108 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Formatting Flash Media Every version of Windows since Windows 98 uses the FAT32 filesystem This is a 32 bit filesystem in which the File Allocation Table stores cluster addresses as 32 bits resulting in smaller cluster sizes 4KB versus FAT16 s 16 32KB Here are a few different versions of the FAT fam
333. our lab doesn t use it you will need shortcuts so you can create finished prints with fewer test prints The fol lowing procedure creates such a shortcut a reusable software file that adjusts your monitor to match your printer Photoshop Elements users do not have access to the CMYK color space It is still possible to calibrate a monitor and a printer with Elements so follow along 300 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY 1 Before you print find out whether the printer you intend to use makes better prints when you edit in RGB mode or CMYK mode see Printing in RGB and CMYK in this chapter 2 Use Adobe Gamma to calibrate the monitor For prints set the gamma to a value of 1 8 3 Edit a test image choose an image typical of the photos you want to print Be sure it has a variety of colors and tones Make it look good on the monitor see Figure 20 9 then print it FIGURE 20 9 E Adobe Photoshop The onscreen image 4 Compare the print Figure 20 10 and the monitor image Does the print have a color bias and if so which colors Are any print colors over or under saturated Are the print s midtones and shadows too dark or too light FIGURE 20 10 The printed image without color manage ment FIGURE 20 11 Layers palette with a Levels adjustment layer CHAPTER 20 COLORTHEORY 301 5 Create one or more adjustment layers refer to Chapter 16 The Importance of Layers and Masks
334. overexposure they re capable of handling that is much smaller than consumer type film 32 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY In addition they are much more sensitive to temperature shifts If you decide to experiment with professional film store it in a refrigerator to retard aging and keep the color fidelity constant Negative or reversal professional film also is designed and manufactured for pro fessionals who demand accurate color balance A film s age and its ISO rating and color balance change during storage Professional film is shipped with its qualities near their peak and is refrigerated by camera stores to ensure that it is in the best condition Professionals usually buy large quantities of film preferably all from the same man ufacturing batch and they shoot test rolls to determine its precise ISO and color bal ance Professionals keep film refrigerated until it is used and develop it as soon as possible Conversely amateur film may be shipped before it is ready as the manu facturers anticipate that it will not be used immediately It often improves after a few months of room temperature storage The useful life of unopened film can be extended by refrigeration or freezing However once film is opened you take it out of its plastic container it is better kept at room temperature and should be exposed and developed promptly Films for Specialized Color Balance and Exposure Times Each typ
335. p you recover note from these seemingly irreversible errors Recovering files from flash media does not require any technical skills thanks to today s easy to use software You will need to know a little about file structure and the way files are stored on a disk This chapter focuses on using a file recovery drive aside from that you are steps away from tool for Windows Mac users recovering lost files should investigate Image Rescue The most powerful software programs for digital from Lexar Media PhotoRescue photographers aside from Photoshop are surpris by DataRescue or Recovery PRO ingly freeware applications PC Inspector s File by CompuApps Recovery and the more advanced WinHex This chapter shows you how to use the File Recovery application to restore files WinHex is very powerful but also confusing for those who do not understand hexadecimal and binary storage CHAPTER 8 FILE RECOVERY FINDING LOST IMAGES 99 If you re desperate and need to recover files now the next section will help If you aren t exactly in panic mode you might want to skip to the end of the chapter to learn first how a filesystem stores files This little tutorial will help tremendously when you later experience a disaster Using PC Inspector File Recovery FIGURE 8 1 The PC Inspector File Recovery user interface PC Inspector File Recovery is a must have application for Windows PC users This program is freeware and is available
336. paper only on the end this reduces the thickness of the roll so that more film can be wound on the spool and more exposures made Sheet films or cut films are designed for large format cameras such as 4x5 inch and 8x10 inch cameras also called view cameras Sheet film is packaged 10 or more sheets to a box Some film must be loaded in film holders before use although you now can buy sheet film in disposable holders WHAT ABOUT APS FILM Advanced Photo System APS films were released a short time before digital photography took off This red headed stepchild of film is actually highly advanced Every roll of APS film contains a magnetic layer that records the format in which you want the print the date frame number and other data Do You Need a Film for a Special Purpose Aside from Polaroid film which contains developing chemicals in each picture a number of unusual film technologies exist High contrast films produce only two tones the clear film base and black without intermediate tones of gray Infrared films respond to infrared wavelengths that the human eye cannot see These are available in black and white and color Chromogenic black and white films such as Ilford XP2 produce a dye image rather than a silver one They have excellent exposure latitude which means you can expose individual frames at different film speeds Frames exposed at about ISO 100 will have finer grain but frames on the same roll of film can
337. papers The A standard starts at AO which is 1 square meter and continues up to A6 which is smaller All the A sized papers use a ratio of 1 1 1414 If you cut an AO piece of paper in half you will end up with two A1 sizes of paper Table 19 1 presents a breakdown Table 19 1 ISO Paper Sizes Sheet Size Width x Height in centimeters AO 84 1 x 111 9 Al 59 4 x 84 1 A2 42 x 59 4 A3 29 7 x 42 A4 21 x 29 7 AS 14 8 x 21 A6 10 5 x 14 8 A7 7 4 x 10 5 A8 5 2 x 7 4 Plain Papers Brightness ratings exist for plain papers the brighter the better Most copier paper that generic paper you use for just about everything at work is around a brightness of 82 Higher end plain papers by Kodak and HP have a brightness of 94 102 The science behind these numbers is rather subjective but the bottom line is these papers are whiter and brighter and more expensive Often these papers are fine for invitations pamphlets and even working photos during heavy editing 288 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Archival Issues with Paper How long will your print last This is a question that paper manufacturers asked the leading paper archival specialist in the U S Wilhelm Imaging Research You can read more about paper permanence and download the Wilhelm book on perma nence free at ww wilhelm research com This lab in Iowa tests papers for longevity using different lighting and torture tests DEEP UNDERGROUND Corbis Ima
338. present your images which is important for those who are serious about photography and the memories they capture IN THIS CHAPTER The Advantages and Disadvantages of Digital Cameras The RGB and sRGB Color Space CCDs and CMOS Chips How They Work Lens Quality and Resolution ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF DicgiTAL CAMERAS Convenience and customization are the two most important advan tages of digital camera technology but this new medium does retain some drawbacks Most professional photographers would admit that digital photography has come far enough in technology and resolution that it matches film the dozens of Nikon F5s and Canon EOS1s at the used camera store is one clue This means digital photography has reached the qual ity most professionals require of their work The technology itself has some shortcomings however 12 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Resolution Consumer level digital cameras are not capable of higher resolutions than what you would receive from a 35mm cam era with a third rate lens Color space Digital cameras rely on a color space or mathematical representation of all colors Most cameras use the sRGB Red Green Blue color space Other color space definitions exist though that often are note This chapter focuses on the lesser known advantages and disadvantages of digital cameras You will learn how a quality digital camera superior Alias
339. processing is that detail is lost to compensate for the mask The loss of detail becomes noticeable along the edges of dark and light areas such as in this example of a building against the bright sky CHAPTER 2 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF DIGITAL CAMERAS 23 Highlights and CCD Sensitivity A smaller but noticeable problem with CCD cameras is with highlights Chrome reflec tions the sun and any bright sources of light result in bright vertical streaks on digital images This problem is called blooming see Figure 2 8 The pixels where the high lights occur wash out and spill over into adjacent pixels in the array The result is sharp vertical streaks This occurs often in CCD astronomy and images of chrome Newer more advanced CCDs on today s digital cameras can overcome this CCD prob lem using an anti blooming gate designed to bleed off overflow from a saturated pixel Less expensive cameras however produce a bright spot and a vertical streak FIGURE 2 8 One form of blooming unique to Fuji s Super HAD hexagonal sensors Digital Camera Technologies and Standards The most beneficial part of digital photography is the instant results Every photog rapher benefits from being able to check whether a picture came out The obvious second largest benefit to digital is of course no film This means no high prices on the front end and no high cost of developing on the back end But did you know a number of technologies
340. pter focuses The advertised dpi of inkjet printers does not equal on inkjet printers Dye the resolution it can produce on paper Printer sublimation printers and laser manufacturers will say their printers can print printers should also be researched 1200x4800 dpi or 1440x720 dpi dots per inch by budding photographers to see These numbers are the number of dots the printer whether they can match the cost can squirt into a square inch of glossy paper as it per page of inkjet printers prints an image Suppose your printer is advertised as having 1200x1200 dpi resolution This means it can squirt 1200 dots per inch onto the paper This is not the same as 1200 ppi The printer must create a rainbow of colors using only four to seven inks Inkjet printers are only capable of printing specific colors because they have a specific number of inks WHAT ABOUT DYE SUBLIMATION PRINTERS Dye sublimation printers use a thermal process to transfer colored dyes from a roll of thin polymer film onto special print media The process uses layers of dye cyan magenta and yellow that are deposited on the paper in three passes Continuous tones are possible with this technology because the inks can blend together In addition there is no noticeable grain with dye sub printers Today s inkjet printers which are much more versatile have recently been able to match the quality of dye sublimation printers FIGURE 18 2 Close up of an inkjet print Notice
341. putLeves E fioo fs with less expo sure Output Levels p fess 212 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY If a histogram from well exposed film is clipped you might be able to correct it by rescanning consult the scanner s manual Most scanning software has controls that let you change the exposure of the scan When a histogram is clipped because of bad camera exposure reshoot the picture Reshoot the image using fill light to reduce the scene s contrast If an image is clipped at only one end reshoot the picture with either more or less exposure Setting Brightness and Contrast with the Black Point and the White Point FIGURE 14 9 Controls in the Levels dialog box Input shadow slider A histogram graph shows the brightness values of pixels in an image The height of each bar represents the total number of pixels of a given brightness in the whole image see Figure 14 9 The spread shows the frequency of each of the 255 tones available for the picture Pure black is 0 middle gray is 128 and paper white is 255 The three images in Figures 14 10 14 12 have different histograms The histograms tell you whether the image has high contrast no contrast or a broad representation of all brightness levels In time you will be able to determine what an image looks like just by examining its histogram Histogram Midtone slider Input highlight slider Ei Reset Load Save
342. quisite blur filters force the software to reduce sharpness CCD Competition Low Cost CMOS Image Sensors The CMOS Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor image sensor is an inex pensive sensor replacement for CCDs that does away with a few disadvantages of CCDs but introduces its own issues CMOS sensors produce medium quality images that are more susceptible to noise than a CCD sensor Each pixel on a CMOS sensor can be read individually however which makes it more flexible in manufacture and cost than CCD sensors Another benefit of CMOS sensors They are built using the same equipment as CPU chips such as the Pentium 4 chip Because they use common equipment CMOS sen sors are less expensive to manufacture and benefit from innovations in CPU tech nology The flexibility of CMOS sensors is also the reason why they aren t as precise as CCDs Each pixel on a CMOS sensor has several transistors located next to it mak ing it possible for photons to hit the transistors instead of the photo diode This makes the CMOS sensor less sensitive to light than the CCD sensor CMOS technology consumes much less power than CCD chips as little as 1 100th of the power needed by a CCD sensor This is why CMOS sensors appear on mobile phones On professional digital SLRs however which often have large high power batteries the CCD sensor is the best choice What About Foveon A CMOS based technology called Foveon was announced in 2001 that u
343. r in pixels to tell Photoshop how far from the edge the tool will still work Adobe Photoshop ch01_00 Lti 1600 RGB FIGURE 11 3 The Magnetic Lasso tool io scifmicelen ES Saen i e PNZ OkNANA7G 4 CHAPTER 11 ADVANCED SELECTION TOOLS 155 Edge Contrast If the tool isn t sticky enough enter a higher Edge Contrast value Edge contrast tells the Magnetic Lasso tool how much contrast must exist between the subject and the background Frequency If the Magnetic Lasso is setting too many points enter a smaller number in this field Frequency tells Photoshop how often to set points 3 Press Ctrl D or Select Deselect to remove the selection Single Row and Single Column Marquees FIGURE 11 4 The Add to Selection icon The row and column marquees enable you to create dramatic borders and dividers within images These tools benefit from Photoshop s powerful options toolbar which includes icons for creating a new selection adding to an existing selection subtract ing from an existing selection and intersecting a selection The following steps demonstrate how these marquee tools are used Photoshop Elements does not include these tools but the Rectangular Marquee tool can be used as a last resort 1 Press and hold down the cursor on the Rectangle Marquee tool until the fly out menu appears 2 Select the Single Row Marquee Tool 3 In the options toolbar for the Single Row Marquee to
344. range of lighting Even so you get the best colors if film is shot under correctly balanced lighting or if color correc tion filters are placed on the lens to correct the color of the light The color of daylight changes depending on the weather and the time of day Daylight color film is color balanced for average noon sunlight An hour or two before sunset the light becomes very red or yellow On cloudy days the color of day light becomes much bluer Color filters can be used to eliminate the bluish color if it is undesirable Exposure Latitude Color transparency film and most consumer digital cameras have little exposure lat itude Even slight overexposure or underexposure is readily visible especially in con trasting lighting Consumer level digital cameras blow out highlights in overexposed prints see Figure 5 2 A blowout is a dead giveaway the image was taken with a dig ital camera FIGURE 5 2 Digital cameras are not good at overexposure Highlights over come the sen sor s ability to record useful information CHAPTER 5 EXPOSURE AND FOCUS 67 Some professional digital cameras capture 36 bits per pixel instead of 24 and are better able to deal with high contrast scenes than less expensive point and shoot digital cameras Even though 24 bits per pixel means millions of color combinations are possible 36 bits per pixel increases that capability to billions As a result 36 bit cameras capture what
345. rator the Pen Path tool is very similar If you re new to the Pen tool just keep these things in mind E A path has special properties It looks like a line but it can be turned into a number of different items such as a selection a line or even an erased area what s called a stroked path in Adobe speak See Figure 11 8 158 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 11 7 The Pen tools and the Path palette The Pen tools create paths which appear in the Paths palette T id K Pen Tool P g GEen Pen Tes N P x j Add Anchor Point Tool j7 Delete Anchor Point Toot N Convert Point Too P FIGURE 11 8 F A stroked path 1 2 Background Eraser f amp Clare Stamp amp Pattern Stamp ad amp Healing Brush _ en oF Histery Brush F Art History Brush Smudge mm Bir E A path is a line that you can save with your image just as you can save lay ers and channels You can close the image open it again and the path you created earlier will still be listed in the Paths palette E Paths take up much less storage space than any other type of selection such as channels or layers E Every time you click you create an anchor along the path that can be turned into a curve or remain an angle CHAPTER 11 ADVANCED SELECTION TOOLS 159 Follow these steps to acquaint yourself with the Pen tool 1 FIGURE 11 9 Drawing a line with the Pen tool 2
346. re until it has focused After the lens locks in the focus you must either expose the picture or let up on the shutter release button This assures you of a high percentage of sharp pictures but can prevent you from capturing a critical moment With continuous focus the camera constantly searches for the correct focus when you partially depress the shutter button The camera revises its focus as the subject moves closer or farther away Continuous focus allows you to make an exposure whenever you like This approach works well for shooting action but does not guar antee a sharp picture every time 56 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY After you lock onto a subject some cameras predict where the sub ject is likely to be next keeping the subject in focus even if it moves across the frame These focus tracking systems can lock onto a subject adjusting the focus as the subject moves closer to or farther from the cam era The system works especially well if the sub caution Continuous focus kills batteries If you re out in the field curb your use of this type of focusing to preserve battery levels ject like a race car is traveling at a constant speed toward or away from the camera Some cameras have two autofocus systems Active autofocus sends out a beam of red light that the camera uses to measure the distance to the subject Passive autofocus uses the contrast in the scene to determine
347. reas You can read more about the Levels and Curves commands in Chapter 15 The Importance of Levels and Curves Some photographers feel that the first tool you should use when editing washed out photos is Brightness Contrast The importance of this dialog box is substantial although many professional photographers feel the same results can be achieved using Levels or Curves To see whether the Brightness Contrast dialog box will fix any problems you encounter with an image follow these steps 1 Open an image in Photoshop and save a copy of it with a new name 2 Select the Image menu and choose Adjustments Brightness Contrast 3 Click on the Preview box to see your changes as you make them 4 Make the image lighter or darker by moving the Brightness slider bar or typ ing a number from 100 darker to 100 lighter 5 Change the contrast by taking the same actions with the Contrast slider bar The image will show the changes you make 6 Click OK to make the changes or Cancel to leave the image unchanged To reset press down and hold the Alt on the Mac key to change the Cancel button to a Reset button CHAPTER 14 THE IMPORTANCE OF BRIGHTNESS CONTRAST 207 Introduction to Histograms A histogram is a bar graph that shows the number of pixels at each brightness level in an image with the darkest pixels to the left and the lightest pixels to the right see Figure 14 2 The quantity amount of pixels in the image that us
348. reasonably sharp if it has 200 pixels per inch as a rule of thumb Prints with more than 300 pixels per inch are rarely useful most people can t see such fine detail Between 200 and 270 pixels per inch on the print is a good target number for prints that must look sharp How sharp does an image need to be It depends on how it will be viewed If an image is smaller than 8x12 inches it needs to look sharp because people will view it up close You ll not only need a scan that has enough samples per inch but the film or print you are scanning must be very sharp to begin with otherwise the final print will be unsharp no matter how many samples per inch Some images don t need to be sharp Poster sized images can have fewer pixels per inch 25 to 100 because they are viewed from a distance see Figure 6 5 The largest images seen daily outdoor billboards may be printed with only two pixels per inch Images that are unsharp for deliberate aesthetic reasons do not need high res olution scanning but the pixels in the print must be small enough to avoid creating a jagged look CHAPTER 6 GETTING YOUR PIX ONSCREEN 79 Scanning for Laser and Offset Printing FIGURE 6 6 Laser printers output images similar to an offset press On the left an enlargement from a maga zine on the right an enlargement from a color laser printer If your goal is to print on a halftone device such as a laser printer or an offset print in
349. reflects ESE g E Eune 7 white when the colors R G and B are com a n a i eae bined For this reason the CMY color space ae a 4 RO more sensitive to brightness is called a subtractive model The black oh black changes than color changes K component is added so that true blac which fits with this color model can be printed on paper versus a contrived black from the three colors The JPEG compression As with the RGB color space every color is represented by three values C M and Y These values are assumed to be in the 0 255 range Ci LAB LAB color mode splits color into three values L describes relative lightness A represents relative redness greenness B represents relative yellowness blueness Adobe Photoshop software uses LAB color as its native color space because LAB color can be converted to another color space without doing damage to the colors intensities or hues Photoshop is just as talented at working with images in the other color spaces of course The RGB color space is actually related closely to LAB color The Ci LAB model was adopted worldwide as the master color space definition in 1991 The color models described here are the most common color spaces Digital cameras rely on the RGB color space which has a few issues One is that the RGB color space is device dependent In other words when the camera captures an image it may not appear the same on the monitor another RGB device
350. rescent lights These custom settings resemble different types of film such as tungsten and indoor film 66 Color Balance and Film Color film can record colors that your eye does not see when the picture is made This is because film is manufactured to reproduce color accurately under specific lighting conditions If the picture is made under the wrong lighting colors in the photograph become unbalanced which means that there is an unwanted color tint or color cast over the entire photograph For example if daylight balanced film is used indoors under incandescent light bulbs objects that are supposed to look white such as a white shirt will be rendered with a red tint This is because incandescent light bulbs produce more light in the red wavelengths than daylight does Color Balance and Slide Film Color balance is more important with reversal film ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY note Fluorescent lamps do not produce a continuous color spectrum of light like an incandescent bulb Instead fluo rescent bulbs generate spikes of light at certain wavelengths within the spectrum especially green light They are generally considered to be at a temperature of 4500 K than with negative film Because reversal film is viewed directly any minor color cast will be noticed The colors in negative films can be corrected in printing so neg ative films produce acceptable results under a wider
351. revent moisture from condens ing on the film surface One roll of film or a 10 sheet box of sheet film needs about an hour to warm up a 100 foot roll of bulk loaded 35mm film or a 100 sheet box of sheet film needs about four hours to warm up Film Speed The faster the film speed the less light required to produce an image Therefore faster film can be used in dimmer light with faster shutter speeds or with smaller apertures A fast film is useful indoors for example especially if you use only the existing light in the room and do not supplement it with electronic flash or photofloods A slower film is good for brightly lit scenes such as outdoors in bright sun The faster the film the higher its film speed number What film speed should you use Faster films tend to produce grainier pictures so theoretically you will get the best results by selecting the slowest film usable in each situation In practice however it is inconvenient and unnecessary to work with sev eral film speeds Some photographers use a relatively fast ISO 400 film for almost all their work One type of film might not be enough but a fast ISO rated film and a slower finer grain film are enough for most situations see Figure 3 2 36 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 3 2 ISO 100 ISO 400 and ISO 1600 speed film compared Film Speed Rating Systems A film speed number indicates how sensitive that film is to light There
352. reverses the selection status of every pixel in the image Selected pixels become deselected and unselected pixels become selected 168 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY View Show Selection Edges This command hides the marching ants selection marquee the selec ti p tion is still there but hidden This is i useful when you need to compare Press Ctrl Shift to the selection to the surrounding invert the selection This area while making changes shortcut will come in handy Remember to restore the marquee as you gain more experi by choosing View Show Selection ence Edges again or you might forget that there is a hidden selection HIDING THE CRAWLING ANTS At times the selection marquee can be a distraction and you might prefer to work without it You can temporarily hide the selection marquee by choosing View Show Selection Edges or just press Ctrl H 38H for Mac You can make the marquee reappear by choosing View Show Selection Edges again Feathering and Antialiased Selections Ordinarily pixels are either completely selected or completely unselected A few selection tools however create partially selected pixels Partially selected pixels are extremely useful in editing For example a narrow zone of partially selected pixels at the edge of selection will create soft gradations between the edited and unedited areas Soft gradations make your edits appear to be a natural part of the picture
353. rightness with no glare Getting Information About the Image FIGURE 15 16 Use the cursor to sample brightness values in the image With the image onscreen and the Curves dialog box open you can move the cursor over the image and see brightness information appear interactively in the Curves dialog box As you move your cursor over the image the eyedropper icon displays E A circle on the curve showing the brightness of the pixel under the cursor E A numerical brightness value for the pixel below the curves graph The Input box shows the brightness value 0 255 of the pixel before the curve was edited and the Output box shows the pixel s brightness value after editing the current value Moving the cursor with the mouse button held down enables you to sample pixels from many places in the image see Figure 15 16 As the cursor glides around the circle on the graph moves and the corresponding numbers change The information you gain can help you decide how to place new points on the curve and which way to drag them to change their brightness AJI Output e6 CHAPTER 15 THE IMPORTANCE OF LEVELS AND CURVES 231 The steepness of the curve controls the contrast of the image A steep curve results an image with considerable contrast A flat curve gives the image low contrast Color Corrections with Curves The Curves dialog has a curve for the combined colors plus individual curves for each color You c
354. roject could also include text your resum and video narration about your work 1 Begin with a storyboard First decide what you want people to see hear and be able to do List or sketch each component of the CD and how you plan to present it If you want the user to be able to skip around the material you need to map out the different routes the user will be able to take 2 Decide whether you want your CD to play on either Macintosh or IBM Windows computers or both This affects your choice of authoring software and the way the material is assembled by the software Fortunately Macs can read Windows CDs with no problem 3 Prepare your photographs You will need an image editing program such as Adobe Photoshop or Photoshop Elements to crop and resize your FIGURE 19 4 Building but tons in Photoshop Elements for your custom CD CHAPTER 19 PRESERVING YOUR IMAGES 291 photographs and to adjust the contrast color balance or other characteris tics You can also use art software to create backgrounds or navigation but tons that take the viewer from one place to another on the CD 4 Open your images in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements and crop your photo graphs if necessary 5 Create navigation buttons in Photoshop see Figure 19 4 or find free buttons on the Internet Visit Google com and enter the search phrase Web site but tons and visit some sites Usually the free buttons aren t as valuable as the tut
355. rom red eye by desaturating the color This method relies on the Hue Saturation tool available in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements Most image editors include the same tool 1 Open the image and choose File Save As Save the file with a new name to preserve the original in case you mess up Choose Window Layers to access the Layers palette Create a new layer by clicking on the new layer icon in the lower right of the Layer s window 3 Zoom in on a person with red eye and click the Elliptical Marquee tool Place the cursor in the center of the person s iris the red eye area Press and hold down the Alt key in Windows or the 3 key on the Mac and then click and drag a circle or ellipse that encompasses the red iris Choose Image Adjustments Hue Saturation in Photoshop or Enhance Adjust Color Hue Saturation in Elements The Hue Saturation dialog box appears Select Reds from the drop down box Slide the Saturation slider to the left into negative territory until the red color is gone see Figure 22 6 I x Edit Reds E CHAPTER 22 THE PORTRAIT 333 7 Slide the Lightness slider to the left to reduce the highlight and brightness 8 If the iris is too gray change the colors from Reds to Master in the drop down and shift the Hue and Saturation sliders to add a little note color This method is preferred by most photographers The problem is that selecting the red portion of the eye with the ell
356. rt Point tools 4 E Powerful Quick Mask Paint a mask that will become a selection area note E Color Range Sampled Colors Highlights 7 Midtones and Shadows selections The fastest way to learn these tools is to experiment with each If you are continuing from the last A number of these chapter use the test image from earlier exercises or tools are not available in choose a new one see Figure 11 1 Photoshop Elements See the last section in this chapter for details The following sections introduce the more obscure Photoshop selection commands by experimentation CHAPTER 11 ADVANCED SELECTION TOOLS 153 The Polygonal Lasso Tool The Lasso tool is a powerful selection tool in the Photoshop arsenal The Polygonal Lasso provides even more power by creating straight lines See for note yourself 1 Open a sample image you can use as you walk through this chapter and save with a new name Adobe s entry level product Photoshop Elements lacks some of the tools described in this chapter There are numerous workarounds however i I 2 Click and hold the mouse button on the Lasso tool until the fly out menu appears Select the Polygonal Lasso tool 3 Click along an edge of an area you d like to select and then move the mouse and click again The Polygonal Lasso will create a mar quee line between the two points see Figure 11 2 FIGURE 11 2 1 Adobe Photoshop ch01_OO1 tif 83
357. s 182 black points setting 212 214 black reflectors adding fill light 321 black and white converting to color 32 fill light 319 film 34 images converting color images to 328 330 black slider triangle 225 Blend If option Layer Style dialog box 239 blending image layers 238 239 blooming adjusting 23 blur filters Bayer masks 20 Blur Gaussian Blur command Filter menu 198 331 blurring backgrounds 59 blurs 197 198 BMP Windows Bitmap file format 83 boot records FAT File Allocation Table 104 Borderless Printing option Print dialog box 130 borders images Apple iPhoto 128 bracketing portraits 327 brightness image editing 145 147 information Curves dialog box 230 231 plain paper 287 brightness contrast his tograms 205 206 adjusting pixels 207 209 exposure problems 210 217 Brightness Contrast dialog box 206 Brightness Contrast Levels command Enhance menu 219 browsers locating images 114 115 brushes Selection Brush 170 171 buttons navigation or Web site 291 Byte Order IBM PC option TIFF Options dialog box 93 Byte Order Macintosh option TIFF Options dialog box 93 bytes 183 C C 41 process chromogenic 42 California Museum of Photography Web site 344 cameras See digital cameras Canon Web site 14 capture delays digital cam era limitations 13 14 catadioptric lenses 54 CCD charge coupled device image
358. s 223 Input 225 Output 225 Slider triangles 224 225 Levels dialog box 207 214 221 225 Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Reading Room Web site 344 light tones correcting with curves 229 lighting artificial 313 314 320 available 310 313 320 back 319 depth of field 60 61 diffusion 307 309 directional 314 fill light 319 321 film responses 41 42 film speed 35 41 frontal 316 high side 316 key lights 315 318 portraits 325 327 side 318 specular direct 307 308 MANUFACTURERS 361 top 317 under 317 line art printing 274 line screen printing presses 188 lines drawing 248 lines per inch lpi 175 188 Load Selection command Select menu 171 261 logical drives 105 long focal length lenses digital cameras 49 51 lossless compression 87 91 lossless encoding JPEG2000 file format 90 lossy compression JPEG Joint Photographics Experts Group file format 86 91 Ipi lines per inch 175 188 Lura Tech Web site 90 Macintosh gammas Internet images 341 macro lenses 53 Macromedia Fireworks creat ing Web images 345 Magic Wand 138 140 Magnetic Lasso tool 139 154 155 170 171 magnification lens focal length 46 47 uncropped 35mm film 76 main lights See key lights managing colors color gamuts 297 299 multiple printers 305 306 printing 299 304 managing layers 240 241 manufacturers Internet resources 344 How can we make th
359. s This amazing invention has two specific problems manufacturing and power drain Producing CCD sensors is very expensive as special laboratories and machines are required to manufacture these sensors CCD sensors also consume power at a rapid rate Even though the CCD chips in con sumer level cameras are only 1 3 inch across they still drain power quickly 18 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY CCD and Color Using a Color Mask FIGURE 2 3 The Bayer pat tern exists on most digital camera sensors Individual pix els are literally painted with red green and blue colors CCDs are monochromatic devices They simply measure the amount of voltage acquired by each pixel To capture color a filter must be placed in front of the CCD that separates visible light into primary colors This filter is called a mask or array The most popular mask in use today for digital cameras is called a Bayer mask CCD sensors that use a Bayer mask can only acquire one color per pixel see Figure 2 3 Red Pixels Bayer Mask Green Pixels Blue Pixels FIGURE 2 4 Color artifacts and mosaic pat terns occur with Bayer mask cameras CHAPTER 2 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF DIGITAL CAMERAS 19 Green pixels outnumber red and blue by a ratio of 2 1 The reason for this is that human vision is most sensitive to green which is why 50 percent of the pixels in a CCD are dedicated to this color A Bayer mask
360. s Options Banner amp may not apply to this style Banner S Thumbnails Custom Colors Photd Cus Ene Security Contact info Date Bog fots f3 Click Browse and specify the directory with the images you d like to use Click OK click Destination and then specify a destination directory for the Web pages Click OK again Now you can customize the Web pages using options available in this dialog box Click the down arrow next to Options and select Large Images The Web Photo Gallery tool will create two sizes of each image it is told to place ina Web page a thumbnail of the image and a larger version specified here The large size default is 350 pixels wide Click the down arrow next to Options and select Thumbnails Ensure that the default is acceptable and then select Banner under Options Enter any information in the Banner portion and click OK Photoshop Elements will churn away for a minute or two creating a complete Web pack age thumbnails larger images HTML pages and navigation icons When the Web photo gallery is complete find it on your computer and then double click index htm to open the front page of the gallery Now you have a complete Web gallery you can upload to a Web site see Figure 23 3 CHAPTER 23 DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE WEB 341 FIGURE 23 3 Upload your new Web photo Trnlly 1990 2004 gallery to your iain personal Web page on any Web site 5 Bm
361. s chapter focuses only on the Input Levels section in the Levels dialog box The Output Levels section at the bottom of the dialog box is mainly used for offset magazine book newspaper printing Output Levels includes a gradient through which you can force tones to a specific brightness 226 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Printing press work usually requires that true black and true white have some tone or color to them This is because of the need for some type of ink to appear on the paper or to avoid random coloration if a pure black were to be present The sliders on the Output Levels gradient are pulled in a little to a value of usually 97 black and 3 white Correcting Images with Curves Curves enables you to control the tonal variation in an image The graph that appears when you access curves performs a function similar to Levels but uses a visual cue a line on a graph as the interface between the image s tones and the user In Photoshop you can access the Curves dialog box by choosing Images Adjust Curves Curves for People in a Hurry When you move the line and change its shape by clicking and dragging the image s tones change interactively If you are in a hurry one quick solu tion is to use the classic S curve which boosts contrast by increasing brightness levels and mak ing dark tones blacker Just follow these steps 1 Open an image and save it with a new name so that yo
362. s which use solid colors of ink to produce continuous tone images FIGURE 12 7 A photo from a magazine show ing the line screen used by the printer CHAPTER 12 THE IMPORTANCE OF RESOLUTION 189 Converting pixels in a digital image to dots that make up the screen requires a device known as a RIP Raster Image Processor You might have seen one of these devices next to a color laser printer at your office or even at Kinko s Imagesetters which are used to make the plates that go in printing presses can only create one size of dot However if you combine the dots to make larger ones you can create these continuous tones A halftone dot is created from a grid of laser spots known as a halftone cell The greater the number of cells filled with spots the larger the halftone dot will appear and the darker the dot will seem The human eye cannot distinguish dots from a distance if the dots are small enough Because printing presses cannot create continuous tones like a dye subli mation printer trickery must be employed to create the perception of a continuous tone If you vary the size of dots across a grid of dots and if the dots are small enough the eye will see only a gradation not separate dots THE ABSOLUTE MiNiMUM An accurate understanding of resolution is difficult even for experienced photogra phers Wade through the terms and differences among hardware devices and you might find yourself thoroughly confused E
363. s 19088600 Be20_2jpa 19008 24 MNI7G2 4 NAN Ae 4nnnrsn 34 mam saa 5 100 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Recovering Lost Images from Flash Media 3 PC Inspector File Recovery provides a number of settings for accessing files on damaged drives The note following steps will scan flash media and display t files on the media that can be recovered 1 If you have a flash card reader connect it to your computer and insert the damaged flash media card Windows should at the very least recognize the flash card reader Windows should also see the damaged card but it might not know what to do with it If you do not have a flash card reader you might also be able to connect your cam If the settings sug gested here do not work experiment The software cannot corrupt the damaged media any further era to your PC If Windows recognizes your camera as another drive you may proceed Open the PC Inspector File Recovery software You will first see an introduc tory screen that explains what the software does Click Close to move past this intro window The main screen will appear with nothing in it Click the Open Drive icon or choose Object Drive The system will scan your computer looking for all possible physical and logical drives and then it will display the Select Drive dialog box When the Select Drive dialog box appears make sure the Logical Drive tab is selected S
364. s an image that is the opposite of the original scene in color and density It can be printed on paper in a darkroom to make a positive or scanned into a computer for editing and printing It is usually easier to work with negative film if the final medium is a print Color negative film has a considerable tolerance for under and overexposure exposure latitude and when scanned is superior to reversal film for photographs of very contrast laden scenes Film Slide Film Transparency Film or Chromes Reversal film can be projected for viewing printed on reversal paper in a darkroom or scanned into a computer for editing and printing Reversal film requires more precise exposure than negative film because it has less exposure latitude errors in exposure or color balance may be difficult or impossible to correct in printing However reversal film has advantages in cost and convenience over negative film and images can be viewed directly Reversal film especially in large format sizes is almost universally preferred by professionals because its images will be reproduced by offset printing presses Reversal film often has chrome in its name Agfachrome Ektachrome Fujichrome Professional Film Sometimes the word professional in a film name is merely a marketing strategy For color film however the word bears a little more weight Professional films for example have exposure latitude the amount of underexposure or
365. s into ppi after the image is scanned into image editing software As such samples per inch and ppi are interchangeable Megapixels Digital cameras currently define resolution using the term megapixels A digital camera that takes pictures at VGA resolution 640x480 pixels is called a 0 3 megapixel camera Cell phones use this resolution A high end camera such as a Nikon 6 megapixel camera will generate an image that contains 3000x2000 pixels Quite a difference These terms are all used to describe resolution Resolution is what you need to deter mine when working with images on a computer The digital camera will record the image at a set resolution When you import it into an image editor you can change this resolution What you decide to change it to depends on the output For printing on fine photo paper you need one resolution for a quick thumbnail on a Web site or even an email a smaller resolution is needed Here is a simple rule that will help you understand resolution ppi is used for input and dpi is used for output 176 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Images taken with digital cameras and photographs or negatives scanned into the computer use the term pixels per inch ppi to represent resolution printed images that are output from printers use the term dots per inch dpi to represent resolution You can only control one ppi The output dpi is fixed by your printer We ll explore these
366. s layers the following options will be available in the TIFF Options dialog box Layer Compression RLE Run Length Encoding A lossless compression method This format like ZIP compression is most effective on large areas of a single color Layer Compression ZIP A lossless compression format similar to LZW Use this compression format for layers that contain large areas of a single color Discard Layers and Save a Copy Flattens the layers in the image and then saves the file as one layer Annotations remain separate however Photoshop and Elements are capable of opening layer embedded TIFF files but other programs might not In addition older versions of Photoshop prior to Version 7 can not open multilayered TIFF files RUN LENGTH ENCODING EXPLAINED Run Length Encoding RLE is a simple compression format that searches for strings of data called a run and encodes the string in two bytes The first byte the run count represents the number of characters in the run An encoded run can contain from 1 to 128 or 256 characters The amount is usually the number minus 1 0 127 or 255 The second byte the run value is the value of the character in the run which is in the range of O to 255 For example assume a string of 20 Xs appears in a document This would normally require 20 bytes to store XXXXXXKXXXKXKXKXKXKKKKKKK After run length encoding the file the string would be represented by two bytes 20X The first byte is 20
367. s on the right E Use histograms to see whether your image is lacking brightness and contrast Empty blank areas in the histogram indicate missing values E Use the black and white sliders in the Levels dialog box to adjust brightness and contrast Double click on the black point and white point eyedroppers in the Levels dialog box to set baseline black and white values IN THIS CHAPTER Using Levels to Fix Your Images Using a Curve to Correct Dark Tones Using a Curve to Correct Light Tones THE IMPORTANCE OF EVELS AND CURVES Digital photographers use image editors primarily for one task correct ing images that weren t exposed properly This capability is the biggest advantage to going digital You can recover images that normally would be thrown in the trash or make great images even better With the Levels and Curves tool you no longer have to endure bland gray underexposed images or washed out bright images Two correction tools common to image editing applications are Curves and Levels In Photoshop you can access these tools by choosing Image Adjustments Levels or Image Adjustment Curves see Figure 15 1 In Photoshop Elements which only includes Levels choose Enhance Brightness Contrast Levels Use Curves or Levels to give your image more snap or to fix an exposure error 220 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 15 1 Photoshop s Levels and Curves tools for a
368. s so common in snapshot pho tography that everyone needs to know how to resolve this issue beginners and pro fessionals Photoshop and Photoshop Elements provide a number of ways to fix red eye Today s automated red eye reduction features in cameras are usually annoying and don t work that well the manual method is usually best This section shows you a few ways to reduce or eliminate red eye There are proba bly 10 or 12 different ways to fix red eye so don t despair If you experiment with the steps in this section you might find an even better way FIGURE 22 5 Repeat offend ers Red eye is common when ever the flash is close to the lens CHAPTER 22 THE PORTRAIT 331 IG Adobe Photoshop cams_shower_portrait_O1 til 62 8 image GEJ a ice D Ravine Woes Te Fit FF ipara Pautos Actual Ponts FR On Sereen print See eoler Sh Ro t00 SE Tmege Corer Select Fiter Veer Widow Heb IAN DA SERN AY Before you begin your red eye retouching journey keep in mind this important sug gestion Keep the highlights A person s eyes only look real if the highlight remains You can fill in their eyes with black but they won t look real Using Layers to Remove Red Eye The following steps show you how to use layers and layer blend modes to reduce red eye in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements This section assumes some of the per son s accurate eye color is still available in the image You might
369. s to come from the right it will be distracting when the light on a foreground object comes from the left Contrast often needs to be adjusted if an object is to blend into the background it s distracting when several shadows don t look equally dark Note that indoor light often comes from several directions each light source may have a dif ferent color tint Managing Layers An image with many layers can use up all the memory RAM on your computer This will slow your computer down and make it difficult for you to work produc tively Images with fewer layers also print more quickly in some cases an image with too many layers might fail to print or cause the computer to freeze Speed up your computer by reducing the number of layers You can merge layers together In Photoshop and Elements you can merge layers using several options E Layer Merge Down merges the active layer into the layer shown below it in the Layers palette CHAPTER 16 THE IMPORTANCE OF LAYERS AND MASKS 241 Layer Merge Visible merges all the visible layers those with their eye icons visible in the Layers palette The active layer must be visible or this command will not work Layer Flatten Image merges all the layers into one layer If you work with TIFF or PSD files you might see the error message Layers will increase file size when saving even though you only have one layer in your image Usually this means you haven t flattened the image Cance
370. sensitive silver halide emulsion cap turing the image The layers are like the emulsions in black and white film except that each layer responds only to one primary color red green or blue Additional layers are added to improve the color response of the three basic layers Film Development Process The two most popular forms of film are slide film and color negative film Both forms of film rely on the subtractive process to create a reproduction of an image This subtractive process comes into play during development which occurs in several steps Slide film and color negative film are sensitive to red green and blue but the end product is their complementary colors cyan magenta and yellow The following steps walk through this transforma Yellow note Color films are either positive reversal or nega tive Reversal films create images that can be viewed directly such as color slides The images in neg ative films color and black and white must be printed to be viewed Almost all reversal films are developed with Kodak s E 6 process Color negative films are developed with Kodak s C 41 process tion process during the development of color negative film 1 Color negative film contains three layers of emulsion Each layer is sensitive to one color red green or blue During exposure an invisible latent image forms in each layer where light strikes the film 2 When a color negative is d
371. ses layers of sensors to capture red green and blue at every pixel location see Figure 2 5 This technology relies on a triple layer CMOS sensor array that captures blue light first then green and finally red The technology takes advantage of light s penetrating power Red light can penetrate silicon much more easily than green or blue As a result the red layer is on the bottom of the three layer stack Blue light which has the shortest wavelength and combines with electron holes in silicon is captured first The green layer is in the middle Every sensor in the Foveon technology is essentially an eye that captures exactly the color and brightness of the light it receives Currently Sigma makes two cameras with this technology By the time you read this more camera manufacturers may have licensed Foveon in their cameras CHAPTER 2 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF DIGITAL CAMERAS 21 FIGURE 2 5 Foveon s three layer technology Aliasing and Other Imager Problems The following images demonstrate problems that occur with low resolution sensors and poor camera software The images have been magnified so that you can see the pixelation and artifacts The original image direct from the camera has red green and blue intensities see Figure 2 6 in ratios of 1 2 1 which gives it a distinct green cast There is twice as much green data Each channel is adjusted in software to make it clearer After decreasing the green
372. sion of the correct color For example if a green pixel is printed and the dots cannot match that green color the printer software will print much greener dots near the pixel location that overcompensate for the error This process continues across the image The eye is fooled into seeing the same color as on the original digital image or negative print CHAPTER 18 PRINTERS AND PRINTER RESOLUTION 273 The Correct Settings for Printing Images Cast aside every confusing term and definition regarding printing digital images Believe it or not the correct settings for printing photos are not difficult Here is all you need to know Print at 150 to 300 ppi using photo paper That s all there is to know no matter what printer you are using Save your images at a ppi from between 150 300 ppi and they will print beautifully on glossy paper For printing on normal paper use 150 ppi or less Choose Image Resize Image Size in Photoshop Elements or Image Size in Photoshop and change the value in the Pixels Per Inch text field Make sure Resample Image is turned off before you click OK Photo printers and normal inkjet printers that use four or more inks are capable of printing at photo quality if you set the pixels per inch between 150 300 ppi Dye sublimation printers can handle 400 ppi if you re fortunate enough to have one Almost all inkjet printers can only handle this ppi range Even today s most precise inkjet printers which can shoo
373. t s best to view the individual color channel s thumbnail images in black and white instead of color because they are easier to compare with each other Color channels can be viewed individually in the main image window by making the other channels invisible Channels are turned on or off by clicking their eye icons In Figure 17 1 only the blue channel can be seen as a black and white image in the main image window The composite channel and other single color channels have been turned off their eye icons are not visible Using Masks to Create Selections Channels store masks Masks are the most advanced way to create selections Think of a mask as a sheet of plastic that lies on top of an image Masks restrict the editing performed to the image beneath the mask amp In some ways a mask is like a stencil You can edit the colors and tones of the image beneath wherever you cut holes in the plastic but nothing can change wherever the plastic is solid because the image is masked see Figure 17 2 note One advantage of masks is their variable density Whereas ordinary selections have feathered or Before a mask can be antialiased edges a mask lets you make any part used to edit an image it of a selection opaque transparent or in between must be converted into a selec Where a mask is transparent you can edit the tion image normally Where a mask has partial density 258 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOT
374. t the selected layer is called the active layer When a layer is active its name is in boldface and its bar is highlighted When a layer that contains an image is active it will also display a paintbrush icon next to its name bar Adjustment layers and type layers don t contain images Creating Image Layers How are image layers created in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements Follow these steps 1 Open an image in Photoshop 2 Choose Layer New Layer You can also select the New Layer icon in the Layers palette see Figure 16 3 Choose Window Layers to view the palette FIGURE 16 3 Select the New Layer icon in the Layers palette to create a new layer J TEZ Craate a new layer 238 3 Click on the Type tool and then click the cursor somewhere in the window When you use the type tool to place text in the image each text entry creates its own layer If you copy another image and paste it into this image a new layer will also be created Whenever you create a layer from a menu or palette you ll be asked to name it However if you paste a picture into an image the layer will be named automatically It s easier to keep track of layers when they have descriptive names Red Toyota You can rename a layer by double clicking on its current name in the Layers palette Photoshop or by right clicking on the layer and choosing Layer Properties Semitransparent layers can create strong visual effects When you set the
375. t a miniscule 2 picoliter drop of ink two millionths of a millionth of a liter will not be able to print at a density much higher than 400 ppi If you need to print a physically larger image simply lower i ti p the ppi setting and experiment Make sure Resample Image is turned off in the Image Size dialog box however Failure to do so will physi cally alter your image and degrade its quality The larger the image the lower the ppi number neces sary For images larger than Every image editing program includes settings 11x17 inches the ppi rating that enable you to adjust for ppi In Photoshop can be under 200 pixels per for example set the ppi of your image by choos inch ing Image Image Size and then changing Resolution What Resolution Are My Images Most digital cameras save images at 72 ppi When you import the image it will be dis played on screen at 72 ppi or 96 ppi which are the most common resolutions of com puter monitors If you have a decent inkjet printer any printer that uses four or more inks follow these steps immediately after importing an image to print it properly 1 Open the image in an image editor such as Photoshop or Photoshop Elements 2 Change the ppi of the image from 72 to between 150 300 ppi see Figure 18 4 274 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 18 4 W Fa a FIGURE 184 _ EE JZ F mam Change ppi ELNI LA Ma j BE from 72 to PA i
376. t be altered acciden tally or infected by a virus CD RW compact disc rewritable is an alternate form of CD that allows you to save additional information to the disc at a later time CD ROMs are popular because they can be multimedia and interactive A basic defi nition of multimedia is a combination of two or more media such as text illustra tions photographs sounds narration animation and video Computers blend media with a new ingredient interactivity 290 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 19 3 The average cost of a CD at retail is around four cents This is by far the least expensive way to store data Interactivity can range from simple to complex A simple multimedia CD can include onscreen buttons that the viewer uses to move forward or back through a series of pictures or to activate events such as audio narration or video With more complex programming a CD can be personalized with the content presented in dif ferent ways as the viewer chooses Make Your Own Photo Gallery on CD ROM You can create your own CD ROM title All you need are basic computer skills and the time to learn the techniques How you want people to view your disk will deter mine how many software programs you must learn If this is your first project start with the basics Suppose you have 30 photographs that you would like in CD ROM form so you can send the disk to an editor or gallery A relatively simple p
377. t have an embedded color profile for a color pro 2 file if one is not T How do you want to proceed embedded in Leave as is don t color manage s the image Assign working RGB sRGB EC61966 2 1 C Assign profile Adobe RGB 1998 z M anc then convertdotument te wong RE oe _ cor Let s open the image you created earlier and see what color space Photoshop is cur rently using 1 In the Missing Profile dialog box assign a color space to the image by click ing Assign Profile Assign the sRGB color space to the image and then click OK The image will open for editing 2 Now let s see what color settings your version of Photoshop is using In Photoshop choose Edit Color Settings The Color Settings dialog box will appear see Figure 18 8 FIGURE 18 8 __ x The Color Settings e s E ae Settings dialog T Advanced Mode a P Working Spaces Dresa Roo sRGB IECEI965 21 Photoshop This CMYK Photoshop 5 Default CMYK zj L toai is where you set Gray Gray Gamma 22 z swe Spot foot Gan 20 z up your work IV Preview Color Management Policies ing color RGB Preserve Embedded Profiles 7 spaces CMYK Preserve Embedded Profiles _ Gray Preserve Embedded Profiles Profie Mismatches 7 Ask When Opening V Ask When Pasting Missing Profiles 1 Ask When Opening Description Color Management Policies Policies specify how you want colors in a particular color model ma
378. t of gamut colors Huc Saturation O Edit Master 6 When the colors are within the gamut the Gamut Warning will disappear In some cases you will need to lighten or darken the colors to make them fall within the printer s gamut Figure 20 16 shows the results of desaturating the out of gamut colors FIGURE 20 16 The adjusted image CHAPTER 20 COLORTHEORY 305 Multiple Printers About Paper FIGURE 20 17 CMYK Setup There may be more than one printer connected to a computer Because the color gamut database pro file for each printer is different your image editing software must be told which printer s profile to use In Adobe Photoshop a list of available profiles can be viewed by choosing Edit Color Settings Working Spaces CMYK Choose File Color Settings CMYK Setup CMYK Model ICC to select the printer profile see Figure 20 17 Select the name of your printer and the type of paper that the printer is using glossy or matte for example Paper makes a difference in how your prints look Different brands of paper react differently to ink or dyes Inkjet papers produce the greatest amount of variation because ink seeps into the paper in differ ent degrees In general papers that absorb less ink produce more brilliantly saturated colors and deeper tones This is why all photo quality inkjet note To work in CMYK mode select Image Mode CMYK Color Editing in CMYK has certain advantages E
379. tal cameras is pixels per inch The reason is that CCD sensors come in different sizes A 2 1 megapixel sensor might be twice the size of a 4 megapixel sensor for example This why you only hear about cameras in terms of total pixels megapixels or output reso lution 1600x1200 pixels for example Every type of digital camera from a low end phone camera to the latest Nikon or Canon out puts at 72 pixels per inch When you import an image from a digital camera to your computer it is not ready to print Why It comes in at a screen resolution 72 ppi that would generate an enormous print To print it you need to change its resolution from 72 ppi to something useful on your printer 300 ppi for example If you try to print a photo immediately after import ing it either your image editor will state that the image is larger than the paper size or you will print only a portion of the image on paper Today s newer technologies such as EXIF printing and print scaling in software enable digital pictures 177 note The difference in size of CCD sensors versus film actually leads to other annoy ances such as the focal length multiplier On digital SLRs sin gle lens reflex cameras the focal length of a lens must be multi plied by a number to determine the actual focal length On a Fuji S3 SLR for example the focal length multiplier is 1 5x A 50mm lens actually is working at 75mm for ex
380. tanding Bit Depth A bit is the foundation for all computing it s the smallest unit of data a one ora zero Bit depth is directly related to the amount of data bits a scanner or camera captures per pixel Most scanner software provides several scanning bit depths such as 24 36 and 48 bit depth Eight bits make up a byte A byte is a handy way to group bits 1 or 0 Two to the eighth power equals 256 Therefore 8 bits of data a byte can have 256 different values 0 255 see Table 12 3 For simplicity let s call each value a brightness Table 12 3 Bit Depth 1 2 12 16 Bit Depth and Corresponding RGB Colors Number of Values Available 2 4 16 256 4096 16 384 Values Available in an RGB Image Not applicable 2x2x2 8 color values Only applicable to a GIF image indexed color in Photoshop 4x4x4 16 color values Only applicable to a GIF image indexed color in Photoshop 8 R x8 G x8 B 24 bits 16 777 216 values 12 R x12 G x12 B 36 bits 68 719 476 736 values 16 R x16 G x16 B 48 bits 281 474 976 710 656 values 184 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Most everything you work with relies on 8 bit images Your monitor your digital camera and so on usually rely on 8 bit values for each color In other words 256 brightness levels per color per pixel Eight bits of data are used for each color that makes up an image In an RGB image that means a byte for each color
381. te shades of gray in a photograph For color printing four grids of colored dots using the colors CMYK are printed Newspapers and magazines use the halftone process to reproduce images hue One of the three terms used to exactly describe a color the others are brightness or value and saturation Informally hue is the name of the color such as red or green yellow In a 360 color wheel the hue can be exactly specified as one of the points on the outside of the wheel import The process of bringing data into a program from another program For example the images created by many kinds of scanner software are imported into Adobe Photoshop 350 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY inkjet printer An inkjet printer creates images out of millions of nearly invisible colored dots The dots are cre ated by squirting ink through extremely small nozzles See also dithering JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group A software procedure that compresses files JPEG is a lossy compres sion algorithm that degrades image quality although the apparent effect is small unless the image is highly com pressed JPEG 2000 A revision of the JPEG image compression standard Along with slightly improved image quality new features permit images to be viewed with greater color accuracy and allow encoded copyright protection as well as embedded keywords to assist Internet searches kilobyte KB A measure of computer memory disk
382. tected the central area of the image and preserved its normal contrast This creates a vignette type of photo FIGURE 16 17 r vay 1 Using a mask P on an adjust ment layer 254 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY THE ABSOLUTE MiNiMUM Layers enable you to protect parts of an image that do not require changes Keep ele ments in an image on separate layers so that you can easily move or resize objects Photoshop Elements does not include the Curves command or Curves adjust ment layer JPEG images cannot store layers You must flatten an image before saving as a JPEG Choose Layer Flatten Image prior to saving as a JPEG file Give each layer a distinct name when working on an image Don t settle for the default names or you will get confused Adjustment layers include a mask when they are created Click on the layer mask and then paint with the Paintbrush tool to isolate portions of the image Paint white on an adjustment layer mask to reveal the effects of the mask paint black on a mask to hide the mask s effects IN THIS CHAPTER Understanding Channels Keeping Track of Layers Channels and Masks Using Masks to Create Selections Alpha Channels Where Masks Are Stored THE IMPORTANGE OF CHANNELS Information about colors in an image is stored in channels An RGB image has four color channels red green blue and a composite chan nel of every color A CMYK image has five color channels cyan
383. tem 108 FAT32 file system 108 feathering selections 168 259 335 FFF7H flag FAT File Allocation Table 105 FFF8 FFFFH flag FAT File Allocation Table 105 File Allocation Table See FAT File Browser command Window menu 114 file formats BMP 82 83 compression 88 90 95 CT 82 83 DPOF Digital Print Order Format 27 EXIF 2 2 Exchange Image Format 24 26 GIF 82 83 JPEG 339 342 343 JPEG2000 format 90 95 Photoshop 82 83 compatibility 84 85 JPEG Joint Photographics Experts Group 86 91 PSD 95 TIFF Tagged Image File Format 91 95 Photoshop Elements 82 88 PNG 82 83 PST 82 83 PXR 82 83 RLE Run Length Encoding 94 file recovery 97 98 defragmentation 107 109 FAT File Allocation Table 103 106 How can we make this index more useful Email us at indexes quepublishing com 358 FILES PC Inspectory File Recovery 99 103 USB Universal Serial Bus 109 110 files storing See FAT File Allocation Table TIFF saving images as 274 Fill command Edit menu 155 156 fill lighting 319 321 film 35mm 33 76 220 34 APS Advanced Photo System 34 black and white 34 color 30 32 color balance 33 34 66 exposure latitude 67 69 forums discussion groups 30 31 high contrast 34 infrared 34 ISO ratings 30 light responding to 41 42 overview 29 pixels resolution 178 179 roll 33 scanning images 178 sheet 34 slide color balance 66 speed 35 41 storing
384. ter Resolution 55 276 ICC Profiles 277 Epson Printers and Big Brother 280 Paper and Resolution Tips for Quality and Saving on Cost 281 Why Do Images Look so Good on the Monitor 282 Printing Big Pictures 282 19 Preserving Your Images 285 Photo Papers 286 Plain Papers 287 Archival Issues with Paper 288 What About Dye Sublimation Printers 288 Saving Your Images on CD ROM 288 The Advantages of a CD ROM 289 Make Your Own Photo Gallery on CD ROM 290 20 Color Theory 293 Three Image Layers Create Color Images 295 Film Development Process 295 Printing Process 296 Making Your Prints Match the Monitor Gamuts and Color Management 297 Printing Without Color Management 299 CONTENTS ix Printing in RGB and CMYK 302 23 Digital Photography and Multiple Printers About Paper 305 the Web 351 21 Lighting 307 Making Images for the Internet 2 eee eee 352 Degree of Diffusion From Hard to Soft Light 308 Creating a Web Photo Gallery 353 Compressing Images for the Available Light Outdoors 310 Internet with JPEG 356 Available Light Indoors 312 The Internet Resource and a spect id Gallery 000 ee eee 357 Qualities of Artificial Light 313
385. the human eye sees more accurately This helps color balance by providing more colors that can be edited and adjusted Film Latitude Accurate exposure is just as important with color reversal films as it is with digital Reversal films also have little exposure latitude that is they do not tolerate over or underexposure see Figure 5 3 Colors in a transparency begin to look too dark with as little as one half stop underexposure Because there is little tolerance for overex posure colors look pale and bleached out Color negative film has much more exposure latitude than reversal film You will have a printable negative with as much as one stop underexposure or three stops of overexposure However the best results always come from correctly exposed film 68 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 5 3 Slide films have very little lati tude The image in the middle was exposed properly the one on the top is only one stop underexposed the one on the bottom is only one stop over exposed gt gt _ 2 2 E S ae S ee J e FIGURE 5 4 Use a flash even in bright scenes to force details in the shadows This is espe cially necessary for extremely bright scenes CHAPTER 5 EXPOSURE AND FOCUS 69 In contrasting lighting color reversal film and most digital cameras are not able to record the full range of brightness In scenes with very bright highlights such as
386. the sub ject E When taking a light reading with the camera s meter remember WUBO White Underexposes and Black Overexposes E Bracket your images to ensure you expose a subject properly Expose at the suggested meter reading and then take two more pictures one at a stop over the meter s suggested setting more light and one under the meter reading less light IN THIS CHAPTER Saving Images for the Internet Photography Resources DigiTAL PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE WEB This chapter assumes that readers have an understanding of what the Internet is and how to connect and navigate Web pages If you are unfamiliar with the Internet it s about time you learned The Internet is an inexpensive way to display your work whether you re an amateur budding expert or a professional commercial photogra pher The best way to use the Internet is as a showcase for your images In some ways a Web site resembles a book you control the size and layout of the pages and help the viewer by using captions and state ments that explain the pictures Unlike a book a Web site can be easily updated old images can be removed and new images added 338 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Making Images for the Internet FIGURE 23 1 One photogra pher s Web site created using Macromedia Flash and Dreamweover Developing a Web site requires work especially designing and building the site Afterward updating the
387. them This often occurs when a picture is taken underexposed at high noon FIGURE 15 9 Move the sliders under the his togram to force tones to pure black and pure white CHAPTER 15 THE IMPORTANCE OF LEVELS AND CURVES 225 LG Adobe Photoshop sculpture_screwedup Lil SiMe RGB SE Fie ER ma Laver Set Fee Vior Window Heip Sine i kot yD N45 PMN SAL as i E Black slider triangle Move this control to the right to force grays to black All tones to the left of the slider will become black E Gray slider triangle Use this slider to re adjust the average gray value 50 black If you slide this triangle to the right the image will become darker because lighter tones will be forced to 50 black Shift the gray slider to the left to force darker tones to 50 black This will lighten the image Most images suffer from lack of contrast which involves the white and black triangle sliders not the gray slider For images that do not need much adjust ment use the gray slider to give the image a little more punch For example slide the gray triangle to the right to force lighter values to middle gray which will make the image a little darker E White slider triangle Move this control to the left to force grays to white All tones to the right of this slider will be turned white in the image The Output Levels Section The Levels dialog box includes two sections Input Levels and Output Levels Thi
388. this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark Warning and Disclaimer Every effort has been made to make this book as complete and as accurate as pos sible but no warranty or fitness is implied The information provided is on an as is basis The authors and the publisher shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damages arising from the infor mation contained in this book Bulk Sales Que Publishing offers excellent discounts on this book when ordered in quantity for bulk purchases or special sales For more information please contact U S Corporate and Government Sales 1 800 382 3419 corpsales pearsontechgroup com For sales outside of the U S please contact International Sales 1 317 428 3341 international pearsontechgroup com Executive Editor Candace Hall Acquisitions Editor Karen Whitehouse Development Editor Karen Whitehouse Managing Editor Charlotte Clapp Project Editor George Nedeff Copy Editor Karen Whitehouse Indexer Mandie Frank Production Editor Seth Kerney Publishing Coordinator Sharry Lee Gregory Interior Designer Anne Jones Cover Designer Dan Armstrong Page Layout Eric S Miller Contents at a Glance Part I Digital Quickstart oc eseris bie ide ea eee eee ee 1 Quickstart to Digital Pix to Print in Seconds 3 2 Advantages amp Disadva
389. tings see Figure 16 12 The default is Anti aliased and a 1 pixel Feather Radius You now have an accurate path that is much easier to manipulate In addi tion if you need to use this selection again you can access it in the Paths palette Choose Window Paths right click on the path you created and select Make Selection To save the path permanently choose the item Save Path from the Paths palette s pop up menu FIGURE 16 12 Making a selec tion using the Pen tool CHAPTER 16 THE IMPORTANCE OF LAYERS AND MASKS 249 mE Paths COE Rendering Feather Radius pixels re x CEE nei aei M Anti aliased Make Selection Operation New Selection C Addit Selection Sobtract irom Select C Jntersect With Selection Other Uses for Paths Paths have other uses Although making selections is the most useful task photogra phers can do with paths paths can be filled directly with a color from the palette Paths can also be turned into a colored line of variable width Paths are so versatile because they are not based on pixels they are vector objects Vector objects are a class of computer graphics unrelated to pixels Pixels are arranged in rows and columns whereas vector objects are mathematical descriptions of the location of points and the lines connecting them Of course you don t see the mathematical equations only the lines created by the equations are visible on the monitor T
390. tion white bal ance settings 64 DCF Design Rule for Camera File Systems 26 DCS Desktop Color Separations file formats 83 DCT Discrete Cosine Transform 88 defragmentation 107 109 delays capture delays 13 14 Delete Anchor Point tool 161 depth of field 58 61 desaturation converting color images to black and white 328 329 Deselect command Select menu 142 143 154 Design Rule for Camera File Systems DCF 27 Desktop Color Separations DCS file formats 83 Despeckle filter 200 201 Deutsche Industrie Norm DIN film rating system 38 developing film 295 296 device profiles 299 devices CCD charge coupled device 4 5 diffused lighting 307 309 digital cameras color balance 64 65 color masks 18 20 DCF Design Rule for Camera File Systems 26 Direct Print 26 DPOF Digital Print Order Format 27 EXIF 2 2 Exchange Image Format 24 26 Exif Print 26 focal length lenses 49 52 formatting flash media 108 109 Foveon 20 limitations 11 14 17 21 22 media types 5 PictBridge 26 resolution 176 177 versus CMOS Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor 14 17 20 23 24 Digital ICE 202 Digital Print Order Format DPOF 27 DIN Deutsche Industrie Norm film rating system 38 direct lighting 307 308 Direct Print 26 directional lighting 314 directional diffused light 309 Discard Layers and Save a Copy option TIFF Options dialog box 94 Discret
391. to access the Pen s Convert Point tool 6 Turn the path into a selection by clicking on the Paths palette Window Paths and then Ctrl click 3 click on the path entry listed in this palette This will turn it into a selection You can also click the palette s menu bar then select Make Selection 7 Press Ctrl D to remove the selection Load the path by clicking on it in the Paths palette Click and hold down the cursor on the Pen tool until the Pen fly out menu appears Experiment with each command in the fly out toolbar E Freeform Pen tool Click and drag much as you would with the Lasso tool freehand The cursor can be used to create any shape When you release the mouse the path turns into straight polygonal lines that mimic the freehand path you just drew see Figure 11 12 FIGURE 11 12 The Freeform pen tool enables you to create pen paths freehand that stiffen when you double click the mouse CHAPTER 11 ADVANCED SELECTION TOOLS 161 E Add Anchor Point tool Add anchor points along an existing path to trace more precisely along an object Some professional Photoshop users create paths quickly with few anchor points Afterward they add anchor points to refine the rough paths created with few lines see Figure 11 13 This method minimizes the use of anchor points and speeds selection work E Delete Anchor Point tool Delete existing anchor points Often you will create a path and have excessive a
392. ts between 50 and 300 percent to see what works best There is no magic number here each image benefits from different amounts depending on the image s sharp ness the subject matter and the scan s graininess 5 Finally experiment with the threshold If the image is grainy or if skin tones are promi nent you will need to use a higher value for the threshold Raising the threshold decreases the sharpening effect so if you sig nificantly raise the threshold you might need to compensate by increasing the amount note Pixels per inch is not the same as the printer s dots per inch These two terms measure different things Ignore the printer s dots per inch and cal culate the radius using pixels per inch Taking CHAPTER 13 THE IMPORTANCE OF FILTERS 197 For portraits or images with people make sure you zoom in on the individual s face and experiment with threshold Sharpening will create a texture in the skin which should be subdued or avoided if possible Advantage of Blur More often than not images are blurry Rarely are they too sharp So why are the blur filters used just as often The reason is blur filters are the only way to remove moir patterns and halftone dots that occur when you scan printed material You also might want to blur selections to make them blend with the image Removing Moir Patterns and Halftone Dots FIGURE 13 7 Examples of moir patterns Suppose you need to scan
393. ts include the following basic selection tools E Marquee tools Click and drag a rectangle or ellipse to select rectangular or rounded areas see Figure 10 6 FIGURE 10 6 Rectangular Marquee tool E Magic Wand Click the Magic Wand see Figure 10 7 on an image to select areas of similar color When the Magic Wand is selected you can customize the color range to which it is sensitive Tool options bar This allows you to select more or fewer similar areas CHAPTER 10 EDITING WITH SELECTION TOOLS 139 FIGURE 10 7 Magic Wand tool E Lasso tools Click and drag Lasso tools to outline items and draw shapes freehand see Figure 10 8 The regular Lasso enables you to select areas free hand The Polygonal Lasso enables you to click on multiple points before returning to the start The Magnetic Lasso snaps to the edges of an area being outlined FIGURE 10 8 Lasso tools P G Lasso Tool L t ACAN L Sy W Magnetic Lasso Tool L These selection tools isolate areas of any size down to a selection size of one pixel see Figure 10 9 Once an area is selected you can alter its color sharpen it blur it duplicate it relocate it remove it and more FIGURE 10 9 One of the most difficult selec tions possible hair 140 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY The following steps demonstrate a few ways to select an item and then modify it without affecting the rest of the image You can read more
394. ttom slider to the right will force the software to scan the entire flash media card 8 Click OK to begin scanning the media Be patient while the software scans the drive this could take a few minutes You re halfway through recovery When the main File Recovery window appears you will see a File Manager Windows Explorer representation of the medium see Figure 8 3 The software was able to find the files listed in this window In the following section you will see how you can recover spe cific images or entire directories FIGURE 8 3 pa Edt Yew mla Took Hep The recovered drive shown in a Windows F Sy chester 12431 Oi og 19098608 27 02 2003 2014 Explorer type CE chester 12788 1909368 27 02 2003 20 07 ey chaa tes 5 o3pa02 10 mips 1308608 27 02200 2k07 window DA chester C mpamatT mipa 19906 2702 DM 28 J Launcher J PROGRAMS LL O3pt021 24nipa 19093608 27 02 2003 2013 I O3pa02324nipg 19093608 27 02 3004 2513 Sly ered O padai mips 19998608 27 02 2009 2708 _sauoia 1 paidat yp isa 27 02 2000 2011 amp Gy udo O ospaned2njpg 19033606 27 02 2003 20 08 E Laurea O 03pd0455 ming 19993608 27 02 2003 20 10 amp New Folder Garp 19m0 0302 0a 2250 m New Folder Oen upe 19094608 03 D2 2003 2333 5 5 New Folder D Ant2tic0 iino 19093608 24 01 2003 48 34 a PROGRAMS O anza 2p 19094608 240 2003 18 33 Gy Lost Dana no 190988 IAJ Seached LI An70_4 po 199608 OAND eip 19092608 O ANT4_1UP 19093608 2 O BEZP 1905960
395. u do not alter the original 2 Choose Image Adjustments Curves In the Curves dialog box make sure the Preview box is checked Time to create the classic S curve 3 In the Curves dialog box move the diagonal note Photoshop Elements includes a Levels dialog box but no Curves feature iPhoto includes only brightness and con trast adjustments line in two places Click and drag near the top right of the curve and move the curve to the left Afterward click and drag near the bottom left of the curve and drag to the right The goal is to create the S curve see Figure 15 10 4 Click OK and review the image If you make a mistake press and hold down Alt The Cancel button will change to a Reset button Click Reset and then start again if necessary FIGURE 15 10 The classic S curve that is often used as a gauge to increasing brightness and contrast in an image CHAPTER 15 THE IMPORTANCE OF LEVELS AND CURVES 227 Understanding the Curves Dialog Box FIGURE 15 11 The curve becomes an elastic curve when you click on it and drag with the mouse The Curves command changes brightness contrast and color balance more power fully than the Levels and Color Balance commands Levels enable you to adjust only three points on the tonal scale black middle gray and white Curves lets you adjust as many as 16 gray points more than most images need In addition to a curve for the combined col
396. uit Working When you begin working with selections you may experience moments when the software suddenly stops functioning For example you might try to use a Brush tool to paint on the image but the brush refuses to paint The software might be ignoring the Brush tool because you are painting outside a selec note tion a selection you created by accident or one you forgot about The brush will only work inside the selection Another cause is a hidden selection First look care Another cause of uncooperative selection tools is that the image might be in 16 bit format Choose Image Mode and make sure it says 8 Bits Channel fully at the image to see whether a selection is visi ble look for the moving marquee If you don t see one pull down the View menu Is the command View Show Selection Edges check marked When there is no check mark beside the command Selection Edges a minus sign appears instead it means that there is a hidden selection in the image Choose View Show Selection Edges to make the selection visible To deselect a selection use the command Select Deselect or just press Ctrl D D for Mac Your brush will now work anywhere in the image 164 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY The Power of the Color Range Command The Color Range command can be accessed by choosing Select Color Range This feature selects all pixels in the image that resemble the sample pixel s you chose Unlik
397. urves s maen Cancel Load Save Sfraatr awo Options Input 108 et EA Output i45 5 CHAPTER 15 THE IMPORTANCE OF LEVELS AND CURVES 229 Fortunately with Preview checked you can see the effects on the image as the curve is dragged upward The middle tones are now clear and visible in Figure 15 14 FIGURE 15 14 After editing LG Adobe Photoshop pta_dark_mbitones til 630 RGH T Fir Mhao Liver Select Hitec View Window Hote Amiha Moo Sevens print aalassaiatalass Using a Curve to Correct Excessively Light Tones Curves fix problems with light tones as well such as when you overexpose an image This occurs commonly at night with a flash The image in Figure 15 15 has a problem The camera flash has overexposed it after a valiant attempt to capture the natural look of the bar with a slow sync flash setting FIGURE 15 15 A slow sync shot overex posed by too much flash 230 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY With slow sync the flash fires but the shutter remains open to capture any natural light in the image When the camera meter mistakenly meters a scene a slow sync shot turns into a washed out blurry image To fix this problem simply open the Curves menu by choosing Image Adjustments Curves Then pull down the elastic line to lower the brightness of the midtones in the image The image should now look correct plenty of contrast and b
398. use by mistake simply press the Delete key on the keyboard The anchor will be deleted Press Delete again to delete the preceding anchor Continue pressing Delete as far back as necessary and then continue tracing Return to the starting point and the selection will be enclosed Click the Selection Brush tool The image changes to a quick mask Now you can see how well you did and even correct mistakes Zoom in and examine the selection Press and hold down the spacebar and move the mouse to see how the selection went Select a small brush size in the toolbar such as five pixels and fix mistakes see Figure 11 25 You can reverse the quick mask by pressing Ctrl Alt I Ctrl I in Photoshop If you need to come back to the image later and aren t finished you can save the selection 7 Click Select Save Selection and then give the selection a name When you return to the image choose Select Load Selection and then con tinue working with the image If you need to use the Magnetic Lasso to add to the existing selection click the Add to Selection icon in the Lasso s toolbar 172 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 11 25 Correcting mis takes in a quick mask A all us E Fa Wy z T a 2 OEo ey amp fis P THE ABSOLUTE MiNiMUM This chapter introduced Photoshop s incredibly powerful selections tools such as the Pen tool Professional photographers and
399. ut not too much or the dust will reappear The best way to remove dust is not to scan it Use an antistatic brush and a pair of antistatic gloves and never touch the negatives with your hands You can find anti static brushes at your local camera store 202 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FIGURE 13 13 An extremely dusty scan that needs serious dust removal To use the Dust amp Scratches filter follow these steps Figure 13 13 is an extreme case of dust and really should be rescanned but it shows how helpful Dust amp Scratches is 1 Open an image or scan an image into If you re planning on scan Photoshop or Photoshop Elements Save it ning a lot of negatives rent with a new name if you need to preserve or buy a scanner with a fea the original ture called Digital ICE This hardware solution detects and removes scratches and dust as the scan is made 2 Click the Lasso tool and select the area with dust or scratches Use the Lasso tool and select a broad random area Avoid the Square or Circle marquee tool because selected areas in the shape of a square or circle are easier to see CHAPTER 13 THE IMPORTANCE OF FILTERS 203 3 With the dusty area selected choose Filters Noise Dust amp Scratches 4 Move both sliders to the far left 1 for Radius and O for Threshold 5 Radius needs to be adjusted first Move the slider to the right until a majority of the dust disappears The goal is t
400. uter storage device and given a name to assist in retrieval film recorder A device that records a digital image onto photographic film film scanner A device that converts images from photo graphic film into digital form so they can be stored in a computer and edited by software filter In imaging software a filter is a command that will produce special effects in an image There are hundreds of filters available as plug in software for Adobe Photoshop flatbed scanner A digital scanner in which the object to be scanned is held flat on a glass plate while the imaging sensor usually three CCDs moves under it A flatbed scan ner can be used as a camera to record three dimensional objects placed on its glass plate gamut The entire range of colors that a device for exam ple a digital camera or a printer can record or reproduce GIF Graphic Interchange Format an image file for mat GIF is an older bitmap file format It is an 8 bit for mat so GIF images have only 256 colors It is the standard format for creating non photographic graphics for use on the Internet gigabyte GB A measure of computer memory disk storage or file size consisting of approximately one billion bytes a thousand megabytes The actual value is 1 073 741 824 bytes grayscale image A digital image containing only black white and shades of gray halftone A method of creating images on paper using a grid of ink dots of various sizes to simula
401. ved This setting and the Macintosh setting are no longer an issue unless you are working with older software Most new image editing software can accommodate both file formats For example you can save an image as a TIFF file in iPhoto and open it in Photoshop Elements on a PC with no problems Older versions of Photoshop would ask for the correct byte order before opening Byte Order Macintosh Determines how the TIFF file is saved This setting isn t necessary any longer most modern image editing software can accom modate TIFF files saved in Macintosh or PC format Leave the setting as PC for images Save Image Pyramid Creates or preserves multiresolution versions of the file This option is designed for page layout software such as FrameMaker InDesign and QuarkXPress Page layout designers often want to place a low resolution version of an image so that page updates do not slow to a crawl every time you change layout or text Photoshop Photoshop Elements and most image editing software always open the largest version of a TIFF file saved with an image pyramid Save Transparency Preserves transparency as an additional alpha chan nel when the file is opened in another application Transparency is always preserved when the file is reopened in Photoshop Elements or ImageReady 94 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Photoshop and Photoshop Elements 2 included new Layer capabilities in TIFF files If your image contain
402. ven if your computer doesn t have a com plete color management system no out of gamut colors are shown on the monitor in CMYK mode CMYK mode prohibits the moni tor from displaying any color that the printer cannot reproduce papers are coated with a moisture resistant white substance Glossy paper gives rich dark tones just as glossy darkroom paper gives tones with greater depth Ordinary copier paper produces muted colors and dull tones because the ink soaks in freely it may even bleed through to the other side Ei lounhing t 35 m ett E zj CMYK Madel F Built in JCC Taples loc Ontions 306 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Choosing the wrong paper can reduce the effectiveness of color management sys tems At this time most printer manufacturers supply color management data pro files only for the papers they sell If you print on another brand of paper the color management software may not have the data profile it needs to match the monitor and the printer THE ABSOLUTE MiNiMUM Digital cameras and computer monitors use the additive color process Color film and inkjet printers use the subtractive color process which relies on variations of cyan magenta and yellow inks Follow these steps when working with color onscreen and in print Color negative film and slide film are sensitive to red green and blue light but form their complement cyan magenta yellow during developm
403. ventually be printed These steps apply mostly to inkjet printers The settings will differ for other kinds of printers such as dye sublimation or laser printers 1 Open a low contrast image in Photoshop and save it with a new name Keep the original safe in case you need to return to it 2 Open the Levels dialog box by choosing Image Adjust Levels 3 Click twice on the black point eyedropper to open the Color Picker box CHAPTER 14 THE IMPORTANCE OF BRIGHTNESS CONTRAST 215 4 Set the Red Green and Blue values to 2 to define the darkest black with some detail A zero in each color would produce a black with no detail at all Click OK 5 Click twice on the white point eyedropper to open the Color Picker box again 6 Set the Red Green and Blue values at 244 to define the brightest white with detail in a photograph The number 255 in each color would produce paper white with no detail Click OK 7 When the Levels box appears click OK and then click Yes when the default dialog box question appears Brightness and Contrast Exercise In the last exercise you ll set up the Color i ti p Pickers for printing Now Photoshop or Photoshop Elements is ready to save underex posed washed out backlit or just plain lifeless The Info palette might help you find the white and images black points if you re having 1 Open a poorly exposed image and save it trouble Choose Window with a new name such as a TIFF file ora Info to
404. ver you should always set the correct white balance on your digital camera or use the correct type of film Keep these important points in mind when you photo graph with either medium Daylight has a color temperature of 5600 Kelvin Indoor incandescent light bulbs have a color temperature of 2850 Kelvin Look for indoor film at this temperature if you plan to shoot under these lights Fluorescent light bulbs come in many different colors of light The most common fluorescent bulbs have a color temperature of 4000 4500 Kelvin The color emitted is often called cool white but it actually shows up as green on daylight balanced film Filters are available that adjust indoor lighting to work with daylight balanced film Check out filters by such companies as Hoya www thkphoto com products hoya index htm1 and black and white www schneiderkreuznach com Slide film is much more sensitive to exposure and color casts IN THIS CHAPTER Using a Scanner Making a Scan Step by Step Keeping Dust Out of the Picture Determining the Samples Per Inch of a Scan ETTING YOUR Pix NSGREEN Scanning creates digital images from negatives transparencies or prints see Figure 6 1 When images are scanned their tones and colors are converted into numbers that the software can edit A scanner captures samples of brightness and color in a regular grid pattern The more samples the scanner takes the more detailed th
405. visitors to see your images with the wrong brightness and contrast or with color bias You cannot control the CHAPTER 23 DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE WEB 339 way other people s monitors display color but you can reduce the problem Make sure the monitor on which you develop your Web images is calibrated with Adobe Gamma or equivalent software Most computers receive information sent over the Internet at a very low speed Under typical conditions it takes a fast modem more than four min utes to deliver a full screen 16 million color image Very few Web site visitors will tolerate that sort of wait File compression formats have been developed to speed up the transmission of images and new formats are being devel oped JPEG is the only universally accepted 24 bit photographic compression format see Chapter 7 Files and File Formats for the Web JPEG is designed to min imize the visible irregularities of brightness while allowing large color errors The success of the design is impressive JPEG images compressed to 25 percent of their original size rarely show signs of compression You should plan for compression It s a good idea to make sure your Web pages images plus text are received by viewers in fewer than 30 seconds You can esti mate this by adding together the sizes of all the files on the page and dividing the total by the speed of your visitors modems For example if a page totals 75 kilo bytes and an average mod
406. w Help _ iPhoto s basic OF y Une eZ E ae All editing com Photo Library Redo Rotate Photo Z mands in the arma t RE ras Co 2C Edit menu T a6 aN Select All A Deselect All THA Rotate gt Set Title To gt Keywords 3K Font gt Spelling gt Special Characters Working with the Print Dialog Box in iPhoto This section assumes you are using a photo printer with your Mac such as an Epson Canon Lexmark or HP photo printer These printers have powerful print drivers that often provide exceptional editing capabilities NOW YOU KNOW WHY PRINT DRIVERS MATTER About to buy a new printer for your Mac Read as many reviews as you can stand before you buy a photo printer Find out whether its printer driver provides editing capabilities That way if you re too lazy or too busy to open Photoshop or Photoshop Elements you can still perform editing within iPhoto The following steps examine the options available for one photo printer a Canon S9000 1 Choose File Print to access the Print dialog box The standard Print dialog box appears see Figure 9 18 FIGURE 9 18 Print The standard 7 Print dialog box Printer 59000 Presets Standard in iPhoto Style Full Page _ Margins Gn 0 00 in Copies 1 D Preview Save As PDF Advanced Options Cancel Print gt 128 FIGURE 9 19 iPhoto s Style menu in the Print dialog box
407. when the subject is sharp Autofocus systems are not infallible Active autofo S cus is limited to subjects fairly close to the camera Passive autofocus is limited by the brightness and contrast of the subject A camera might fail to focus note or miss the focus if a subject has very low contrast is in very dim light or consists of a repetitive pat tern like window blinds or a complex pattern like a plaid Some cameras employ both systems for 9 Some autofocus sys maximum sharpness under most conditions tems can take a long time Read your camera s instructions to know how its to adjust as the lens hunts autofocus mechanism operates and when you back and forth unable to focus would be better off focusing manually Center Weighted Autofocus Lock Autofocus cameras often focus on the center of a scene This can make an off center main subject out of focus if it is at a different distance from whatever is at the center see Figure 4 9 To focus properly on the subject of your picture if he she it is not in the center of the image 1 In autofocus mode first focus by placing the autofocus brackets on the main subject With many cameras you partially press the shutter button down Keep partial pressure on the release to lock focus Figure 4 10 2 Reframe your picture see Figure 4 11 while keeping partial pressure on the shutter release 3 Push the shutter button all the way down to make the exposure FIG
408. which represents the number of Xs it found in the file The second byte represents the actual character that appeared in the run One confusing setting in the TIFF Options dialog box is Byte Order In the 1990s the Mac and Windows platforms were compatible in disk formats but software still had to know how and on which platform TIFF files were saved TIFF files saved on the Mac used the Mac byte order obviously If you opened a TIFF file saved on the Mac or PC you had to tell Photoshop where or how the file was saved IBM PC or Mac CHAPTER 7 FILES AND FILE FORMATS 95 Newer versions of Photoshop since version 6 and most other programs no longer require this hand holding One interesting feature of TIFF is its capability to save files in any bits per pixel depth If your scanner supports 48 bit depth you can scan at this bit depth and then save the resulting huge file as a TIFF file that is completely portable Photoshop File Format The Photoshop PSD format is the native file format for Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements This format is also available in most high end Adobe products as an export option The PSD format can store layers layer sets paths channels masks and annotations seamlessly This often results in large files but provides the tools you need during a large complicated project File size for the PSD format has always been an issue PSD files are large File sizes for the Photoshop format are similar to T
409. will draw from the center of an ellipse instead of the edge see Figure 10 15 3 Press down and hold the Alt and the Shift keys and draw another selection Now the marquee is restricted to a perfect circle You can click on the center of a subject and press down and hold Alt then drag the cursor out to create an ellipse or circle around the subject 4 Press Ctrl D 3D on Mac to deselect CHAPTER 10 EDITING WITH SELECTION TOOLS 145 FIGURE 10 15 The Elliptical Marquee tool Introduction to Image Editing Now that you have some idea how to select specific items in an image why not edit something The rest of this chapter throws you into the most impor tant elements of editing Levels Curves and HSB Hue Saturation and Brightness Later chapters will explore each editing feature in depth If you have an image you can experiment with open it in the image editor of your choice and fol low these steps 1 Evaluate the image s brightness and con trast Is the image too light or too dark Is the contrast too high or too low Our sam ple image here is too dark see Figure 10 16 Other defects may be revealed once the image is made lighter note The editing functions discussed on the next few pages are available in Photoshop and advanced editors such as Corel Photopaint and Paintshop Pro Photoshop Elements lacks Curves but does include Levels which is used more often by pho tographers
410. xperiment with scanning printing and onscreen editing to understand how images flow through the chain of resolution The following tips might help as well Digital cameras capture images at 72 pixels per inch You need to change this resolution prior to printing Disposable cameras have about the same resolution as a 3 megapixel camera Because of scanner limitations 35mm slides taken with the highest quality optics contain as much resolution as an equivalent 20 megapixel sensor The common accepted term for input resolution is pixels per inch ppi The common accepted term for printer resolution is dots per inch dpi Most digital cameras capture at 8 bits per color 24 bit resolution High end SLRs can capture at higher 12 bit and 14 bit resolution in RAW mode Editing in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements is done at 8 bits per pixel reso lution Only a few editing options are available at 16 bits per pixel Most professionals scan negatives and slides at 48 bit resolution 16 bits per pixel which must be converted to 8 bits per pixel after importing into Photoshop and Photoshop Elements IN THIS CHAPTER Sharpening Prints with Unsharp Mask Taking Advantage of Blur Getting Rid of Noise THE IMPORTANGE OF FILTERS Photoshop and Photoshop Elements include a number of filters that range from functional to artistic The most commonly used filters by photographers are in these categories Sharpen The Unsharp Mask filter

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