3. Microsoft Photo Editor:

Working with Photos

In this lesson we will begin working with photographs in depth. Photos can and should be a big part of computer graphics knowledge. We will start with the basics and progress to more advanced procedures and techniques. Like anything we do with computers the key to their usefulness lies in the "Applications Software". The more basic software is provided by the developer of your operating system, he can build on previously developed commands and procedures. Microsoft provides some type of Photo editing software with it's various versions of "Office". The package available to us here is called "Photo Editor". Similar packages exist from Microsoft and other vendors. A common one is called "Microsoft Imager". Many of these simple photo software packages can be downloaded free from the Internet as shareware. Others can be obtained free for a trial period and then can be licensed for a minimal fee. These programs are in the price ranges of $10 to $40. As you move to the more capable versions of Photo Graphics Software the price goes up with the capability. The two programs we will make use of here are "Photo Studio" and "Paint Shop Pro". For home users of PCs the price ranges from $30 up to $100. For professional users packages can run as high as several thousand dollars. These professional packages usually do not have additional capability but rather they are faster and can handle more tasks simultaneously with additional options. This ease of usage has a price in that the operator has more to remember and choose from. A casual user will usually get lost in this maze of options.

Sizing and Formatting

We have spent most of our time so far with Paint and Clip Art Objects. These formats are usually bit maps. A raster, or bitmap, format breaks an image into a grid of equally sized pieces which are called pixels. This format records color information for each pixel. The number of colors that the file can contain is determined by the bits/pixel. To enable a file to contain more shades and hues more information must be recorded for each pixel. Software is required to change text from one vendor's format to another. Software is also required to translate graphic files to and from various formats. These are sometimes referred to as import or export file filters. These filters alter the stored instructions or formats such that various applications packages can recognize each others files and provide the operator with a wide range of options. We will concentrate on Raster Image Formats in this course. The most common being bitmaps (.bmp), CompuServe Graphics Interchange (.gif), and Joint Photographics Expert Group (JEPG) (.jpg) or (.jif). We may encounter less common ones such as Aldus Corporation's Tagged Image File Format (.tif) or (.tiff). Meta and Vector image formats both contain vector information and are used with software that stores information as collections of geometric shapes that combine to make images. These types of files are more common in engineering or scientific fields. They are beginning to come into play in the PC world with applications to games and 3-D graphics. As PC's take on the added speed and size characteristics of workstations and mainframes more of these formats will emerge.

Positioning Graphics

GIF and JPEG are both compression methods for graphics images. They are used to save both disk space and transmission time. These are the two most common graphics formats on the Web. Bitmap files which have been changed to either of these formats will usually be about 7 to 10 times smaller in size. JPEG files are most often used for sharp photographic images, while GIF files are often used for colorful graphics, many of which are not photos. GIF images start to display on the screen while they download, while JPEG images must download entirely before they display. GIF files can be made "transparent", meaning they have been customized to display without a background. This makes them appear to "float" on a Web page. During the remainder of this course you will use and become familiar with these common graphics formats. Both Photo Studio and Paint Shop Pro allow you to work with many different formats. I encourage you to experiment and attempt to arrive at your own conclusions to the advantages of one over another. Our taste varies as to what appears good to us in the way of images and their corresponding "art" value. Some of us will like one format and one application in preference to another. Come to your own conclusions which suit your needs. Time to time branch out of your comfort zone and try new techniques and software. You will increase your knowledge base and who knows, you may find something you like better.

Special Effects

During class 3 we will explore the capabilities of MS Photo Editor. This software is limited in scope to making changes to the appearance of Photos. Basic commands consist of 5 items on the Image Menu which can be used to crop, resize, rotate, balance, and balance automatically. The Effects Menu is more inclusive with many features, some of which are difficult to perform with more expensive software. Try out the Special Effects features associated with a simple Photo Editor application. You will be provided with some photos to experiment with. You may also right click on any photo in these pages and save it to a file for your use in practicing. Listed in Task 3 are some instructions to get you started. (Last Revision 3/9/99)

TASK 3 - SPECIAL EFFECTS

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