Image Editing Software

Recently I had to concert an image to use on a website, but also aon some advertising merchandise. I chose to go with the png file type as the loss of detail in compression is the least of the regular image formats.It was an image to be used over at a site about jovvy caboose strollers.

Its always difficult to know which format to choose, particularly if you need to have some transparency involved.

Black and White Photo Conversion (Ezine Ready)

2007-02-14T11:13:00.000+10:00

Author: Peter Horner

Copyright © 2006 Peter Horner
Most images were produced in black and white for nearly a hundred years after the invention of photography, but now colour images have become commonplace. Creating strong three dimensional images on a piece of paper is one of the best attributes of black and white photography, as the effect can be more striking than with a colour photograph. Without the colour to distract us we become more aware of the subtle tones which can be found within a black and white image. In this article I will share the technique I use that will help you create beautiful, striking and moody black and white images from your colour photographs.

Digital cameras have a black and white mode but more information and detail will be recorded in colour, which will also create a higher quality printed image. This is why I always shoot in colour then convert images later. There are several ways of converting an image to black and white using Photoshop and many other image editing programs. You could simply desaturate the colours, but creating a black and white image with real tone and definition goes beyond this. Levels, curves and the Unsharp Mask can be used creatively with black and white conversion to provide further control over tones and contrast to create a stunning image.

Channel Mixer - I have found that using the Photoshop Channel Mixer is the easiest way to convert an image to black and white and produces the best results. The Channel Mixer allows you to control how much red, green and blue contribute to the final monochrome image.

The Channel Mixer can be selected from the adjustment layer popup menu in the layers palette or you can also access it from under the image menu.

Clicking on the left tick box entitled Monochrome will convert your photograph into a greyscale image, and gives you the ability to blend the red, green and blue channels. Adjust each of the sliders to produce an image to your liking. As a rule make sure that the total values for each channel adds up to 100%. This creates monochrome images that are the equivalent of ones shot on black and white film through red, green or blue filters. For example if you wanted to maximize cloud contrast in a blue sky, then a red filter would achieve this. I usually set the red channel to 0 and the green channel to 100 to cut down on the amount of noise, or sometimes a combination of red and green depending on the image.

Curves and Levels - Brightness and contrast can be adjusted in Photoshop by using the curves and levels tools, which can be found under Image > Adjustments Curves/Levels. Both curves and levels allow you to adjust the tonal range of an image. When using the levels command you can make adjustments to just three variables, highlights, shadows and midtones. I prefer to use curves as it gives you more precision. With curves you can adjust any point along a scale while keeping up to 15 other values constant. By adjusting the black point and white point in curves you can give your image more contrast. At opposite ends of the diagonal line you will find a small dot. When you grab hold one of the dots with your mouse and drag it around you will see the image change. To create more contrast drag the black point lower and the white point higher, so that either end of the diagonal line is curved. Practice using curves and levels and explore the different effects you can achieve with your images.

Unsharp Mask - The Unsharp Mask is my preferred tool for sharpening images, which can be found under Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask. It is a traditional film compositing technique used to sharpen edges in an image and corrects blurring. The Unsharp Mask locates pixels that differ from surrounding pixels by the threshold you specify and increases the pixels' contrast by the amount you specify. In order to get the look which I desire in my images I use the Unsharp Mask twice. I begin by using a high radius and lower amount, such as a radius of 50 pixels and an amount of 30%. This gives the image a much more intense look and details will stand out. The second time I use a lower radius of 1 pixel with a higher amount of 30%, which will correct any blurring and sharpen the image.

Visit this page to view examples of images created using a combination of these techniques - Black and White Conversion Example Photos

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesBase.com

About the Author:

Peter Horner has years of experience in photography and digital printing technologies and also co-created the large format printing company DesignerPrint. Using large format printing technology DesignerPrint create canvas prints, block mounts, and poster prints. Canvas Printing from DesignerPrint.co.uk

Digital Image Formats - JPEG, GIF, RAW .. What Do All These Mean? (Ezine Ready)

2007-02-14T09:58:00.000+10:00

Author: Mike Singh

We spend hours and hours, taking the best photographs we can, and when we're done - we apply special techniques to them with a special editing software to enhance what we've originally seen. When we are done, we try and save them in the correct format to preserve the image in the best way possible, but most people have no idea what the differences are.

The three main files a digital camera uses to store its digital images are JPEG, TIFF, and RAW formats. We need to understand what these digital image formats are and their properties - only then will we be able to get a high quality photograph.

The first format, and the one used in graphic design and photography quite often, is JPEG - a commonly used standard method of compression of images. In fact, the majority of photographers use this as their primary image mode. One of the main reasons is because it can be used right out of the camera with no editing, as it is considered a high-quality first use image. It also transfers easily across the Internet, and as email attachments. Plus it is fastest writer from the camera memory buffer to the memory card storage.

On the other side, it is not as sharp out of the camera as TIFF or RAW modes, and every time the JPEG is manipulated more than once or twice, it will eventually become unusable. But more than any of this, every time the JPEG image is modified and resaved, it will lose more data.

PEG stands for "Joint Photographic Experts Group", named after the joint committee which created it in 1986. The JPEG (file extensions are .jpg, along with .jpeg, .jfif, jpg., .JPG, and .JPE) format provides for lossy compression of images, which means that when data is compressed, and then decompressed, the data that is decompressed may be different than the original. Yet, it is sufficient to be useful in some way or another.

JPEG/JFIF is the format that is used when photographs are stored and transmitted on the Internet. It is preferably over GIF, which is limited to 256 colors that are not enough for colored photographs, or PNG, what produces larger image files.

But then, just as many photographers use TIFF as their primary usage. The TIFF is a file format used for storing images such as line art and photographs, developed by Aldus, now Adobe Systems, and Microsoft. A popular format for high color depth images, it is supported by many image-manipulation programs such as Pagemaker, QuarkXPress, Adobe InDesign, PhotoShop, Paint Shop Pro, etc. It is extremely high in its image quality, with excellent compatibility with the publishing companies.

Tiff can be modified and resaved, with the images being used an endless number of times without throwing away any image data. Plus the image is extremely usable, as it does not require software post-processing during or after its download from the camera. It is a flexible and adaptable , with an advantage of no picture loss, which makes it acceptable to the publishing industry.

Compared to the RAW format, it uses less storage space, and is suitable for changes from any photo-editing software. A big disadvantage is its very large file size, still choking small e-mail boxes. During photography shoots, memory cards are needed if using TIFF images, but more pictures can be taken with the same amount of memory space.

The RAW mode is a picture format where the camera has made absolutely no changes; the files are not yet processed or ready to use with an editor, etc. Not a whole lot of professionals use this mode, other than camera purists, or weird website article writers. In order for it to be manipulated, the image needs to be processed and converted to an RGB format that is either TIFF or JPEG. This means that each and every pixel that was captured by the camera is now on the image.

You can now download this image on your computer for processing. Its advantages are that a huge amount of control over the final look of the image is yours. Additionally, all original details stays in the image for any and all future processing needs.

However, when you do so you will notice that this is a very large image, probably a few MBs. This means that you will need a very large storage area or memory space if you are going to shoot images in RAW format. Your advantage is that you can sharpen, size, or crop the picture without losing any picture quality.

But your disadvantage is the file size. You cannot transmit it easily because it needs high bandwidth connections. Also, you can shoot very few photographs if you select the RAW mode. After that, you have to change the memory card or make space by erasing a few photographs. Also, this mode is generally not accepted by the publishing industry because it produces a 12-bit image. The photographer needs to modify it using photo-editing software before submitting it for publication.

Overall, if a photographer wants to keep all the original image data that was recorded, the image must be stored in RAW format. It is the closest thing that we will be able to see in a film negative or a transparency that the digital camera can make.

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesBase.com

About the Author:

Check out http://www.digicamland.org/ for more articles on buying digital camera and digital camera batteries.

Ramblings From a Glass Half Full: Lookin' for (Link) Love

2007-02-09T12:49:00.000+10:00

Ramblings From a Glass Half Full: Lookin' for (Link) Love

The Z List...try it.

2007-02-09T11:55:00.001+10:00

I'm new to blogging, and like you all, want to increase traffic. I spotted the Z List on The Viral Garden
Don,t know the full deal yet, but it will follow things through a bit.
I'm also unsure if these pasted links qualify as bona fide "links". Heres hoping.
To use the link list, cut and paste the links into a new post on your blog. Add 5 or so of your favorite blogs and publish the post. Hopefully one of the links will be to this site!! Hope it helps all to get some comments and traffic!

The Viral Garden
Creative Think
Soloride
Movie Marketing Madness
Blog Till You Drop!
Get Shouty!
One Reader at a Time
Critical Fluff
The New PR
Own Your Brand!
OTOInsights
bizandbuzz
Work, in Plain English
Buzz Canuck
New Millenium PR
Pardon My French
Troy Worman's Blog
The Instigator Blog
AENDirect
Diva Marketing
Marketing Hipster
The Marketing Minute
Funny Business
The Frager Factor
Mindblob
Open The Dialogue
Word Sell
Note to CMO:
That's Great Marketing!
Shotgun Marketing Blog
BrandSizzle
bizsolutionsplus
Customers Rock!
Being Peter Kim
Pow! Right Between The Eyes! Andy Nulman’s Blog About Surprise
Billions With Zero Knowledge
Working at Home on the Internet
MapleLeaf 2.0
darrenbarefoot.com
Two Hat Marketing
The Engaging Brand
The Branding Blog
CrapHammer
Drew's Marketing Minute
Golden Practices
Viaspire
Tell Ten Friends
Flooring the Consumer
Kinetic Ideas
Unconventional Thinking
Buzzoodle
Conversation Agent
The Copywriting Maven
Hee-Haw Marketing
Scott Burkett's Pothole on the Infobahn
Multi-Cult Classics
Logic + Emotion
Branding & Marketing
Popcorn n Roses
On Influence & Automation
Bullshitobserver
Servant of Chaos
converstations
eSoup
Presentation Zen
Dmitry Linkov
aialone
John Wagner
Nick Rice
CKs Blog
Design Sojourn
Frozen Puck
The Sartorialist
Small Surfaces
Africa Unchained
Perspective
gDiapers
Marketing Nirvana
Bob Sutton
¡Hola! Oi! Hi!
Shut Up and Drink the Kool-Aid!
Women, Art, Life: Weaving It All Together
Community Guy
Social Media on the fly
Jeremy Latham’s Blog
SMogger Social Media Blog
Masey.com

Blogsvertise can help you earn some $$$

2007-02-09T11:23:00.000+10:00

Consider signing up with Blogsvertise (http://www.blogsvertise.com) Its free, and can attract paying advertisers to your site

Convert JPEG Photographs Into PDF Documents

2007-02-02T14:15:00.001+10:00

Author: Adrian Nelson

If you already know what JPEGs and PDFs are then skip to the
"Why should you convert JPEG images into PDF documents" section
to learn about some of the benefits and advantages of converting
your JPEG photographs into PDF documents.

What is a
JPEG?

JPEG (pronounced "jay-peg") is a royalty free
image format that was created by a committee known as the Joint
Photographics Expert Group. It was designed to compress
photographic images so that they take up much less space.

However, the JPEG format is a "lossy" one. This means that
when a JPEG image is decompressed it is not quite the same as
the original image. But don't worry as this is not a big issue
because it is possible to set the quality level that should be
used for an image.

At a high quality level the human
eye will not be able to distinguish the differences and you will
still get a very useful space saving with about a 10:1
compression ratio - ie an image will be compressed to one tenth
of their original size.

At medium quality levels you
will be able to spot slight differences (known as "compression
artifacts") but these should not normally detract from the image
and you will get a compression ratio of around 20:1.

Of
course lower quality levels are available that allow a
compression ratio of 100:1 to be achieved but the resultant
images will look very "blocky".

JPEG is probably the
most popular image format in use thanks to its high image
quality and low space requirements. It is widely used on the
Internet and as the storage format for photographs taken with
most digital cameras.

What is a PDF?

PDF is a royalty free general purpose Portable Document Format
created by Adobe Systems. It is ideal for storing and displaying
fixed layout documents in a device and resolution independent
way.

What this means is that a PDF document will be
displayed in the same way no matter what device it is viewed on
- whether it is on a PC with a large screen or on a small
personal organizer.

It is also important to note that a
PDF document can be printed to any printer and the printed
output should look exactly the same (or at least as close as
possible subject to any limitations that the printer might
have).

Because of the benefits outlined above, PDF is
widely used on the Internet and is extensively used within the
print industry where printing accuracy is a must.

Why should you convert JPEG images into PDF
documents?

While JPEG images are easy to use there
are some limitations with them that make PDF documents a more
attractive way of distributing images.

First of all if
you want to display and print a JPEG image then what you see on
screen is not necessarily what you get printed! This is because
the screen resolution is likely to be very different to the
printer resolution and the application that is used to display
the image on screen cannot always take this into account.

However, using a PDF document that contains the same image,
not only is the image displayed at the correct size on screen
but you get a perfect printed copy.

If you want to
store or distribute a number of images together then it makes
more sense to put them into a single PDF file. Especially if you
want to send them via email (you only have to include one file
attachment and the recipient can open the PDF document and
scroll through all of the images straight away) or display them
on a web site (you only need to link to one file not lots of
them).

With a PDF document you can also restrict what
can be done with it - you may only want authorised users to be
able to view the document in which case you can password protect
it. Or you can prevent a user from editing or printing the
document if you only want them to be able to view it on
screen.

You can of course do much more with a PDF
document, for example, you could create a simple PDF photo album
of your images with a built-in slideshow using some fancy page
transitions between each image.

How can you convert
JPEG images into PDF documents?

While you could use
the fully featured and relatively expensive Adobe Acrobat
application to convert JPEG images into PDF documents, this can
be both time consuming to learn and overly complex if all you
want to do is to convert some JPEG images.

There are
some free applications available, such as Open Office, but these
do not generally allow you the same level of control or
automation as dedicated third party tools.

A better
solution could be to use a dedicated tool such as one of the
"Image to PDF" range of products from Utility Warrior.

There are some other advantages to using a tool that is
dedicated to the job of just converting JPEG images into PDF
documents - it will probably be cheaper for a start!

Also, these tools will often be much smaller in size as there is
no unnecessary code bloat, and this can also mean that they are
faster in operation - which can be very important if you have
thousands of JPEG images to convert!

Hopefully this
brief article will have given you enough grounding to evaluate
the solutions that are available to convert your JPEG images
into PDF documents to best find one that matches your needs.
Happy converting!

Copyright © 2007 Adrian Nelson

About the author:
Adrian Nelson is the lead software developer behind the range of
low cost PDF utilities from Utility Warrior which can be found
at <a href="http://www.UtilityWarrior.com">www.UtilityWarrior.com</a>

Repair of Photographic Images

2007-02-02T14:10:00.000+10:00

Author: CardsMadeEasy

Imagine one evening while you try to put order in the old attic,
amidst the dark and the dust gathered by the years, you discover
an old photo album, last century's early version of a home
multimedia database...A photo album, containing mostly black &
white photos of family elders -occasions like weddings,
gatherings, celebrations, trips around the world, full on
sentimental value, and even - why not - historical value. After
all, at day end, everyone's own history is a part of the world's
history - seeing it from a philosophical point of view.

But unfortunately -as it happens with old technology storage
media - time leaves its trace on the photos. For instance
visible marks on the surface, dust and scratches and
discolouring and fading are constantly populating the surface of
each of your valuable photos: humid, photo-hungry germs are
feeding their appetite starting from each photos edges, slowly
but steadily progressing towards an irreversible victory,
turning history into oblivion. Unless... Oh, yes, using magic
technology, a perceptive eye and a steady hand can reinstate the
photo-historical status-quo, eliminate or correct any
side-effects, any signs or scars this battle of time has
left-over. And the good thing is that there is no need for
expensive technology, nor rocket science is needed: Any good old
image editing application with a scanner will do - and in case
you feel nostalgic about old storage media types, a printer with
photo paper will complement the task. So let's say, you have the
photos, you have the technology... What next? How do you
proceed, quickly and efficiently enough to restore any kind of
printed images? Are there some tricks you should have in mind,
which can help towards this goal?

Well, the answer is yes and no. Despite the power tools we have
these days even in our home computers (with Adobe Photoshop on
Windows and Mac, as well as Gimp on Linux as primary examples)
capable of easily performing a huge number of impressive digital
photo tasks, restoration of old photos is still closely related
to a users aptitude and artistic eye, as much as in his good
knowledge and effective use of the application tools.

For example, in Photoshop there are embedded filters, which
automatically remove small dust and scratches: some clever image
recognition algorithm works there, that recognises unwanted
elements by identifying irregular fluctuations in the bitmap's
pixel colour depth mapping. But this works only relatively well,
as the underlying algorithm is not lossless: the more strongly
the filter is applied, the more the loss of the image quality in
terms of sharpness and details. Furthermore, it is strongly
dependent on the image contents. Dust, scratches and other
elements are more easily removed from the photo's uniform shaded
areas, i.e. when photos are picturing elements like walls,
surfaces, sky, clouds etc. than from, say, a landscape with lots
of details, a patterned canvas or a photos that contains a
number of people.

As for the use of tools like the powerful Adobe Photoshop's
Clone Stamp, or the newer Spot Healing Brush, which allows
sampling and copying to pixel level, when it comes to heavy
damaged images, the user's intuition is the only serious tool to
consider. For example, it could be the case that an image is so
much damaged, that parts of it are literally missing - ok, if it
is a landscape with flowers, sampling will work well, but when
the damaged part contains elements of a particular form, like
peoples faces or other body parts, interior design or
architectural elements, then copying, sampling and spot healing
is not enough. Sometimes the user would have to re-create these
elements; identifying and copying similar details from somewhere
else in the picture could be also possible, but most of the
times angles and light shades would be different. And especially
when the damaged areas are affecting elements like peoples
faces, hands, animals etc. or even everyday objects like chairs,
or clothes with special details like shoes etc., the restoring
task is even more difficult: these objects that would need
recreation, have aesthetics that are well integrated within our
visual perception of 'how things should look like'.

When the desired result is an image aesthetically correct and
therefore usable in many ways, there is no magical recipe into
which tools in what order and what functions the restorer should
apply when working on the task. More so when the task is to put
colour in black and white photos, especially with people on them
which involves large areas of skin. A correct skin colour is
something that all professional photographers and image editors
are looking for, especially when images are going to be printed.
Putting colour in a black & white image is one of the most
difficult tasks a digital image restorer will have to perform.
Imagination and creative intuition as well as experience and
advanced knowledge of the tools available are strongly required
in order to achieve sometimes a just-bearable result. As there
is a very fine step easy to be crossed before a beautiful face
pictured in black & white is turned to a pink, red or yellow
dull alien one, such is the fine line that can differentiate a
good photo restoration from inadequate attempts sold as
expertise.

CardsMadeEasy, The href="http://www.cardsmadeeasy.com">Business Cards Company

Correct Photo 2.0

2007-02-02T13:43:00.001+10:00

Press Release

Release date: January 10, 2007

PictoColor Releases CorrectPhoto 2.0 Digital Photo Editor Featuring OneClick Color Correction

Enhanced software simplifies common digital photo fixes and takes the guesswork out of making the color right

BURNSVILLE, Minn., Jan. 10 /- PictoColor announces the release of CorrectPhoto 2.0 featuring OneClick Color ( http://www.correctphoto.com/ ). CorrectPhoto for Windows is the first digital photo editor to utilize the new one-click color correction technology that takes the guesswork out of making the color right. PictoColor's newest point-and-click software automatically fixes the white balance, corrects the exposure, and improves the vibrancy of any digital image with a single click. Until now, this capability has only been available to advanced users and professional photographers through PictoColor's iCorrect line of Photoshop plug-ins. Plus, CorrectPhoto also has an integrated Windows Explorer, so users have direct access to all the digital media features of the operating system at the click of a mouse. With CorrectPhoto and Windows, users can easily transfer, perfect, organize, manage, view, share, and print their digital photos.

In addition to its automatic color correction capabilities, CorrectPhoto provides separate controls for manually adjusting brightness and contrast, independently adjusting shadows and highlights, quickly adjusting the saturation, and easily converting to black and white. It also includes a comprehensive tool set for further improving everyday photos including rotation, cropping to specific print sizes like popular 3x5's or 4x6's, image resizing, red-eye reduction, and sharpening.

"CorrectPhoto is an extremely easy-to-use program that really simplifies working with digital photos. With its smartly-organized tool set, advanced color technology, and integrated Windows media tools, CorrectPhoto enables users to take control of their digital photos and turn ordinary snapshots into stunning, vibrant images," said Craig Huelskoetter, president. "Our new OneClick Color technology is by far our fastest, easiest, and most automatic color correction tool to date. Now, photo enthusiasts and home users can get the same professional results with an easy-to-use stand-alone program. Plus, with its integrated Windows Explorer, it's like having our advanced OneClick Color technology built right into the operating system. Whether users plan to share their web galleries with family and friends, order prints from an online photo service, create stunning scrapbooks, or just save them in their personal archives, CorrectPhoto will save them hours and help them take their digital photos further."

CorrectPhoto can be easily customized for private label use with direct web links for express uploads for photo retailers, online photo services, web galleries, and other interactive online applications.

Key Features:

One Click White Balance and Exposure Correction - Simply click on an area in the image that should be black or white or gray, and iCorrect OneClick will automatically:
-- Remove any color cast by correcting the white balance.
-- Correct the tonal range by making the darkest colors black and the lightest colors white.
-- Correct the exposure by adjusting the overall brightness
-- Adjust the saturation

Fine-tune the exposure and recover extra detail by independently adjusting:
-- Overall Brightness,
-- Shadows, and
-- Highlights

Create more vivid, life-like photos by easily boosting:
-- Contrast and
-- Saturation

Create stunning, professional quality special effects:
-- Black & White

Rotation
-- Easily rotate clockwise and counterclockwise

Cropping
-- Crop to specific print sizes, i.e., 4x6, 5x7, etc.
-- Variable cropping

Resize Photos

Red-Eye Reduction
-- Advanced red-eye reduction technology with user-definable cursor size for accurate selection

Sharpening
-- Sophisticated sharpening algorithms for improving the clarity of out-of-focus shots

Easily Customized Interface and Web Links
CorrectPhoto can be easily customized for private label use by photo retailers, online photo services, web galleries and other interactive digital photo applications including direct web links for express uploads and other brand building services.

Compatibility
Available for Microsoft Windows XP and Vista operating systems. CorrectPhoto may be purchased at CorrectPhoto.com at http://www.correctphoto.com/ for $29.95 as a software download. Free Trial software is also available.

About PictoColor
PictoColor is a leading developer of easy-to-use time saving photo editing, color correction and color management software featuring iCorrect color correction technology. PictoColor products serve digital photo enthusiasts, professional photographers and photo labs. PictoColor is located at 151 East Burnsville Parkway, Suite 200, Burnsville, MN 55337, Tel: 952-894-8890, Fax: 952-894-0784, http://www.pictocolor.com/ , http://www.correctphoto.com/ . Contact: http://www.pictocolor.com/contact.htm

PictoColor(R) and CorrectPhoto(TM) are trademarks of PictoColor Corporation. inCamera(R), iCorrect(R), are registered trademarks of PictoColor Corporation. All trademarks referenced in this document, whether identified as trademarks or not, are the sole property of the legal owners of such marks. PictoColor makes no such claims to any such marks nor willingly misused or misapplied any marks.

CONTACT: Wayne Huelskoetter of PictoColor, +1-952-894-8890, X1#, news@pictocolor.com

Web site: http://www.pictocolor.com/
http://www.correctphoto.com/