Seventh entry- Image Editing (Introduction to Image Editing Software and Image Manipulation)

 Computer icon of Adobe Photoshop in computers 

Screenshot of Adobe Photoshop software

Welcome once again everyone! How do you do? Are you feeling fine today? In that case, I am going to continue our journey to the next chapter, which is the introduction of image editing software namely Adobe Photoshop. Honestly speaking, I don’t have any experience in handling image editing and I’m willing to learn because it looks fun and interesting. Manipulating images look cool and I want to try and it was difficult for a beginner level like me. Anyway, we start the topic by introducing Adobe Photoshop first before we go deep into the software. Let’s go!

Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Systems for Windows and OS X. Photoshop files have default file extension as .PSD, which stands for "Photoshop Document." A PSD file stores an image with support for most imaging options available in Photoshop. These include layers with masks, transparency, text, alpha channels and spot colors, clipping paths, and duotone settings. This is in contrast to many other file formats (e.g. .JPG or .GIF) that restrict content to provide streamlined, predictable functionality. A PSD file has a maximum height and width of 30,000 pixels, and a length limit of 2 Gigabytes.

Photoshop files sometimes have the file extension .PSB, which stands for "Photoshop Big" (also known as "large document format"). A PSB file extends the PSD file format, increasing the maximum height and width to 300,000 pixels and the length limit to around 4 Exabytes. The dimension limit was apparently chosen arbitrarily by Adobe, not based on computer arithmetic constraints (it is not close to a power of two, as is 30,000) but for ease of software testing. PSD and PSB formats are documented.

Because of Photoshop's popularity, PSD files are widely used and supported to some extent by most competing software. The .PSD file format can be exported to and from Adobe's other apps like Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere Pro, and After Effects, to make professional standard DVDs and provide non-linear editing and special effects services, such as backgrounds, textures, and so on, for television, film, and the web. Photoshop's primary strength is as a pixel-based image editor, unlike vector-based image editors. Photoshop also enables vector graphics editing through its Paths, Pen tools, Shape tools, Shape Layers, Type tools, Import command, and Smart Object functions. These tools and commands are convenient to combine pixel-based and vector-based images in one Photoshop document, because it may not be necessary to use more than one program. 

Upon loading Photoshop, a sidebar with a variety of tools with multiple image-editing functions appears to the left of the screen. These tools typically fall under the categories of drawing; painting; measuring and navigation; selection; typing; and retouching. Some tools contain a small triangle in the bottom right of the toolbox icon. These can be expanded to reveal similar tools. While newer versions of Photoshop are updated to include new tools and features, several recurring tools that exist in most versions are discussed below.

Pen Tool.

Photoshop includes a few versions of the pen tool. The pen tool creates precise paths that can be manipulated using anchor points. The free form pen tool allows the user to draw paths freehand, and with the magnetic pen tool, the drawn path attaches closely to outlines of objects in an image, which is useful for isolating them from a background.

Measuring and navigation

The eyedropper tool selects a color from an area of the image that is clicked, and samples it for future use. The hand tool navigates an image by moving it in any direction, and the zoom tool enlarges the part of an image that is clicked on, allowing for a closer view.

Selection

Selection tools are used to select all or any part of a picture to perform cut, copy, edit, or retouching operations.

Cropping

The crop tool can be used to select a particular area of an image and discard the portions outside of the chosen section. This tool assists in creating a focus point on an image and excluding unnecessary or excess space. Cropping allows enhancement of a photo’s composition while decreasing the file size. The "crop" tool is in the tools palette, which is located on the right side of the document. By placing the cursor over the image, the user can drag the cursor to the desired area. Once the Enter key is pressed, the area outside of the rectangle will be cropped. The area outside of the rectangle is the discarded data, which allows for the file size to be decreased. The "crop" tool can alternatively be used to extend the canvas size by clicking and dragging outside of the existing image borders.

Slicing

The "slice" and slice select tools, like the crop tool, are used in isolating parts of images. The slice tool can be used to divide an image into different sections, and these separate parts can be used as pieces of a web page design once HTML and CSS are applied. The slice select tool allows sliced sections of an image to be adjusted and shifted.

Moving

The move tool can be used to drag the entirety of a single layer or more if they are selected. Alternatively, once an area of an image is highlighted, the move tool can be used to manually relocate the selected piece to anywhere on the canvas.

Marquee

The marquee tool can make selections that are single row, single column, rectangular and elliptical. An area that has been selected can be edited without affecting the rest of the image. This tool can also crop an image; it allows for better control. In contrast to the crop tool, the "marquee" tool allows for more adjustments to the selected area before cropping. The only marquee tool that does not allow cropping is the elliptical. Although the single row and column marqueetools allow for cropping, they are not ideal, because they only crop a line. The rectangular marquee tool is the preferred option. Once the tool has been selected, dragging the tool across the desired area will select it. The selected area will be outlined by dotted lines, referred to as "marching ants". These dotted lines are called "marching ants", because the dashes look like ants marching around the selected area. To set a specific size or ratio, the tool option bar provides these settings. Before making a selecting an area, the desired size or ratio must be set by adjusting the width and height. Any changes such as color, filters, location, etc. should be made before cropping. To crop the selection, the user must go to image tab and select crop.

Lasso

The lasso tool is similar to the "marquee" tool, however, the user can make a custom selection by drawing it freehand. There are three options for the "lasso" tool – regular, polygonal, and magnetic. The regular "lasso" tool allows the user to have drawing capabilities. Photoshop will complete the selection once the mouse button is released. The user may also complete the selection by connecting the end point to the starting point. The "marching ants" will indicate if a selection has been made. The "polygonal lasso" tool will only draw straight lines, which makes it an ideal choice for images with many straight lines. Unlike the regular "lasso" tool, the user must continually click around the image to outline the shape. To complete the selection, the user must connect the end point to the starting point just like the regular lasso tool. "Magnetic lasso" tool is considered the smart tool. It can do the same as the other two, but it can also detect the edges of an image once the user selects a starting point. It detects by examining the colour pixels as the cursor move over the desired area. A pixel is the smallest element in an image. Closing the selection is the same as the other two, which should also should display the "marching ants" once the selection has been closed.

Quick Selection

The quick selection tool selects areas based on edges, similarly to the magnetic lasso tool. The difference between this tool and the lasso tool is that there is no starting and ending point. Since there isn’t a starting and ending point, the selected area can be added onto as much as possible without starting over. By dragging the cursor over the desired area, the quick selection tool detects the edges of the image. The "marching ants" allow the user to know what is currently being selected. Once the user is done, the selected area can be edited without affecting the rest of the image. One of the features that makes this tool especially user friendly is that the SHIFT key is not needed to add more to the selection; by default, extra mouse clicks will be added to the selection rather than creating a new selection.

Magic Wand

The magic wand tool selects areas based on pixels of similar values. One click will select all neighboring pixels of similar value within a tolerance level set by the user. If the eyedropper tool is selected in the options bar, then the magic wand can determine the value needed to evaluate the pixels; this is based on the sample size setting in the eyedropper tool. This tool is inferior to the quick selection tool which works much the same but with much better results and more intuitive controls. The user must decide what settings to use or if the image is right for this tool.

Eraser

The eraser tool erases content based on the active layer. If the user is on the text layer, then any text across which the tool is dragged will be erased. The eraser will convert the pixels to transparent, unless the background layer is selected. The size and style of the eraser can be selected in the options bar. This tool is unique in that it can take the form of the paintbrush and pencil tools. In addition to the straight eraser tool, there are two more available options – background eraser and magic eraser. The background eraser deletes any part of the image that is on the edge of an object. This tool is often used to extract objects from the background. The magic eraser tool deletes based on similar coloured pixels. It is very similar to the magic wand tool. This tool is ideal for deleting areas with the same colour or tone that contrasts with the rest of the image.

Colour Replacement Tool

The Colour Replacement Tool allows you to change the colour, while maintaining the highlights and shadows of the original image, of pieces of the image. By selecting Brushes and right clicking, the Colour Replacement Tool is the third option down. What is important to note with this tool is the foreground colour. The foreground colour is what will be applied when painting along the chosen part of the image with the Colour Replacement Tool.

We move on to the next topic which is photo manipulation. Photo manipulation is the application of image editing techniques to photographs in order to create an illusion or deception after the original photographing took place. A mere enhancement or correction is known as retouching, while doctoring refers to more involved processes, which often purposefully deceive the viewer or misrepresent the scene.

With the advent of computers, graphics tablets, and digital cameras, the term image editing encompasses everything that can be done to a photo, whether in a darkroom or on a computer. Photo manipulation is often much more explicit than subtle alterations to color balance or contrast and may involve overlaying a head onto a different body or changing a sign's text, for examples. Image editing software can be used to apply effects and warp an image until the desired result is achieved. The resulting image may have little or no resemblance to the photo (or photos in the case of compositing) from which it originated. Today, photo manipulation is widely accepted as an art form.

Examples of Image Manipulation

 

Before (up) and after (down) pictures of a Hollywood actress

Before (up) and after (down) pictures of Joseph Stalin and 'his vanished' Commissar

We move on to the next topic which is photo manipulation. Photo manipulation is the application of image editing techniques to photographs in order to create an illusion or deception after the original photographing took place. A mere enhancement or correction is known as retouching, while doctoring refers to more involved processes, which often purposefully deceive the viewer or misrepresent the scene.

In this website, it teaches us on how to recreate an image manipulation by using Adobe Photoshop. Few steps are were highlighted as the main step such as ‘preparing the background’ as the image manipulation process starts here. I’ve included some image that had been manipulated / adjusted by using Adobe Photoshop and here’s the examples: 

Cool hah??We can do  lot more unique and catchy image manipulations and more complex by adding special effects and this website has a lot of complex image manipulations in which they also provide tips and guidance on how to make a similar photo for us to try. Here are the examples of photos from the website itself.

As you can see in this entry, it focused more on the learning process of using Adobe Photoshop. The steps that been introduced did helped and guided especially for the beginner levels whom had an interest in using Adobe Photoshop whether in their workplace or as their leisure time. Adobe Photoshop for me is an art form software that help to manipulate images with a specific reason.

That’s enough for today folks! We will continue on with the topic on visual technology for dissemination for the next entry and see you soon!

Sixth entry- Visual Resources and Technology

Hai everyone and we meet again in my entry for today! Basically, we are going to uncover the process of producing and transforming an analogue into digital images. We also going to further explains on scanning, digital imaging and 2D vs 3D images as well so are you ready guys?Here we go!!

Firstly, allow me to define what is analogue and how does analogue associates with digital photography.  Analog photography is photography that uses a progressively changing recording medium, which may be either chemical process-based (e.g., photographic film or plate) or electronic (e.g., vidicon or CCD sensor). Analog photography has come to mean anything that is "not digital" despite some of controversy over the question of whether the use of film is a true analog process.

In a film camera that uses the gelatin-silver process, light falling upon photographic emulsions containing silver halides is recorded as a latent image. The latent image is subjected to photographic processing, which makes it visible and insensitive to light. In a video camera or digital still camera, the signal is captured with a video camera tube or charge coupled device sensor, which sends the picture to be processed by the camera's electronics. The signal can be transmitted or recorded on a storage device for later playback.

All film and paper is treated in a series of chemical baths, which are closely monitored and maintained at a specific temperature and treatment time. Developer baths are most sensitive to deviations from the standard time and temperature of treatment; other baths are less sensitive.

Black and white negative processing

Black and white negative processing is the chemical means by which photographic film and paper is treated after photographic exposure to produce a negative or positive image. Photographic processing transforms the latent image into a visible image, makes this permanent and renders it insensitive to light.

1. The film may be soaked in water to swell the gelatin layer, facilitating the action of the subsequent chemical treatments.
2. The developer converts the latent image to macroscopic particles of metallic silver.
3. A stop bath, typically a dilute solution of acetic acid or citric acid, halts the action of the developer. A rinse with clean water may be substituted.
4. The fixer makes the image permanent and light-resistant by dissolving remaining silver halide. A common fixer is hypo, specifically ammonium thiosulfate.
5. Washing in clean water removes any remaining fixer. Residual fixer can corrode the silver image, leading to discolouration, staining and fading.

The washing time can be reduced and the fixer more completely removed if a hypo clearing agent is used after the fixer.

The washing time can be reduced and the fixer more completely removed if a hypo clearing agent is used after the fixer.

1. Film may be rinsed in a dilute solution of a non-ionic wetting agent to assist uniform drying, which eliminates drying marks caused by hard water. (In very hard water areas, a pre-rinse in distilled water may be required - otherwise the final rinse wetting agent can cause residual ionic calcium on the film to drop out of solution, causing spotting on the negative.)
2. Film is then dried in a dust-free environment, cut and placed into protective sleeves.

Once the film is processed, it is then referred to as a negative.

The negative may now be printed; the negative is placed in an enlarger and projected onto a sheet of photographic paper. Many different techniques can be used during the enlargement process. Two examples of enlargement techniques are dodging and burning. Alternatively (or as well), the negative may be scanned for digital printing or web viewing after adjustment, retouching, and/or manipulation.

In modern automatic processing machines, the stop bath is replaced by mechanical squeegee or pinching rollers. These treatments remove much of the carried-over alkaline developer, and the acid, when used, neutralizes the alkalinity to reduce the contamination of the fixing bath with the developer.

Black and white reversal processing

This process has three additional stages:

1. Following the stop bath, the film is bleached to remove the developed negative image. The film then contains a latent positive image formed from unexposed and undeveloped silver halide salts.
2. The film is fogged, either chemically or by exposure to light.
3. The remaining silver halide salts are developed in the second developer, converting them into a positive image.
4. Finally, the film is fixed, washed, dried and cut.

Colour processing

Chromogenic materials use dye couplers to form colour images. Modern colour negative film is developed with the C-41 process and colour negative print materials with the RA-4 process. These processes are very similar, with differences in the first chemical developer. The C-41 and RA-4 processes consist of the following steps:

1. The colour developer develops the silver negative image, and byproducts activate the dye couplers to form the colour dyes in each emulsion layer.
2. A rehalogenising bleach converts the developed silver image into silver halides.
3. A fixer removes the silver salts.
4. The film is washed, stabilised, dried and cut.

In the RA-4 process, the bleach and fix are combined. This is optional, and reduces the number of processing steps. Transparency films, except Kodachrome, are developed using the E-6 process, which has the following stages:

1. A black and white developer develops the silver in each image layer.
2. Development is stopped with a rinse or a stop bath.
3. The film is fogged in the reversal step.
4. The fogged silver halides are developed and exhausted developing agents couple with the dye couplers in each layer.
5. The film is bleached, fixed, stabilised and dried as described above.

In some old processes, the film emulsion was hardened during the process, typically before the bleach. Such a hardening bath often used aldehydes, such as formaldehyde andglutaraldehyde. In modern processing, these hardening steps are unnecessary because the film emulsion is sufficiently hardened to withstand the processing chemicals.

Oh man! There’s a lot of info we have here! I guess we should be lucky and thanks the scientists mostly as they making our life easier and simple. I never knew that processing a photo would that complicated and time-consuming. Oh well, I hope you guys still have vacant rooms for our next subtopics which are scanning, digital imaging and 2D vs 3D images.

Scanning in photography is no stranger to it and depending for each other. This website will guide us on how to scan photographs properly. In this website, scanning needs careful approach and user needed to use a proper software to scan their photographs. Windows Fax and Scan is recommended for a beginner user it need to be install with the printer. 

In digital imaging, A digital photograph may be created directly from a physical scene by a camera or similar device. Alternatively, a digital image may be obtained from another image in an analogmedium, such as photographs, photographic film, or printed paper, by an image scanner or similar device. Many technical images—such as those acquired with tomographic equipment, side-scan sonar, or radio telescopes—are actually obtained by complex processing of non-image data. Weather radar maps as seen on television news are a commonplace example. The digitalization of analog real-world data is known as digitizing, and involves sampling (discretization) and quantization.

Finally, a digital image can also be computed from a geometric model or mathematical formula. In this case the name image synthesis is more appropriate, and it is more often known as rendering.

Digital image authentication is an issue for the providers and producers of digital images such as health care organizations, law enforcement agencies and insurance companies. There are methods emerging in forensic photography to analyze a digital image and determine if it has been altered. Previously digital imaging depended on chemical and mechanical processes, now all these processes have converted to electronic. A few things need to take place for digital imaging to occur, the light energy converts to electrical energy- think of a grid with millions of little solar cells. Each condition generates a specific electrical charge. Charges for each of these "solar cells" are transported and communicated to the firmware to be interpreted. The firmware is what understands and translates the color and other light qualities. Pixels are what is noticed next, with varying intensities they create and cause different colors, creating a picture or image. Finally the firmware records the information for future and further reproduction.

There are several benefits of digital imaging. First, the process enables easy access of photographs and word documents. Google is at the forefront of this ‘revolution,’ with its mission to digitize the world’s books. Such digitization will make the books searchable, thus making participating libraries, such as Stanford University and the University of California Berkley, accessible worldwide. Digital imaging also benefits the medical world because it “allows the electronic transmission of images to third-party providers, referring dentists, consultants, and insurance carriers via a modem”. The process “is also environmentally friendly since it does not require chemical processing”. Digital imaging is also frequently used to help document and record historical, scientific and personal life events. 

Last but least, we are going to do comparison of 2D and 3D images. What are the differences between the two images? Isn’t it the same? Certainly not! In this website, the author compared both images in terms of their resolutions and pixels. Apart from that, advantages and disadvantages also been dicussed and it greatly shows that 3D images provides better resolution than 2D images. 

So that’s it guys! Enough for today okay! Too many input can cause memory loss to your brain which can lead to depression! Just kidding. Don’t take it too serious la. As long as you gus understand the concept, the process of learning will develop and your brain automatically will keep the information in your either short-term or long term memory. I’l recap what we have learned today. We learned on the process of making analogue for digital images and also their advantages respectively. We also learned on scanning photographs, discussed digital imaging and conducting comparison in between 2D VS 3D images. So, for next entry, we will study and use more on Adobe Photoshop and manipulate images by using te editing software. Lastly, strive hard, earn hard! Fighting!

Fifth entry- Studio Photography

Good day, everyone! So last entry we covered on light sources in digital photography and types of different emotions and moods captured to create a striking photograph. So today, we are going to work indoor as we are going to discuss o studio photography, emphasizes on the instruments and apparatus in studio lab, in taking photos respectively. Here we go!

We starts with some pictures of how studio photography looks like to give you some general impressions on it.

A photographic studio is both a workspace and a corporate body. As a workspace it is much like an artist’s studio, but providing space to take, develop, print and duplicate photographs. Photographic training and the display of finished photographs may also be accommodated in a photographic studio. Accordingly, the workspace may possess a darkroom, storage space, a studio proper - where photographs are taken, and a display room, as well as space for other related work.

As a corporate entity, a photographic studio is a business owned and represented by one or more photographers, possibly accompanied by assistants and pupils, who create and sell their own and sometimes others’ photographs. In this website, it shows some of equipments that usually present in a photographic studio such as flash and slaves, monolights and strobe lightings, light modifiers and reflectors, light stands, booms and supports and so on. All of the equipments have their own functions and uses and photographers need to familiar with the equipments that been mentioned earlier.  

Next, we move on how to capture a still-life photograph and their applications. This website will guide use to capture the best photos on still-life photograph by following their instructions and guidance respectively. In the website, some consideration needs to be aware of in order to have a perfect shot on still-life photography. Choosing the perfect angles and the right equipments, choosing suitable light sources, choosing suitable materials as main objects and as well as composing the right shot are crucial factors and photographers need to think critically and applying creativity in every shots so that it looks fresh and more appealing. 

Last but not least is the portrait and living photography. When we speak of portrait photography in general terms there's a tendency to overlook the sub-categories. From the strictly formal to the candid street shot. Here is a range of the more common types of portrait photography:

Candid

Unplanned or unposed photos

Posed

Communication between photographer and the subject about the body position  and expression

Formal

Communication between photographer and the subject regarding clothing, location, style and mood

Couple

Interpretation of a relationship between  two people

Environmental

An environmental portrait shows the subject(s) in their own territory

Sporting

Shows the subject with their uniform, equipment on their sporting environment

The important factor is to let the equipment and location tell part of the story

Group

Here are the tips in order to have nice portrait living photographs:

Choosing the Right Background

Focus on the Eyes

Change the Format Framing

Lighting, Lighting and more Lighting

Movement

Alter your Perspective

Reflection and Shadow

Serious but not too serious shot

Give your subject space to look into

Unfocused shot

That's it for today. On the next entry I will discussed on visual resources and technology. I will explained more on producing and transforming analogue to digital images as well as what is scanning, 2D images and digital imaging. See you soon guys! Fighting!