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Topics for Class Three:
Review Assignments
from Class 2
Transferring Pictures from Digital Camera to Computer
Image Properties
Automatic vs. Manual Shooting Modes
Light, Lighting, & Light Meters
More about Photo Composition
In-Class Activity: Transferring & Editing Digital Camera
Images
* Popular Image Editing Software Programs
* Free Downloadable Image Editing Software Programs
* Free Online Image Editing Software Programs
Assignments for Next
Class:
* Reading Assignments
* Blog
Assignments
* Hands-On Assignment
3
Review Assignments
from Class Two
Blog Assignment
2A:
Create a picture collage using the images you selected for
Assignment One and post it to your personal blog. You should add
some text to this blog posting in which you briefly describe the
images you selected and what they mean. When this is done, send
me an email message at brobin@uh.edu that
includes the link to your blog.
Hands-On Assignment 2:
First, shoot a series of
pictures with a digital camera on a particular topic, either
related to children's literature, adult literature, literacy or
any other topic of your choice.
You should try to remember
some of the details about what you are photographing, including:
Where are you taking
the picture?
What time of day are
you shooting the picture and what is the weather like?
Are you using a flash
or other type of special lighting?
Plus think about any
other special details you feel will be of interest when we
review the pictures.
After you have taken
several images, you should review them but resist the temptation
to delete all the images that you feel are not good enough to
save. Some of these images will be helpful if we have an
opportunity to review them and come up with suggestions for
improving them.
For this assignment, try to post at least 3 different pictures
to your personal blog and remember that if you have not already
done so, send me an email message at brobin@uh.edu that
includes the link to your blog.
Blog Assignment 2B:
Go to the course discussion blog at:
http://cuin7358-pop.blogspot.com/ and post a question or comment
about any of the material covered in Class 2, including:
* downloading, installing, and using Picasa 3
* creating a picture collage with Picasa
* creating a personal blog on Blogger
* posting a picture collage to your blog
* plus, any questions or comments about digital photography, or
* taking pictures with a digital camera
* or any other question or comment on other topics not mentioned
above
Questions/Comments posted
by students:
| Does anyone
know how to format the captions text in Picasa? I wound
up just using the text tool directly on top of the
image. This was easy in theory but required extra time
to rotate to get it just right (because I am a
perfectionist). |
Picasa Help may help. Go to:
http://groups.google.com/group/Picasa
|
| I have a
question about Picasa collages. Once you've made your
collage, can you go in and edit it? I wanted to go in
and change the size of some of my images because the
good parts of the images ended up not showing up on the
collage. |
You can do
some editing after the collage has been created, such as
crop the entire image, straighten it, change the
brightness, and add text. When you access the collage in
Picasa 3, you will see a button that says "Edit Collage"
in the upper left corner of the screen, as well as other
tabs (Basic Fixes, Tuning and Effects) that will let you
make changes to the collage.
However, there will be other things you can't do, like
change the size of individual images. For that, you will
need to remake the collage and make these adjustments
before you create the collage. |
I am
wondering how to adjust the "layers" in the collage;
rather how do you get a picture on the bottom to be on
the top?
I have also been looking through my digital pictures
(quite critically) and almost every picture taken at an
indoor swim meet is horrible. They are often blurry and
the lighting is weird. I know this is not a photography
class but I hope we can talk about indoor lighting :)
and how to take pictures of things in motion. |
The best way
to to eliminate the blur when you take pictures of
things in motion is to use a fast shutter speed. In the
case of point and shoot cameras, many of them have a
mode for action pictures such as the Sports mode
described below:
Sports
Used to stop motion when taking pictures of fast-moving
objects, such as athletes at sporting events. On some cameras,
this mode works in conjunction with the auto-focus mechanism to
keep moving subjects in focus. In this mode, the camera may also
be set to burst, to continuously take pictures while the shutter
release is held down.
Another way to reduce motion blur is to place your
camera on a tripod or other stable surface so that you
or the camera do not move when the picture is being
taken.
You may also want to check out some web sites that deal
with motion and digital photography, such as the
following:
http://www.photoworkshop.com/books/assignments/Things_in_Motion
http://www.travelphoto.net/photos/english/photo-tips/html/photos_in_motion.html
http://www.travelphoto.net/photos/english/photo-tips/html/capturing_movement.html
|
| Are we
supposed to create a video of the pictures we take on
the digital camera, or just another collage? I haven't
messed around with the digital camera yet, but once I
do, I'll post more questions. |
| In upcoming
classes, you will learn how to use some of the pictures
you take with a digital camera to create slideshows,
videos, and ultimately, a digital story. But for now,
the emphasis is on taking and editing the images
themselves. The collage was a relatively simple way to
share your images with the rest of the class members. |
Most of my
comments about Picasa3 were on my blog with the collage
we had to create for class. However, I found the program
fun and I am surprised that it was rather easy to use.
Of course, I worked on both assignments for almost five
hours.
I could not get the caption to show at the bottom of the
picture after posting my blog. Also, I had a question
about resizing the html because I noticed as I did that,
the picture would become distorted. Anyone know how to
increase the size without the picture becoming too
blurry? Another thing I tried several times to do is to
get back to the original blog when I decided to delete
or edit something. It was hard for me and I had to log
back in several times as well. |
| |
| I was having
some problems with the text on the blog site. I added a
small caption to the side of the picture collection and
each time I visit the site the message gets smaller and
smaller. Does anyone know what I am doing wrong? |
| |
Transferring Pictures
from Digital Camera to Computer
There are numerous ways to transfer, or download, pictures
from a digital camera to a computer. One popular way is to
connect a cable from the camera to the computer and then use a
software program to import the pictures.
We have explored the use of the software program, Picasa that
allows us to work with digital pictures already on the computer,
but the application can also be used to transfer pictures from
most digital cameras.
Click on the following link for more:
Picasa-transfer.htm
Image Properties
With certain operating systems, such as Windows XP, you can get
a wealth of information about photos taken with digital cameras
by right-clicking on the image icon in a folder or on the
desktop and selecting Properties, then Summary. This information
is known as the Exchangeable
image file format (Exif). Exifis
a specification that was developed as a way to embed information
about images taken with digital cameras that includes such items
as when the image was taken, what type of camera was used, and
many of the camera settings that were used when the image was
taken.
You may read more about the
Exchangeable image file format (Exif) at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EXIF
You may also be interested in downloading the free Opanda IEXIF
2 program and see if you can use it to find out even more
details about you digital camera settings. Go to:http://www.opanda.com/en/iexif/download.htm
Once the program is installed and launched, simply click on the
Open button at the top of the window...
and navigate to an image that you have taken with a digital
camera. After the image is found, the data related to this image
appears in the program window, as shown below.
Automatic vs. Manual
Shooting Modes
Automatic Shooting Modes
As we discussed in the last class, all photography,
including digital photography, involves light being reflected
off of objects and being captured by film or in the case of
digital cameras, image sensors. If too much light hits the
sensor, the image will be overexposed and the picture will look
overly bright and the colors will appear washed out. If not
enough light hits the sensor, the image will be underexposed and
will appear dark and difficult to see details in the picture.
Many of the newer higher-end digital cameras and digital SLR
(Single Lens Reflex) cameras have a variety of small pictures on
a dial that indicate the various exposure settings the cameras
are capable of using. As you will see in the images below, most
digital cameras have similar controls for their various exposure
settings.
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 |
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| Canon |
Nikon |
Konica Minolta |
Fully Automatic Mode 
Just about all digital cameras use some type of automatic
mode for determining the correct exposure of pictures. On some
cameras you will see the term Auto
or AE which
stands for Automatic
Exposure. On the
Canon Digital Rebel, the fully automatic exposure setting is
designated by the green square. Just about all digital cameras,
regardless of their type or cost, provide a fully automatic
exposure mode that makes all the decisions for you. The
electronics in the camera work with the image sensor to evaluate
the light, select the correct ISO, perform the white balance and
then set the aperture and the shutter speed to get the best
exposed image. Most cameras also automatically control a
built-in flash and have it fire when the lighting conditions
make it necessary.
There is nothing wrong with letting the camera make decisions
for you, as this takes much of the guess work out of taking
pictures and lets the photographer concentrate on finding the
subject and then framing and composing the image. However, many
photographers like to have some measure of control so that they
can be more creative and have the ability to customize the
pictures they take. With the level of sophisticated electronics
in today's digital cameras and the ability to take very high
resolution images, how much control to leave to the camera and
how much to retain for yourself is a decision that every
photographer will have to make for her or himself. But having
some knowledge about what is possible can aid in this decision
making process.
Programmed AE/Program
Mode (P)
Program Mode is similar to Fully Automatic but lets you change
some settings, such as whether the flash will fire or not, and
the type of metering the camera will use when taking a picture.
Aperture Priority (Av)
Aperture Priority mode allows the photographer to set the size
of the aperture, also known as the f-stop, and then have the
camera decide what shutter speed will be used to take a
correctly exposed image.
Shutter Priority (Tv)
Shutter Priority mode is just the opposite of Aperture
Priority in that it allows the photographer to set the shutter
speed and then have the camera decide the size of the aperture's
opening to take a correctly exposed image.
Other Modes
Portrait 
Sets the camera for minimum depth of field so that the
background of the portrait will have a soft and less distracting
look.
Landscape 
The reverse of the portrait mode, sets the camera for
maximum depth of field so that everything in the picture will be
in focus. This mode works best when using a wide angle lens (a
lens with a shorter focal distance).
Close-Up 
This mode is used when taking pictures of small objects.
However, this is not the same as using a macro lens, which we
will explore later.
Sports
Used to stop motion when taking pictures of fast-moving
objects, such as athletes at sporting events. On some cameras,
this mode works in conjunction with the auto-focus mechanism to
keep moving subjects in focus. In this mode, the camera may also
be set to burst, to continuously take pictures while the shutter
release is held down.
Night Portrait 
This mode is used to take pictures of people under low light
conditions, such as dawn, evening and night. When the subjects
are in the foreground, a slower shutter speed will be used to
lighten the background and a fill-in flash will fire to
illuminate the foreground objects.
Flash Off 
As the name suggests, this mode turns the flash off.
Manual Exposure (M)
Allows you to select the shutter speed and the aperture so
that you have control over the amount of light, the amount of
motion and the depth of field in your pictures.
Auto Depth of Field (A-DEP)
This setting is used so that the camera's automatic focusing
capability evaluates various locations within the field of view
and then selects the aperture setting that will provide enough
depth of field to keep everything in focus.
Exposure Compensation
Exposure Compensation lets you override the camera's
automatic exposure setting, usually in 1/3, 1/2 or 1 f-stop
increments, either on the plus side for more exposure, or on the
minus side for less exposure.
Exposure Lock
Many cameras have this capability that lets you maintain the
previous exposure value for additional pictures.
Lighting Options
Outdoors: Sunlight is
usually used during the day. When taking pictures at night,
other options are available, including light bulbs or electronic
flash units, most often, built into a digital camera.
Tips for Taking Night and Low-Light Digital Images -
by Joy Zhou, former UH Digital Photography Student
Different types of light
bulbs give off different colors of light, which can affect
overall color of pictures taken with a camera. Most digital
cameras attempt to compensate for this by adjusting the white
balance, either manually (you do it yourself) or automatically
(the camera does it for you). You can read more about white
balance by visiting the websites listed below.
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 |
 |
|
Incandescent Light Bulbs |
Fluorescent Bulbs |
Compact Fluorescent Bulbs |
Introduction to White
Balance
http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/introduction-to-white-balance/
White Balance
http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glossary/Digital_Imaging/White_Balance_01.htm
The White Balance Function
http://books.google.com/books?id=Csf549nQWOUC&pg=PA30&lpg=PA30&dq=automatic+white+balance+digital+photography&source=web&ots=1dg09QtaDE&sig=YxfUeiwLwxKI8LAAeyTL2PR2n-s&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result#PPA30,M1
Electronic Flash Units
Built-In Flash -
usually set with a certain ISO rating, a coverage area of some
number of feet and a certain angle, and some type of flash
metering linked to the auto exposure electronics in the camera.
Accessory Flash -
flash units come in a variety of sizes and with different
features. We will explore the use of flash units such as the
ones shown below.
 |
 |
 |
|
Canon Speedlite 420EX |
Canon Speedlite 550EX |
Canon
Macro Ring Lite
MR-14EX |
Full/Normal/Automatic
Flash - usually
refers to the basic flash that fires indoors or outdoors under
low-light conditions.
Red Eye Reduction -
usually fires a low intensity pre-flash to cause the pupil of
the eye to constrict, thereby reducing the amount of reflected
light that comes from the retina.
Bounce Flash -
moving an accessory flash unit so that it point up toward the
ceiling or sideways toward a wall (assuming they are painted
white) - so that the flash bounces off that surface, rather than
flashing directly on the subject. Bounce flash is used to reduce
the red-eye effect and to soften shadows.
Fill Flash -
fills in shadow areas, especially on faces. This technique is
often used outdoors when the subject is backlit. The idea is
that the exposure will be balanced between the natural light
coming from behind and the light from the flash coming from the
front.
Ring Flash -
these flash units fit around the front of a lens and create a
circle of light on a subject. They are most often used in
close-up (macro) photography, Ring lights diffuse the light so
that there are no harsh shadows and are useful in scientific
applications such as medical and dental photography.
Many photographers
recommend using a tripod when you want to freeze motion. In
fact, some photographers go so far as to suggest that you should
always use a tripod (or monopod) every time you take a picture.
More information about
tripods may be found online at:
Have Tripod & Monopod, Will Travel
http://insights.betterphoto.com/2005/06/have-tripod-mon.html
The Tripod - Still Your Most Valuable Piece
of Gear
http://www.vividlight.com/articles/3103.htm
Light Meters
All digital cameras
(and film cameras, too) that have automatic exposure
capability use some form of metering the light to correctly
gauge the correct settings so that pictures will come out
properly exposed (not too light and not too dark). The most
common types of metering are:
-
Center-Weighted Metering -
measures the light from the entire field of view but
gives more weight, or importance, to the area in the
center of the image seen in the viewfinder. The theory
is that whatever is in the center of the field of view
is probably the most important part of the image you
want to be properly exposed. Although this is the most
common type of metering, some professional photographers
feel it is the least accurate and should be avoided.
-
Matrix Metering - this type of
metering breaks the image into multiple parts and then
the light from each of these segments is measured
individually. The camera then assigns values to each
segment, giving more or less weight, depending on where
the segment is located. The results are usually very
good under a wide array of lighting conditions.
-
Spot Metering -
is designed for special conditions where the central
location of the image is the most important and its
lighting is different from the rest of the field of
view. For example, an opera singer being lit by a
spotlight while the rest of the stage area is dark,
would be a time when the other metering options would
not provide good results.
Some digital cameras
use different nomenclature for their metering. The Canon
Digital Rebel for
example, uses the following three metering settings:
-
Evaluative Metering -
basically the same as Matrix Metering, works by taking
several different readings of each scene and then
automatically using its built-in electronics to choose a
setting that the camera "thinks" will provide the best
exposure. This method is good for most general
photographic situations. Like most recent digital
cameras, the Digital Rebel is quite good at
distinguishing light and dark areas and then selecting a
setting that will provide useful results.
-
Partial Metering -
basically the same as Spot Metering evaluates just a
small area seen through the viewfinder, approximately
10% of the central area being photographed. This
metering method only pays attention to the central area
of the subject being photographed, since photographers
often compose their images so that the most important
part of the subject is in the middle of the frame and
the background can be ignored. This metering mode may
yield more accurate results in unusual lighting
situations, where the evaluative metering mode does not
produce desired results. And of course, if you're using
the Rule of Thirds, the most important subject may not
always be in the center of the frame.
-
CW Average Metering -
Center Weighted metering that goes one step farther by
taking an average reading of the entire area seen
through the viewfinder but then using the camera's
electronics to emphasize the central area of the subject
being photographed.
More about Photo
Composition
Take a look at: photo-composition.ppt -
created by Nancy Barnhart, a former UH Digital Photography
Student
Also, we will discuss "Bokeh," a Japanese term that
describes the quality of out-of-focus areas of an image created
by certain types of camera lenses.
   
Bokeh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh
Bokeh.ca
http://www.bokeh.ca/
Bokeh in Pictures
http://photo.net/mjohnston/column49/
Photographic Lenses
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photographic_lens
In-Class Activity:
Transferring Digital Camera Images from the Computer & Basic
Image Editing
Popular Image Editing Software Programs
Photoshop Elements
Adobe Photoshop Elements is
a basic version of Adobe's more popular Photo Shop image editing
software.
To begin using Photoshop
Elements, you need to become familiar with the two main windows,
what Adobe calls the workspaces:
The Organizer - used to find and organize photos and other
media files.
At the top of the Organizer workspace, you will see the
following shortcut buttons, from left to right:
A. Move backward
between views and arrangements
B. Move forward between views and arrangements
C. Get photos
D. Print photos
E. E-mail and share photos
F. Undo
G. Redo
H. Start a new creation
I. Edit photo
The Editor - used to create and edit images, such as resizing,
cropping, adding brightness & contrast and adding special
effects.
A. Menu bar
B. Shortcuts bar
C. Toolbox
D. Photo bin
E. Options bar
F. Palettes
G. Active image area
H. Palette bin
Click here to view a tutorial on getting started with Photoshop
Elements 4.0.
If you do not have a copy of Photoshop Elements,
you may download a 30-day trial version of PE 5.0 from the Adobe
website at:
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelwin/tryout.html
Free Downloadable Image Editing Software Programs
Download Paint.NET
http://www.getpaint.net/
About Paint.NET
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paint.NET
Tutorial on Paint.NET
http://groups.melbpc.org.au/~bayside/Tutorial%20on%20Paint.Net.pdf
Tutorial on using Paint.NET's Layers, Effects,
and Blend Modes
http://rbrewster.members.winisp.net/t1/tutorial.htm
Download GIMP for Windows (GNU
Image Manipulation Program)
http://www.gimp.org/windows/
Note: You may also need to download
the free GTK+ 2 Runtime Environment in
order to use the GIMP software application.
About GIMP
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIMP
GIMP User Manual
http://docs.gimp.org/en/
More GIMP Tutorials
http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/
Download Picasa 3 (photo
organizer and editor)
http://picasa.google.com/
Download IrfanView
http://www.irfanview.com/
About IrfanView
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IrfanView
Free Online Image
Editing Software Programs
John:
Cellsea
http://www.cellsea.com/media/index.htm
Dumpr
http://www.dumpr.net/
Tricia:
FlauntR
http://www.flauntr.com/
FotoFlexer
http://fotoflexer.com/
Margaret:
LunaPic
http://www.lunapic.com/editor/
Online Image Editor
http://www.online-image-editor.com/
Matt M:
pixer.us
http://www.pixer.us/
Phixr
http://www.phixr.com/
Shaunna:
Photoshop Express
https://www.photoshop.com/express/landing.html
Dr.Pic from PicResize
http://www.drpic.com/
Thresa:
Picnik
http://www.picnik.com/
Pixenate
http://pixenate.com/
Annie:
Snipshot
http://snipshot.com/
Splashup
http://www.splashup.com/
Matt W:
Sumopaint
http://www.sumopaint.com/beta/
Web Photo Resizer
http://www.webresizer.com/
Dawn:
Picture2Life
http://www.picture2life.com/
Onlinephototool
http://www.onlinephototool.com/
Just for Fun
PhotoFunia
http://www.photofunia.com/
Yearbook Yourself
www.yearbookyourself.com/
Face of the Future
http://www.faceofthefuture.org.uk/
May be of interest
later:
Aviary
http://a.viary.com/
More Digital Photography
& Image Editing Resources
Digital Photography Links from New Mexico State
University
http://cahe.nmsu.edu/employee/cahetechnology/workshops.html
Editing your Digital Images without the Mystery
http://arstechnica.com/guides/tweaks/mystery.ars
Pixel Image Editors and Vector Illustration
Software
http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/findsoftware/a/twotypes.htm?p=1
Online Picture Editing: Free Web-Based Image
Editing Tools
http://www.masternewmedia.org/image-editing/image-editing-tools/free-online-image-editing-tools-20070218.htm
Assignments for Next
Class:
Reading Assignments
Read:
Top 12 Image
Editing Skills Every Photographer Should Know
http://ezinearticles.com/?Top-12-Image-Editing-Skills-Every-Photographer-Should-Know&id=1415407
Explore: Taking Your Camera on the Road
http://www.cameraontheroad.com/index.php?p=501
Tips for Taking Night and
Low-Light Digital Images
http://discovery.coe.uh.edu/7358-f07/class3/low-light/low-light.htm
Before You Buy Photo Editing Software
http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/pixelbased/a/bybphotoeditor.htm?p=1
Review:
Digital Image Editing Basics
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/homepc/digitalimage/more/ImageEditingBasics.mspx
Editing Your Digital Images
http://www.mormonchic.com/style/digital_images.asp
Image Editing from Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_editing
Creative Controls
http://www.shortcourses.com/choosing/controls/11.htm
Hands-On Assignment 3:
For this week's hands-on assignment, you should use any
image editing program of your choice and edit several images you
took with your digital camera. Then, upload at least 2 pairs of
before and after images, that is both the unedited pictures and
the edited versions, to your personal blog. Be sure to include
information about which editing program you used and discuss
what edits you made to the images.
Blog Assignment
3:
For this week's blog assignment, go to
the course discussion blog at:
http://cuin7358-lit.blogspot.com/
and
post your mini-review of the online image editing software
program listed above. As we discussed in class, you should try
to review at least ONE of the web-based programs where your name appears. Your review should include the following information:
* the name and web address
of the program you are evaluating
* which editing features you used
* did the program perform as expected
* was the program easy to use
* did you experience any problems using the program
* would you use this program again and/or would you recommend
this program to others
* do you have any other comments you think would be helpful
IMPORTANT NOTE: You should bring something you would
like to scan to class next week, such as a photograph, book,
magazine or other document that might go in your digital
story.
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