Photos

Here are my notes on creating photographs using Adobe Photoshop and other software.

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Software

The main powerhouses in this is Adobe (who acquired Macromedia).

1. Adobe Photoshop for print images
2. Adobe ImageReady for web images
3. Adobe Macromedia Flash
5. 3D Studio Max

Photoshop Tutorials

Phong's

Cambridge In Colour Tutorials

Filters

The most difficulty I've had with filters is that I need to zoom in so I lose the eyes.

Black and White

I had a hard time fixing the color on the original of this photo. So I tried the "Photocopy" filter and ended up pleasantly surprised. Black and white is more appropriate for this photo because viewers can now focus on the eyes of the subjects rather than sorting through the combat of various colors in the original picture.



Other examples: digital manipulations, combining images

Digital Camera Pixel Resolution

A photograph, whether viewed on the screen or printed, is composed of tiny dots (also called pixels). The more of these dots that can fit in a one inch space, the tinier the dots and the sharper the image. Assume you take an image at 100 dpi that is one square inch in size. It is composed of 100 X 100 pixels. It may look good at one square inch. Now blow it up four times to four square inches. Since it still contains the same 100 X 100 dots, it is now only 25 dots per inch. It will now look grainy. Digital camera resolution is a very important factor to take into account when deciding what camera to buy.

The most important features of digital cameras is its resolution — measured in Megapixels (millions of pixels/dots).

For display on computer monitors (or on the web), photos need not be megapixels. But to create prints require more pixels per square inch to avoid obviouis "pixelation".

Instead of photographic film, digital cameras expose images most commonly on a CCD (Charged Capacitance Device) or the less expensive CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor), which does not perform as well as the CCD chips in low light.

The number of megapixels advertised is much larger than the actual number of picture pixels used Many pixels are wasted because the actual rectangular picture area fits within a round total sensor area.

Not all pixels are square. Nikon D1x cameras have rectangular pixels. Fujifilm has developed a sensor using octagonal pixels.

To truly compare resolution, resolving power should be assessed in line pairs per image height (and width) using the ISO 12233 test chart and methodology under the same conditions. The figures should be derived for each variable (resolution direction: horizontal, vertical, and diagonal; location on the image: center and corner; focal length, aperture, scene brightness, ISO setting, and file format.)

To better measure digital camera resolution, I3A (formerly PIMA) has proposed International standard ISO 12233 "Photography-Electronic still picture cameras - Resolution measurements". based on lines per image dimension and Sine Pattern standards similar to "lines per image height" specifications of television and video resolution.

Browser Test
Digital Camera Resolution Chart
Consumer Reports Buying Advice on Digital Cameras [requires paid subscription]

Most storefronts make use of several sizes of images to allow for zooming in. For example, the Quick Shopping Cart system has

400x400 for detail
175x175 for the catalog
60 x 60 for "thumbnails"

The square images mean that photos need to be cropped from the usual rectangular images captured by most cameras.

Standards

This table reconciles the pixel resolution to various standard size prints and frames (at 72 dpi):


Pixels	Pixel Resolution	Aspect Ratio	Format Name	Std. Prints	Note
76,800	320 x 240	1.333	Pocket PC screens	-	-
-	352 x 288	1.222	Pocket PC pictures	4.889 x4	Crop & Stitch 2 for 4x6 prints
-	540 x 360	1.5	CGA	2x3	-
307,200	640 x 480	1.333	VGA	6.667 x 8.889	"Hires" Camera phones
-	-	1.619	PAL	-	PAL in France, etc.
-	768 x 576	1.333	-	3.4x2.1	Canon CP-10 Card Printer
480,000	800 x 600	1.333 (4:3)	SVGA	8.333 x 11.111	-
480,000	800 x 600	1.333 (4:3)	SVGA	8.333 x 11.111	-
-	-	1.4 (5:7)	-	5x7
-	-	1.335	Index cards	3x5	-
409,920	854 x 480	1.779 (16:9)	WVGA	-	"HD compatible" Sharp DT-100 DLP SXGA Projector
786,432	1024 x 768	1.333 (4:3)	XGA	10.667 x 14.222 (72 dpi)	"Hires" screensavers & wallpapers
1,310,720	1280 x 1024	1.25 (4:5)	SXGA	-	InFocus LP70+ DLP XGA 1100 Projector
1,470,000	1400 x 1050	1.33 (4:3)	SXGA+	-	Sony VPL-ES3 Projector
1,920,000	1600 x 1200	1.333 (4:3)		16.667 x 22.222 (72 dpi)	-
-	1680 x 580	-	-	-	HP 22Quot; monitor
1 mp	1080 x 720	1.5 (2:3)		4x6 (180 dpi)	Low res. on Kodak camera
3 mp	2160 x 1440	1.5 (2:3)		4x6 (360 dpi)	High res. on Kodak camera
2.2 mp	1800 x 1200	1.50	-	6x9
7,200,000	3000 x 2400	1.25 (4:5)	"Portrait" frame	8x10 (300 dpi)
-	1920 x 1440	1.333 (4:3)		-
-	2048 x 1536	1.333 (4:3)		-
-	1280 x 720	Widescreen 1.777 (16:9)	720p HDTV	15x 26.667
2,073,600	1920 x 1080		1080p HDTV
	852 x 480		480p EDTV DVD
2,239,488	864 x 2592	3.0	Panoramic film	12x36
?	?	1.294	Letter	8.5x11 (300 dpi)
?	?	1.5454	Portfolio	11x17 (300 dpi)
6 mp	?	1.2727	-	11x14
24,000,000 8 mp	4000 x 6000	1.25	medium print	16x20 (250 dpi)
11 mp	?	1.333	large print	18x24
11 mp	?	1.25	giant print	24x30
13,716,864 14 mp	4536 x 3024	1.5		24x36 (126 dpi)	Kodak Pro 14n DCS SLR
40,560,000	7800 x 5200	1.5	Colossal	78x52 (100 dpi)	Zazzle

Digital Camera Resolution Chart Resolution Internet/email 2x3" 4x6" 5x7" 8x10" 11x14" 16x20" <1 MP 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 1-2 MP 4 3 2 1 1 1 1 2-3 MP 5 4 3 3 2 1 1 3-4 MP Overkill 5 5 4 4 3 1 4-5 MP Overkill 5 5 5 4 4 3 5-6 MP Overkill 5 5 5 5 4 4 >6 MP Overkill 5 5 5 5 5 5    Bad = 1    Acceptable = 2    Good = 3    Very good = 4    Excellent = 5    Overkill The scheme above should help you when deciding what resolution you'll need.

Resolving Differences

Differences in aspect ratio mean that in order to print digital images onto standard sized photgraphic paper, either the image is cropped or, to avoid cropping, white side edges appear on the paper.

1. The graphic marks standard computer screen resolutions, which have a width/height pixels (PICture ELement) aspect ratio of 1.333 (4:3). Wallpapers for two 1024 x 768 screens are 2560 x 1024. Wallpapers for two 1600 x 1200 screens are 3200 x 1200.

   The 4:3 aspect ratio is used by 95% of digicames (DV cameras) to capture images and by American broadcast NTSC standard TV signals.

   The 4:3 aspect ratio is the smallest Pythagorean triple — a set of three integers that satisfies the relationship a^2+b^2=c^2 Its height is 60% (3/5) of the diagonal. Its width is 80% (4/5) of the diagonal.

2. Higher resolutions are achieved by reducing the size of pixels. Therefore, higher resolution monitors display more pixels per inch. Thus, images appear smaller as resolution increases. So, the density of dots per inch displayed on computer monitors vary from 72 to 92 dpi.
3. Similarly, printers "scale" output by varying the dots per inch at which it prints. The $100 HP Deskjet 5650 claims it can print at "4800 dpi." While this does enable a large image to squeeze onto a smaller piece of paper, assume that the "effective" resolution of a printer is 300 dpi. This is because to accurately show the color of a pixel, a printer may need to use to slightly overlap as many as 16 drops of ink. (e.g. 4 red, 3 blue, 5 green, 2 yellow and 2 black). The formula is:
   pixels / inches = Resolution dpi
   1200 pixels / 11 inches = 109 dpi
   1200 pixels /  2 inches = 600 dpi

4. Large posters are printed at 100ppi by zazzle.
5. Fax machines print at 200 dpi.
6. Images in newspapers are printed at 150 to 200 ppi.
7. 300 dpi is needed to produce a photorealistic image.
8. High quality art books and annual reports are printed at 400 dpi.

9. Flatbed scanners generally have resolutions ranging from 75dpi to 600 dpi or even 1200dpi.
10. 35 mm slide or negative film —actually 24mm x 36mm (0.945 x 1.417 inches)— need to be scanned at 2700 ppi or 2880 dpi to print 8x12 inches at 300 ppi (9x enlargement).

11. 35mm film for popular Kodak, Nikon, Canon cameras take pictures that fit into standard photo paper and store-bought 6x4, 12x8, 11x14 frames that have a 1.5 (3:2) ratio. But each different size of standard prints have a different aspect ratio.

12. Kodak PhotoCD?

13. Pentax 6x7 cm and Zeiss "medium format" 6x6 cm square photographic medium format enable beautiful enlargements to 11" and beyond. Mamiya, Rollei or Hasselblad

14. Epson 2100 prints up to A3+ size (483 x 329mm).

15. Raw formats like the Tagged Image File Format (tiff) does not correct and modify the image from the sensor. Tiff files can be compressed without any image degradation.

Stitching Images Together

The advantage Adobe has is the plugins that others have written to add functionality:
• Fred Miranda's $8.50 Dynamic Range Increase combines photos taken using a tri-poded camera's bracketed frames feature, which takes over and under exposed pictures quickly in succession. blends them together Their dynamic range is merged together by Photoshop.
• To fit digital images on standard 8.5x11 paper: First of all, identify the unprintable portion of the paper for your printer. Some printers require less space at the bottom edge. For example, my Epson Stylus cx5200 has a max. resolution of 5760x1440 (a 4:1 ratio). Epson Stylus Photo printers can print "zero margin" on rolls of photo paper.

  Stitching softwares to create 360 degree views:

  • $500 Stitcher 3.5 from Realviz (a French company) is for the professional who can appreciate different "projections".

    Images pasted side-by-side don't line-up perfectly because of differences in exposure, camera mount level errors, and (most importantly) barrel distortion from the optical properties of the lens, especially wide-angle lenses.

  • Ulead's $40 Cool 360 compared against lesser competitors
    • Live Picture
    • EnRoute QuickStitch
    • PictureWorks Spin Panorama
    • PanaVue Visual Stitcher

    However, more worthy competitors are:

  • Photovista from iseemedia
    Panarama 3.0 $70 Standard Edition for Windows or Macs limits to x images or $186 for the unlimited Business Edition with customizable Java client viewer applet.
    The Virtual Tour assembles panoramas into virtual tours placed on Web sites. Its $250 Standard Edition and $400 Business Edition.

  • ArcSoft's
    $40 Panorama Maker 3 makes horizontal, vertical, tiled, and 360° panoramas using automatic processing and allows fine-tuning of each blend point.

  • Photoshop Elements' Photomerge function (not available in the full Photoshop package).

  • Canon's PhotoStitch software (part of Canon's Solution Disk that comes free with PowerShot and Elph cameras, or $20 separately) is said to be the easiest to use since can extract the focal length from the proprietary codes it saves with its photos.

  The ultimate professional gear suggested by Brain Lawler and Sean Wagstaff

  Digital Photography

Panoramics

Duckware such as Idyll-on-the-rocks Boulders Resort

I bought an old LCD projector that is now out of color alignment.
The $49 DVD Video CD Reference Suite