Photoshop

Photos straight out of the digital camera are rarely suitable for use in other programs due to the large file size of the raw image. It is necessary to at least resize, compress and often crop the image, especially if it is for web use. This is where image editing programs, such as Photoshop, are invaluable.

Photoshop is the Rolls Royce of image editing programs, with a price to match but that is to be expected for such a feature rich industry standard program. Fortunately, Adobe offers very generous educational pricing. Alternatively, Photoshop Elements is a scaled down version, but still has all the features most users are ever likely to need, at a very affordable price.

It is rare that a digital image cannot be improved in some way by utilising the many features of Photoshop. At the very least most images require cropping and resizing while adding an effect or colour adjustment can enhance the quality of the image. With a few simple corrections anyone can create a more perfect image. All the images on this web site have been created using Photoshop.

Images straight from a digital camera have large file and physical sizes. Whilst they can be imported directly into many applications and for most people this seems a simple solution. However the resulting large file sizes of the documents can cause problems, especially if many images are being used within a single document. For the most efficient use of digital images they do need to be tinkered with first. Here is a example of how easy it is to enhance an image in less than a minute.

The photo on the right was taken with a 2 megapixel camera (quite low quality by today's standards but still good quality). The original image measured 1600 x 1200 pixels (double the size of this screen) and has a file size of 796kb. It was far too large to display on this page in its actual size. It is a fairly average photo with a variety of screen elements creating no particular focus, particularly with a large amount of foreground and background taking up most of the shot.

The image below is actual size and has been cropped, resized, lightened and compressed from the original photo. It now measures 600 x 150 pixels and has a file size of only 56kb. This photo has been left wide to use as a web banner, further cropping the width would present an even stronger focus on the scuba divers.

Cropping is the easiest way to always create a perfectly framed photo. Resizing and compressing then makes that image ready for use in other programs. Keeping the compression in the high band, around 6 or 7, with save substantially on file size without much noticeable loss of picture quality. These are the most common functions you will need to perform.

Simple cropping is often the only difference between an ordinary photo and achieving that perfectly framed shot.

Another common feature is to set a transparent background from images for web use. The tree on the left just doesn't look right with the background colour showing.

Removing the background colour results in the tree on the right which is a far more effective image as it blends into the page.