Digital Photos
• Understanding Digital Images
• Organizing Your Digital Images
• Enhancing Your Images
• Having Fun with the Results
Computer User Group
August 18, 2005
My Personal Goals for Digital
Photos and Other Images
• Enhance photos and other Images for optimal appearance
• Store them in perpetuity with no quality loss
• Organize them such that I can find any single photo or group of
photos or other images easily
• Easily select groups of photos to create slide shows, make prints, etc.
What We Will Be Talking About
• Understanding the Basics of Digital Photos, Pixels, File
Compression, etc.
• Using software to Catalog the Photos
• Simple editing procedures to enhance the Photos
• Good Housekeeping to store the Photos and other Images
• Ideas about storing other types of Images on your Computer
• Scanning and digitizing printed photos, 35 mm slides and other
documents
What We Won’t Be Talking About
• Sophisticated editing of pictures using Layers, etc, in Photoshop
Editor
• Editing Videos from CamCorders
• Everything else that I don’t understand
Simple Pixel Math
– A Pixel (Picture + Element) is a dot of a single color
– Assume that 200 Pixels per inch gives a very good print.
– Each sqaure inch will have 40,000 pixels
– An 8x10 picture has 80 sq inches x 40,000 pixels = 3,200,000
pixels or 3.2 Megapixels.
– A 3 Megapixel camera should yield a good 8x10 print if there is
no cropping.
– More pixels may not give a better picture, but usually don’t hurt.
Simple Pixel Math (cont.)
• We normally talk about Pixels per linear inch rather than Pixels per
square inch ie, 200 PPI yields a good print.
• We use the term Dots Per Inch somewhat interchangeably. 200 DPI is
generally a good print.
• When displaying pixels on a computer monitor, much fewer pixels can
look very good.
• For example, an 800-by-600 pixel screen is capable of displaying
800 distinct dots on each of 600 lines, or about 480,000 pixels.
• This translates into different dpi measurements depending on the
size of the screen.
• My 19” monitor at 800-by-600 displays about 60 pixels per inch.
• A picture that looks very good on the monitor may not have enough
pixels for a good looking print.
More Pixel Info
• There are many other variables to photo quality other than just
pixels
– Quality of the camera lens
– Compression of the pixel file
– Lighting conditions
– Skill of the photographer
• There is no formula to equate number of pixels to file size since
some pictures compress more than others. My rule of thumb is:
– A file of less than 100 kb will not yield a good 4x6 print.
– 300+ kb jpegs will normally be fine for 4x6 prints
– 1+ mb jpegs will normally be fine for 8x10 prints
Filetypes Commonly Used
Extension
Filetype
• PSD or PDD
Photoshop Document. Lossless. Proprietary format
handled only by Adobe Photoshop products.
• GIFF
Graphic Interchange Format. Uses lossless compression
known as LZW.
• RAW
Data output by the camera that contains all of the voltage
details from the CCD. This information must be
transformed into a TIFF or PSD file.
• TIFF
Tagged Image File Format. Lossy and lossless
compression available. Most files are used as lossless.
• JPG
Product developed by Joint Photo Experts Group. Can be
compressed a little or a lot.
Why Photoshop Elements 3.0?
• Adobe is a big Company with a robust product
suite.
• Product bundles the Editor program with Album
program.
• Good help available through Forums, etc.
• Price is Cheap!
• Good alternatives available
– Picture It
– Picasso
– ACDSee
– Digital Camera Software
Photoshop Elements 3.0 Functionality
• Two progams in one
• Editor is used to enhance and modify pictures
• Organizer is an album to categorize and organize
pictures
• Organizer
• Designed to help people who store all photos in
one folder with unintelligible file names (IMG_001,
etc.)
• Is nothing more than a database that points to all
the photos.
• But don’t be fooled -- there is a lot more to it than
meets the eye.
Typical View of a Catalog in Organizer
Thumbails of
pictures
created by
Organizer
Categories,
Subcategories
and Tags
created by the
user.
Photoshop Organizer
Category
Subcategory
Tags
Connecting Organizer to Your Pictures
Click on the
camera icon
to get the
drop down
box. Select
“From Files
and
Folders” to
find the
pictures
you want to
bring into
the album.
Associating Pictures with Categories, etc.
Simply select
all of the new
pictures and
drag them onto
the desired
tags. In this
case I dragged
them to the
050629
Buchanan Tag.
Note that the Date is Wrong!
When I copied
the digital
pictures to my
hard drive, I
renamed them to
“Nine Hole 1,
etc.” But
someone didn’t
have the date set
on their camera!
Organizer will
default to the
date downloaded,
not the date the
picture was
taken.
How to Insert the Correct Date Picture
Was Taken
• Select all pictures to be changed to a
common date
• Right click on the thumbnail in Organizer
and select adjust date and time.
• Input the correct date information and it will
always stay in PS Organizer. It will not be
attached to the Jpeg itself, i.e. Windows
Explorer will not display this info.
Viewing Groups of Pictures
Click on a
category,
subcategory or
tag to see all the
pictures
associated with
your selection.
Select Multiple Tags for Viewing Pictures
Check multiple
Categories,
Subcategories
or Tags to view
groupings of
pictures.
View File Location of Pictures
Organizer
displays
the
location of
the
picture(s).
Select
“Folder
Location”
Select a
group of
pictures
There are Many More Things You
Can do With the View Function
• You can add multiple categories, subcategories and tags to each
photo.
• In my personal catalog I have a tag for my daughter, Stacey.
For all pictures that include Stacey, I add that tag. By clicking
on the Tag “Stacey” I see all pictures of her growing up,
graduating, getting married, etc.
• You can request to view multiple groups of pictures, e.g. ,
photos of all golfing events in 2004
• You can request to exclude selected groups of pictures, e.g.
include photos of 2004 golfing events but exclude those at
Oakmoore.
Example of “Tagging” Configuration
for Personal Pictures
Example of “Tagging” Configuration
Viewing Info on a Single Picture
Select a picture by
left clicking on it
Right Click on
the Picture to
get drop down
box.
Left Click on
Show
Properties to
get EXIF Data
Properties Dialog Shows EXIF Data
PSE Catalogs
• Most users have a single catalog for all their pictures.
• I maintain 3 separate catalogs:
• One catalog for all SIR Organization pictures which I use
in Newsletters.
• One catalog for digital originals from my or other
people’s cameras
• One catalog for all my scanned photos and enhanced
digital photos.
• I select the best photos from my “Digital Originals”
catalog.
• I crop and enhance those photos in PSE Editor and
save the files in a separate set of folders.
• I import those files into my catalog for “Finished
Photos.”
Do’s & Don’ts Using Organizer
DON’TS
• Don’t move cataloged photos around on your hard drive using
Windows Explorer. Photoshop Organizer won’t know where they
are. Move pictures and files from within Organizer.
• Unless you are using layers and want to preserve all steps of your
work, don’t store as PSD files. Save as high quality JPEGS. PSD
files don’t cooperate with Windows Explorer. You cannot view
thumbnails and Windows Explorer won’t show EXIF data (date
picture taken, etc.)
• Don’t delete the People category in Organizer. It will cause your
catalog to become corrupted.
DO
• Use Adobe Uploader (or similar software) for downloading
pictures from your digital camera (see details on next slide).
• Set the date and time on your camera. When travelling with
friends who want to exchange pictures, synchronize your cameras.
Use Adobe PhotoLoader to Download
Pictures from your Camera
Checkmark
the pictures
you want to
download
Specify
which folder
to store the
pictures
Create a
name for
the pictures
that will
help
identify
them
Helpful Tips for Various Situations
• Give scanned prints a filename that begins with “year month
day.” e.g. “850703 Maui 1.jpeg”
• I scan most prints at 300 ppi. This allows for about 30% of the
picture to be cropped out and still have enough pixels for printing
purposes. If the print is quite small or if you plan to enlarge the
printed image, then try higher resolutions.
• Scanning at very high resolutions can work against you.
Depending on the quality of the photo or document scanned, you
bring in image issues that can degrade the digital file.
• I mostly use “Quick Fix” to edit images. That allows me to crop
them to the desired size, remove red eye, and enhance them as
needed. If I need to “paint out” some flashes on eyeglasses, etc.,
then I use the clone function in “Standard Edit.”
Typical File Info Shown by Windows Explorer
Right Click on Info Bar to Get Options
Scroll Down and Check “Date Picture Taken”
Now Windows Explorer Shows
Other Useful Info
Simple Enhancements in PS Editor
Click on Enhance
and then “Auto
Levels.”
Before and After Auto Enhancing
Checking The Pixels After Editing
Click on Image,
Resize and
Image Size
Pixel Info After Editing
Picture
Dimensions
Pixel Info
Civil War Document Scanned Into PS Editor
Enlarge the Image to Make it Readable
Digitizing 35mm Slides
• I had about 600 old 35mm slides I selected for digitizing.
• I first tried them in my flatbed scanner (with backlight) and it took
several minutes per slide at 1200 ppi.
• I looked into purchasing a dedicated slide scanner, but the better ones
are $500+
• I searched the internet and found DigMyPics.com in Mesa, AZ. They
digitized my slides for about 50 cents each.
• DigMy Pics scans at 2000 ppi. For a 1” square slide that is about 4
million pixels. If you recall my slide on Pixel Math, that is plenty of
pixels for an 8x10 print or more.
• DigMyPics will scan at higher resolutions, but pictures taken with a
standard 35mm camera begin to show film grain, etc.
• DigMyPics digitized my slides and sent me a DVD with high quality
Jpegs (at 2.5 - 4.5 mb each) and 2 DVD’s of Tiff files at ~12mb each.
And they returned my slides.
Sample Picture from an Old Slide
1972
Other Applications for PSE 3.0
• Scan old family pictures and documents and store them in a
Catalog. Examples are birth certificates, life announcements,
diplomas, etc.
• If you have a hobby such as coins or any other collection,
take pictures of all your items and organize them in a catalog.
• Build a slideshow of your favorite photographs. Add
captions and music to enhance the show.
• Make cards, calendars, etc., from your favorite photographs.
• Select a group of photographs and have any type or size of
prints made, ie collages, special sizes, etc.
Be Sure to Back Up Your Files!
• I dedicate one hard drive for my photo catalogs, collections, etc. I
schedule full backup once a week and incremental backups twice
during the week.
• I use Norton Ghost 9.0 and it saves the last 3 full backups.
• Once it saves a fourth full backup it deletes the oldest full
backup with its associated incrementals.
• Periodically, I burn a couple of DVD’s containing all my jpegs and
store them at my daughter’s house.
• Be sure to backup your PSE catalogs. I have had two instances
where a catalog became corrupted and I had to retrieve the last
backup. Rebuilding a catalog can take many hours.