Fixing digital images with Photoshop Elements 3 a presentation by Patrick Douglas Crispen California State University, Fullerton

Digital cameras In 2003, US sales of digital cameras surpassed those of film cameras. Today, three digital cameras are sold for every film camera sold. Text source: Wikipedia

The problems with digital cameras But what can you do with all of these digital pictures? –How do you organize them? –How do you edit or fix them? –How do you share them with others? Until recently, you needed three separate programs to do all this. But not any more.

Photoshop Elements 3 Photoshop Elements 3 lets you acquire, organize, edit, and share your digital images. Available for both PCs and Macs: –Street price: US$99.00 –Education price: $69.00 Image source: Adobe

System Requirements PC Intel Pentium III or greater Windows XP SP1 or Windows 2000 SP4 or greater 256 MB RAM [512 recommended] 600 MB hard-disk space 1024 x bit (XGA) color display or greater Mac PowerPC® G3 or greater Mac OS X or greater 256 MB of RAM 200 MB of hard-disk space Color monitor with 16- bit color or greater video card 1,024 x 768 or greater monitor resolution

Our goals Quickly review raster graphics terms like pixels, resolution, and megapixels Fire up Photoshop Elements 3 and learn how to –Acquire and organize images –Fix some common digital photograph problems –Share your digital photographs with others Do all of this in ENGLISH!

Part One: Pixels, Resolution, and Megapixels A quick review of some common digital photography terms you really should know

What are pixels? All digital photographs are made up of squares of solid color called pixels. Source:

What are pixels? All digital photographs are made up of squares of solid color called pixels. Source:

Pixels in photos are like… X’s in Cross Stitch Thread- count in Fabric Tiles in Mosaics More pixels = smoother image, higher quality Source:

More pixels = better photos More pixels mean –Smoother images –Larger prints –More “crop-ability” –Bigger file sizes But more doesn’t necessarily mean better. To explain, I need to steal 10 quick slides from my Crispen’s Technology Primer presentation. Source:

Resolved: Digital cameras rock Resolution =The numbers of pixels in an image =Total number of pixels horizontally x total number of pixels vertically =[width x pixels per inch] x [height x pixels per inch] For example, what’s the resolution of [or how many megapixels are there in] a 4” x 6” picture at 300 ppi? =[4” x 300 ppi] x [6” x 300 ppi] =[1200 pixels] x [1800 pixels] =2,160,000 pixels

Megapixels? 1 megapixel = 1 million pixels. –So 2,160,000 pixels = 2.16 megapixels But, how may megapixels do you really need? –It depends. –Marketeers want you to believe that you need at least a 5 megapixel camera. –RUBBISH! 2 or 3 megapixels is enough for most people.

Print size and output device Print size Web page (72 ppi) Home printer (150 ppi) Professional developing (300 ppi) 4” x 6” 5” x 7” 8” x 10” 11” x 14”

Print size and output device Print size Web page (72 ppi) Home printer (150 ppi) Professional developing (300 ppi) 4” x 6”0.12 MP0.54 MP2.16 MP 5” x 7” 8” x 10” 11” x 14”

Print size and output device Print size Web page (72 ppi) Home printer (150 ppi) Professional developing (300 ppi) 4” x 6”0.12 MP0.54 MP2.16 MP 5” x 7”0.18 MP0.79 MP3.15 MP 8” x 10” 11” x 14”

Print size and output device Print size Web page (72 ppi) Home printer (150 ppi) Professional developing (300 ppi) 4” x 6”0.12 MP0.54 MP2.16 MP 5” x 7”0.18 MP0.79 MP3.15 MP 8” x 10”0.41 MP1.80 MP7.20 MP 11” x 14”

Print size and output device Print size Web page (72 ppi) Home printer (150 ppi) Professional developing (300 ppi) 4” x 6”0.12 MP0.54 MP2.16 MP 5” x 7”0.18 MP0.79 MP3.15 MP 8” x 10”0.41 MP1.80 MP7.20 MP 11” x 14”0.80 MP3.47 MP13.86 MP

Why 2 or 3 MP is enough Print size Web page (72 ppi) Home printer (150 ppi) Professional developing (300 ppi) 4” x 6”0.12 MP0.54 MP2.16 MP 5” x 7”0.18 MP0.79 MP3.15 MP 8” x 10”0.41 MP1.80 MP7.20 MP 11” x 14”0.80 MP3.47 MP13.86 MP

You still with me?

Digital camera suggestions To take really good digital pictures, pull out your camera’s manual and –Permanently disable your camera’s digital zoom. –Set your default compression to superfine [highest quality.] –Set your default resolution to at least one level higher than your desired output size. For 4” x 6” images on a 300 dpi printer, your camera’s resolution should be greater than 1200 x [width x pixels per inch] x [height x pixels per inch]

Printing/editing For home printing and editing, set your camera’s default file format to either TIFF or RAW [if possible.] –If you can’t, copy the images to your computer, save them as TIFFs, and then edit/save/print the TIFFs. For professional development at Wal- Mart, Target, Best Buy, etc., set your camera’s default file format to JPEG.

Part Two: Photoshop Elements 3! Enough review. Let’s acquire, organize, edit, and share some digital photographs!

Photoshop Elements 3 Photoshop Elements 3 lets you acquire, organize, edit, and share your digital images. Available for both PCs and Macs: –Street price: US$99.00 –Education price: $69.00

For more information On the root level of the Photoshop Elements 3 CD-ROM are two files you need to review: –Overview.wmv is a 31 minute training video by Deke McClelland at Total Training –Product_highlights.pdf is an 11 page Acrobat file that quickly shows you all of the Photoshop Elements 3 features we talk about today. Those two files, coupled with today’s presentation, should get you up and running in no time.

Our goals Quickly review raster graphics terms like pixels, resolution, and megapixels Fire up Photoshop Elements 3 and learn how to –Acquire and organize images. –Fix some common digital photograph problems. –Share your digital photographs with others. Do all of this in ENGLISH!