Certificate II in Multimedia

Innovation in Technology Education

2009-03-03T03:41:00.001-08:00

Online Surveys & Market Research

Tasmania Video

2008-11-27T18:24:00.000-08:00

View this Tasmanian Video

Welcome to ACFE

2008-11-26T17:13:00.000-08:00

We are in the BLX today.

RSS Feeds

2008-10-06T22:20:00.001-07:00

Web 2 and RSS

From: gohawks, 41 minutes ago

Web 2 and RSS

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: aggregators web2)

Quick overview on RSS and aggregators

SlideShare Link

RSS

2008-10-06T22:16:00.001-07:00

Web 2 and RSS

From: gohawks, 41 minutes ago

Web 2 and RSS

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: aggregators web2)

Quick overview on RSS and aggregators

SlideShare Link

2008-10-06T22:00:00.000-07:00

Web 2 and RSS

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: aggregators web2)

2008-08-06T18:18:00.000-07:00

Assessment Task

2008-07-16T18:46:00.000-07:00

Build an animated gif of your own using the Animation tool in Photoshop that animates between a minimum of 6 diferent images.
· Develop your Animated GIF in a new PSD that is no larger than 250px X 250px
· Assemble each separate image for the animation in a separate layer
· Decide on a theme for your animated gif
· Develop your own graphic (possibly in Illustrator or Photoshop) OR edit one (or more of your choosing) that you download from the web(Use GIF format if you use images from the web)
· Incorporate Text into the animation
· Allow the animation to run for up to 8 seconds
· Upload to your blog (Title Animated GIF exercise)

Due Date Thursday July 17th 2008
Submission Post to your Blog

Animated GIFS

2008-07-16T16:29:00.000-07:00

The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) is an 8-bit-per-pixel bitmap image format. The format uses a palette of up to 256 distinct colors from the 24-bit RGB color space. It also supports animations and allows a separate palette of 256 colors for each frame.

The color limitation makes the GIF format unsuitable for reproducing color photographs and other images with continuous color, but it is well-suited for more simple images such as graphics or logos with solid areas of color, particularly on webpages.

Exercise

Create the animated GIF above in Photoshop.

The tutorial can be found here

The PSD can be found here.

GIF Construction Set - http://www.tucows.com/preview/194830

Popular Software for creating animated gifs

Tutorial available at http://www.mindworkshop.com/alchemy/gcstutorial.html
(you need to download the software first)

Create a 1960s Vintage Circus Poster

2008-06-04T19:02:00.000-07:00

http://www.tutorialhero.com/tutorial-29953-creating_a_1960_vinatage_circus_poster.php

3 D Logo Tutorial

2008-06-04T18:25:00.000-07:00

http://dx-xel.net/2007/08/illustrator-tutorial-create-3d-logo.html

Creating a Ribbon

2008-06-04T18:20:00.000-07:00

http://veerle.duoh.com/blog/comments/creating_a_ribbon_in_adobe_illustrator/

3D Logo Tutorial

2008-06-04T18:12:00.001-07:00

http://www.ndesign-studio.com/resources/tutorials/3d-logo/

Draw Homer Tutorial

2008-06-04T17:37:00.001-07:00

http://great-design.blogspot.com/2007/09/drawing-homer-simpson-in-illustrator.html

Download the image here to commence.

The source file (if you need it) is at http://rapidshare.com/files/55472368/Homer_Simpson.zip

Text and Fonts Research Assessment Task

2008-06-04T17:08:00.000-07:00

Answer all questions in 2-3 sentences and in your own words

1. Provide a definition of “Font” as used in general computing
2. What is a “Font Family?”
3. What is the difference between a Serif and a Sans Serif font?
Provide 3 examples each of fonts that are Serif fonts and Sans Serif fonts
4. Provide a definition of each of the following:
Bitmapped Fonts
True Type Fonts
5. What are the differences between monospaced or proportionally spaced fonts?
Provide 2 examples of monospaced or proportionally spaced fonts.
6. Why do designers apply Anti-aliasing to text?
7. What is justified text?
8. When using Illustrator and Photoshop, what does it mean to rasterize text?
Why would a designer rasterize text during design?
9. What is a Bézier curve?
10. Font Size is often described in terms of Points
How large is 1pt?
What is the typical size(s) for body text in a webpage?
11. Provide a list of principles that would enhance the readability of text used in multimedia for the end user
12. Find a font that you like from http://www.smashingmagazine.com/category/fonts/
Provide the URL for it and briefly describe its appeal to you.

References

http://www.yum.vic.edu.au/fonts/art_fonts/webdevmag/page01.html
http://del.icio.us/mgwyther/CII_Multimedia
http://www.webmonkey.com/tutorial/Web_Typography_Tutorial_-_Lesson_1
http://www.webmonkey.com/tutorial/Web_Typography_Tutorial_-_Lesson_2
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/WhatIsTrueType.mspx
http://www.paratype.com/help/term/
http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/glossary/l/blrasterize.htm
http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/photoshop/l/bllps506a.htm

Due Date
Thursday June 19th 2008

Bouncing Ball

2008-05-14T18:38:00.000-07:00

The Tutorial is at http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/squash_stretch.html

Try to add this sound to your animation:
http://simplythebest.net/sounds/WAV/sound_effects_WAV/sound_effect_WAV_files/boing_2.wav

OHS Unit Activities

2008-05-07T21:49:00.000-07:00

OH&S Exercises

2008-04-30T19:19:00.000-07:00

Occupational Health and Safety Terms

"Hazard": is the potential to cause harm to a person or to the natural environment.

"Risk": means a combination of the severity and likelihood of harm arising from a hazard.

"Risk assessment": is the process of evaluating the severity and likelihood of harm arising from a hazard.

"Risk control": is the process of implementing measures to reduce the risk associated with a hazard.

Complete the following exercise - Workplace Hazards (Employees and Employers Responsibilities)

In groups of three, complete this Hazard Identification Exercise . You will need to explore the OfficeWise guide to complete this exercise

Tourism Project Tutorial Files

2008-04-23T18:41:00.001-07:00

These tutorials will help you learn some basics in using Flash to create a presentation.

Setting up the Movie in Flash
Entering and Animating Text in Flash
Importing and Arranging Your Images in Flash
Importing Streaming Sounds in Flash
Saving your Movies from Flash

KFC Logo - Changes over Time

2008-03-12T18:39:00.000-07:00

Read more about the changes to this logo over time at http://www.dinesh.com/History_of_Logos/Restaurant_Logos/KFC_Logos_-_Design_and_History/

Logo Design

2008-03-12T17:58:00.000-07:00

The following information comes from http://www.johnnyflash.net/creativelogodesigns.php and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo

Creative & Effective Logo Design
Have you noticed that certain logo designs you can see from a great distance?
Take for example: McDonald's, Nike, Apple, Coca-Cola, Hertz, and 7 Eleven.
It's no wonder that companies spend millions of dollars developing their identity and branding it everywhere.

These symbols have made their company more distinguishable and follow certain logo design principles.

Color Simplicity
75% of the top corporate companies use one or two colors in their logo. Having too many colors can make you logo difficult to see or convey emotion. Effective logos use 1-3 colors. Avoid the mistake of making your logo full-color.

About Colour

Color is important to the brand recognition, but should not be an integral component to the logo design, which would conflict with its functionality. Some colors are formed/associated with certain emotions that the designer wants to convey. For instance, loud colors, such as red, that are meant to attract the attention of drivers on highways are appropriate for companies that require such attention. In the United States red, white, and blue are often used in logos for companies that want to project patriotic feelings. Green is often associated with health foods, and light blue or silver is often used to reflect diet foods.

For other brands, more subdued tones and lower saturation can communicate dependability, quality, relaxation, etc.
Color is also useful for linking certain types of products with a brand. Warm colors (red, orange, yellow) are linked to hot food and thus can be seen integrated into many fast food logos. Conversely, cool colors (blue, purple) are associated with lightness and weightlessness, thus many diet products have a light blue integrated into the logo.

Versatility
The best logos can be seen when they are small on a business card or very large on a billboard. Logos eventually end up on a variety of mediums and need to be able to be used in all kinds of applications. A logo that is too vertical or horizontal will become difficult to read when enlarged or reduced in size.

Legible Typography
It doesn't matter how fancy or cool your logo text looks if it cannot be easily read. Believe it or not, more logos use common San Serif fonts like Arial, Myriad or Verdana, while about one third of logos use Serif fonts like Times New Roman or Garamond.

Memorable & Unique
You want people to remember your logo long after they've seen it. Make your logo unique and memorable so that it will stick in the minds of your customers and be recognized next time they see it.

Simplicity
Even more important than color simplicity is logo simplicity. People appreciate clean, simple, and basic logos.

Connects with the Qualities of your Company
Finally, it doesn't matter how well your logo follows the above principles if it doesn't connect with qualities of your company. You want people to associate your logo with your company and so it's important that the logo connects with the characteristics of your company.

Leave out photos

Dont use photography or complex imagery as it reduces the instant recognition a logo demands.

Exercise

In pairs find some 2 examples of highly recognisible logos

How well do they meet the guidelines for good design?:

Versatility
Creative & Effective Logo Design
Simplicity
Legible Typography
Memorable & Unique
Connects with the Qualities of your Company

Upload your logo and your comments to your blog.

Company Logo Exercise - Rasterizing Text

2008-03-12T17:26:00.000-07:00

Download the exercise Graphics Development Worksheet here.

To apply effects, filters or to modify text you will need to rasterize the text.
A Raster is an image made up of an array of dots arranged into a (usually) rectangular two-dimensional grid. As we know the opposite of a raster image is a Vector image. When we are rasterizing text we are convert vector graphic artwork (for example text) into bit mapped artwork.

Photoshop will prompt you to rasterise the text if you apply various filters to your text. You can also rasterise the text by clicking on Layer - Rasterize - Text. Its a good idea to duplicate the text layer before you do then rasterise the duplicate layer to apply effects etc.

Week 6 Multimedia Staff Webquest Worksheet

2008-03-12T16:24:00.000-07:00

http://www.yum.vic.edu.au/vet/Week6_mm_worksheet.doc

Dimensions of Multimedia Worksheet

2008-03-05T17:41:00.000-08:00

http://www.yum.vic.edu.au/vet/Week%205%20-%20Dimensions%20of%20Multimedia.doc

The Multimedia Software Map

2008-03-05T16:47:00.000-08:00

This image is from the following link: http://www.bmu.unimelb.edu.au/resources/softwaremap/index.html

You can use this link to help you complete the Dimensions of Multimedia Worksheet

Composite Image

2008-03-05T16:27:00.000-08:00

Use the background selection methods learnt in Week 4 to create a new unique image from three of the the following six images:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rudiheim/65098327/sizes/l/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thybag/440750864/sizes/o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aglimpseoftheworld/229303529/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/willster/141106674/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tinyfishy/2130092689/sizes/o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oceano_mare/552430060/sizes/l/

Save as JPEG (High Quality) and upload to your Blog and to your Flickr account.

Give a brief list of the techniques you used (for example:

quick mask
cropping
magnetic lasso
nudge
Blending

Digital Cameras Webhunt

2008-03-05T16:18:00.001-08:00

http://www.yum.vic.edu.au/vet/Week%205%20-%20Digital%20Cameras%20Webhunt.doc

Selection Tools - Background Eraser

2008-02-27T16:45:00.000-08:00

Use this image to undertake the tutorial here

The tutorial is at: http://www.yum.vic.edu.au/vet/Week_4_Background_Eraser.pdf

Learn more about the Type Tool

2008-02-25T22:07:00.000-08:00

Follow this tutorial at http://tutorials.startphotoshop.com/text-tutorial.html

High Pass Sharpening

2008-02-25T21:59:00.000-08:00

As with most things in Photoshop, there are several ways to sharpen an image. One of my favorite ways is by using the High Pass filter:

1. Duplicate the layer you want to sharpen.

2. Go to Filter>Other>High Pass

3. Enter a radius of 1-10, click OK

4. On your layers palette, set the blending mode to Hard Light

5. Drop the layer opacity until you find the strength you like

I like this method because I can control it more. Also, it's not destructive since you can easily delete the duplicate layer you made. Hope this is useful for you!

From the wonderful blog - http://creativebits.org/taxonomy/adobephotoshop

Using a combination of selection tools

2008-02-24T21:22:00.000-08:00

You can find the tutorial at http://yum.vic.edu.au/vet/Week_4_Removing_background.pdf

Here is the image used in the tutorial

Selections - Channel Masks

2008-02-24T21:21:00.000-08:00

You can find the tutorial at http://yum.vic.edu.au/vet/Week_4_Channel_Photoshop.pdf

Here is the image used in the tutorial

About Masks

2008-02-24T21:08:00.000-08:00

Part 1: What is a Mask

Information from http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/aboutgraphics/l/aamasks1.htm

I've been getting a lot of requests for information about masks. Masks are a feature
in just about all bitmap-based image editing software. If you've ever painted your house, you probably used masking tape to protect specific areas from getting paint on them. Masks in image editing software work almost the same way... only better! What makes it better? Masks
in your image editing software can provide varying levels of protection, allowing
you to create soft fades, decorative edges, and translucent effects.

What is a mask?

Essentially, a mask is a grayscale bitmap image. The pure white areas in the
image represent the portions of your original image that will be 100% protected.
The pure black portions of the image represent the areas of your original image
that are completely masked out, or erased. The levels of gray in-between allow
your image to be partially protected. If you have trouble keeping track of which
color does what, just think of masking tape to help you remember... masking
tape is usually white or light colored, so the white areas of your mask are
the most protected. Many image editing software allows you to save your masks
as grayscale images so they can be used over and over again. On the following
pages, I'll show you how you you can use any grayscale image as a mask in several
popular image editors.

A mask

Original Image

The original image with the mask applied.

In the examples above you can see a mask and how it interacts with the image.
Compare the masked image to the mask. Notice that the areas of white in the
mask are 100% opaque in the masked image. The areas of black are 100% transparent.
The gray areas softly fade away in partial transparency.

A mask does not have to be a separate image. Most software allows you to paint
a mask directly onto your image. It works the same way... painting with black
while in mask mode erases the underlying layer of your image, and painting with
white brings it back. Shades of gray allow you to paint in partial transparency.

When you're painting in mask mode, the mask is usually represented on the screen by a ruby overlay. The ruby overlay lets you see the mask represented by a reddish tint while still allowing you to still the image you're working on. Some software allows you change the overlay tint color. To the right you can see the same image used in the examples above with a ruby overlay. Transparency is indicated by a checkerboard pattern in image editing software; that's why you see the checkerboard pattern in this image.

Text Tool - Effects

2008-02-24T21:02:00.000-08:00

Tutorials in PDF format for download:

Using Text as a Mask
http://yum.vic.edu.au/vet/Week_4_Using_Text_as_Mask_Photoshop.pdf
Chrome Text Effect
http://yum.vic.edu.au/vet/Week_4_Chrome_Text.pdf
Gel Text Effect
http://yum.vic.edu.au/vet/Week_4_Gel_Text.pdf

Selection Tools - Pen

2008-02-24T19:22:00.000-08:00

Here is a tutorial showing you how to use the Pen Tool in Photoshop to select out areas. You can find it at http://graphicssoft.about.com/library/extra/blrbps_4abfly.htm or you can download the PDF of it here.

Here is the image used in the tutorial

Selection Tools - Background Eraser

2008-02-24T19:10:00.000-08:00

Here is another tool for selecting out areas of an image - the background eraser. You can find this tutorial at http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/photoshop/l/blrbps_1jet.htm or download a PDF of it from http://yum.vic.edu.au/vet/Week_4_Background_Eraser.pdf

Here is the image used in the tutorial above.

Selection Tool - Magnetic Lasso

2008-02-24T18:48:00.000-08:00

Here's a great tutorial for you - you can find it at http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/photoshop/l/blrbps_3aleaf.htm or download the PDF of it here.

Here is the leaf image used in the tutorial. You will need to download this - Right Click on it then Save Picture As

Your Pics

2008-02-20T16:15:00.000-08:00

These are at flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/58807005@N00/sets/72157603943532302/

Week 3 Worksheets

2008-02-19T17:27:00.000-08:00

Upload Digital Images

Multimedia Industries Webquest Worksheet

Operating Systems

Typical Multimedia Company Services

2008-02-19T16:39:00.000-08:00

Aperature

2008-02-18T22:00:00.000-08:00

Charged Coupled Devices

2008-02-18T21:51:00.000-08:00

Focal Length Demonstration

2008-02-18T21:44:00.000-08:00

How Photos are Stored in your Camera and Computer

2008-02-18T21:34:00.000-08:00

Apple's Macintosh Hard
drive icon.

Image files have an 8-character name followed by a period and a 3- character extension.

A tree displayed by Windows Explorer indicates drives and folders with icons and labels. The - and + signs indicate if a drive or folder is expanded (-) to show subfolders, or collapsed (+) to hide them.

The photos you take are stored as files on your camera's storage device following rules spelled out in a variety of standards adopted by camera companies. These standards assure that files and storage devices can be moved among cameras and other digital imaging hardware and software. Since file storage and organization are so important you should understand how drives, folders, and files relate to one another. When someone takes up digital photography without having mastered these few simple concepts, they may not be able to locate the photos they want to use, or know how to organize their images so working with them is fast and easy.

DCF

DCF (Design Rule for Camera File System) defines the entire file system of digital cameras including the naming and organization of folders, file naming methods, characters allowed in file names, and file formats.

A new hard disk drive (1), like an empty file drawer, has no files nor organization. Dividing a hard disk into folders (2) is like dividing a file drawer with hanging folders. Nesting subfolders inside folders (3) is like putting manila file folders into the hanging folders. Files, including images, can be stored in any of the folders or subfolders (4)—or even in the drawer outside of the folders, called the drive's root directory.

You may encounter the interchangeable terms directory and folder. When computers were used primarily by professionals,
the term directory was introduced. As computers became more widespread, the more user-friendly folder was substituted. In photo sharing you'll also find the names albums and galleries used for the same things.

Drives

Almost all computers have more than one drive. To tell them apart, they are assigned letters or names such as Macintosh HD, and icons are used to identify their type. For example, the now defunct floppy disk drive was assigned both drive A and B and those drive letters now go unused. The hard drive that the computer looks to for the operating system when you turn it on is drive C. Additional drives vary from computer to computer but often include other hard drives, CD or DVD drives. When you attach your camera, a card reader, or even a digital picture frame to the computer, these too become drives. Many devices are recognized automatically when you plug them in, but a few require you to install small programs called drivers so the computer knows they are there.

Folders

Folders are used to organize files on a drive. Imagine working in a photo stock agency where you're told to find a photo of "Yosemite" only to discover that all of the photos the agency ever acquired are stored in unorganized boxes. You have to pick through everything to gather together what you
want. Contrast this with an agency that uses a well-organized file cabinet with labeled hanging folders grouping related images together. For example, there might be a hanging folder labeled California National Parks. If a further breakdown is needed, labeled manila folders are inserted into any of the hanging folders—basically, folders within folders. There might be one labelled Yosemite containing images of the park. With everything labelled and organized, it's easy to locate the images you need. The same is true of your memory cards and drives on your computer system. Both are equivalent to the empty file cabinet—plenty of storage space but no organization. The organization you need to find things on the camera's memory device (which we discuss here) is created by the camera, but on your computer, you have to create it yourself (as you will see later).

If you use operating system tools or applications to look at a storage device in the camera or card reader, you will find it is listed like the other drives on your system. If it contains more than one folder, the one photographers care about is named DCIM (for Digital Camera IMages). If you delete this folder, the camera will recreate it (but not any images it contained). The purpose of this folder, called the image root directory, is to keep together all of the images you capture with the camera. If you use the same card with other devices, there may also be other folders on the same card holding MP3 music or other files.

As you take pictures, your camera automatically creates and names subfolders within the DCIM folder to hold them (like placing manila folders in a hanging folder). The first three characters in a folder's name, called the directory number, are numbers between 100 and 999. The next five characters are known as free characters and can be any uppercase alphanumeric characters chosen by the camera manufacturer. When a new folder is created, as one is when the current folder is full, it is given a number one digit higher than the previous folder. Some cameras allow you to create and name your own folders, or select among folders the camera creates. This lets you route new images into a specific folder and also play back images from just one folder rather than the entire card.

FileNames

When an image is saved, the camera assigns it a filename and stores it in the current folder. Filenames have two parts, an 8-character filename and a 3-character extension. Think of them as first and last names. The name is unique to each file, and the extension, separated from the name by a period, identifies the file's format. For example, a JPG extension means it's a JPEG image file, TIF means it's a TIFF image file.

Extensions play another important role. An extension can be associated with a program on your system so if you double-click a file, the associated program opens and then it in turn opens the file you clicked. Also, when you use an application program's File > Open command it often lists only those files with extensions that it can open. (You can list other file types but it usually requires an additional step or two). If you change the extension, your system may no longer know what to do with the file.

The first four characters in an image file's name, called free characters, can only be uppercase letters A—Z. The last four characters form a number between 0001 and 9999 and are called the file number. Canon uses the first four free characters IMG_ followed by the file number, Nikon uses DSC_,
and Sony uses DSC0. Once transferred to your computer, or sometimes while transferring them, you can rename images with more descriptive names.

Trees

One way to illustrate the organization of folders on a drive is to display them as a tree. In this view, all folders branch off from the drive—something like an organization chart. If any of these folders contain subfolders, those subfolders are shown as a second branch from the first. When using a tree, you can expand and collapse the entire tree or any branch. This allows you to alternate
between a summary of the computer's contents, and details of each drive or folder.

Paths

With files stored in folders on a disk, you specify a path to get to them. For example, if a file named IMG_4692.JPG is in a subfolder named 146CANON that's in a folder named DCIM on drive H, the path to that file is H:\DCIM\146CANON\IMG_4692.JPG. The key elements of a path—the drive, folder, subfolder, and filename—are separated by backslashes (\). You might be more familiar with paths from your Web browser that uses a similar approach using slashes. For example, the URL...

http://www.shortcourses.com/index.html

... is a path to a specific page on the Web. Normally you don't type in paths, you click drives or folders to open them. However, many programs display paths on the screen as a navigational aide and so it's easy to confirm the actual location of the file on your system.

Here is the path to the file IMG_4692.JPG in subfolder 146CANON that's in the DCIM folder on drive H. The drive, folder, subfolder, and filename are separated by backslashes.

Shutters and Aperatures

2008-02-18T20:59:00.000-08:00

Controlling Exposures

From: http://www.shortcourses.com/tabletop/lighting1-7.html

Faster shutter speed let in
less light and decrease the exposure making the image darker but reducing blur.

Smaller apertures let in less light and decrease the exposure making the image darker but increasing depth of field.

One way to think of exposure is like a seesaw. As one child rises a given distance on the seesaw, the other falls by the same amount. Their average distance from the ground is always the same. With your camera set to autoexposure, as you change the aperture or shutter speed to let in more or less light, the other setting changes in the opposite direction to keep the exposure constant.

Some digital cameras have a mode dial that you use to select exposure modes.

You, or the camera's automatic exposure system, control exposure using the camera's shutter speed and aperture. Both affect the exposure, the total amount of light reaching the image sensor, and so control a picture's lightness or darkness. The shutter speed controls the length of time the image sensor is exposed to light and the aperture controls the brightness of that light.

The Shutter

Shutter speeds are specified in seconds or fractions of seconds. Traditional shutter speeds (see illustration left) are arranged so each is half as fast as the next fastest and twice as fast as the next slowest in the sequence. Changing from one speed to the next is a change of one stop and, depending on which direction you change it, doubles or halves the light reaching the image sensor.

The shutter speed is the most important control you have over how motion is captured in a photograph. The longer the shutter is open, the more likely you are to get blur from subject or camera movement. In studio photography, where the subject rarely moves and the camera is mounted on a tripod, this usually isn't an issue so you can use fast or slow shutter speeds. The only reason not to use very slow shutter speeds is that the camera may automatically increase the ISO setting. If it does (and sometimes even if it doesn't), your image will have more noise than it otherwise would and this reduces image quality. Shutter speeds typically range from about 1/2000 to as long as 8 seconds or so, and a few cameras offer a bulb setting. Bulb keeps the shutter open as long as you hold down the shutter button.

As the exposure decreases, the subject
gets darker. In this series, the exposure was changed one stop between each picture using manual exposure mode. The image in the middle of the grid has the correct exposure. Those that are lighter are over exposed and those that are darker are underexposed.

At shutter speed settings below 1/15 second, check to see if your camera has noise reduction. If so, turn it on.

The Aperture

Aperture settings, called f-stops, indicate the size of the aperture opening inside the lens. Traditional apertures (see illustration left) let in half as much light as the next larger opening and twice as much light as the next smaller opening. As the f-stop number gets larger (f/8 to f/11, for example), the aperture size gets smaller. This may be easier to remember if you think of the f-number as a fraction: 1/11 is less than 1/8, just as the size of the f/11 lens opening is smaller that the size of the f/8 opening.

The aperture controls depth of field-the area in a setup from foreground to background that will be sharp in a photograph (page 10). The smaller the aperture you use, the greater the area of a setup that will be sharp. For some pictures you may want a smaller aperture for maximum depth of field so that everything is sharp. In others you may use a larger aperture to decrease the depth of field so that some details are sharp against a softer background.

How wide you can open the aperture depends on the len's maximum aperture its widest opening. For example, a lens with a maximum aperture of f/1.8 opens wider than a lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.6. Larger apertures are better when photographing in dim light and also let you get shallower depth of field. With most zoom lenses the maximum aperture changes as you zoom the lens. It will be larger when zoomed out to a wide angle, and smaller when zoomed in to enlarge a subject.

One desirable feature of a lens is a small aperture. The smallest aperture on some digital cameras is f/8 or f/11. On 35mm film cameras, it may be f/16 or even f/32. Smaller apertures let you get more depth of field and also extend the range of your lighting. If you can't use a small enough aperture, some powerful studio lights will cause your images to be overexposed and too light. Your only control then is to move the lights farther away from the setup, something that may be difficult to do in a small room and which also changes the quality of the light.

Using the Shutter and Aperture Together

You, or the camera's autoexposure system, can pair a fast shutter speed (to let in light for a short time) with a wide aperture (to let in bright light) or a slow shutter speed (long time) with a small aperture (dim light). Speaking of exposure only, it doesn't make any difference which of the combinations is used. But in other ways, it does make a difference, and it is just this difference
that gives you some creative opportunities. You're always balancing camera or subject movement against depth of field. This is because a change in one causes a change in the other. Let's see why.

Each exposure setting is 1 "stop" from the next and lets in half or twice the light of the next setting. (Many digital cameras actually let you adjust settings in one-third stops for finer control). A shutter speed of 1/60 lets in half the light that 1/30 does, and twice the light of 1/125. An aperture of f/8 lets in half the light that f/5.6 does, and twice the light of f/11. If you make the shutter speed 1 stop slower (letting in 1 stop more light), and an aperture 1 stop smaller (letting in 1 stop less light), the same amount of light enters the camera so the exposure doesn't change. However, the smaller aperture increases the depth of field slightly and the slower shutter speed increases the possibility of blur.

In the studio, where neither the subject or camera is likely to move, we generally think mainly of the aperture setting because of its effect on depth of field. In aperture-priority mode, as you change apertures the camera automatically changes shutter speeds to keep the exposure constant. All you have to do with the shutter speed is keep your eye on it. If the aperture you select results in a shutter speed below 1/15 second or so, you might turn on noise reduction if your camera has that feature and it doesn't come on automatically.

Exposure Modes

To creatively use shutter speeds and apertures, you have to change the camera's exposure mode. Let's take a look at the modes you usually have access to.

Automatic or program mode sets the shutter speed and aperture without your intervention. This mode allows you to shoot without paying attention to settings so you can concentrate on composition and focus. For many studio setups, this mode works very well.

Scene mode has settings designed for specific situations such as landscapes,
sports, and macro photography. In desktop photography, the only one of these settings you will be interested in is the macro setting.

Aperture-priority mode is the most useful mode in studio photography. It lets you select the aperture (lens opening) you need to obtain the depth of field you want and the exposure system automatically sets the shutter speed to give you a good exposure. You select this mode whenever depth of field is most important, as it often is in desktop photography. To be sure everything is sharp, select a small aperture. To throw the background or some other part of the setup out of focus, select a large aperture.

Shutter-priority mode lets you choose the shutter speed you need to freeze
or deliberately blur camera or subject movement and the camera automatically sets the aperture to give you a good exposure. You select this mode when the portrayal of motion is most important. In digital desktop photography where the camera is mounted on a tripod and the subject usually isn't moving, this mode isn't of much importance.

Manual mode lets you select both the shutter speed and the aperture. You normally use this mode only when the other modes or exposure compensation can't give you the results you want-as when you are using strobes. However, this mode has one big advantage over the other modes. As you move or rotate a subject, the camera's exposure doesn't change as the reflectivity of the subject changes. This means background exposure will remain constant through a series of pictures. This is very important when doing object photography or photographing any series where images will be shown together.

Image Composition Tips

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Try to keep important elements (subjects) away from the edge of the frame. Do not cut people off at the joints (i.e. knee, ankles or neck).

Try to eliminate unwanted elements from the viewfinder. Therefore, before each shot, search the viewfinder for unwanted or unnecessary subject matter (i.e. papers on the ground, cables for lights).

Do not have distracting objects growing out of a subject's head. Background power poles or telephones lines growing out of a subject's ear is not particularly attractive. This often happens when using telephoto lenses, as background elements appear to be compressed into the foreground space.

Think about the composition of your shot before it is shot. Be ready to re-adjust the composition if subjects are moving.

Do not shoot a subject wearing a blue shirt against a similar colour blue background. The shot's contrast will be lost as the two blues mix together.

Remember to leave space (headroom, looking and walking space) between a subject's head and the edge of the frame.

Do not always shoot a subject in the centre of the frame. Try the rule of thirds and balance the subject with other elements.

Since most viewfinders are black and white, use your eyes for colour contrasts.

Example of good composition

Image Composition

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Image composition is the difference between a good shot and a great shot. Picture composition is all to do with arranging the elements in such a way as to communicate your message. By adhering to some simple composition rules, a photographer can achieve pleasing, well-balanced images.

The most common aid to good composition is the rule of thirds , which painters use to add balance to their painting. The same rules can assist photographers to improve their image results.

Imagine the area in the viewfinder is divided into a grid of thirds both across and down (nine equally sized rectangles). Balance the key elements of the shot along the lines or where they cross. For example, if there is a lone tree or church spire in a scenic shot, position it where the lines intersect and this will add a sense of balance.

Rule of thirds

When framing a face, arrange the shot so that the eyes are positioned one-third of the way down the frame. If the shot is framed too high the head will be cut off and too low the body will be missing.

Looking space and walking room

When composing a shot of a person looking out of frame either three-quarters or in profile, always leave space in front of them. This principle is called leaving looking space. Apart from adding balance, it reinforces a sense of direction.

'Looking space' has been left

No 'looking space' has been left

As with 'looking into space' shots, when shooting action shots, always make sure there is plenty of space in front of the subject, or walking room.

Walking room has been allowed for

Walking room has not been allowed for

Symmetry and Balance

Symmetry is a method of adding balance to an image. Think of the classic shot of the snow-covered mountain with the perfect reflection in the foreground pool. The image has balance and is symmetrical about the pool edge.

Symmetry and balance

The tilt shot can be used to deliberately challenge the viewer and attract attention.

Tilt shot

Depth of Field

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From : http://www.shortcourses.com/tabletop/lighting1-4.html

Controlling Depth of the Field

Here the camera was set to aperture-priority mode and the aperture was changed for each picture. The camera automatically
changed the shutter speed to keep the exposures constant, but notice how the depth of field changed.

Although a lens can only bring objects at a single distance from the camera into critically sharp focus, other parts of the scene in front of and behind the most sharply focused plane appear acceptably sharp. The area in which everything looks sharp is called depth of field. Objects within the depth of field become less and less sharp the farther they are from the plane of critical focus. As the distance increases, things eventually become so out of focus that they no longer appear sharp at all. The near and far edges of your depth of field are usually not visible as exactly defined boundaries. Instead, sharp areas imperceptibly merge into unsharp ones. At normal shooting distances, about one-third of the depth of field is in front of the plane of critical focus (toward the camera), and two-thirds is behind it (away from the camera). When the camera is focused very close to an object, the depth of field becomes more evenly divided.

To see the depth of field on an SLR-type camera, you press a depth of field preview button that stops down the aperture to the one that will be used to take the photo. On point and shoot digital cameras, the best way to check depth of field is to take a trial picture and then play it back on the monitor where most cameras will let you zoom it and then scroll around it to examine details.

Often it doesn't matter so much exactly what you are focused on. What does matter is whether or not all of the objects you want to be sharp are within the available depth of field so they appear sharp. There are reasons you may want parts sharp or not. You may want only a part of the setup in sharp focus to give it emphasis against a softer foreground or background. On the other hand you may want everything sharp to show details. To control how deep or shallow depth of field is, you have three factors to work with.

Aperture size. The smaller the size of the lens aperture (the larger the
f-number), the greater the depth of field. The larger the aperture, the shallower the depth of field.

Camera-to-subject distance. As you move father from the subject you are
focused on, you increase depth of field. As you move closer, you decrease it.

Lens focal length. Zooming out to a wider angle of view increases depth of field. Zooming in decreases it.

Each of these three factors affects depth of field by itself, but even more so in combination. You can get the shallowest depth of field with a lens zoomed in on a nearby subject using a large aperture. You get the deepest depth of field when you are farther from a subject, with the lens zoomed to a wide angle, and using a small aperture.

When you get the camera really close, don't expect much depth of field. It's best to arrange the objects so the most important part falls on the same plane. That way, if part of it is in focus, all of it will be. Another thing to try with a zoom lens, is to use a wider angle of view. This will give you more depth of field if you don't also have to move the camera closer to the subject (doing so will offset the advantage of the wide-angle lens).

Shallow depth of field has its own benefits, so you don't necessarily have to think of it as a problem. An out-of-focus foreground or background can help isolate a subject, making it stand out sharply.

A large aperture gives a shallow depth of field (top). A small aperture gives greater depth of field (bottom).

Capturing Maximum Depth of the Field

When you want as much depth of field as possible, there are things you can do to obtain it.

Don't focus on the part of the setup closest to the camera. Since one-third to one half of the available depth of field falls in front of the point on which you are focused, focusing on the front wastes one-half to two-thirds of your depth of field. This may cause some other parts of the object to be unsharp because they are not included in the one-third remaining depth of field. If you focus one-third to one-half of the way back, you will shift the available depth of field back to include more of the setup while still keeping the front part acceptably sharp.

Increase the light on the setup so you can use a smaller aperture.

Zoom the lens out to a wider angle of view.

Move farther away from the subject.

Switch to aperture-priority mode and select a small aperture such as f/11.

Using Selective Focus

One way to make something stand out is to use selective focus. When everything in a picture is equally sharp, the viewer tends to give equal attention to all parts of the scene. But if some parts are sharp and others are not, the eye tends to be drawn to the sharpest part of the image. You can selectively focus the camera and your viewer's attention on the most important part of the scene
if you restrict the depth of field so that the significant elements are sharp while the foreground and background are less so.

Digital cameras have great depth of field so you have to really push the limits to see the effects of selective focus. Move close, zoom in, and select a wide aperture. When using selective focus, here are some things you can do to reduce depth-of-field:

Reduce the light on the setup so you can use a wider aperture.

Zoom the lens in to enlarge the subject.

Move closer to the subject.

Switch to aperture-priority mode and select a large aperture such as f/4.

Focus in front of or behind the subject to waste some depth-of-field.

In this photo, the point of interest is the lens cap. Using a large f/stop and selective focus, the camera on which the cap is mounted has been thrown out of focus. This dramatically emphasizes the lens cap.

Filters

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Filters can change the quality and appearance of an image in a variety of ways. Some of the more commonly used filters are used to sharpen or blur an image. You may wonder why anyone would want to blur an image. Gaussian Blur gives a subtle softening effect, which may be appropriate for your background image, for example. Look at the following image of pebbles manipulated for use as a background image. On the left is the image without any filter effects. On the right is the image that has had Gaussian blur of 0.5 pixels applied.

Sharpen increases the contrast of adjacent pixels improving image clarity. It is important when you sharpen an image to achieve greater definition not to over-do the effect. Overuse of these tools can produce a gritty or grainy effect. You have the option to use Sharpen Edges , which sharpens only edges while preserving the overall smoothness of the image or Unsharp Mask , which finds the areas in the image where significant colour changes occur and sharpens them.

For maximum control you should use the Unsharp Mask filter to adjust the contrast of edge detail, producing a lighter and darker line on each side of the edge to create the illusion of a sharper image. Unsharp Mask provides three slider controls:

amount

radius

threshold.

Look at the following illustration. The first image has not had a filter applied. The second image has had Filter-Sharpen applied. This has brought out the grainy texture. The third image has had Unsharp Mask applied using the values Amount = 55, Radius = 4.5 and Threshold = 15.

There are many other filters available that can radically alter the appearance of an image. Here are examples of just a few.

Craquelure filter

Diffuse glow filter

Halftone filter

Ink outline

Water colour filter

Poster edges filter

In Photoshop , when you select a tool, a brief description of the tool appears in the tool status bar at the bottom of the window. You can also consult Photoshop Help section.

Adjustment Layer Activity

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Adjustment Layers allow you to make changes without affecting the original image. In this activity you will use an adjustment layers for Levels. I suggest you use an image from your collection.

1. Open an image in Photoshop .

2. Go to Layer-New Adjustment Layer-Levels .

3. In the dialogue box make sure the Group With Previous Layer checkbox is not ticked. For now, leave Opacity at 100% and Mode as Normal.

4. Click OK . The histogram of the image will be displayed.

5. Make sure the Preview checkbox is ticked. I want you to get into the habit of making notes of every manipulation you make. This way if you achieve a great effect, you will be able to easily repeat it.

6. Experiment with each of the input sliders in turn. Compare each change with your original image (untick the Preview checkbox), note the effect and how you achieved it, then return the slider to its original position.

7. Now use the Channel selector to access one of the colour channels ( Red , Blue and Green ) independently and change the colour balance of the image using the centre slider.

8. Use a combination of controls to enhance your image, then click OK .

9. Go to Window - Show Layers . You'll see a new layer called Levels containing the changes you have made.

10. Turn the layer off by clicking the eye-icon located next to it. Now turn it on again.

11. Make sure the adjustment layer is selected by clicking on. (It will turn blue).

12. Click on the small arrow to the right of Opacity 100%. A slider will appear. Drag the slider to change the opacity of the adjustment layer. Watch how your image changes as you do this. Return the opacity to 100%.

13. Now access the Layers drop down menu by clicking on the small arrow to the right of Normal. (See image below).

Layers window showing Normal drop down menu

14. Try each of these options in turn, making notes about the effect of each one. Choose the one you think most appropriate for your image (this may be Normal.)

15. Now adjust the opacity to the value you think is most appropriate for your image.

16. To compare the original image with the manipulated image, click on the adjustment layer eye icon to turn the adjustments off. Then click again to make the layer visible.

Once you are happy with your final image, you will need to flatten the layers. Layers make the file much larger. When the image is flattened, the original image will be merged with your adjustment layers so you will no longer be able to make changes to the separate layer.

For this reason, I recommend that you first save your file in the . PSD format so that all layers are saved. Then create a flattened version for your tourism promo. You are able to come back to the PSD file later and make layer changes.

17. To flatten layers go to Layer-Flatten Image . Make sure the eye icon is visible in your adjustment layer.

18. Save your image with a new name (e.g. bg4.jpg .)

Adjustment Layers

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A layer in Photoshop can contain another image or text, which can be manipulated separately from your main picture. These layers can be turned on and off. An adjustment layer , instead of holding images or text, contains adjustments to brightness, contrast and colour balance of the image on a layer beneath. The advantage of using adjustment layers is that any changes are not made to the image itself, but to an overlay, which can be turned on and off, or deleted at any time.

The following image shows how to choose a Levels Adjustment Layer being chosen from the Layer menu.

In the dialogue box that opens make sure the Group With Previous Layer checkbox is not ticked. (Image shown below). This will keep the Adjustment Layer separate from the image layer and allow you to compare the original image with the modified image.

Adjustment Layer dialogue box

We will look at Opacity and Mode later.

Once you click OK , the histogram of the image will be displayed along with several tools. (See image below).

The input level triangular slider on the left makes the image darker and the one on the right makes it lighter. If you move them both inwards the contrast will increase. The centre slider changes the overall brightness of the image. The Output Level sliders at the bottom of the window allow you to decrease contrast. You will probably use these less frequently than the Input levels.

The Channel selector window allows you to access the Red , Blue and Green channels independently so you can change the colour balance of the image as well as the dynamic range of each channel and the image's overall colour tonality. For now, I'd advise just using the centre slider for each colour channel.

You can tick and untick the Preview button to compare the original with the changes you've made and when you're happy click OK .

Adjustment Layer Levels histogram

If you go to Window - Show Layers , you'll see a new layer called Levels containing the changes you have made. You can turn the layer (and therefore the changes) off by clicking the eye-icon located next to it. You can delete the layer by dragging it to the trash. The following image has two separate adjustment layers.

Layers window showing two adjustment layers

In the Layers window you can change the Opacity of an adjustment layer.

The Opacity slider allows you to reduce the effect of the adjustment layer from 100% down to 0, giving you the ability to make subtle adjustments.

This enables you to have greater control over your images than that available in the darkroom of traditional photography.

Look also at drop down menu under the box showing Normal . (See image below).

The best way to find out what these options do is to experiment.

Layers window showing Normal drop down menu

There are a number of other Adjustment Layer tools available, including Curves .

This can provide even more precise control over part of the brightness range.

Colour Balance Activity

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In this activity you will use the Colour Balance dialogue box to change colour values of shadows, midtones and highlights.

1. Open a photo that you consider would benefit from colour correction.

2. Go to Image-Adjustments-Colour Balance

Image>Adjustments>Colour Balance

3. In the dialogue box, select Shadows as shown below.

Shadows is selected and the Preview checkbox is ticked

5. Drag each of the sliders in one direction, then the other direction, observing the colour changes.

6. When you have achieved a result you're happy with (this may be 0, 0, 0,) untick the Preview checkbox to compare your manipulated image with your original image.

7. Now select Midtones. The changes you made to the shadows will be retained.

8. Use the sliders to modify the colour balance of the midtones.

9. When you have achieved a result you're happy with (this may be 0, 0, 0,) untick the Preview checkbox to compare your manipulated image with your original image.

10. Now select Highlights. The changes you made to shadows and midtones will be retained.

11. Use the sliders to modify the colour balance of the highlights.

12. When you have achieved a result you're happy with (this may be 0, 0, 0,) untick the Preview checkbox to compare your manipulated image with your original image.

Colour Balance

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A different way of controlling colour is to use Colour Balance. You open the Colour Balance dialogue box (shown below) by going to Image-Adjustments-Colour Balance . Colour Balance allows a finer adjustment of colours than Curves, including adjustments specifically for shadows. This is useful for both colour correction and for giving a scene a tone that it did not have naturally.

Colour balance dialogue box

Compare the original image below with the manipulated image following it. I have adjusted colour balance to give greater weight to yellow, including in the shadows, giving the beach the hot midday sun look of an Australian summer.

Original image

Greater weight given to yellow

Curves Activity

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In this activity I want you to add effects to your image. I suggest you use an image that would be appropriate for use as a background image.

1. Open your image in Photoshop.

2. Go to Image-Adjust-Curves .

I suggest you create three control points on your curve in the Curves dialogue box. (See image below.)

3. Place the crosshair where you want to insert a control point and left click. Repeat this process two more times.

Pebble image showing Curves dialogue box with three control points

4. Manipulate your curve by dragging each of the control points, making your image more effective as a background texture (as shown below).

Pebbles image manipulated using Curves

5. Save your image as bg4.jpg .

Curves

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Colour adjustment is useful to correct or even distort images in a pleasing way. Adjustment can be applied in a number of ways. One very useful tool for colour correction is the Curves tool.

( Image-Adjust-Curves ).

Image>Adjust>Curves

The Curves dialogue box allows you to work on all colour channels at once (RGB - Red, Green and Blue) or to choose just one channel. This can be used to create interesting effects. In the image below I have adjusted the curve of the Red channel to create an image with pink / rosy overtones creating pre-sunset feel.

The Red Channel has been increased giving a rosy glow to the image

Curves can also be used for subtle control over brightness and contrast. You can click on the line to create control points (drag points). In the image below, there are three control points. From left to right they are:

highlight control

mid-tone control

shadow control

Three control points on the curve

Have the preview box checked so you can see the changes as you make them. If the image requires more contrast, you will need to create an S-curve. Do this by:

1. dragging down the highlights point slightly without changing mid-tones and shadows;

2. dragging up the shadow point;

3. moving the mid-tone point slightly up or down until you are happy with the overall brightness.

You should now have an 'S' shaped curve as shown below.

S curve

If an image has too much contrast, you would need to create an inversion of the S curve. Dragging down all three adjustment points would lighten the overall image and is similar to increasing brightness with the Levels command, but more precise. Dragging up lessens the brightness.

Look at the following example. The first is the original photo (an interesting effect created by shooting a shop window display.) The second has been given a more surreal appearance using Curves, emphasising both the face and the reflections in the window.

Shop window © Sarah Mason 2002

Shop window manipulated using Curves © Sarah Mason 2002

You can also create psychedelic effects that could be effectively used for a background image.

The image below was created by changing to Lab Colour mode, then manipulating the Lightness channel using Curves. To change your image to Lab Colour, go to Image -Mode -Lab Color . When you have finished editing return to RGB mode.
(The image has to be changed back to RGB before being saved as a JPEG.)

Mossy tree image manipulated in Lab Colour using the Lightness channel of Curves

Levels

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The Levels palette ( Image-Adjustment-Levels ) allows adjustment of each colour channel numerically and via a graphical interface. Each channel can be adjusted separately to optimise an image or all channels may be worked on together. The following image shows the Levels dialogue box.

Levels palette for the Blue Channel in the Levels dialogue box

Each of the palettes have options for finer or deeper adjustment. (See image below).

Options within the Levels Palette

Hue and Saturation

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Hue and Saturation

Video from http://dr-photoshop.com/zfile/tutorials/HuenSat.mp4

In this activity, you will adjust an image using the Hue/Saturation tool. I suggest you use your background image from the previous activities.

1. Open an image.

2. Go to Image>Adjustments> Hue/Saturation .

Image>Adjustments> Hue/Saturation

3. Pull the saturation down to - 100. (See image below).

Photo of graffiti with saturation at a minimum level

4. Now increase the saturation to + 100. (See image below).

Photo of graffiti with saturation at a maximum level

5. Now drag the saturation slider to a position that enhances the colour of your image without being extreme.

6. Save your image as saturate.jpg .

7. Experiment dragging the Hue slider in a positive and then a negative direction. Save one of these changes as hue.jpg .

Below is an image of pebbles with plus saturation and a Hue Master value of minus 17.

Beach pebbles with -17 Hue

8. Experiment by changing the Edit menu to a particular Hue (e.g. Reds, Cyans etc) and using the slider to vary the value. Save one of these experimental images as hue2.jpg .

9. Save your background image with the hue and saturation you are happy with and call the file bg3.jpg . You may choose not to alter the hue and saturation of the original image.

Quick Guide to Image Enhancement

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Levels

First thing you want to do is go to image-mode-levels. Now you can do auto levels but sometimes it will make the photo look worse. You will see a graph and and there sliders (black, grey, and white). Now you want to move the black and white slide to encompass the graph. See pictures.

Before:

After:

Exposure

Go to image-mode-exposure. Adjust these sliders to make make the best possible picture. The offset and gamma sliders usually don't need to be adjusted. If you adjusted the levels correctly you usually don't have to adjust anything.

Color Balance

Go to image>mode>color balance. If there is to much of a color drag the slider away from that particular color. Now if your photo lacks vivid color or even has to much go to image>mode>curves. If it doesn't have enough color bend this line up and to the right. If theres too much, bend the line to the bottom left.

Contrast

Go to image>mode>contrast. Brightness should be fine. Adjust the contrast a little to give it punch, but not too much or the image will look poor.

Sharpening

You can sharpen areas by using the sharpen tool but you can sharpen the whole photo by going to Filter-sharpen-sharpen (more). Use this to give blurred and out of focus images more definition.

Remember, by apply these filter, the image quality will decline a little. The more you sharpen or the more you add contrast, the more the image quality will decline.

Information from http://dr-photoshop.com/tutorials/index.php?id=28

Sample Image for todays exercise

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Download it here.

Right click - save picture as:

Week 2 Worksheets

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Behind your PC - Ports

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Source: http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticle.aspx?id=105228&catId=100533&tid=100008&p=1&title=Behind+your+computer

Cropping Activity

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Cropping reduces the size of the image by cutting out and discarding part of the image.

Much of your photo may be not particularly interesting.

Cropping allows you to focus on the part of the photo that is central to your theme.

Look at the following example of a man fishing.

By cropping the photo you can direct the viewer's attention to the action.

Of course, for some themes you may want to emphasise vast stretches of landscape, such as deserts or ski-slopes, in which case cropping may be counter-productive.

Original image

Cropped image

Now try this Cropping Activity 1,2,3

Optimising

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PhotoShop is used to optimise images so that they suit the medium they are being delivered in. Optimise means creating the optimal (best) possible image. Images are commonly optimised using Photoshop features such as:

cropping

increasing or decreasing brightness

increasing or decreasing contrast

rotating

creating the smallest possible file size to suit electronic delivery.

In PhotoShop we can choose:

how many colours we will use (the less we use the smaller the file size)

what actual size the image should be (the smaller the image the smaller the file size

what file type we should save the image in to best suits our design purpose.

Here is an example of an image Chris, the Head of Photography, asked me to optimise. Have a look at the optimised image compared to the original. All I've done is increase the brightness and crop the image. Do you think I've improved it?

Photoshop Tools

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A wide range of tools are available from the Toolbar. Some of the tools have a variety of sub-tools - similar tools but for different purposes. For example, there is:

a lasso to mark out the borders of an organic shape

a polygonal lasso for more geometric shapes

a lasso with magnet.

Each of the tools on the toolbar has a shortcut key that allows you to access that tool from the keyboard. To view the toolbar and the tools on it, click on the link below:

Photoshop Toolbar

An important consideration when graphic elements are needed is what 'style' is appropriate. PhotoShop comes with a powerful set of filters that allow me to develop graphic elements that suit the theme or particular design-style of a multimedia product. It is easy to change an image either dramatically or in a more subtle way using these filters.

Look below to see how an image was developed for the Double Trouble Artists Cooperative . The image supplied has been altered and adapted so that it more closely suited the painterly-style required by the client.

Original image

(Copyright use granted to QANTM CMC by

Virtual Oz Pty Ltd. )

Image manipulated with filters, cloning, colours and text

(Copyright use granted to QANTM CMC by Virtual Oz Pty Ltd. )

Introduction to Photoshop

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Adobe PhotoShop is the industry-leading program for managing bitmap images such as photographs, but can handle vector graphics also. Although this job will ultimately involve web delivery, most of the work we will be doing involves using bitmap images so I will show you how to use PhotoShop for this job.

Before I explain specific manipulation techniques, I want to give you some general advice.

When you open an image ready to manipulate it, get into the habit of selecting Go to Image > Duplicate . Then close the original. Duplicating the original image ensures that if anything goes wrong as you manipulate the image you will still have the original image to come back to.

The History palette available from Window>History (see below) also assists in this regard by remembering each step you took.

By clicking on any single step and choosing Delete it is possible to remove all steps taken from that point on.

However it is always essential in multimedia development to back up all your work . It is advisable to duplicate your original image and then work on the duplicate image.

The History Palette allows you to step back through the actions you have taken

Each time you save a manipulated image, give it a different name to your original image.

Remember, you should always retain your original photos .

Image Formats - JPEG

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The JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) format uses the suffix .jpg. With its support for 16.7 million colours, is primarily used for photographic images or images which do not look good with only 256 colours. The JPEG format is a compression format. I will explain more about compression shortly.

Any JPEG file can be saved as a Progressive JPEG. This is very similar to the interlaced GIF, as it presents a low-quality image to your viewer at first with the quality improving over several passes. It is a matter of personal preference whether you choose progressive or baseline. Some graphic editing tools allow you to specify the number of passes before the image downloads completely.

Saving an image in a compression format can make a significant difference to file size. As an example, let's take an image in the Macromedia Fireworks native .png format, which is uncompressed. The following image is a 901kb in PNG file.

PNG (.png) format 901kb

(Click on the image to view full size version)

I have now saved this image as a JPEG file. The image started at 901kb in PNG format but saving it as a JPEG has reduced the file size to 161.24kb - a big difference just by changing file type! Have a look at the JPEG image below.

Image converted to JPEG format (.jpg) is only 161.24kb

(Click on the image to view full size version)

Image Formats - GIF

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File formats affect what type of player will be needed for a user to view the work, and it also makes a big difference to file size and quality. GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) and JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) are currently the primary file types for graphics on the Internet. The third, and newest file format that's widely supported by the Web is PNG (pronounced Ping).

The GIF format is one of the most popular formats on the Internet. Not only is the format excellent at compressing areas of images with large areas of the same colour, it is also one option for putting animation online. GIF files support a maximum of 256 colours, which makes them great for almost all graphics except photographs. The most common method of reducing the size of GIF files is to reduce the number of colours on the palette .

The GIF89a format supports transparency. This allows a graphic designer to designate the background of the image as transparent. If you place a transparent GIF in a yellow table cell, the background colour of that image will turn yellow.

The interlacing feature in a GIF file creates the illusion of faster loading graphics. What happens is that an image is presented in a browser in several steps. At first it will be fuzzy and blurry, but as more information is downloaded from the server, the image becomes more and more defined until the entire image has been downloaded. Interlaced GIF files will usually be a bit larger than non-interlaced ones, so use interlacing only when it makes sense.

Generally, GIF files should be used for logos, line drawings and icons. Avoid using it for photographic images. When you're designing GIF files, avoid using gradients and turn off anti-aliasing where possible to minimise the file size.

Resolution - Vectors and BitMaps

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If you are creating digital animation you'll need to understand the difference between bitmap and vector animation. Photographs are bitmap images. In bitmap-based images, the more pixels an image contains, the higher its resolution. If you zoom in on a detail in the photograph, it will begin to lose its sharpness as individual pixels blur and soften into the background.

Vector animation (such as Flash animation) is stored as mathematical coordinates and is therefore resolution-independent. This has tremendous advantages for the animator because once made, your work can be delivered for the Internet or be rescaled for film or television without losing any detail.

The following example shows the difference in quality between an enlarged bitmap image and an enlarged vector drawing.

Notice the difference between the quality of the Bitmap image

and the quality of the Vector image when enlarged

Resolution - Intended Format

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Resolution is a measurement of the output quality of an image, usually in terms of pixels per inch (ppi) when the intended output device is a computer screen resolution.

High-resolution images of 300 ppi or more are generally intended for print. Low-resolution images of 100 ppi or less are generally intended for screen display.

Before starting your digital animation project, you need to plan out the resolution of the final animation. What is its intended format? Is it going to be shown on the Internet, television or CD-ROM? Is it going to be seen in 16 by 9 digital wide screen or the older 4 by 3 ratio? Careful preplanning will save a lot of time and effort later on.

Resolution

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Resolution is a measurement of the quality of an image, usually in terms of pixels per inch (ppi) for computer screen. Whilst screen image resolution (as well as scanner and digital camera resolution) is measured in ppi (pixels per inch), printed image resolution is measured in dpi (dots per inch). These terms are often used interchangeably.

The resolution for on-screen images is 72 ppi - this is what monitors can display. A higher-resolution image won't look any better on-screen but the file size will be larger. Printers require more information than is available in a 72 dpi file to produce a smooth and clear image. For example, 300 dpi is commonly used for lower end prints. The more information contained by an image, the smoother it looks. An image at 72dpi contains less information than one at 300dpi.

Vector images are resolution independent - their files are mathematical in nature and are treated as objects. Vector images can be reduced or enlarged without any loss in quality.

Resolution is a measurement of the output quality of an image, usually in terms of pixels per inch (ppi) when the intended output device is a computer screen resolution.

High-resolution images of 300 ppi or more are generally intended for print. Low-resolution images of 100 ppi or less are generally intended for screen display.

Bit Depth

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A computer monitor displays images in pixels (short for "picture element"). (See image below).

Pixels are made up of bits. A bit is the smallest unit of data or information a computer understands. It has two possible states: on or off .

Eight bits comprise a byte .

A byte can therefore represent 256 different states (2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2).

An image on a computer monitor is made up of pixels

The following table shows how many colours and bits are contained in each of the digital image modes.

No matter what the bit depth of an image, it can only be displayed at the highest number of colours the monitor supports.

For example, an 8-bit monitor will see only 256 colours even if an image has been saved at a higher value.

Most colour monitors have 16- or 24-bit capabilities, and display thousands or millions of colours.

Camera Batteries

2008-02-13T01:20:00.000-08:00

Digital cameras are very heavy users of batteries, mainly due to the fact that they consume power to store the digital images. Most digital cameras come with four AA size lithium batteries. You can also use rechargeable NiCad (nickel-cadmium) or AA alkaline batteries.

If batteries are ranked on performance, then in general:

Lithium is the best choice, they have long life and perform well.

NiCad performs well but has the added advantage of being re-chargeable.

Alkaline is the minimum quality use for digital photography.

Extra Heavy Duty are heavy-duty general-purpose batteries and whilst they are suitable for normal photography and children's toys they do not last long in a digital camera.

Normal Duty are general-purpose batteries and do not last long in a digital camera. For example a set of normal duty 'AA' may only last 1 shot session (and may not last the whole session if the flash and zoom are used).

Battery Types

Battery Life

Using the flash unit (especially in quick succession) and transferring pictures into the computer are quite demanding on batteries.

You can save the life of your batteries by using a 240 volt power adapter.

Your batteries' life will be significantly improved if, when transferring images (and when taking images if possible), you always run the camera off this adapter.

The following tips will also allow you to extend the life of camera batteries:

Replace all four batteries at the same time. Mixing new or fully charged with those that have been in use for some time discharges the newer batteries.
Clean battery contacts in the battery compartment periodically by rubbing them gently with a clean pencil eraser or a cloth. This removes any oxidation on the contacts and makes for a good electrical connection.

Store batteries at room temperature and keep them dry. Keep batteries away from heat (e.g. don't leave them in a car during hot weather).
Recharge NiCad batteries if they have not been used after six months.

Battery Warnings

Always handle batteries carefully.
Do not drop, puncture, disassemble, mutilate or incinerate batteries
Do not mix battery types (Lithium with Alkaline) as most manufacturers warn against possible fire or explosion. Use only batteries that are ALL the same type.
Lithium batteries contain toxic substances. These batteries should be disposed of properly. Follow the battery manufacturers disposal instructions or guidelines.
Many batteries contain acidic substances, which can leak through the batteries outer casing. If the camera is to be left unused for an extended period of time, the batteries should be removed from the camera to prevent leakage or corrosion.
If you touch both ends of a battery with a metal object, the battery will short circuit and possibly cause an explosion or a fire. Do not carry loose batteries where contact may touch metal objects such as coins or keys.
Do not heat batteries to try to rejuvenate their charge.
Based on Kodak tests, if the user takes pictures using the flash only 50% of the time and downloads the images to the computer, you can use NiCad batteries for approximately 100 images and lithium batteries for approximately 260 images (data will vary between battery and camera manufacturers).

Connectivity

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The connectivity of a digital camera defines how it can be connected computers or other devices for either the transfer of images or remote control of the camera.

Methods of image retrieval from a remote camera are:

Serial
Parallel
USB
Infrared
Memory inserts
Firewire

Most digital cameras come bundled with both Macintosh and PC software and a power supply to reduce the reliance on battery power during transfer. Digital cameras are notoriously heavy users of batteries, so use the power supply where possible.

Serial/Parallel

Early digital cameras used serial connections via a serial transfer cable to allow transfer of photos from the camera to computer. This cable connected to an existing communication port (usually COM2 or USB) on the computer with the other end plugged into the camera transfer socket.

Serial data transfer refers to transmitting data one bit at a time. All data is transmitted down one wire. However, the opposite of serial is parallel, in which several bits are transmitted concurrently due to the fact that multiple wires are used.

Serial transfer is slow, inexpensive, older and simpler technology. Forty images may take 45 minutes to transfer. Parallel transfer is fast, a newer technology and is more expensive than serial transfer.

Other cameras come bundled with software and a card that you will need to install into your computer. These models require the card to be correctly installed into the computer in an effort to improve the image transfer speeds. The connecting cable is a parallel version.

USB

USB is an acronym for Universal Serial Bus. It is a bus standard that supports data transfer rates of 12Mbs (12 million bits per second). A single USB port can be used to connect up to 127 peripheral devices, such as mice, modems, scanners and digital cameras. USB also supports plug-and-play installation and hot plugging (plugging devices in the computer whilst still on).

Infra-Red

Infra-Red transfer is a wireless connection which transfers the images between camera and computer by use of infra-red technology.

Memory insert

To overcome slow image transfer, images can be stored directly into the camera's removable memory card. The card can then be directly inserted into the external memory slot of the computer. In this way, the computer sees the additional camera memory (and images) as just another drive and can access the images directly.

FireWire

FireWire is one of the fastest peripheral standards ever developed, transferring data at up to 400Mb/s. With a data-transfer speed more than 30 times faster than the popular USB peripheral standard and "hot plug-and-play" capability, FireWire is an excellent method of digital camera data transfer.

TWAIN

TWAIN is the controlling software that operates via the various methods of connectivity. It is a universal set of rules for digital image acquisition as well as other issues of communication between hardware devices. TWAIN is a set of manufacturer-developed drivers that allow standard image manipulation software (e.g. Photoshop) to aquire digital images directly from scanners and digital cameras. TWAIN is a de facto interface standard for almost all scanners and digital cameras and TWAIN support is embedded in most camera and scanner software drivers.

Focus

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Depth of Field

Depth of field is a term used to describe how much of the scene is sharply in focus (in the foreground) and which part of the scene is slightly blurred (background). This allows the photographer to attract attention to certain subject/s. The technique is used to great success in commercial photography to highlight a product.

This shot shows the foreground sharp and the background slightly blurred

This shot shows the foreground blurred and the background in focus

Focussing Systems

A camera's focusing system is perhaps the most important element in producing a clear, sharp picture. There are three main focusing systems available to traditional and digital cameras:

Fixed focus;
Autofocus (AF); and
Manual focus.

Fixed focus cameras do not use the lens to adjust the focus. These cameras rely on depth of field to produce reasonable picture clarity. Fixed focus lenses are usually found in budget and single used compacts.

Active AF systems emit an infra-red beam that is bounced off the subject. The time taken to detect the reflected beam is used to calculate the distance and the focus is automatically adjusted. Most AF systems now have multi-point focusing not just centre focusing.
The manual focus option is available to all cameras above fixed lens models. Because AF is so effective, MF is usually considered a secondary focus option. True MF allows the photographer to physically turn the focus ring until they are pleased with the results in the viewfinder. Digital MF is used when the AF is confused (for example, shooting through a fence, bars, falling snow/rain or glass).

Shutter Speed

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Shutter speeds are measured in seconds and fractions of seconds. A standard sequence of shutter speed values is as follows:

1sec, ½ sec, ¼ sec, 1/8 sec, 1/15 sec, 1/30 sec, 1/60 sec, 1/125 sec, 1/500 sec, 1/1000 sec,….

Typical Shutter Speed Dial found on SLR Cameras

As with apertures, each stage is called a stop and represents a halving in allowable light passing through to the CCD/film. The aperture and shutter speed combine to allow for a variety of different CCD/film exposures. Each combination will produce a slightly different result.

Digital fixed compact cameras usually do not need an adjustable shutter speed as the exposure is controlled electronically. When the shutter button is pressed, the CCD is allowed to charge for a predetermined time to produce the exposure.

Aperture

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The aperture is a mechanism that regulates the light entering the camera. This directly affects the exposure of the film or CCD. To allow light in, the photographer simply opens the aperture and inversely closing the aperture chokes the light. Too much light over exposes the image, this results in 'bleeding out' of the photo's highlight areas. Under exposure will result in an image that is dark and lacking in detail.

An over-exposed image

A correctly exposed image

An under-exposed image

The larger the aperture, the lower the f/number. A standard sequence of aperture values are as follows: f/1, f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22, f/32. Each stage is called a stop, and this sequence represents a halving in allowable light passing through the aperture to the CCD/film.

Lenses

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Lenses are the eye of the camera and have the greatest single influence on image quality. Since light must pass through the lens to form an image on the sensor, their ability to faithfully reproduce and transmit the image is paramount. Manufacturers produce lenses to suit all possible conditions and situations. Professional cameras allow the lenses to be changed. This permits the photographer to pick which lens is the most appropriate for the task at hand.

Most digital camera manufacturers are now using a traditional SLR body to allow for the complete range of lens options (wide-angle, telephoto, close-up) to be used.

Focal length and angle of view

The focal length of a lens is measured in millimeters and determines how much of the subject is included in the frame. Smaller focal lengths will produce wider angles of views. The viewing angle of a human eye is 46 degrees, therefore the standard lens for most cameras is 50 mm. Whereas the 16-35 mm range lenses offer wide-angle views, the 85-148 mm range lenses offer the photographer zoom capabilities.

The following diagram shows the angle of view of the lenses with focal lengths from 16mm to 400mm.

Look at the interactive demonstration of focal length below

Wide Angle Lenses

Fixed wide-angle lenses are typically :

28mm (producing a viewing angle of 74 degrees) or

35mm (producing a viewing angle of 62 degrees).

These wide-angle lenses are perfect for shooting large areas such as landscapes, group shots and architecture.

Ultra wide-angle lenses can be purchased also and these lenses have a focal length between

16mm (producing a viewing angle of 108 degrees) and

21mm (producing a viewing angle of 90 degrees).

Picture of a room taken with a wide angle lens

Telephoto Lenses

Telephoto lenses allow the photographer to concentrate on a portion of the scene and make it appear closer than it really is and thereby filling the frame.

Telephoto lenses are typically used for sporting scenes (car racing, surfing action) and wildlife shots.

This surfing shot was taken on the Tweed bar, nearly a
kilometer away, with a 600mm telephoto lens.

Close Ups

Many traditional and digital compact cameras offer a close-up mode. A flower icon in the viewfinder or on the menu system usually portrays this close-up mode. In this mode a digital camera typically allows shots to be taken between 10-20cm from the subject. Typical examples of close-up photography are insects, children's toys and flowers.

Close-up of a bee

Close-up photography is often used to capture interesting patterns. The biggest problem with close-up photography is the lack of any depth-of-field. If your digital camera allows for aperture adjustments while in this mode, minimise the aperture to increase depth-of-field.

International Standards Organisation

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The International Standards Organisation (ISO) is an organisation that among other things applies a rating to film. This rating applies to the speed of the film. By speed, the ISO means how long it takes for the halides in the film to become exposed. Halides are the name given to a group of chemicals that when combined with silver, form a light sensitive compound. The higher the speed of the film, the more sensitive the film is. For example, ISO 400 speed film is twice as sensitive than ISO 200, which is in turn twice as sensitive than ISO 100.

Slow

In general, the slower the film (ISO 25-64), the better the colour reproduction and the smaller the image grain (sharpness). Accurate exposure times are needed to gain good results from this film.

Medium

Medium speed films (ISO 100-200) are the most popular speeds, producing good colour and good image sharpness.

Fast

Fast films (ISO 400) have been developed to reduce camera shudder and for low light conditions.

Very Fast

Very fast films (ISO 800+) have been developed to produce good results in very low light conditions.

About Digital Cameras

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The digital camera works on the same principles as a film camera by using the reflection of light to capture an image. However, a Charged Couple Device (CCD), rather than film, captures the light.

Charged Couple Devices (CCDs)

Have a look at the interactive demonstration of a CCD.

A CCD is a light sensor that determines the colour of the light and records its values (shade and position) in a digital format. This digital information is then stored in the camera's memory (flash card or floppy disk).

CD and DVD Drives

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CDs and DVDs are examples of optical storage where lasers are used to burn the data into tracks stored in a spral fashion on polycarbonate material.

Hard Drives

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On the left you can see a hard drive showing the platters (cylinders) and heads which read the information from the platters. The disk spins in a clockwise direction and the arm moves over the surface of the platters enabling the head to read the tracks.

Hardware considerations for Multimedia

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In developing a multimedia system, we need to consider the type of hardware as well as software used. The hardware must be capable of supplying the needs of the multimedia system.

These needs are:

Primary and secondary storage capabilities – which will enable bit depth and colour to be represented and also enabling the audio data to be sampled.

Primary Storage
Primary storage is the part of the computer that holds data and programs before and after the CPU has processed them. Primary storage is internal storage because it uses integrated circuits located on the computer's main board.

Three main types of primary storage exist:

Read Only Memory (ROM) holds data and instructions that are fixed at the time of construction. The software in ROM is called firmware, and is responsible for performing a number of start-up tests and procedures. It is non-volatile which means it is not lost when power is removed.

Random Access Memory (RAM) is where data and instructions are held temporarily. This read/ write memory is volatile and depends on power to maintain its contents.

Cache memory is located between the CPU and RAM. It stores frequently accessed commands and data to speed up the processing of instructions.

Secondary Storage
Secondary storage is a more permanent storage area than RAM. Secondary storage is non-volatile and external. That is, it is not power dependant and stores data away from the main board.

A number of different storage media can be used including:

Floppy disk. A removable, round, flat piece of Mylar plastic that stores data in magnetised spots on circular tracks.

Disk drive. A thin but rigid metal platter coated with a substance that allows data to be held in the form of magnetised spots on circular tracks.

Optical disk. A removable disk on which data is written and read through the use of laser beams. Includes a variety of types such as CD-Rom, CD-R, CD-RW and DVD.

Magnetic tape. Thin plastic tape that has been coated with a substance that can be magnetised. Data is represented by magnetic (binary 1) or non-magnetised spots (binary 0), stored on parallel tracks.

Processing speed – which will enable video data and frames rates to be maintained, the processing of images such as morphing and distorting as well as animation.

Display devices – which are capable of displaying good pixel and resolution quality.

Collecting information for Multimedia Projects - Digitsation of Assets

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Collecting information for a multimedia project generally requires the digitisation of data presented in another form. and will include a range of activities including: writing the notes, digitising audio and video, editing and generally gathering information.

Digitisation of Analog Data

Audio, video and images are often represented in an analog format. To be used in a multimedia presentation they must first be converted to digital. An ADC or analog to digital converter is the tool used in this process.

Digital Text and Numbers

For use in a computer, data needs to be converted into binary numbers. This has been achieved for letters, numbers and other characters by the development of a number of coding methods. One common coding system is known as ASCII, which stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. ASCII is a 7-bit code that represents 128 letters, numbers and punctuation symbols as a 7-bit binary number. The eighth bit in the byte is used as an error checking parity bit. For example, the letter 'e' is converted to the binary number 1100101 using the ASCII code, which can be stored by the computer. Other coding systems exist which also translate characters into the digital equivalent. EBCDIC, or Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code is used by IBM mainframes. This system uses an 8-bit code, and allows 256 different symbols.

Digitisation of Graphics

Digitisation of graphics refers to the process of putting images into a format that computers can read and store.

Bit mapping, or memory mapping, is the relation-ship between the image on screen and the bits stored in primary and/or secondary memory. One or more bits must be stored for each pixel (picture element) drawn in an image.

Each dot on the screen is known as a picture element or pixel.

The more pixels that can be displayed by a screen, the better the image quality or resolution.

What is a Pixel (Picture Element)?
At the simplest level, 1 pixel is represented by 1 bit, where 1 means on, or black, and 0 means off, or white. For example, a black and white graphic 640 by 400 would contain 256,000 (640 x 400) pixels, and would require 256,000 bits to be stored in memory. That is, 32,000 (256,000 = 8) bytes of memory or 32.25 (32,000 =1,024) Kb.

Resolution is normally quoted in terms of the number of horizontal pixels times the number of vertical pixels, for example, 800 times 600.

Tones (colours or greyscale) are a progressive series of shades from white to black, and are used in graphics to add contrast and detail. Such an image however, requires more memory because each pixel must be described by an increased number of bits. For example, 2 bits of memory per pixel (00, 01, 10, 11) would produce 4 (2z) tonal colours, 3 bits per pixel would allow 8 (23) tones (000, 001, 010, 011,100, 101, 110, 111) and so on.

Calculating Image Size

Calculating image size is different to calculating tones.

Lets continue with the example from the tones page. If the 640 x 400 image was changed to an image with 16 (2^4) tones then each pixel would require 4 bits. Thus the image would require 1,024,000 (640 x 400 x 4) bits to be stored. This translates to 500 (4,096,000 / 8 =1024 Kb of memory space.

BIT DEPTH

The term bit depth refers to the number of bits that describe each pixel in the image. A 16-bit image would produce 65,536 (216) different colours or tones. It is obvious that the more detailed the image, in colour and tonality, the more memory would be required for its storage.

Digitisation of Audio

Sound and other analog data is generally represented as a transverse wave, and can be converted to digital form by a process called sampling. The two important aspects of sampling are sampling size and sampling rate

SAMPLING SIZE

Sampling size refers to the number of bits used to store each sample from the analog wave. For example, an 8-bit sample can represent 256 (28 = 256) possible levels in a particular sample.

A higher sample size will result in increased accuracy, but higher data storage requirements.

SAMPLING RATE

Sampling rate refers to the number of samples or slices taken of the analog wave in 1 second. The higher the sampling size, the better the representation of the initial analog signal. If CD audio quality is required then a sampling rate of 44.1 KHz (44,100 samples per second) is chosen.

sampling rate of 44.1 KHz (44,100 samples per second) is chosen. For example, to calculate the storage requirements of 2 minutes of CD quality mono sound: CD audio uses 44.1 KHz sampling with 16-bit sample size.

Storage per sample = 16 bits

Storage per second = 16 x 44,100 bits

Storage per min = 16 x 44,100 x 60 bits

Storage (2 minutes) =16 x 44,100 x 120

Storage (1 minutes) = 84,672 000 bits

Total storage = 10,584,000 bytes thus Total storage =10.09 Mb

Note: stereo sound would double the requirements for storage.

Computer Hardware

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Computer hardware refers to the physical components of a computer. i.e the parts you can touch whether they be covered up by a case or on display. So if you could physically take the cover off you touch something then it is hardware. Software, on the other hand, cannot be touched.

Motherboards

The motherboard, or mainboard as it is also called, is the board which allows the peripherals to connect with the CPU including monitor and screen.

Wikipedia describes a motherboard as,

A motherboard, also known as a mainboard, logic board, or system board, and sometimes abbreviated as mobo, is the central or primary circuit board making up a complex electronic system, such as a computer.

A typical computer is built with the microprocessor, main memory, and other basic components on the motherboard. Other components of the computer such as external storage, control circuits for video display and sound, and peripheral devices are typically attached to the motherboard via ribbon cables, other cables, and power connectors"."

Watch this video to learn more about computer hardware

Image Size

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Image Size

Think of the formula as a basic 3 dimensional cube. The formula basically consists of width x height x depth (bit depth). This gives the size in bits and then the rest of the formula converts it to a measurement of kilobytes.

Image File Size (As a Function of Volume)

To work out the volume of a cube you multiply height x width x depth. The file size of an image is really the volume of that image and as such the formula for image size is just the same as the volume formula.

A BIT AND BYTES

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A bit is defined as: a single basic unit of information, used in connection with computers and electronic communication. All modern computers store and use data in digital form. The smallest unit of storage and measurement is one binary digit, therefore its name.

A byte, pronounced ‘bite’, is the next size up basic unit of measurement for information storage, usually consisting of eight bits. These 8 bits are grouped together to form a byte that is, a total or 8 grouped bits representing one character of data.

Therefore, so far we have two basic units of measuring digital information storage that have different capacities, they are:

1 Bit

8 Bits equal 1 Byte

These basic units of measurement are the basis for representing the ever increasing multiples of storage capacity. Different terms are used to define these increased multiples. The terms for large quantities of bytes can be formed by using prefixes such as:

Kilo (Kilobytes) (1,024 Bytes)

Mega (Megabytes) (1,048,576 Bytes)

Giga (Gigabytes) (1,073,741,824 Bytes).

Although these prefixes used for measurements of storage are expressed in base 10 (Kilobytes can be shown as 1000 bytes) the actual amount of bytes for each Kilobyte is 1,024. This is base 2, or (2^10 = 1024).

Besides the storage capacity of disks, drives and computer files, large amounts of computer memory is also indicated and measured in terms of Kilobytes, Megabytes and Gigabytes.

1,024 Byte equal 1 Kilobyte – (KB)
1,024 Kilobyte (KB) equal 1 Megabyte – (MB)
1,024 Megabyte (MB) equal 1 Gigabyte – (GB)

Basic Unit	Large	Larger	Largest
Byte	Kilobyte (KB)	Megabyte (MB)	Gigabyte (GB)

Speed and transferring of data (downloading & uploading)

Once we begin talking about the speed of transferring computer data that is, downloading information and measuring the speed it is able to transfer this data, the unit of measure used is known as ‘bits per second’ (bps). Usually measured in thousands of bits per second, known as kilobits per second (kbps).

To measure the faster speeds of data transfer, similar to measuring higher capacity of storage, the same prefixes are used, these are as follows:

Kilobits per second (Kbps) = 1,024 bits per second

Megabit per second (Mbps) = 1,048,576 bits per second

Gigabit per second (Gbps) = 1,073,741,824 bits per second

Digital telecommunications or computer network transfer rates, as previously mentioned, are described in terms of bits per second. The overall amount of data that can be transferred and the transfer rate of a modem at any one time, is referred to as bandwidth (speed).

Broadband is a term used to describe connections greater than 256Kbps.

Connection and download speeds

The connection speed is the speed your broadband (ADSL modem/router) service is connecting and is measured as Kbps, whereas in general; the download speed is the speed you can download files measured as KB (kilobytes).

The relationship between the connection and download speeds is that the higher the connection speed you have, the faster your download speed.

What this speeds means to people

To be able to have this speed to download digital information is a must for people in today’s electronic information based society. In a practical sense it means the increase in speed makes surfing the Internet, downloading documents, images, photographs, music and videos faster. Besides being less time consuming it is less frustrating, no more waiting around for hours or days for downloading to be complete.

The following are examples of the time (download speed) taken to download popular electronic media using Broadband vs Dial up:

Time & type of file	Size	Download time (Broadband)	Download time (Dial up 56K modem)
4-minute song	4MB	23-30seconds	About 10 minutes
5-minute video	30MB	About 3 minutes	About 1 hour, 10 minutes
9-hour audiobook	110MB	About 10 minutes	About 4 hours, 15 minutes
45-minute TV show	200MB	15-20 minutes	About 7 hours, 45 minutes
2-hour movie	1.0-1.5GB	About 1.5-2hours	Not recommended !

Safety

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There are some general rules that we try to follow here when working with computers and peripherals to increase safety in the work environment.

Never open a scanner or computer or monitor to fix a component unless you are a qualified electrician.

Always try to keep any cords or leads out of the way of chairs and walking spaces. Never leave a power cord across a walk way even if you're doing something special with multiple cameras and computers etc. People can trip on them and hurt themselves. Never leave a cord under a chair. Chairs rolling back and forth over power cords can fray or split the protective coating exposing the bare wires.

Never sit too close to a computer monitor. You should always sit with a full arms length distance between your face and the monitor (40 to 70 cm).

Take a break every two hours from staring directly at the computer monitor. Constant staring at a computer monitor can cause the muscles in your eyes to lose the ability to focus on objects at a distance, giving you premature short sightedness. A good cure is to take a short break every two hours and look out of a window at small objects in the distance. This is exercise for the muscles that control your pupils. If you have any eye related problems from working with a computer consult your optometrist.

Correct seating when using a computer for long periods of time is important. Your working life may be cut short by back problems and other injuries that can be caused by long term poor seating. Tendonitis is a very common problem from computer overuse. Tendonitis is an inflammation of the tendon and may be felt as pain during movement of the elbow, wrist or hand.

Some things to do:

Place your feet flat on the ground in front of your chair - your thighs should be horizontal. This means that you should adjust the height of your chair to accommodate this position.
Your keyboard and mouse should be directly in front of you so that your wrists and forearms are slightly tilted upwards.
Your lower back should be supported by your chair.
Your shoulders should be relaxed.
The monitor should be just below eye level to avoid neck strain.
The monitor should be angled to avoid glare.
Sit straight without slumping, push your chest out and chin back.
If you want to have professional help consult an Occupational Therapist who specialises in ergonomic seating.

RSS

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RSS is a simple XML format used to syndicate headlines. It is now popularly used by websites (such as blogs) that publish new content regularly and provide a list of headlines with links to their latest content.

Content such as news feeds, events listings, project updates, blogger and most recently podcasting, video and image distribution can all be distributed by RSS. RSS feeds are also used by major internet portals such as Google, Yahoo and AOL for people to personalize and have information that they care about delivered to them, i.e. MyYahoo.

Feeds can be collected, displayed and updated using feed catching software such as bloglines.

The Demands Placed on Hardware by Multimedia Systems

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The audio and video/animation component of a multimedia require the greatest amount of storage space and processing. Thus a high level CPU is required plus high resolution (at least 1024 x 768) for multimedia applications. Text, numbers and hypertext is usually stored as ASCII or ANSI codes as they need little space and processing.

Primary and Secondary Storage
Bit depth and the representation of colour data – the bit depth describes the number of data bits needed to store each pixel in an image. This sets the number of possible colours for each pixel. The bit depth controls the number of possible colours for each pixel. A display system with a bit depth of 1 could only store a 0 or a 1 for each pixel. If 1 represented white and 0 represented black, then every pixel on the screen would be either black or white. With a bit depth of 24, the colours that could be displayed are 16777216, thus a higher bit depth of 24 (true colour) represents true colour data.

Sampling rates for audio data – sound and other analog data is generally represented as transverse wave and converted to digital form by a process called sampling. The sampling size is the number of bits used to store each sample from the analog wave. A higher sample size results in increased accuracy but higher data storage requirements. The sampling rate is the number of samples or slices taken of the analog wave in a second. The higher the sampling rate, the better the representation of the initial analog signal.

Processing Demands
Video data and frame rates – processing video files requires special hardware and software to enable it to be recorded and played back. Piped video is the simplest method of displaying video footage on computer screen. A frame is a single image in a video or sequence and frame rate is the speed with which video frames are displayed on the screen. Video is shown at a certain speed so that observer’s perception of movement is one of smooth motion. The PAL (phase alternate line) displays a frame rate of 25 frames per second and current PCs cannot sustain a transfer rate between primary and secondary storage of 1,500 Mb per minute, thus compression, decreased colour depth and decreased resolution are used to process video data. Digital video editing software allows digital video to be manipulated either by an insertion or deletion of a scene and can be stored on digital media like hard disk drive, CD, DVD or tape.

Image processing, including morphing and distorting - when an image undergoes a process of metamorphosis and changes slowly from on image to a completely different one is called morphing where image is changed pixel by pixel. Warping or distorting is another animation technique where an image is gradually distorted by changing its pixels either by stretching or resizing so image results in a different form eg. Changing your picture so you have very large ears. Image processing is an aspect of video work that demands processing power and morphing and warping are the primary types.

Animation processing – is the process of displaying a series of drawn images in quick succession, creating the effect of movement. Each drawing is a frame. Animation is based on the principle of persistence of vision thus animation seeks to create an illusion of smooth movement. Computers have made the task of animation easier via 2 methods: Cel-based animation is an animation technique where each individual frame is stored separately into a memory page and creates a separate picture for each frame with only small changes between the frames. This types of animation gives the animator complete control over every frame in the animation but is time and space consuming. Path-based animation is an animation technique in which the only part of the frame that changes is the moving object. The animator describes the path or movement of every object and the system then creates the animation frames with each object drawn in its correct position. The generation of scenes in-between by path-based animations is called tweening as animator only defines the starting and end point and the path to be taken, so tweening occurs. Thus path-based relies on system to create animations much faster with less storage requiring but animator doesn’t have much control.

Display demands
Pixels and resolution – a pixel is a single picture element which is the smallest controllable element on a graphics screen. A typical home PC monitor contains more than 600,000 pixels and each individual pixel’s colour and brightness is set by the computer to create an image that is displayed. The resolution is a measure of the quality or detail present in a displayed image. It’s usually described as the number of pixels across and down the screen (e.g. 640 x 480 was considered HIRES (high resolution before but is now LORES with 12000 x 860 now considered HIRES). High and low resolution describes graphic images and graphic display systems. The more pixels that can be displayed by a screen, the better the image quality or resolution.

Main types of media used in Multimedia

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Text refers to any typed material. Text includes numbers and characters whose meaning must be read to gain meaning. It may be typed in through a word processor but is also often typed into the multimedia software.
Numbers: Numerals which allow calculations. Includes currency
Hypertext is a term created by Ted Nelson to describe non-linear writing in which you follow linked paths through a world of textual documents. The most common use of hypertext is found in the links on World Wide Web pages.
Audio: sound which has been digitised.
Images (Graphics)
Images are pictures, graphic elemts which are displayed on the screen.
Graphics can be:
Bit-mapped graphics (also known as raster images) A bit-mapped image is one composed of pixels. This means that there is a relationship betwen the graphic on the screen and the bits in memory.
Vector graphics: which are made of objects such as straight lines, curves or shapes. It is created through a mathematical formula.
Animation: animation begins with a still images which is then given the illusion of movement is the movement of a graphic. It is the result of making a sequence of drawing called frames and showing them rapidly one after another. Animation maybe cel (also called cell) based or path based.
Video Combines pictures and sound displayed over time. It is important to know that here are differences between an animation and a video. An animation begins with a still images which is then given the illusion of movement but a video records a continuous event. Video, like sound, is very processor and memory hungry. It also requires special hardware and software to enable it to be recorded and, to a lesser extent, played back.
Streamed video is an effective method of displaying video footage on a computer screen. It involves a suitable video card to receive and translate the video data into a form that can be displayed on the screen.

Work Tasks Week 17th February 2007

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Today you will be setting up a variety of Internet Accounts to help you collect, store and report on Multimedia topics and ideas during this course. These accounts include:

· A Personal Blog
· A Social Bookmarking site
· A “Feed” Reader

Personal Blog
You will be keeping a blog that will contain your answers to written tasks set for classtime and private study.

A blog is a web site, where you write stuff on an ongoing basis. New stuff shows up at the top, so your visitors can read what's new. Then they comment on it or link to it or email you. Or not.

First we need to create your blog at Blogger.
http://www.blogger.com/

-Create an account
-Choose a Journal Style
-Post your first message introducing yourself

· Name
· School
· What you like doing
· Interest/existing skills in Multimedia
Email the URL of your blog to yum@yum.vic.edu.au

Social Bookmarking – del.icio.us
del.icio.us is a social bookmarking website designed to allow you to store and share bookmarks on the web, instead of inside your Internet browser. This has several advantages.
· you can get to your bookmarks from any computer connected to the Internet
· you can share your bookmarks publicly if you want to
· you can find other people on del.icio.us who have interesting bookmarks and add their links to your own collection
You can use tags to organise your bookmarks. Tags are one-word descriptors that you can assign to your bookmarks on del.icio.us. You can assign as many tags to a bookmark as you like and easily rename or delete them later.

Go to the Website - del.icio.us - http://del.icio.us/
click on register
add a username, password and your email address
click on register

You can now bookmark websites:
Post – Enter the URL – Write a short description – enter a tag
the following urls to your del.icio.us:
· http://www.webopedia.com/ (tag as definitions)
· http://www.coonabarab-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/tas/ipt/studentwork/mrex/window.htm (tag as rss)

Use the first two URLS above to answer the following questions and post to your blog. Tag the post as “Multimedia Basics”

· Give a brief definition for multimedia.
· Describe the 6 types of media commonly used with multimedia?

Now add the following URL to your del.icio.us account:

· http://www.unixl.com/dir/information_technology/multimedia/

· Now answer the following question and post to your blog. Tag the post as “Multimedia Personnel”
· What sort of tasks do Multimedia personnel work on?
· What sort of skills do you think Multimedia workers need to do their job?

News Feed aggregators - Bloglines

Bloglines is a "news aggregator." Many online information sources, including web sites, weblogs and news services, now broadcast their content to the web in so-called "syndicated feeds" or "news feeds" with new technologies like Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and ATOM. News aggregator software and services collect those syndicated feeds and present them to end users in a variety of ways.
After you join Bloglines you simply search for the content you are interested in and identify the feeds you want to track. Once you "subscribe" to those feeds Bloglines will constantly check those feeds for changes or additions and direct new information onto your Bloglines personal page.
You can organise items from feeds you subscribe to by “clipping” the item and saving it into a topic folder you create.

Subscribe to the following blogs/websites with your bloglines:
· http://del.icio.us/mgwyther/CII_Multimedia
· Now subscribe to the following blog/website
http://del.icio.us/mgwyther/digital_images
Clip the following article:
Digital Cameras - A beginner's guide - photo.net (clip as digital_images)

Multimedia Activity
· In pairs, explore a website you use regularly.
In your blog note:
· The multimedia elements used
· The url of the website
· If there is an rss feed from the website
à see if you can post or embed a multimedia element from your website into your blog.

Home Task

Read the page http://photo.net/equipment/digital/basics/

Visit the following 2 presentations:

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