Digital Imaging Basics

While there are many ways to handle digital images this is an overview of the workflow that Jim teaches:

The process of transferring images from your camera to your computer is relatively simple once you get the hang of it.

Remember as you are completing this process that these digital images are your negatives.  They are important.  Mess up here and you'll have real problems.  Transfer images when you have a clear head and the opportunity to concentrate.

Emailing a properly sized image is very important...and it's easy!.

For several years I did not even know what the word workflow meant (as it pertained to digital photography).  And then I started to focus on the word 'workflow' that I was seeing in so many posts in the newsgroups.  I became aware.  I studied and learned and implemented.  A digital workflow is an important investment in your digital future.  Make the investment...and make it wisely.

Here is a brief review of an image editing program called PhotoBot (www.PhotoBot.com).  I had been sensitized by several of my students regarding the issues of 'red eye correction'.

As you are aware when you are sensitized many things regarding that sensitivity come into focus.  I may have seen with my eyes this software advertised many times...however I had never seen it with my brain.

Advertised as Zero Click software it caught my interest and I downloaded a trial copy to play with.  I was very careful...giving Photobot access to just one folder which contained a 'copy' of original images.

What Photobot did was go through the images brightening dark ones, adding color so that the images were more vivid, and should there have been red-eye it would have reduced or eliminated the red-eye.  Pretty slick.

What I found was pleasing to me.  The program did a reasonably good job of enhancement.  It also downsized the full sized originals and saved the downsized images where my originals had been.  It placed my original images in a safe place, instructing me that it would save them for 30 or 60 or 90 days or something...then it would delete them.

PhotoBot then 'went to sleep', waiting for me to place more images into the folder.  The instant that it detected new images it would process them also.

The program seems to do what is advertised.  Why WON'T I recommend it?  Simple...I feel that a person (and certainly myself) needs to have more control over the process.

Installed thoughlessly or without knowing better, PhotoBot would have processed every image that I placed onto my computer.  It would have moved the originals to a temp or permanent archive which could result in possible original image deletion.

For myself, a professional photographer who sort of knows what he is doing in this digital age...PhotoBot is not for me.

However, for some people it will be a godsend.

And I need to mention the PhotoBot Swiss Picture Bank photo archives.  Perhaps some value here to some folks.

I rate PhotoBot a Thumbs Down for me.  A Thumbs Up for Those in Need.  And I think that PhotoBot is a glimpse into the future.  We will see more software like this.

Paint.net:  I was working with a friend the other day and he pulled up an image editing program called Paint.net.  Paint.net is an image editing program that is really very capable...and it's free.

About Paint.Net
Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. An active and growing online community provides friendly help, tutorials, and plugins.

It started development as an undergraduate college senior design project mentored by Microsoft, and is currently being maintained by some of the alumni that originally worked on it. Originally intended as a free replacement for the Microsoft Paint software that comes with Windows, it has grown into a powerful yet simple image and photo editor tool. It has been compared to other digital photo editing software packages such as Adobe® Photoshop®, Corel® Paint Shop Pro®, Microsoft Photo Editor, and The GIMP.

I do recommend that you download and take a look at Paint.Net.  The exercise will be good for you.  And play with the application. Lot's of capability.

I don't recommend that you make Paint.Net your main image editing program.  As I've stated before your main image editor should be an Adobe product (in my opinion).  I believe that Adobe is very committed to image editing for the long term.  Play with other programs.  Perhaps keep one or two on your computer.  But learn Adobe...I suggest either PhotoShop Elements or PhotoShop. 

Don't let yourself get three or four years down the road only to find that your primary image editor is no longer in existence (this did happen to me).

After a digital image is captured either something needs to be done to it to make it better...or to be what you had intended...or nothing needs to be done.

If you do need to 'edit' your digital image then you need 'digital image editing software'.

Your choice of software is important.  I made a horrible mistake in 1999 when I chose Microsoft PhotoDraw as my image editing software.  It was easy to use, the results were OK, the file format was ".mix" and not compatible with any other image editing software...and then Microsoft discontinued manufacturing the product.  I lost a lot of time and the files that I had created and had been saving were not compatible with other image editing programs.

Thus I have a STRONG recommendation for you.  Go Adobe.  You can start with a used or free copy of Photoshop Elements 2.  In 2007 my students were acquiring this software for $10-$20 off the Internet.

Though I use the full PhotoShop application I believe that people can get by just fine with one of the versions of PhotoShop Elements.

Use your time carefully.  Choose your digital image editing software carefully.

How can you know what digital camera to purchase?
How do you know if your digital camera is any good?
How do you know what your digital camera is best at?
How do you know what your digital camera is worst doing?

Simple...go to DP Review and look in the buyers guide or look up your camera.

When you purchase a new digital camera it is important that some of the settings be made properly 'right out of the box'.  Here is my list of suggestions to those of you with new digital cameras:

Since it is your camera that manufactures the image (unless you are shooting RAW) it is important to understand your camera and to have it set right. See this article also for camera setting suggestions.

At the very least I recommend:

Adorama, an on-line & brick and mortar camera store published 1 photography tip a day for 100 days (September through December 2007).  As I mine though these tips I find Gold.  What a wonderful collection of concise, focused, helpful information!

For example:

As we move from the world of film, slides, negatives, and prints, we find that we need to digitize.  We digitize by photographing and / or scanning.  Scanning can be a mystery.  Here is a link to a website that does a pretty good job of explaining scanning.  I do take exception to some of what is said...however have not authored a better article so I'll just be appreciative of what Wayne Fulton says.

Remember, be nimble and aware...things are changing fast.

As an instructor I get many different views as my students come and go. And as a subscriber to 20+ photography related newsgroups I obtain knowledge and information from around the world.

Six years ago I saw the digital age slowly coming at us. Polite, patient, proper.

There is confusion and cross talking about what pixels are...and I admit that if you don't understand it can be confusing. Here is my common sense interpretation of pixels:

Newsgroups are a great way to learn. My current count is 40 Yahoo newsgroups. The photography related newsgroups that I belong to at the moment are:

What creates your digital image? Where does it come from? These important questions must be understood so that you can photograph successfully.

Filing (Storing) the images on your computer is important...and it is important that you be in control of the process. You will use the Windows Explorer. I also recommend using a Card Reader.

Sunsets can be most beautiful...and they can be difficult to photograph. Here are some tips:

One of the negative side effects of digital cameras, at least in this year 2007, is that if you have a removable lens you will get dirt on your sensor. This dirt will manifest itself as little spots or sometimes as long hairy things in your images.

Some applications work with words, others with images, others with numbers, others with sound, etc. The way that your computer knows what application works with what file is by the file extension. For example words might have a .doc or a .txt file extention. An example would be "MyBiography.txt" as a filename. A side note...folders Never have extensions and files Always have extentions.

I am frequently asked what makes good composition. A tough question. A lot of the answer is subjective. For example...if you think it's good...then it is.

I guess that the real question is "What do most people think is good"?

Frequently you don't want to alter an entire image but rather you want to alter just part of an image.  For example, you might want to remove something from an image...or you might want to correct the lighting on part of an image...or you might want to sharpen something in an image.

To do these manipulations you need to be proficient with the Selection Tools.  The images below are provided for you to practice with.  Copy the images from this article, paste them into your image editing program, then select the item from the images using the appropriate selection tool.

The Clone Tool is the photographers friend.  As we will see in this set of exercises we can remove grass, remove ewes, and even move lambs from one pasture/layer/image to another.

Work slowly and carefully under high magnification.  Be aware of your brush selection.  Take your time.  I have worked for half a day cloning an image.  I'm sure that there are others who have worked much longer.  Once you learn to be comfortable with the Clone Tool you will find that you will use it without even thinking about it.

After you capture an image it is up to you to optimize it so that it is what you intend it to be.  The viewer should not have to 'interpret' anything.  The image should be all.

Using the workflow that I have provided you repair the following images.  Use the entire workflow for each image...ending at sizing for email.  Sharpen (of course) and upload to your Flickr album.

While at first glance this may seem impossible to you the reality is that you can accomplish this task.  When completed you will be able to feel very good about how much you have learned and how much you understand and how much you can actually do.  Here are the steps in an overview: