spine = 0.1882" MS Color Bar v.5 030801 m Microsoft® Digital Image Standard 2006 Microsoft ® Digital Image 2006 Standard Easily organize, enhance, and share your memories User’s Manual User’s Manual 0405 Part No.
Microsoft ® Digital Image Standard ® User’s Manual
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Contents at a Glance Chapter 1: Installation ............................................................................ 1 Chapter 2: Welcome to Digital Image Standard ................................. 5 Chapter 3: Opening and Importing Pictures ........................................ 7 Chapter 4: Digital Image Basics .......................................................... 17 Chapter 5: Basic Touchup.....................................................................
Table of Contents Chapter 1: Installation .................................................................................................................................... 1 Starting Setup ............................................................................................................................................. 1 Completing the Installation Wizard ...........................................................................................................
Using the search .................................................................................................................................. 26 Product Tour ........................................................................................................................................ 26 Instructional Videos ........................................................................................................................... 27 Technical Support ..........................................
Chapter 7: Batch Editing in Mini Lab .......................................................................................................... 51 Edge Effects................................................................................................................................................ 55 Chapter 8: Adding Edges, Mats, and Frames .............................................................................................. 55 Mats and Frames .................................................
Showing Thumbnail Data........................................................................................................................... 79 Tiles View............................................................................................................................................ 79 Thumbnails View ................................................................................................................................ 79 Thumbnails with Text View ...................................
Using Automatic Modes on Your Camera ................................................................................................ 106 Macro Mode ........................................................................................................................................ 107 Action Mode ....................................................................................................................................... 108 Burst Mode ...........................................................
1 Installation 1 Starting Setup To install Digital Image Standard 2006, you must be running Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 2000, or Windows XP or later. On Windows 2000 and Windows XP systems, you must have administrative privileges. For information regarding privileges, please refer to the operating system Help. On most computers, Digital Image setup will begin automatically when you insert the Digital Image CD into your disk drive. To begin automatic setup: 1.
2 Chapter 1: Installation Completing the Installation Wizard The Installation Wizard will show you a series of dialog boxes that provide setup status and some installation preference options. For most users, the default preferences will be appropriate. Information about the different setup options is provided below. Installation Folder Dialog Box The Installation Folder dialog box allows you to choose where the program will be installed on your computer.
Chapter 1: Installation 3 Special Circumstances Upgrading from a Different Digital Image Product If you already have a Digital Image product installed on your machine, any one of several situations may occur when you try to install another Digital Image product: • Previous versions If you have a Digital Image product previous to the 2006 edition already installed, installing a 2006 product will make both programs available on your computer.
4 Chapter 1: Installation Reinstalling or Removing Digital Image If you are having problems running Digital Image, reinstalling the program may help it to run better on your computer. You should not attempt to remove Digital Image by deleting the program files from your hard disk. Instead, use the Digital Image Installation Wizard to properly uninstall the program. To remove or reinstall Digital Image on Windows XP: 1. 2. 3. 4. Log on to the computer as an administrator.
2 Welcome to Digital Image 5 StandardCongratulations on your purchase of Microsoft Digital Image Standard. It is actually composed of two programs: Digital Image Standard Editor and Digital Image Standard Library. Digital Image Standard Editor provides editing features such as selection tools, red eye removal, and color and contrast adjustments to help you get professional editing results quickly and easily.
3 Opening and Importing Pictures 7 Digital Image makes it easy to import and open your pictures quickly. To import pictures from your camera or removable media to your computer, use the Import Pictures Wizard. This wizard is designed to streamline the file transfer process, allowing you to name the picture files and destination folder. To open pictures for editing, use the file browser. The file browser displays thumbnails of all your pictures, so you can quickly choose the ones you want.
8 Chapter 3: Opening and Importing Pictures Starting the Import Pictures Wizard manually If Windows does not automatically detect your device or other media, you can start the Import Pictures Wizard manually. To start the Import Pictures Wizard manually: 1. Start Digital Image. 2. On the File menu, click Import Pictures. 3. Click the device you want to use, and then click OK. - or – 1. Start Digital Image Library. 2. On the File menu, click Import Pictures and Videos. 3.
Chapter 3: Opening and Importing Pictures 9 This picture identifies the main features of the file browser: 1 2 3 6 4 7 8 5 910 1. All Files tab Click the All Files tab to view the folder structure on your computer. Click a folder to display its contents and subfolders. The folder structure includes internal and external drives on your computer, including disk drives, card readers, and USB Mass Storage Class digital cameras. 2.
10 Chapter 3: Opening and Importing Pictures File formats compatible with Digital Image Digital Image can open photo files in any of the following formats: • Adobe Photoshop (.psd) • Enhanced Metafile (.emf) • EPS (.eps) • FlashPix (.fpx) • GIF (.gif) • Home Publishing (.php) To open pictures with the file browser: 1. If opening pictures from a USB Mass Storage Class camera, read your camera’s documentation and make sure that you have installed the camera’s software and drivers properly.
Chapter 3: Opening and Importing Pictures Opening pictures from other cameras If your camera does not show up as a drive in the file browser, it is probably designed to work using TWAIN or WIA support. For many cameras, Digital Image works with TWAIN and WIA and your camera’s software so that you can open photos directly into Digital Image. To open photos from a camera that uses WIA support: 1. Make sure that you have installed all the drivers that came with your camera. 2.
12 Chapter 3: Opening and Importing Pictures Troubleshooting tips for opening pictures from a camera • Your camera must be connected and turned on before you start the digital camera task, or it will not appear in the list of cameras and drives. • If you’ve connected your digital camera to your computer, but can’t see your pictures, make sure the connections are secure, the camera is turned on, and the batteries are charged. The camera might not start downloading if its batteries are low on charge.
Chapter 3: Opening and Importing Pictures 13 To scan a photo with a flatbed TWAIN or WIA scanner: 1. 2. 3. 4. Connect your scanner to your computer, and then turn on the scanner. Place your picture on the scanner. On the File menu, click Import Pictures. If more than one device appears in the dialog box, click the one that represents your scanner. 5. Depending upon the type of scanner you have, you will either see the Scan Picture pane or the Import Pictures Wizard. If you see the Scan Picture pane: 1.
14 Chapter 3: Opening and Importing Pictures Can this photo be printed? To find out if a photo has enough resolution to print, see the “Selecting a Print Size” section of the “Saving and Printing Pictures” chapter. Opening a Photo Sent Through E-mail Many friends and family members enjoy sending photos through e-mail. When you receive photos through e-mail, you can save them to your computer and then work on them with Digital Image.
Chapter 3: Opening and Importing Pictures Opening a Picture from a Web Page When you surf the Internet, you may come across pictures that you would like to use in your projects. Unless the Web site uses image protection, you can capture these images and use them for your own projects. Keep in mind, though, that even unprotected pictures may still have a copyright and you should have the permission of the Web site owner before saving and using pictures you find.
4 Digital Image Basics 17 This chapter covers some of the fundamental aspects of Digital Image that you’ll need to get started. You’ll find information on the Startup Window, the work area, basic image manipulation, applying text, and Help resources. Startup Window The Startup Window is a quick launching point to your pictures, Mini Lab, projects, the Library, recently opened files, and Help. By default, the Startup Window opens every time you start Digital Image.
18 Chapter 4: Digital Image Basics 5. Create a Project Click this button to pick a project design. You’ll find a variety of projects—such as calendars, greeting cards, and album pages—designed to work with your photos. Projects are organized by type and by theme. 6. Show on startup checkbox Select this check box to have the Startup Window open every time you start Digital Image. 7.
Chapter 4: Digital Image Basics 19 Examining the Work Area Most of the picture-editing tasks you perform in Digital Image will be in the main work area. When you open Digital Image and close the Startup Window, you see the main work area. The picture below identifies the key elements of the Digital Image work area. 5 6 1 2 7 8 9 3 4 10 1. Menus Menus provide access to all of the Digital Image features.
20 Chapter 4: Digital Image Basics 5. Workspace The gray area represents the workspace, the area that the canvas sits within. You can use the zoom controls to magnify or reduce the canvas so that it covers more or less of the workspace. 6. Selection Tools The selection tools allow you to isolate and work on a specific part of the picture. 7. The canvas The white area is called the canvas, and it represents the printable area of the page.
Chapter 4: Digital Image Basics 21 Image Formatting When you have a picture open on the canvas, there are a number of ways to re-size or re-orient it. Changing picture size When you open an image onto the canvas, the on-screen representation of the image is automatically sized so that it fills the workspace. As a result, a high resolution image, such as 1600 x 1200 pixels, will appear onscreen just the same size as a low resolution image that’s only 640 x 480 pixels.
22 Chapter 4: Digital Image Basics To resize a picture: 1. On the Format menu, click Resize Image. 2. Click one of the following to lock the setting: • Image size • Pixel dimensions • Resolution 3. Enter amounts for the settings you want to change. 4. Click Done.
Chapter 4: Digital Image Basics 23 Applying Text You can add text to any picture and easily change the text font, font color, font size, alignment, and emphasis. You start by adding a text box, and then you edit the text in the box. A text box is its own layer on the Stack. To add text: 1. On the Text menu, click Insert Text. A text box appears. 2. Type your text. As you add text, the text box will automatically expand vertically to fit all of your text. 3.
24 Chapter 4: Digital Image Basics Accessing Help from the keyboard You can access the online Help system at any time by pressing F1 on the keyboard. Help Resources There are multiple ways that you can learn more about using Digital Image. In addition to this User’s Manual, there is the online Help system, the product Tour, and Instructional Videos. The following sections describe the types of information available. Online Help Digital Image online Help is the most comprehensive of the Help resources.
Chapter 4: Digital Image Basics 25 3.The Options menu This menu has options to print a topic or to set options such as Internet Options, where you can change the font size in the Help window. 4. The Content Pane Displays the current Help topic. 5. The Close button closes the Help window. 6. The Contents tab displays the Help table of contents. 7. The Index tab lets you find keywords in the index list. 8. The Search tab finds topics that contain words that you enter. 9.
26 Chapter 4: Digital Image Basics Using the search You can use the search function to find all the topics in Help that contain a word or combination of words. To use the search: 1. In the left pane of the Help window, click the Search tab. 2. In the Type in the keyword to find box, type the word for which you want to search, and then click List Topics. 3. In the Select topic to display list, select the topic you want to view, and then click Display.
Chapter 4: Digital Image Basics 27 Instructional Videos Instructional Videos use animation and narration to show you how to use a variety of image-editing features on your photos. To watch an Instructional Video: 1. On the Help menu, click Instructional Videos. The Help window opens to a topic about Instructional Videos. 2. Click a video title link. The Video player opens and the Video begins.
5 Basic Touchup 29 Almost all pictures can be improved with basic touchup tools. Digital Image touchup tools can be used to correct common problems such as red eye, crooked pictures, lighting problems, or similar distractions that can ruin a photo. In many cases, Digital Image helps you eliminate basic problems with just a few clicks.
30 Chapter 5: Basic Touchup Setting the white balance on a digital camera Many digital cameras allow you to set the white balance for specific types of light, such as sunlight, incandescent, and flash. Using this feature can help reduce tint problems in your pictures. Zooming in to find white If there are no significant areas of white in your photo, use the zoom controls to magnify the picture on the screen.
Chapter 5: Basic Touchup 31 Fixing Red Eye Using your flash in low-light situations can give your subjects red, unnaturallooking eyes. The Fix Red Eye tool darkens the red spots in the eyes to reduce or eliminate the redness. To fix red eye: 1. On the Touchup menu, click Fix Red Eye. 2. Use the pan and zoom controls to magnify your picture and focus on the red eyes in the photo. 3. Click the red part of the eyes. You can click up to two eyes at once. 4. Click Fix selected red eyes.
32 Chapter 5: Basic Touchup Straightening a Picture If you took a photograph while unintentionally holding the camera at an angle, the horizon or other straight lines will appear tilted. This tilt can be a distraction in the picture, but is easily fixed with the Straighten Picture tool. The Straighten Picture tool rotates the picture to make the horizon level. To make the horizon level, the Straighten Picture tool rotates the picture on the canvas.
Chapter 5: Basic Touchup 33 Cropping Cropping is an easy way to improve the composition of a photograph. For example, if your picture has distracting background elements along the top, bottom, or side, you can crop away these parts of the background to focus the attention on the subject. When you crop a photo, you are removing pixels, and therefore lowering the effective resolution (although the dots per inch will stay the same).
34 Chapter 5: Basic Touchup Using the rule of thirds When composing a photograph, many beginning photographers consistently center their subject directly in the middle of the frame. While this technique may be the easiest way to get the subject in focus with a point-and-shoot camera, it is not always the most interesting way to present the subject. Most advanced photographers follow the rule of thirds when composing the space inside a picture frame.
6 Advanced Photo Editing 35 After you have done general touch ups to your pictures, you may want to use advanced editing tools for more precise editing or to apply special effects. The selection tools and multiple-object composites give you the power to edit very specific areas of your pictures. You’ll also be able to transform your pictures with filters, color and edge effects, and specialized editing brushes.
36 Chapter 6: Advanced Photo Editing Locked Objects When you open any single-object picture, such as a picture you took with your digital camera, the picture will, by default, be locked to its position on the canvas. When an object is locked to the canvas, the Lock icon is shown next to that object’s thumbnail on the Stack. This Lock icon indicates that you will not be able to drag the object around on the canvas. To lock or unlock an object: 1. Right-click the object’s thumbnail on the Stack. 2.
Chapter 6: Advanced Photo Editing 37 Selecting Objects with the Object Tool The Object tool allows you to select one or more whole objects at a time. With the Object tool, you can move, resize, and rotate selected objects by dragging the object on the canvas or using the resize handles. Each time you start Digital Image, the Object tool will be selected by default. You will be able to accomplish many different editing tasks by using the Object tool as your only selection tool.
38 Chapter 6: Advanced Photo Editing Multiple Selection, Grouping, and Flattening Objects Digital Image allows you to create composites that contain many objects. While objects are separate, you can edit each one individually. However, sometimes you may want to edit two or more objects at the same time. There are three methods to join objects so that you can edit them together. From least permanent to most permanent, the three methods for combining objects are multiple selection, grouping, and flattening.
Chapter 6: Advanced Photo Editing 39 Grouping Objects Grouping objects allows you to edit multiple objects and then maintain the grouped relationship while you do other tasks. The grouping relationship is even preserved when you close a picture file saved in PNG Plus format. Grouped objects can later be ungrouped and edited individually. These three objects have been grouped, as indicated by the Group icon at the bottom of the selection box. To group objects: 1.
40 Chapter 6: Advanced Photo Editing Flattening Objects Flattening objects is a permanent action. If you will no longer need to edit objects individually, you can flatten objects into a single object. This allows you to work on the objects together and reduce the number of objects in your composite. Also, many editing tasks cannot be performed on a multiple selection. But if you flatten the objects together, they become a single object, so you will be able to edit them together.
Chapter 6: Advanced Photo Editing 41 Using Selection Tools Selection tools give you more control and more options for editing images. They allow you to fix problems that exist in only part of the picture. You can also use selection tools to create new objects that can be duplicated or pasted onto other pictures. Selection tools help you to isolate any part of a larger picture, which enables you to: • • • • Turn part of a picture into a separate object.
42 Chapter 6: Advanced Photo Editing Anti-aliasing a selection Anti-aliasing means that pixels on the edge of the selection can be partially selected. This technique helps to smooth the transition between the selection and the surrounding area. Anti-aliasing is useful when creating composites. Feathering a selection Like anti-aliasing, feathering a selection helps to smooth its edges.
Chapter 6: Advanced Photo Editing 43 The Freehand Tool The Freehand tool lar shape. helps you select part of an object by drawing an irregu- 1. Make sure that the Stack appears in the workspace. 2. On the Stack, click the object of which you want to make a partial selection. 3. Click the Freehand Tool button on the toolbar. 4. If the Freehand Tool options palette is not showing, click the Selection button on the toolbar. 5.
44 Chapter 6: Advanced Photo Editing The Edge Finder The Edge Finder helps you select part of an object by tracing along welldefined edges. This tool is useful for cutting out or copying people or detailed items in a picture. 1. Make sure that the Stack appears in the workspace. 2. On the Stack, click the object of which you want to make a partial selection. 3. Click the Edge Finder button on the toolbar. 4. If the Edge Finder options palette is not showing, click the Selection button on the toolbar. 5.
Chapter 6: Advanced Photo Editing 45 The Magic Wand The Magic Wand lets you select parts of an object that are the same or similar colors. The Magic Wand is useful for selecting a consistently colored area—a blue sky for example—without having to trace around it. 1. Make sure that the Stack appears in the workspace. 2. On the Stack, click the object of which you want to make a partial selection. 3. Click the Magic Wand button on the toolbar. 4.
46 Chapter 6: Advanced Photo Editing Editing and Copying Selected Areas Using the advanced selection tools helps you to isolate a very specific area of a picture for editing or copying. For example, if a picture has generally good lighting levels, but a person’s face in a picture is in dark shadows, you can make a selection of just the face, and then adjust the brightness and contrast only in the selected area.
Chapter 6: Advanced Photo Editing Filters The term filter originates from the colored glass covers placed over a camera lens. The first filters in digital imaging sought to mimic the results of these physical camera filters, providing a slight shift in color, or increasing the intensity of colors. But the filters in Digital Image can create many other effects, from sharpening an image to making the picture look like a painting or a mosaic.
48 Chapter 6: Advanced Photo Editing Color Effects You can give a picture a new look by applying a color effect. Turn a favorite color picture into an instant classic by changing it to black and white. Or, apply the antique effect, which “ages” your picture by giving it an old newspaper look. You can even turn it into a photographic negative. To turn a color picture to black and white, antique, or negative: 1.
Chapter 6: Advanced Photo Editing 49 Paint Effects With the Freehand Paint Brush, you can choose from several painting tools: • • • • • • Paint brush Airbrush Pencil Eraser Highlighter Chalk Use these tools to add new colors to a picture. To use the Freehand Paint Brush: 1. 2. 3. 4. On the Effects menu, point to Paint Brush, and then click Freehand. Click a painting tool, and then click a color. Click a brush size, and then paint by dragging on the picture. Click Done.
50 Chapter 6: Advanced Photo Editing To paint with stamps: 1. 2. 3. 4. On the Effects menu, point to Paint Brush, and then click Stamps. Click a stamping style, and then click a stamp. Click a stamp size, and then apply the stamp by clicking on the picture. Click Done.
7 Batch Editing in Mini Lab 51 If you take pictures regularly, it can become time consuming to perform basic editing to all of your pictures after you download them from your camera. Mini Lab contains tools that can help you save time with routine editing that needs to be done to many or all of the photos in a batch. If you have a high-capacity storage medium in your camera, you might have dozens, or even hundreds, of photos to download at once to your hard disk.
52 Chapter 7: Batch Editing in Mini Lab Mini Lab displays all of your open photos, and includes a list of editing options that you can perform on multiple pictures. This diagram identifies the main features of Mini Lab. 1. The Open more files button opens the file browser to let you find more pictures to edit. 2. The editing options list shows all of the tasks available for batch editing. 3. File options let you save or print multiple photos. 4.
Chapter 7: Batch Editing in Mini Lab 53 To open Mini Lab from Digital Image: 1. On the Touchup menu, click Batch Edit in Mini Lab. To open Mini Lab from the Library: 1. In the Thumbnail pane, select the pictures you want to edit. 2. On the Tasks menu, click Batch Edit. When the Mini Lab starts, it automatically displays all pictures that were open in the program. Select the pictures you want to edit, and then click one or more editing tasks.
8 Adding Edges, Mats, and Frames When you’ve finished editing a photo, you can add polishing touches by surrounding it with an edge, a border, a mat, or a frame. 55 Shrinking a picture to show the edge effect Edge Effects Edge effects alter the outside edge of a photo. For portrait photos, try the soft edge effect. To draw attention to photos that you post on a Web site, try applying one of the highlighted edges.
56 Chapter 8: Adding Edges, Mats, and Frames Choosing the right mat When choosing a mat, consider the colors in your photo and the colors of your frame. A mat should not overpower the subject of the photo. Try selecting a soft-colored mat that matches one of the photo’s secondary colors. Mats and Frames If you plan to put a photo in a traditional photo frame, you can add a Digital Image mat to your photo before you print it.
9 Creating Projects 57 A great way to present your pictures and share them with friends and family is to create photo projects. Digital Image offers a range of designs that you can use to showcase your pictures. Choose from greeting cards, calendars, business cards, and more. Creating Photo Cards Use your own photo to personalize a greeting card for a holiday, a party invitation, or any other occasion. To open a photo card design: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
58 Chapter 9: Creating Projects A favorite golfing photo was used to create this half-fold card. To change the fold style of a card: 1. On the Format menu, click Change Card Fold.
Chapter 9: Creating Projects 59 Creating Calendars Calendars are a great way to showcase your favorite photos.
60 Chapter 9: Creating Projects To create a calendar project: On the File menu, click Create a Project. Click Calendars. Click a calendar type. Click a theme, click a design, and then click Open. Set the start date for the calendar, and then click Next. Follow the instructions on the screen to add a photo to your calendar, and then click Next. 7. Move or resize your photo on the calendar. Use the corner resize handles to resize the photo proportionally. 8. Click Done. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
10 Saving and Printing Pictures 61 Saving Pictures If you’re like most people, you can’t stand to throw photos away, even if they’re imperfect. You probably have a large box or two filled with envelopes of old negatives and photographic prints. Keeping track of all of your old prints and negatives can be a formidable task. Fortunately, digital photography makes saving, storing, and organizing photos much easier.
62 Chapter 10: Saving and Printing Pictures Choosing a File Format Digital Image allows you to save photos in a number of image file formats. You can determine the best format for saving your photos based on what you will use the photos for, compatibility with other computers, and file size. To help you understand the difference between file formats, here are some important characteristics of three common image formats: • Digital Image PNG Plus (.
Chapter 10: Saving and Printing Pictures 63 Setting PNG Plus Options Only Digital Image can read individual objects saved in PNG Plus files. However, a PNG Plus file contains a flattened PNG version of the picture that can be read by many other programs, including Internet Explorer. By default, Digital Image saves the flattened version of the picture at the same size as the original, multi-object picture.
64 Chapter 10: Saving and Printing Pictures Avoid sending large photos in e-mail Sending high-resolution photos in e-mail may cause problems for your recipients. For example, a single 5-megabyte (MB), high-resolution image will take over 20 minutes to download on a 28.8-Kbps modem. Also, some e-mail programs limit the size of attachments, and may, for example, block e-mail with attachments larger than 1 MB.
Chapter 10: Saving and Printing Pictures Printing Pictures Installing printer drivers Printing Single Pictures Digital Image has a simple process for printing single images. When using the single-picture printing task, one copy of the picture will print on the page, and the picture will be centered on the paper. To print a single picture: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 65 Make sure your printer is turned on and connected to your computer. On the File menu, click Print.
66 Chapter 10: Saving and Printing Pictures Printing from the Library Digital Image Library uses the same printing tools as Digital Image. To start the print task, use the Thumbnail pane to select the picture or pictures that you want to print. Then, on the File menu, click Print. Printing Multiple Pictures Digital Image has a wide variety of templates that allow you to print multiple pictures on a page. You can print multiple copies of the same picture or multiple pictures together at the same time.
Chapter 10: Saving and Printing Pictures Selecting Print Quality Most desktop printers are capable of printing in a range of qualities, from a low-quality draft mode to a high-quality setting that requires more time and uses more ink. Printer settings for quality and color vary, but you may be able to specify your paper type, ink type, dots per inch required, and color management preferences. Some printers have simplified printing options such as "Good," "Better," and "Best.
68 Chapter 10: Saving and Printing Pictures Choosing Photo Paper If you want your images to look like traditional photographs, choose paper that is clearly labeled as photo paper. Photo paper comes in a range of thickness and texture. Paper weight ranges from ordinary office-document weight to a fairly heavy watercolor paper. If you choose a heavyweight paper, check your printer’s manual to make sure that your printer can handle it.
Chapter 10: Saving and Printing Pictures 69 Ordering Prints Order prints of your photos online and have the prints sent to you or your family and friends. You can also use your photos to create a variety of photo gifts. To order prints and enlargements: 1. On the File menu in Digital Image, click Order Professional Prints. 2. Your Web browser should display a photo printing page. On the Web, click Order Prints. 3. Follow the directions on this Web site to place your order for photo prints.
11 Organizing and Viewing Pictures in Digital Image Library Digital Image Library is a powerful tool that helps you organize, find, and view your pictures and short videos. Digital Image Library does not store or make a copy of your pictures and videos. Instead, it stores information about your pictures and videos, including a thumbnail version of each picture, so you can conveniently organize and find them on your computer.
72 Chapter 11: Organizing and Viewing Pictures in Digital Image Library Adding Pictures from CDs or other removable media You can use Digital Image Library to catalog pictures located on CDs or other removable media. To import these photos into the Library, click the Import button on the toolbar to launch the Import Pictures Wizard.
Chapter 11: Organizing and Viewing Pictures in Digital Image Library Scanning for Pictures and Videos Digital Image Library can scan your computer’s hard disk drive to locate items to add to Digital Image Library. This feature is helpful if you have pictures and videos stored in multiple locations or if you don’t remember where your pictures are stored. The scanning process can take some time if there are many picture files on your computer. To scan for pictures and videos on your computer: 1.
74 Chapter 11: Organizing and Viewing Pictures in Digital Image Library Adding Labels Adding labels to your pictures is one of the most powerful ways to organize and locate your pictures. Labels are bits of information that you apply to your pictures—information that helps to identify the pictures. Labels do not change the appearance of your pictures in any way; they are simply tiny bits of information that get stored in the Library and associated with each picture.
Chapter 11: Organizing and Viewing Pictures in Digital Image Library 75 Don’t forget that you can create your own labels to identify the subjects of your pictures, and you can add multiple labels to each picture, or add the same label to multiple pictures. In addition, labels can have hierarchy (sometimes referred to as parent or child labels). Imagine that you want to create labels to represent the members of your family.
76 Chapter 11: Organizing and Viewing Pictures in Digital Image Library Finding Your Pictures Once you have added your pictures to Digital Image Library and added some labels to your pictures, you can use the Library to quickly locate pictures or browse your photo collection by any criteria you choose. The left pane of Digital Image Library is called the View By pane. The View By pane allows you to filter the pictures displayed in the Thumbnail pane.
Chapter 11: Organizing and Viewing Pictures in Digital Image Library 77 Viewing by Folder Viewing by folder allows you to find your pictures based on where the pictures are stored on your computer. Remember, Digital Image Library does not actually store pictures, it just remembers where they are located. When viewing by folder, the folders shown mimic the folder structure on your computer.
78 Chapter 11: Organizing and Viewing Pictures in Digital Image Library Using the Thumbnail Slider The thumbnail slider, in the upper right of the Thumbnail pane, allows you to change the size of the thumbnails. With larger thumbnails, you must scroll more to see all your pictures, but more detail is visible. With smaller thumbnails, you scan see more pictures at once.
Chapter 11: Organizing and Viewing Pictures in Digital Image Library 79 Showing Thumbnail Data There are three ways to view the thumbnails and their associated data in the Thumbnail pane. Tiles View Along with the thumbnail, the tiles view displays: • • • • • • Caption Time and date taken File size Image size (pixel dimensions) File name Rating Thumbnails View The thumbnails view displays only the thumbnail with no data.
80 Chapter 11: Organizing and Viewing Pictures in Digital Image Library Grouping Your Pictures You can group the pictures in the Thumbnail pane according to date, ratings, labels, or other information. Grouping by rating, for example, will separate all the one-star pictures into one group, the two-star pictures into another group, and so on. To group your pictures: 1. On the Group By menu above the Thumbnail pane, click a grouping option.
Chapter 11: Organizing and Viewing Pictures in Digital Image Library Using the Preview Pane The Preview pane, located under the Thumbnail pane, is a convenient way to view and edit information about a picture or pictures. The Preview pane displays the information about the pictures selected in the Thumbnail pane. You can click any of the fields (except file size and image size) in the Preview pane to edit the information. To use the Preview pane: 1.
82 Chapter 11: Organizing and Viewing Pictures in Digital Image Library Editing and File Management from Digital Image Library With its powerful organizational tools, Digital Image Library is an easy way to locate pictures in your collection. Once you have found the pictures you want to work with, you can select those pictures for editing and file management.
Chapter 11: Organizing and Viewing Pictures in Digital Image Library 83 Editing in Mini Lab Mini Lab allows you to perform the most common editing tasks to multiple pictures at the same time. Some of these tasks include: • • • • Color auto fix Contrast auto fix Rotate Crop The Mini Lab you can access from Digital Image Library is the same Mini Lab you can access from Digital Image. To batch edit pictures in Mini Lab: 1. In the Thumbnail pane, select the pictures you want to edit. 2.
12 Taking Great Pictures 85 No matter how polished and creative you are as a photographer, Digital Image is a valuable tool for helping you get the most out of your pictures. With Digital Image features, you can easily correct common photo problems such as red eye and overexposure. And you can use features like filters and layers to create photos strikingly different from your originals.
86 Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures About Digital Cameras If you’re new to using digital cameras, several camera features might seem foreign to you. Some of these features, such as digital zoom and compression, do not exist with film camera. But it’s important to understand what these features do and when it’s appropriate to use them. Photo Quality A digital photograph is composed of tiny colored squares called pixels (short for picture elements).
Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures 87 Resolution Resolution is one of the main factors that determine picture quality, since it is a measure of the total number of pixels that make up a photograph. Resolution is sometimes expressed as the total number of pixels, such as 3 megapixels (3 million pixels), or in pixel dimensions, such as 1600 by 1200 pixels (which equals 1,920,000 total pixels, or 1.9 megapixels). Resolution is important primarily because it determines how much you can enlarge a picture.
88 Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures Megapixel rating One of the main factors in the price of a digital camera is its megapixel rating. The megapixel rating indicates the maximum number of pixels (in millions) that are captured by the camera’s image sensor. Instead of film, a digital camera uses an image sensor—usually a CCD (charge-coupled device) or CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) chip—to capture the visual information when you take a picture.
Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures Compression You’ve seen one way to reduce picture file size: lower the picture resolution. You can also reduce file size by having the camera compress the picture file as it saves the file to the camera’s memory. Compression consolidates similar information in the picture, and discards some information. With JPEG compression, for example, series of similarly colored pixels are grouped together and considered to be the same color.
90 Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures File Formats There are many file formats designed for digital pictures. Digital Image can work with JPEG, TIFF, and many other file formats. If your camera allows you to choose file formats for your pictures, you can decide which format to use based on your particular criteria: photo quality, file size, or compatibility with other programs. The JPEG format is the most common format for photos.
Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures Using Zoom Features A zoom lets you adjust the focal length of the lens, making your subject appear closer to or farther from the camera. Some cameras have built-in adjustable zoom lenses; others accommodate interchangeable zoom lenses of different focal lengths. Digital cameras might offer optical zoom or digital zoom. An optical zoom feature uses the same principle as a zoom lens on a film camera: the lens itself moves to change the focal length.
92 Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures Memory Cards, Disks, and Sticks After the image sensor captures a picture in your digital camera, the digital information is stored on removable media, such as a CompactFlash, xD Card, Secure Digital card, Memory Stick, SmartMedia, Microdrive, floppy disk, or CD-R. While you can still find digital cameras that store pictures on CD-R or floppy disk, such models are almost entirely overshadowed by cameras that use removable memory cards.
Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures Battery Life Compared to film cameras, many digital cameras use batteries at a surprising rate. The LCD preview screen and the flash on the camera both put a heavy drain on the batteries. And unlike some manual film cameras, digital cameras cannot function without batteries or an AC power adapter. To maximize the amount of time you can use your digital camera before the batteries fail, you can buy rechargeable batteries, which last longer than disposable alkaline batteries.
94 Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures Upgrading your flash If your camera supports an external flash, consider buying one, especially if you take a lot of indoor photos of people. An external flash will give you much more control and often better results. The range of your flash Check your camera’s manual to find out the recommended range for your flash. Most on-camera flashes are designed to illuminate a subject that is 10 to 15 feet from the camera.
Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures Red-Eye Reduction Flash One of the most common problems with flash photos of people and pets is red eye. This problem is caused by a flash located very close to the camera lens. The light from the flash reflects off the blood vessels in the subject’s retina, causing the pupils to look red. This problem occurs frequently in low-light situations, when pupils are likely to be dilated.
96 Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures Fill Flash You can use the fill flash setting to fill in deep shadow areas caused by bright overhead light or in a scene where the light is behind the subject. In the left photo, the strong backlighting creates a shadow that covers the subject’s whole face. For the photo on the right, fill flash was used to counteract the backlighting and keep the shadows off the subject’s face. If your flash is using the automatic setting, bright daylight can prevent it from firing.
Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures 97 Using Your Camera’s Manual Settings In today’s camera marketplace, the lines between manual and automatic cameras have become blurred. It used to be that manual cameras were 35mm SLR (single-lens reflex) cameras with manual controls for focusing, aperture, shutter speed, and film speed. On the other end of the spectrum were fully automatic cameras with very limited controls, possibly only a shutter button.
98 Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures The water glass analogy When taking a picture, your goal is to achieve a perfect exposure. To create the right exposure, you need to understand the relationship between the three exposure factors: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO rating. Achieving perfect exposure can be compared to filling a glass completely without spilling any of the water. For a perfect exposure, the glass should become completely full with no water spilling over.
Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures Exposure Compensation Some cameras have an exposure compensation feature that lets you manually override the automatic exposure setting. Exposure compensation lets you adjust the exposure with settings such as +2, +1, -1, and -2. A +1 setting, for example, tells the camera’s automatic exposure system to make the middle tones brighter.
100 Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures Program modes If your camera offers program modes for specific types of pictures like portraits or action shots, read your camera’s manual to find out the aperture settings used for those modes. Aperture The aperture is the opening through which light passes to reach the film, or, in digital cameras, the image sensor. Aperture is measured by f-number, where a specific setting is called an f-stop.
Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures 101 For portrait photography, a wide aperture helps to limit the focus. Your subject’s face is clear and sharp, but objects in the background are blurred. But if you’re taking a vacation photo of someone posing in front of a monument, a narrow aperture might be in order. With the narrow aperture, both the person and the monument can be in focus in the same photo. Of course, adjusting the aperture also affects how much light is let into the camera.
102 Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures Shutter Speed In most cameras, the shutter is the curtain in front of the film or image sensor that is retracted for a precise amount of time to let light into the camera. Shutter speed can be adjusted to let light into the camera for a longer or shorter amount of time. When determining the correct exposure for a picture, both shutter speed and aperture must be considered in relation to each other.
Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures 103 To accommodate the low light of this twilight scene, the camera was mounted on a tripod and set to a slow shutter speed. Some cameras offer a shutter priority mode that sets the aperture automatically after you set the shutter speed. This can be useful if you’re in a situation where shutter speed is more important than aperture, like when you’re photographing a subject in motion.
104 Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures ASA versus ISO If you have an older camera, the film speed dial might be labeled ASA instead of ISO. These film speed ratings are the same, and the ratings are interchangeable. Avoid sharpening pictures that have noise Do not use the sharpen feature in Digital Image on digital photos with noticeable noise; sharpening accentuates the inaccurate pixels.
Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures Setting the White Balance Surprisingly, digital cameras do not automatically know what colors are your picture. Instead, your camera must figure out which color in a scene is white, and use that information to color the rest of the picture. This is called setting the white balance. To calculate the white balance, the camera assumes the lightest spot in the picture is white, and adjusts the other colors accordingly.
106 Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures Using Automatic Modes on Your Camera Many of the automatic cameras sold today—even some of the less-expensive models—have pre-programmed modes that are designed for special situations. Sometimes called program modes, these modes automatically adjust your camera to special settings designed specifically for things like macro photography, action shots, portraits, panoramic mode, or picture series.
Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures 107 Macro Mode Most cameras in automatic mode have trouble focusing on objects that are less than 12 inches (30 centimeters) away. So when you’re taking close-up pictures, for example, capturing a special piece from your coin collection, you need to set your camera to macro mode. Macro mode adjusts the focal length to accommodate the unusually short distance to the subject.
108 Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures Action Mode If you’re photographing subjects such as athletes, moving cars, or even fastmoving children, a camera’s action mode helps keep your subject in focus. The most significant characteristic of action mode is the faster shutter speed of at least 1/500th of a second, which helps to freeze the action of your moving subject.
Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures 109 Another way to photograph a moving subject is to pan your camera with the action. While a stop-action photo freezes everything in the photo, panning your camera keeps your moving subject in focus, but blurs the background. For this effect, you do not want to use the action mode, because you do not want a fast shutter speed.
110 Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures Burst Mode Burst mode is a feature that allows you to take a series of pictures in quick succession. Many cameras include a burst mode that allows you to take a series of pictures in quick succession, such as 3 frames per second for up to five seconds. Even on digital cameras with slow shutter lags, the burst mode still allows you to take many frames in a short time span. The burst feature uses a buffer to temporarily hold the information from the image sensor.
Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures Portrait Mode For portraits and candid shots, using your camera’s portrait mode is a convenient way to get good results. Portrait mode is set to use a relatively wide aperture, creating a shallow depth of field. With only your subject in focus, objects in the background are less distracting, and your subject dominates the frame. With a shallow depth of field, it’s crucial that you get your subject in sharp focus.
112 Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures Panoramic Mode For landscapes, large groups of people, and other long horizontal shots, a camera’s panoramic mode helps you compose the picture without too much sky or ground in the photo. Panoramic shots have a different aspect ratio than standard shots, meaning the width of the frame is proportionally much greater than in a picture with a standard aspect ratio.
Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures Using the Self-Timer Many digital cameras, even inexpensive ones, come with a self-timer feature. Some self-timers open the shutter after a preset amount of time, such as 10 seconds; others allow you to adjust the length of time before the shutter fires. Either way, this fairly simple feature is great for getting yourself into a photo and taking long exposure shots.
114 Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures Ten Tips for Great Pictures The following 10 tips offer suggestions for developing your photography approach, technique, composition, and habits. If you are an inexperienced photographer, some of these tips might be new ideas for you. If you’re a photography veteran, these tips might be a good reminder of things you haven’t heard in a while. 1. Know Your Gear Having command of your equipment is an important aspect of enjoying and being successful with photography.
Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures 2. Nail the Exposure In a finished photo, exposure is something that you usually only notice when it is wrong. A perfect exposure is not something that jumps out at you, but a problem exposure definitely stands out. In an overexposed picture (caused by too much light), the shadow areas are light, and the highlighted areas are almost entirely white.
116 Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures 3. Capture a Moment in the Story Consider driver’s license and passport photos. We think of these as uninteresting and unrepresentative of how people usually look. Why are these photos dull? One problem with these photos (but certainly not the only problem) is that they capture people out of their element, without context or a story. There are no interesting details in the background to draw in the viewer, and the subject often looks impatient or uncomfortable.
Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures 117 4. Look for the Light Many of the best pictures are taken early in the morning, late in the afternoon, and at twilight. At these times the lighting is most dramatic. Many pictures are shot in bright or moderately bright sunlight. This type of light produces photos that closely match the way we remember seeing the scene. That is part of the reason we respond to them with a positive sense of familiarity.
118 Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures Recomposing a photo with Digital Image After a photo has been transferred to your computer, use the crop tool in Digital Image to change the composition. By clipping away the edges of the photo, you can reposition your subject to comply with the rule of thirds. 5. Follow the Rule of Thirds When composing a photograph, many beginning photographers always center their subject directly in the middle of the frame.
Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures 119 If you have a person or animal in your picture, you can place the subject’s face on one of the four points, looking toward the center of the scene. If the horizon is in a picture, it should run about one-third from the top or one-third from the bottom, depending on whether the terrain or the sky is the center of focus. The rule of thirds is not an absolute law, and there have been many great pictures taken that don’t abide by it.
120 Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures 7. Bracket The term bracket means to create exposures that are both lighter and darker than the camera or light meter indicates. The idea is to second guess the purely mechanical exposure meter, so that you get the right exposure. If you’re taking photos of a sunset, a scenic vista, or a plant, you have the time to bracket.
Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures 8. Analyze and Try Again Photography takes practice. And you will progress at a faster rate if some of your practice time is focused on developing specific skills. One way to do that is to analyze your pictures and then take them again. When you get a chance to look at your pictures on a computer or as prints, you can assess their quality of composition, lighting, exposure, and white balance.
122 Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures 10. Show Your Pictures to Other People Even when you are making great progress with your photography skills, it’s easy to overlook the shortcomings in your own work. To continue improving your abilities, show your photos to other people. Getting others’ opinions is an invaluable learning experience. Good pictures should be visually exciting to people, eliciting a "Wow, this is great!" response.
Index 12-month calendars 59 Preview pane 81 A action photography 108 adding keywords 74 pictures to Digital Image Library 72 adjust levels.
124 D Index dates grouping pictures by 80 viewing pictures by 77 daylight 96 default photo editor 82 depth of field 100 detecting compatible media 7 device compatibility 7 digital cameras action shots 108 automatic modes 106 battery life 93 burst mode 110 close-ups 107 compression 89 file formats 90 flash 94 manual settings 97 opening pictures from 8, 11 overview 86 panoramic 112 photography tips 114 portraits 111 removable media 92 resolution 87 self-timers 113 sensitivity setting 104 zoom 91 Digital Image
Index filtering pictures by dates 77 folders 77 keywords 76 thumbnails 79 finding pictures.
126 Index water glass analogy 98 white balance 105 manual Digital Image setup 1 manual Import Pictures Wizard starts 8 marquee tool 42 mats, adding 56 maximum print sizes 87 media, storage 7, 92 memory cards or sticks 92 microdrives 92 Micrografx Designer files 10 middle gray 98 miniature storage cards 92 Mini Lab 51, 83 MIX files 10 month, viewing pictures by 77 mosaic effect 47 motion photography 108 moving picture features 37 MSN Photos Web site 69 multimedia cards 92 multiple keywords 75 objects edited
Index storage media 92 tips 114 water glass analogy 98 white balance 105 zoom 91 PHP files 10 pictures. See also photo quality color effects 48 editing 82 filter-enhanced 47 formats supported 10, 62, 90 grouping 80 identifying 74 importing 7 opening 7 ordering prints and gifts 69 organizing 71 viewing 76 pixels cropping 33 interpolation 91 noise 104 overview 86 print sizes 67 resolution 87 PNG files 10 PNG Plus files 40, 62 portrait photography 55, 111 positioning camera and subjects 114 precise editing.
128 Index odd-sized pictures, mats for 56 picture cropping 33 picture features 37 prints 67, 87 storage media 92 thumbnails 78 SLR (single-lens reflex) cameras 97 smaller print sizes 67 small aperture 100 SmartMedia card 92 soft edge effect 55 special effects. See also objects colors 48 filters 47 freehand 49 stamps 49 splotchy color 89 Stack 35 stained glass filter 47 stamps, painting with 49 storage media 7, 92 storing information.
