Digital Photography
Resolution, Printing, Cropping, Adjustments, Preparing for the Web
What resolution size should I use in order to capture the highest quality photographs with my camera?
Most digital cameras have a number of different resolution settings to capture photographs in a variety of sizes (i.e. 2048 x 1536, 1024 x 768, etc.). However, you never know when that next click of the shutter is going to produce an image for your living room wall. For that reason, always capture your digital images with your camera’s highest resolution. You can always re-size your images later depending on their intended use. You may need to invest in a memory card that is capable of storing more high resolution photos, but it is a great investment! Remember that you can always make a large image smaller, but there are always limits to how large you can make a small image.
Printing Images
For excellent print quality, your photographs should be cropped to the intended print size and printed on a photo-quality printer at 300 dpi.
Cropping Images
So, you captured a great photo of your child but now you notice some clutter in the background or wish you had come in for a close-up. What now? Inexpensive photo editing software such as Adobe Photoshop Elements, available at www.adobe.com, or iPhoto, which is pre-installed on Macs, make the task of cropping your photographs easy! Take a look at the difference between the original image below and the newly cropped image:
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Models: Ciara and Jordan
Images: © 2008 ILTK
Important Tip: Be sure to save your newly composed photograph as a new file so that you still have the original image for future use.
What else can we learn from these samples?
We can also see in these photographs the sun is still very high in the sky, shot mid-day, and is producing shadows under the eyes and bright spots on the forehead. To eliminate this we could simply have used an umbrella. If you have someone with you, a friend or family member, have them hold a large ordinary umbrella above your child or slightly off to the side, depending on where the sun is, to eliminate any shadows.Making Adjustments To Your Photographs
It is not uncommon to have a photograph that may be too dark, too light, or need a bit of retouching. To begin making fine adjustments to your images, invest in a photo editing software such as Adobe Photoshop Elements or Paint Shop Pro. The possibilities are endless!
Preparing Images For The Web
When printing photographs, you will use inches as a measurement (i.e. 5 x 7, 8 x 10, etc.) while printing at 300 dpi. However, for the web, the photograph dimensions will be in pixels (most websites provide a suggested photograph size). What they don’t tell you is that your images, while smaller in size, should still be at 300 dpi. Your images will appear much sharper on the screen if you follow this tip!
Article: Contributed by Chris Reed / Talent Revolution
© 2008 I Love This Kid