Digital
Imaging for Artists - Fine Arts League of Cary
A basic working knowledge of digital
images is becoming quite important for all artists, not just
photographers. Digital images of the member's artwork are necessary for
the artist's FALC Gallery Page. Also, starting with the 2009
show, artwork images must be submitted in digital form for the FALC Annual Art Exhibitions.
This article is intended for artists who really don't want to be
photographers but who must occasionally work with digital images. Those
already advanced enough to be comfortable using a powerful image editor
like Adobe Photoshop
may find some of the information useful, but most of it will
be too
basic. Because of the many links in this article it
is best
viewed on-line, and has not been optimized for printing.
Quick
Start:
Doing the absolute minimum required
to prepare digital images for presentation.
Assuming that a suitable image from the camera is in hand just try one
of the two image editors mentioned below. They are both very
easy
to use, and the tutorials provide visual step-by-step help.
Preserve the original.
Make a copy of it - Right click the
image-->click "Copy" then Right Click where the copy is
desired--->click "Paste".
Artist's
hint for any image editing
software:
Straighten first, then crop.
Do any other desired editing and resize as the last step.
Try
the latest version (3.6) of the free Picasa
from Google
-- the
first choice for a
free, basic and simple image viewer/editor.
It's quite easy to use and includes some photo retouching
capability. See the Picasa for Artists tutorial for
help. Two notes about Picasa's Export function:
- (1) Picasa
only keeps an internal
record of the editing changes. It does not change the image as stored
on the computer -- The image must be exported to make the
changes permanent.
- (2) Most Picasa editing
functions are easy to access and use, but
while resizing is easy to do, the resizing window only
appears after the Export function has been
selected. It would be wise to rename the exported image.
If
you don't want to install Picasa on your computer, and have broadband
Internet, try the simple and free Picnik editor. Upload a test
image and try
editing it. Then do your
desired images. See the Picnik for Artists tutorial for
help.
Utilize
the information
presented after this Quick Start Section (Including
information about taking good artwork photos and a paragraph
with links to CD
burning instruction to improve your knowledge and
skill.
End of Quick Start
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Digital
Imaging Basics:
Photographing Artwork:
Getting a good photo to
start
with is essential. These tips may help.
- Read the camera's instruction manual,
and set the
camera for maximum image quality.
- Take several photos of each
piece.
- A tripod or other steadying device is
good, but optional, as 3-4 exposures should result in at least one
image that is blur free.
- Usually the camera's "Automatic"
setting will produce good, even excellent, images.
- Outside diffused natural
light is best -- between 10 am and 2 pm on a lightly
overcast
day or when the sun is behind a cloud.
- Artificial light shifts the
photo's white balance. Some cameras can correct this or use
the (Color) "Temperature" sliders in Picasa or Picnik.
- Don't photograph
anything behind glass or use a camera
mounted flash
as the reflections will ruin the photo.
- To get an image
that is straight and rectangular carefully center the camera
on the center of the
artwork.
- Maximize
the
actual artwork - i.e. exclude as much frame and background as
possible.
- If
the camera has a telephoto lens stepping back a few feet and using a
little zoom will often
help to minimize edge curvature.
- Save a
copy of the best
image to
be further processed - you don't want an editing mistake to ruin your
only copy.
Digital
image sizing primer: There
are four interrelated aspects of digital image sizing: (1) Total number
of
Pixels,
(2) Printed
Image
Size (3x5, 4x6 etc.), (3)
Resolution
(Stated in DPI (Dots Per
Inch) for printing, and in PPI (Pixels Per
Inch) for the monitor's screen and (4) File Size for
image storage (stated in KB or MB).
- The image's File Size
is directly proportional to the total
number of Pixels.
- Monitors
have a fixed Resolution
(PPI). Usually 72 or 96 PPI,
so images are
always displayed at these PPIs.
- Making
the Resolution
(DPI) smaller makes the Printed
Image
Size larger
& visa versa, but
since all of the
Pixels
are retained (none of
the image detail is lost) and
there is no effect on the File
Size or the displayed image size. *
- Software generally automatically
scales high Resolution
images (big images) down to fit the screen.
Check the software's Zoom setting.
- Images to be printed
should have a Resolution
in the
150 to 300 DPI range. *
- Printers can print at 1000 DPI or
more, but beyond 300 DPI the printing will be slower, but the
print will not appear any better. *
- Resize E-Mailed images to be
screen viewed to a maximum of
900 x 900 pixels. Insert these in the message body or
attached them to it.
- E-Mailed images to be printed by the
recipient should be sent at 150-300 DPI, & should be
attached to the message not inserted in it.
- Scan small images at large DPI
(Slides at 1200 DPI or more) Normal images at 150-300 DPI.
* Note that monitors automatically
display at their 72 or 96 PPI Resolution
and most imaging software printing functions automatically
scale
the image down to fit the desired print size. So artists usually will not have
to deal with setting the DPI/PPI at all unless a software's printing function lacks the
automatic scaling feature.
Digital
image
file formats: There are many digital
image file formats, and images can
be stored in either an uncompressed (lossless but very large
files) format or in a compressed (lossy but much smaller files) format.
- Common
lossless formats are: TIFF (.tif) - Bit
Map (.bmp) and PNG (.png) .
PNG produces smaller files than TIFF or Bit map.
- The most common
lossless formats are: JPEG (.jpg) and GIF
(.gif).
- If the
very highest quality is required edit and save using
the TIFF
or PNG formats; 0r if
smaller files are desired save the final result as a JPEG (for
photographs) or GIF (for graphics
artwork) .
- The minimal degradation
of image quality due to one or two edits and savings
of JPEG
or GIF
images is not noticeable for small (8" x 10" or less) print sizes
and/or web
presentation.
- JPEG
or GIF are the best formats for
electronically presenting your work to others as
they yield good quality and small File Sizes
and are
universally supported
by the common Internet browsers.
- JPEG Note: The 75% quality level is a good compromise
between File
Size
and image quality.
- For archival purposes store the images at it's
highest Resolution and in the one of the better formats - PNG
or TIF.
CD
Burning: Depending
on the
computer hardware and software there may be several different
ways to put (burn) image files onto a CD. Both
Windows XP and the Mac have native CD burning capabilities -
i.e. no additional software is needed. CD R/W drives (i. e. those
capable of burning CDs) often
come bundled with either the Nero or the Roxio CD burning software, and
these two programs are very similar in operation, and should be used if
available. Record
image files on a Data CD.
The links below provide how-to-do-it instructions for several ways to
get the job done.
End
of Digital Imaging Basics
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Supplemental
Information:
Digital image file format
help on the Internet:
Digital Image
help on the Internet:
On-line
image editing
services for artists: Fifteen
on-line photo editing services were
evaluated in February 2009. These are the best of the lot.
A broadband Internet connection is likely a requirement to
use
these
services in an efficient manner. Use by dial-up would be
frustrating. This section updated in December 2009. Reevaluated
many on-line editors. None presented the basic editing capabilities as
cleanly and clearly as
Picnik, but the newly-found Pixlr Editor was added to the
list because of its advanced capabilities including a clone
stamp.
- Picnik
uploads
the photo very quickly. Very intuitive and easy to use. Will
straighten, crop
and resize, and there are other tools for exposure, contrast,
color, etc. Note the free version available in late 2009 no
longer allows Resolution
(DPI) adjustments. This on-line
editor is by far the easiest of them to
use.
- Another
nice web-based editor
is Cellsea
- The common functions.
- Lunapic
and MyTheme are essentially
the same. Uploading is
slower than Picnik,
but the maximum size of the image can be set at the
time
of uploading. These two are not quite as easy to use as
Picnik, but have more features.
- The
Pixlr
Editor's
strong point for artists is its inclusion of a clone stamp tool which
can be used to fill in a little along the edges of a cropped image
which would otherwise have to be cropped more drastically.
Cloning is lacking in most other on-line editors. Weak point
for
artists - No straighten function was apparent.
Windows PC Digital
image freeware
programs for artists:
- Google's
Picasa is the first choice - better than Picnik
above.
It's a photo viewer with easy-to-use basic editing.
Image resizing becomes available when Export is
selected.
- A novel, but nice, approach
to photo viewing is via PhotoMesa 3 - presents
many thumbnails and quickly zooms in and out on a
selected one. No editing capability. Requires .Net framework version
1.1 or higher.
- Image viewing,
conversion, resizing, and limited editing with freeware IrfanView
- Note that IrfanView is always in the Crop mode.
Just left
click and drag to define a crop, then a CTRL+ Y to do the crop.
- Paint.net
is an impressive replacement for Windows Paint -
Small
and fast. Requires the .Net Framework version 3.5
SP1.
- Photofiltre
gets good
reviews
- Artweaver
gets good
reviews. Perhaps it's more suitable for digital artwork creation.
- Photobie gets
good reviews - Uses many Photoshop plug-ins - Requires the
.Net Framework.
- A
great tool for capturing displayed images at
the monitors screen Resolution
is MWSnap
- Versatile
- Another good screen capture program
(like above) is available from Faststone - They also have other
freeware image
programs – Nice
- A
very easy to use
commercial image editor for Windows PCs is the MS Digital Image Pro
– Unfortunately
it’s been discontinued and may be hard to find - Get version
10 or 2006.
Apple
MAC Digital image freeware programs for artists:
-
Gimpshop and
Gimphoto
are enhancements to the popular but difficult to use Gimp
program. This Wikipedia article
lists other Gimp variations.
- Please send suggestions for
other
imaging software for the Apple MAC
Some
Monitor/Printer color calibration information and tools for those more
advanced: The colors that
show on the monitor and those that come from the
printer
may be quite
different. These links may help you correct the problem.
- Several
web-based monitor calibration tools from
DisplayCalibration.com.
- Three
quick web-based Monitor Calibration Tools which
let you see if your monitor's Gamma setting is correct.
- Download
this program which will help
in setting the monitor Gamma.
- Download
this tool to ease the creation
of ICC / ICM
monitor profiles
- Monitor
calibration and gamma article and it’s “Related Links”
by Norman Koren
- Article: Calibrate Your Monitor (plus
helpful links) from About.com.
- Several monitor tests by Torben Rasmussen
of Flatpanelshd
This
document is: www.fineartsleagueofcary.org/Digital_Image_Hints.htm
Please
E-Mail any comments and/or suggestions for
improvements.
T.A.M.
04/17/09 - Updated 10/6/09, 11/9/09, 12/03/09,
12/08/09 and 01/11/10
Copyright 2009-10 by the Fine Arts
League of Cary - Do not copy, but links to it are
fine.