Introducing… Digital Imaging

1. Introducing… Digital Imaging A PowerPoint Presentation Managing the Digital Classroom

2. Digital Imaging Using digital images in the classroom can foster creativity, and encourage self expression by giving students the opportunity to explore and learn about content and themselves through visual representations. Much like bringing multimedia into the classroom, we could spend an entire course covering digital imaging in the classroom. For purposes of introducing teachers to the concept of using digital images, we’ll highlight two areas: analyzing images and digital manipulationof images using a software tool such as Photoshop or PhotoEditor. Analyzing Images If you have access to a digital camera and wish to use it in your classroom with students, it’s important to go over some standard elements of photography with them before they begin using the camera, such as angle, framing, dominance, contrast, repetition, variety, balance, feelings/moods. Some of these are visual elements, while others are relative to composition. In the Week 6 resources section there are several online tutorials that you can use directly in the classroom with your students to engage them in learning more about digital photography and analyzing images.

3. Digital Imaging Digital Manipulation of Images Once students understand the basic elements of taking pictures, they can then use a software tool to manipulate their images (keep in mind that these tools can also be used for images that students find on the web). We will highlight both simple and advanced ways to manipulate digital images Simple Altering an image on a very simplistic level can include functions such as resizing, cropping, or adjusting brightness/ contrast. These functions can be performed in simple applications such as Power Point and Word, without the use of advanced applications such as Photoshop.

4. Digital Imaging: Simple ways to manipulate images cropped resized original original brightness and contrastadjusted adjusted to blackand white

5. Digital Imaging: Advanced Manipulation More advanced manipulation techniques may be used for some interesting curriculum projects such as creating collages or making advertisements. An application such as Adobe Photoshop is need to digitally manipulate elements of the image to create unique effects like the ones you see below: filtering effects and text multiple layers feathering

6. Digital Imaging: Advanced Manipulation Making collages Altering images

7. Digital Imaging: Saving Formats There are many different ways to save image files. Many of these formats are used for advanced and high speed printing. Once you delve more into digitally manipulating images, file formats will become even more important. For instance, if you use Photoshop, it’s important to understand the Photoshop format of an image (PSD) when working with advanced images that have multiple layers. For purposes of simple projects, and for beginners, the two most common types of file formats and the only two accepted on the web, are GIFs and JPEGs. GIF:Pronounced jiff or giff (hard g) stands for graphics interchange format. GIF supports color and various resolutions. It also includes data compression, but because it is limited to 256 colors, it is more effective for scanned images such as illustrations rather than color photos. JPEG / JPG: Short for Joint Photographic Experts Group, the original name of the committee that wrote the standard. JPG is a compression technique that is designed to compress color and grayscale continuous-tone images. The information that is discarded in the compression is information that the human eye cannot detect. JPG images support 16 million colors and are best suited for photographs and complex graphics. The user typically has to compromise on either the quality of the image or the size of the file. JPG does not work well on line drawings, lettering or simple graphics because there is not a lot of the image that can be thrown out so the image loses clarity and sharpness. The general rule of thumb is…GIFs for graphics and JPEGs for photographs.