GIMP: Chapter 2-Improving Digital Photos

Name:

Michele Keller

Student Number:

10

GIMP: Chapter 2: Improving Digital Photos

PART 1: READ Chapter 2 in the GIMP book, then:

1. Answer all questions below, briefly but completely.
2. Change the color of the answer to BLUE.
3. Copy this information and paste in a new post in your DIGITAL GRAPHICS blog.

1.       What happens to an image when you SCALE it? Does the canvas size change when you SCALE an image? To make an image smaller.  Scaling, in GIMP, changes the size of the work are without the contents.

2.       Why should you scale images you take on a digital camera before sending them in email or posting them on the web?  They would take a very long time to load and they would take up a lot of space.

3.       Why is it important to make sure the width and height of an image you are going to scale are linked together? How do you do this in GIMP?  Width and height are chained linked together so that it prevents your photo from getting taller and skinnier.  To do this, use the scale image tool and experiment with different sizes.

4.       What is the keyboard shortcut to UNDO?  Control Z

5.       What does the SCALE TOOL do?  It scales an image to different pixel sizes.  If photos are intended for Web viewing, smaller is better.

6.       What is the difference between the IMAGEàSCALE from the menu and the SCALE TOOL?  IMAGEàSCALE is best for re-scaling an image.  The SCALE TOOL is used to scale the content layer, not the whole image.

7.       Describe these JPG quality settings: ·         Optimize:  An additional reduction in file size without further reduction in image quality. ·         Progressive:  Useful setting for uploading to the Web.  It starts out in poor quality, but it clears after it completely loads. ·         Save EXIF data:  It includes information about the image taken and saved with that information. ·         Comment:  A place to put any text you might want to add to an image.

8.       Why would you decrease the quality setting of a JPG image?  For a smaller file size when saving the image.

9.       Compare the size of a 95% quality setting to a 100% setting of a JPG image:  There really isn’t any advantage in saving an image over 95%.

10.   If you save a JPG file at 100%, do you preserve ALL the data in the image? What formats should you use if you want to preserve all the data?  You do not preserve all the data, because every time it is saved it loses data.  It is best to save the image in PNG or TIFF if you want to preserve ALL the data without any loss.

11.   Describe what it means when you INDEX a file such as a GIF or PNG file.  Instead of individual pixel being saved, it is being indexed by color and no data is being lost.

12.   What is RGB color mode?  A full color image.

13.   What is dithering?  It involves combining pixels of several different colors.

14.   What is grayscale mode?  An image that is black and white/no color.

15.   What does interlacing a file do?  Saving a file that can be viewed on the Web without waiting for it to load and the quality will not be lost.

16.   What is cropping?  By “cropping” an image, you take away unwanted junk from the focal point of the image.

Briefly describe these graphic file types: NOTE: It is important to learn these types of files to be a proficient graphic artist, so pay attention when you describe these file types.

1.       JPEG—Joint Photographic Experts Group

2.       GIF—Graphics Interchange Format

3.       PNG—Portable Network Graphics

4.       XCF—GIMP’s own file format

5.       TIFF—Tagged Image File Format

6.       Raw—Used by camera manufactures, which encompasses various proprietary formats

7.       BMP—Microsoft’s Bitman Format

8.       PSD—Adobe’s proprietary Photoshop format

9.       ICO—Microsoft Windows Icon Format

10.   PDF—This is for vector graphic formats involving lines, points, and curves.

PART 2: GIMP PROJECT: Be sure to save these images in your GIMP folder before inserting them in this document.

1.       Go to the web site for this book: http://gimpbook.com 2.       Look through the menus on the left to see the supplemental information provided for you about the book. 3.       Click on the PHOTOS FROM THE BOOK link, and scroll down to see the images for Chapter 2. 4.       Download and save these images: Red Rock Canyon (the 4th image), Canyon Lands (5th image), American kestrel (the bird), Ethan (the little boy). 5.       With the Red Rock Canyon image, apply the following color techniques as indicated in the textbook on pages 38-50 (try dragging the sliders in each dialog box to see how they change the image, then UNDO to restore the image back to the original), then DESCRIBE what each does:

·         Brightness-Contrast:  The image goes brighter with the “brightness” slider, while the contrast sharpens up the photo a bit.

·         Levels: This helps to see the brightness and the contrast levels of the image in smoother detail.

·         Curves:  Does the brightness and contrast at the same time.

·         Threshold: Takes away the color and turns into a black and white photo.

·         Desaturation:  Also takes away the color, but it does have choices of:  lightness, luminosity, or average.

6.       When you have applied these techniques to the Red Rock Canyon image, apply THRESHOLD to the image, save it, then insert it here:

7.       With the Canyon Lands image, use Rotation to adjust the image as indicated on pages 51-55. Save the rotated and insert here:

8.       With the Canyon Lands image, use Rotation to adjust the image as indicated on pages 51-55. Save the rotated and insert here:

9.       With the Kestrel image, use the Sharpening techniques indicated on pages 55-59. Save the sharpened image and insert here:   Radius:  4.0, Amount:  1.10, Threshold 17.

10.   With the little boy, Ethan, image, correct the Red-Eye as indicated on pages 61-66. Save the corrected image and insert here: