Photo & Graphic Tips

• Resolution - A graphic, whether viewed on the screen or printed, is composed of tiny dots (also called pixels). The number of dots per square inch that the file has is called DPI or "Dots per Inch". The more of these dots that can fit in a one inch space, the tinier the dots and the sharper the image. Higher DPI is only good up to a point. Beyond that, all a higher DPI does is make the file larger - not better! Normal photos or graphics on the web are 72 DPI, laser printers print at 150-600 DPI (and higher), Inkjet printers can print from 300-2400 DPI and higher. If you expect to print the photo, then the larger the print the higher the DPI is needed to keep the sharpness of the photo.
• Size - The size of a graphic is the number of pixels in either direction that a photo takes up. For example, 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768 and so on. This size is proportional to the size of the file on disk. Most computers made in after 2003 display a full screen resolution of 1024x768 or higher. Most digital cameras made in the same time frame take photos upwards of twice that
  size!

• BMP. BMP (Bitmap) files are the Windows "standard" image file format and are complete crap. They are extremely large in file size and contain a small amount of color information. I wish this format would go away! In general, Do NOT use at all!
  
• GIF. Graphics Interface Format is a format with a limited amount of colors (in general a maximum of 256 colors per image) which is ideal for images with a few colors, flat cartoon like images for example. The lack of colors makes it unsuitable as a storage format for large photographs with many colors. In general, Do NOT use for photos!
  
• JPG. JPG stands for Joint Photographic Group, which is the name of the organization which created this format. JPG was designed for the storage of photographs and is in fact used in most digital cameras. It is lossy, so you do lose detail, but you can choose how much detail you lose. JPG is great for sending photographs via email, and for photographic images on the forums.
  

• Thumbsplus - By far my favorite image manipulation tool is Thumbsplus (www.thumbsplus.com). I've been using the software for over 5 years now and have never had a problem. In fact almost 90% of the photos on Wings900.com and DAC are manipulated/resized with this software. Free 30 day trial, then it becomes crippled. Full version is worth the money.
  
• Picasa - Free software from Google, click here to download. Picasa is a great first time user tool, and its free. Tons of cool features, editing items, email photos, scaling, etc. Its all here.
  

Compression examples
Original 3289 bytes	80% 2896 bytes	60% 2104 bytes	40% 1498 bytes	20% 1206 bytes

3,000 x 800k = 2.4GB of data transferred (A CD Rom holds .7GB, a DVD Rom 4GB)

25 x 2.4GB = 60GB of data, over 5 months = 12GB per month, just for transferring those files

3,000 x 100k = 300mb
25 x 300mb = 7.5gb of data, over 5 months = 1.5GB per month! 80% savings!!

1. Set your camera to the best or second best quality. On an Olympus, this is SHQ or HQ. That way the photo will contain the most possible data and detail.
2. For most shots, don't worry about filling the entire frame with the subject, you can always crop later. Have the model take up about 3/4 of the width, maybe a bit less depending on size. Remember, you set the quality, detail and size levels high, so you can take a portion of the photo, crop it, and scale it down and get a good clean crisp shot.
3. If you are going to print the photos, then you want to fill the entire frame with the subject, as when you crop/resize you'll loose data.
4. For macro shots, the tighter the shot, the smaller the field of focus...in other words the closer you go, the smaller the area the camera can focus on. There are ways to compensate for it via aperture settings.
5. No flash - use a natural incandescent light (try natural spectrum bulbs), play with your shutter speed and flash to get the best results. Built in flashes are too close to the subject, especially when doing macro shots, so they often over expose the shot. External flashes work as well. If you keep getting overexposed shots, check to see if you camera has exposure compensation. Some Olympus's have this and allow you to actually darken the exposure when the flash goes off.
6. ISO - Regular film is rated in its speed, known as ASA. ISO on digital cameras is an approximation of ASA. The higher the ISO the more visible "grain" in the photo, the more light needed. I set my camera to ISO 100, normal film that you buy is ASA 400.
7. Use a Tripod - With no flash and trying to shoot in macro mode w/the camera in your hand, you'll never get the shot, they will be
   blurred. If you don't have a tripod, prop the camera up somehow, and not on a wiggly desk.
8. Crop what you like - pick the portion of the shot, or maybe the entire aircraft and crop. Remember, you don't have to fill the screen to get the point across, and there is no need to try to post a 500k photo.
9. Scale it! - As mentioned above, we don't need to see a photo that is 2000 pixels wide. Even after cropping the photo is still probably pretty big. Scale the photo down to say 600-800 pixels wide. That will save with jpg compression at around 50-120k. When you scale down, the grain will disappear, and you photos will magically look sharper and clearer.
10. Good software - Please please please, use good software to scale and crop. Many people don't have re-sampling turned on when they
    scale their photos and they get "jagged" edges. I HIGHLY recommend Thumbsplus. It is worth every penny. http://www.thumbsplus.com or Picasa at http://www.picasa.com/index.php?tid=Y2NpZD0zNjcy