The Absence of Light  

If you ever create shadows in your designs or illustrations, check out these tips for making them richer and more realistic.

Campbell, J. Scott. Adobe Magazine (1997). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing

Adding Reflections to Water in Photoshop

Denny Tang shows how to add sparkle to your images of water in this Photoshop tutorial.

Tang, Denny. Graphics.com (2005). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing>Adobe Photoshop

Color Correcting Digital Camera Images

As far as digital technology has come, there's still one thing that digital cameras won't do: give you perfect color every time. In fact, if they gave us perfect color 50% of the time, that would be incredible; but unfortunately, every digital camera (and every scanner that captures traditional photos) sneaks in some kind of color cast in your image.

Kelby, Scott. Layers Magazine (2005). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing

Creative Techniques for Modifying Images  

Images are an integral part of most page layouts. Documents such as brochures, newsletters or information flyers rely on images in many ways. Images can be manipulated to suit a particular design purpose. They can be used as backgrounds to anchor elements, frames to delineate regions or shapes to help balance the page. Images can also be used to add interest to a page by contributing shape, texture or color. To use images in a creative manner, it is necessary to realize that the image is not a static entity. Modifying images for a particular design purpose or to add interest to a page can result in a more creative design.

Birchman, Judith A. STC Proceedings (2001). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing

Cropping and Sizing Graphics

Use this study guide to learn how to crop and size graphics in several different applications. Cropping is not particularly problematic, but sizing is.

McMurrey, David A. Illuminati Online (2004). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing

Customizing Clipart

Like many of you, I come from a training background. Like many of you, we’re experts in group facilitation, engaging our learners, and creating instructionally sound materials. Yet, many trainers are not graphic artists nor do we have a score of graphic artists helping us create our training presentations. As a result, our training presentations often may not adequately represent the professionalism and quality that we’ve built into our training.

Traut, Terence R. Presenters University (2003). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing>Technical Illustration

Digital Imaging Tutorial

This tutorial offers base-level information on the use of digital imaging to convert and make accessible cultural heritage materials. It also introduces some concepts advocated by Cornell University Library, in particular the value of benchmarking requirements before undertaking a digital initiative. You will find here up-to-date technical information, formulas, and reality checks, designed to test your level of understanding.

Cornell University (2003). (Spanish) Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing

Electronic Image Manipulation - Technological Advances and Ethical Considerations  

Electronic imaging has enabled the desktop publisher to capture and manipulate images to produce documents that are both attractive and cost-effective. In addition to making basic corrections such as balancing colors and improving highlight and shadow detail, the desktop publisher can retouch photographs and other artwork to repair damaged areas, eliminate distracting elements, or alter composition. However, the ease of manipulation has, in some cases, overshadowed the many ethical issues that desktop publishers need to consider. Integrity of the image, ownership of artwork, and copyright laws are some of the issues that desktop publishers must confront.

Adams, Rae and Stephanie S. Babbitt. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Graphic Design>Image Editing>Ethics

The Ethics of Electronic Image Manipulation  

Desktop-publishing software and hardware have become affordable, powerful, and relatively user-friendly. Consequently, with reasonable investments in time and money, communications professionals can now manipulate photographs and create visual images relatively easily in their publications. However such images may be used in ways that are, aside from legal concerns, not ethical. Technical-communications professionals need to be able to recognize manipulated images and to explore the ethical implications of creating or being asked to use such images.

Adams, Rae and Stephanie S. Babbitt. STC Proceedings (1994). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing>Ethics

Graphic File Transformations  

This paper examines raster and vector file formats and explains the details necessary to transform them for use in various output devices. Methodologies and suggestions for raster-to-vector, vector-to-raster, resampling of raster, 3-dimensional vector to 2-dimensional vector, and 2-dimensional vector to 2-dimensional vector conversions are discussed.

Porter, Sara J. STC Proceedings (2004). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing

Harnessing the Power of PNGs

Compared to GIF and JPEG, the PNG file format has a lot to offer: smaller file sizes, higher quality, and superb transparency. All you need are a few guidelines and techniques to expand your design toolbox.

Sawyer McFarland, Dave. Creative Pro (2007). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing>Standards

How to Cool a Hot Photo  

When your photo can't be changed, surround it with a cool color.

Before and After (2005). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing

Image Formats

But what's the difference between GIF, JPEG and BMP? What does it mean if a GIF is interlaced or non-interlaced? Is a JPEG progressive because it enjoys art deco? Does a Bitmap actually offer directions somewhere? And the most often asked question: When do I use a specific image format?

Burns, Joe. HTML Goodies (1998). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing

Looking Sharp  

How to get the most out of the Photoshop sharpening controls - complete with show-and-tell examples.

Blatner, David and Steve Roth. Adobe Magazine (1995). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing>Adobe Photoshop

The Perfect Splash

In the days of working with film products, creating images with splashing water was an incredible challenge. Today, digital capture provides a control we never had before. Just shoot the splashing water over several images and combine the best parts into one—in Photoshop CS, of course.

DiVitale, Jim. Layers Magazine (2005). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing>Adobe Photoshop

Photo Reflection Effect

With Apple's release of iWeb -- an amazing web site building tool -- I've been getting a steady stream of emails wanting to know how to recreate the nifty photo reflection effect which appears at the top of iWeb pages and in the slide shows (here's a sample). Adding such a reflection is a super easy way to add depth and a bit of sophistication to your photographs.

Snider, Lesa. Planet Photoshop (2006). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing>Adobe Photoshop

Photoshop How-To: Experimenting with Traditional Techniques

Photographers have always liked playing tricks with images. Try these time-honored techniques for adding polish and pizzazz to your digital photos in Photoshop.

Georges, Gregory. Creative Pro (2004). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing>Adobe Photoshop

Picture Fixes  

Correct almost any problem photo by harnessing the power of the Curves and Levels dialog boxes in Photoshop.

Fraser, Bruce. Adobe Magazine (1996). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing>Adobe Photoshop

Pixel Power  

A collection of Photoshop tips and techniques, including making Photoshop fly, managing color palettes for your Web images, and lots of great Photoshop tips.

Adobe Magazine (1996). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing>Adobe Photoshop

Restoring Damaged Photos  

Time isn't kind to treasured photographs. See Photoshop Diva Katrin Eismann's digital techniques for repairing creased, stained, torn, and damaged photos.

Eismann, Katrin. Creative Pro (2004). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing>Adobe Photoshop

The Right Match  

Ever wonder why some graphics file formats have a poor reputation? Sometimes, it's not because they're inherently bad, but because they're not designed to be used in certain ways, on certain printers, or on certain platforms. Knowing how to match a job with the right formats can save you some real headaches.

Kvern, Olav Martin. Adobe Magazine (1997). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing>Standards

The Squeeze Is On  

Lossy or lossless? No, the subject isn't baseball, it's file compression. Understanding it can improve your image.

Fleishman, Glenn. Adobe Magazine (1998). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing

Unexpected Text  

I know, I know, Illustrator is a drawing program - but its text-handling features can be handy, too. Here's a guide to using them.

Kvern, Olav Martin. Adobe Magazine (1996). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing>Adobe Illustrator