This is the first of a series on image manipulation, which will start - after an introduction to Adobe Photoshop and other image editing software - by looking at scanning images and optimising the files obtained. There are some simple instructions on scanning transparencies, negatives and prints in the Photography .
Most photographers these days spend at least part of their time working with images on computers. For some of us it has largely replaced the darkroom, while others simply want to put images onto web sites or just to explore the possibilities of manipulating images that the computer can offer. If you want some good advice on making your photo web site work for you.
If you don't have Photoshop, you will still be able to do most of the things, although the detailed commands will be different. After all you will need to do the same kind of things with images in order to optimise them. You will probably have to spend a little time looking through the menus or even searching and reading the 'Help'. However, since Photoshop is the leading player in the market, many software writers have borrowed the odd feature and terminology from this program, which may make you life easier.
Why does Photoshop still have the kind of prominence it enjoys among photographers? It may help to look at some of its pros and cons:
Benefits
simple intuitive interface (despite what some people say)
unfussy operation for common actions
useful simple definition of common sets of actions
industry standard, used by many other photographers
includes standard ICC/ICM colour management
wide range of publications (print and web) dealing with its use including good online tutorials
many plugin programs to add functionality
makes better use of second processor and large amounts of memory than most software
Drawbacks
expensive basic program
very expensive plugins
many missing or poorly implemented functions (why you need to buy plugins)
poor image resizing
poor (slow) handling of image data for large images
Photoshop - unlike many other image manipulation programs (although Picture Window probably has better calibration) - includes a facility to calibrate your monitor. Although fairly basic compared to some specialist hardware/software devices, there is little point trying to get accurate results from an uncalibrated system. If you own Photoshop and haven't calibrated your monitor, do it now, using the Adobe Gamma utility located in the Photoshop/Calibrate folder (Windows) or Photoshop/Goodies/Calibration folder (Mac OS). You will also find it in Control Panel in Windows.
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