Criteria 4
Be able to manage digital image assets
4.1 - Import images into an image management system
4.3 - Optimise image files for different uses prior to export
4.6 - Retrieve images for post processing in image manipulation software
4.2 - Develop a system to identify images to facilitate easy retrieval
Evidence: Written explanation
Explain your system for choosing images and to enable easy retrieval.
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| A step by step diagram demonstrating my workflow |
1. Once I have taken my photographs the next thing I would do is download the images onto my computer’s hard drive. I take my SD card and place into the card reader slot at the side of my laptop.
2. A photo dialog box opens where all my new photographs are shown in the style of a thumbnail grid. These files are now ready to be selected for importing onto my computer. I do not delete my images after importing as I never reuse a full SD card but store in a safe place for extra backup.
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| Importing my images from my SD card to the computer |
3. I now save my imported files. I may make a new folder or store the images to an existing folder. Initially I store to my computer’s hard drive and the save a copy to my external hard drive.
4. I open Photoshop and select Browse in Bridge. This is the software I use to analyse my images for selection. I like using Bridge as I can view my Raw files because of its software compatibility with Photoshop. I now can view, assess and gather all the images information regarding the exposure values and the general setup of my camera.
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| Adobe Bridge |
5. The slider bar at the bottom of the software allows me to change the size of my images to either small or large thumbnails. By sliding the bar to the left makes the images smaller, which allows me to have a general overview photographs. When I need to look more closely at an image I would move the slider bar to the right making the image larger to view. I can select a rating by clicking on stars at the bottom of the thumbnail. This gives me an option to go back and work on them later. To help me find an image quickly I can utilize my search by using the filter on the left-hand side of Bridge. For example, I can select all images at an ISO rating of 100 or select all the images that I have given a star rating of 5. There are many more filter options, which is useful when trying to locate an image quickly. At this stage I may make a contact sheet of my selections. I find this a great help when over viewing my images particularly when I print a copy for future reference.
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| Creating a contact sheet for my reference |
6. When I want to home-in on a photograph I click over the image and a blue box appears around the outside. All the information regarding the image is in the Metadata. I find the box with the symbols useful as it contains an overview of the exposure settings, so I can take note of any possible improvements. A Raw file automatically opens in the Camera Raw filter (in Photoshop) once selected.
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| Illustrated some of the features in Camera Raw |
7. Once in Camera Raw I can now edit the picture to my desired effect. Initially I would use the rotating, scale and crop tools and maybe correct any lens distortion. What I appreciate most when using Camera Raw is the exposure setting tools. I can adjust the shadows and the highlights as well as bring out the clarity of an image. Colour temperature can also be make warmer or cooler, as well as changing the colours vibrancy and saturation. I would also change a coloured image to black and white by adjusting the tonal levels. The level adjustment brings more contrast within the image creating more of a dramatic effect. Reducing noise and sharpening an image are also useful tools that I frequently use. The image opens automatically in Photoshop once I press open image after completed the Raw file adjustment.
8. Depending on the image and what results I want to achieve I may want to further edit my picture. I sometimes use layer masks to edited small areas of an image or use layers to completely change backgrounds. I also like combining two images together by layering one image on top of another. By being creative with these tools allows your personal taste or style to be incorporated within the images.
9. Once the image is completed I would save to Tiff format and store in an existing folder or I would create a new folder. I would initially store in my computer and copy to my external hard drive Saving the images to Tiff allows me to keep a master copy of an image keeping all the data without compressing and losing information. Tiff is what I use for print quality.
10.On occasions depending where the image is to be viewed I would need to recall my Master image and compress the file so that it can be viewed on the web. I would recall the image in Photoshop and export using ‘Save for Web’ This allows me to compress the image to Jpeg and see the difference between the different file sizes viewed on screen. I can zoom in and see the results are from a low to high setting.
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| Changing the file format from Tiff to Jpeg |
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| Adding Image Identification |
4.4 - Describe the principles of colour management
Evidence: Written explanation
Describe the principles of colour management. Use images to illustrate.
Colour management is a process of controlling colours of images that pass through the workflow systems. From the camera, to downloading on the computer, editing and then printing, colours need to be managed. The system is not as simple as it sounds as each device, the colour spaces vary from one another. The aim is to convert colour values between different colours spaces so that the representation is similar from each conversion. Colour conversion allows the translation of the colour values from each device for example, the colours shown on the monitor resembles the colours in the final print. An option is to calibrate your monitor and printer for better colour representation.
My digital camera input colour space can be set to sRGB or Adobe RGB. The colour space sRGB is a standard colour space used for multimedia images. When I recall an image into Photoshop for post editing, Adobe RGB (1998) has a larger colour gamut range for better representation for when converting to CMYK. The CMYK colour space is used for print production, because the gamut represents the colours range set to the inks in the printer. I have set the inks to Europe as the CMYK colour space varies globally. I can change the colour profile in Photoshop by selecting Colour Settings in Edit. This will protect my profile from an automatic conversion. If I want to convert a profile I would go to image and select mode and click on the colour space required and then convert to profile.
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| Screen shots illustrating my use of colour management |
I can visually see the differences and measure and compare colour values on screen between sRGB and CMYK. I would go to the Windows panel and select Info. I can compare the same image and their colour differences before I print. Most of the time there is very little change but I usually find grey contrasts more problematic. By selecting the colour picker I am able to hover over the RGB colour value and automatically get the CMYK equivalent. The screen shot below also shows the RGB and CMYK colour channel separations, which is also useful when your editing photographs as I am able to see the distribution of colour.
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| Comparing sRGB and CMYK colour modes |
To simplify my colour management, I would use sRGB for posting images on the web and AdobeRGB for editing my images in Photoshop. If I was to send my images to print I would convert to CMYK colour space. On occasions I would print preview and print a section as test copy to analyse the colours giving me an option to make a visual judgment. I would adjust the colours if the colours needed improving as colour is subjective to the individual who originated the image as well as the colour set up from all the different devices along the imaging chain.
4.5 - Describe the characteristics of colour spaces
Evidence: Written explanation
Describe the characteristics of colour spaces. Use images to illustrate.
Colours, tones and contrasts are dependent on the viewing conditions and the surrounding light. Viewing colours in daylight and calibrating display systems to represent this ensures the standardisation of colours. By controlling the colour modes, unify colour from one device to another. The main colour modes are RGB and CMYK, these are device dependent and each contains colour numbers where colour values can be mapped.
RGB represents the colours red, green and blue. Combining these colours to the maximum creates a white, when they have been combined to the lowest degree black is created. Microsoft and Hewlett- Packard in 1999 introduced sRGB, which mean standard red, green and blue. sRBG acts as a default setting for images that do not have any colour information. For digital input devices such as cameras monitors and scanners, RGB is the most widely used especially in photo editing software such as Photoshop. I would also use sRGB colour space for displaying images on the Internet. In 1998 Abobe Systems developed their own variation of RGB to assist with their Adobe editing packages. The Adobe RGB colour gamut is much wider than sRGB, therefore provides more colour detail especially in the yellow and orange tonal range. This is ideal for post editing images and printing but for exporting and for website use, opting for sRGB is the most recognised therefore better colour compatibility over most operating systems. There is also another RGB variant called ProPhoto RGB. This has an even wider gamut of colours but at the moment with limited technology, this colour space relies on the printer’s gamut range, which are smaller, therefore viewing a printed copy will differ from what is seen on screen. Adobe RGB and ProPhoto RGB are colour spaces mostly used by professional photographers who may have the latest technology.
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| https://www.reddit.com/r/imaginedragons/comments/6exr0j/rgb_rainbows/ Diagram showing the RGB colour space. |
CMYK contains four colours, cyan, magenta, yellow and black. This colour space is most suitable for printing. The letter K (key) represents the black, this removes light from the picture, which gives the appearance of Black. When cyan, magenta and yellow are mixed together the result is not black but a dark brown therefore the need for the black to be a key colour.
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| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMYK_color_model Diagram showing the CMYK colour space. |
CMYK and RGB values can be seen mapped showing the gamuts range by defining the group of colours. Pantones are a range of visual printed colours which help mapped printed colours. They are used by designers to change particular colours within an image. Cielab refers to the group of colours that closely resembles of our eyesight. This is indicated in the diagram below as 'Visual Colour Gamut'
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| https://marketmentors.com/spot-colors-importance-branding/ Diagram showing the different gamut boundaries for RGB and CMYK. |
Bit-depth is important in relationship to colour space. This is the number of digital bits used to identify a pixel by its colour and this is the method of storing colour information to the computer. When photographing in Jpeg the colour information is 8 bit-depth, which means the maximum colours that can be displayed are 256. This is then multiplied by the red, green and blue to create all the different tone levels within an image. When photographing in Raw the colour information is up to 16 bit-depth which means the image has 65.536 levels. When this multiplied by the red, green and blue creates a massive range of tonal levels within the image. I usually shoot in Raw as the 16 bit-depth allows me to have lots of colour information to edit my photographs, particularly when I adjust the contrasts and tonal values. This is important because without a smooth gradient between the tones, colour can band together in a sort of stripe effect. This is more noticeable in large areas such as the sky. Therefore, an 8-bit Jpeg image may cause problems when you post edit because it may not have enough colour information to make tonal changes. The selection of RGB 8 bit-depth and 16 bit-depth depends on the photographs end use and the more information that is attached to an image less storage capacity is available.
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