Your Computer
Basically, this is going to happen in one of three ways: you will scan art or photos into your computer, import photos from your digital camera, or download images from the web. Because of the vast variety of cameras and scanners out there, we cannot speak to the specific operations of their importing software, but all of them will give you a computer file (document) which you can then Save and reopen in your image editing software. Most scanners come with a PhotoShop plug-in which you install in the program’s Plug--Ins folder. You can then do your scanning from within PhotoShop and the resulting file is a PhotoShop document all open and ready to use.
Once you have opened a file in your image editing software, you can change its resolution and size (see below), and its file format as needed .
The first and most important rule of thumb is that you make a “source” file of each image as you receive it. This is the file in which you will do any work or editing - saved in a format that will not degrade the image each time you Save (which should be often as you go along). If you are using PhotoShop software, you can save your file in PSD (PhotoShop Document) or TIFF format. In other programs, save it in a TIFF format. From this working source file, you can always Save As a copy in any other format you may need, and your original will always be there for future changes and uses. Above right is the box you get under Save As in the PhotoShop File menu. This saves a copy of your file, so your original is left alone. Just rename the file and pull down the Format menu to choose your format. PhotoShop automatically appends the proper file suffix for you. In other programs, you may want to add it so you will be able to identify these files on your hard drive. Next time, we will talk more in depth about file formats. For now, the chart on the next page can be your guide.
Right at this juncture, we could take you on a merry goose chase that would tangle your gray matter enough that you would need brain creme rinse to smooth things out. Resolution is a mind boggling thing in computer art - because there is a lot of math involved and because there are a bunch of people defining resolution in different ways. Your monitor has a couple of meanings, your scanner has a few more, and your printer and digital camera add a couple more levels of mathematical gymnastics. There are a lot of little terms (ppi, dpi, lpi, spi, etc) which people throw around freely and interchangeably - even if they don’t know what they mean, and that helps add to the fracas. If you like that kind of thing, there are lots of books you can read in the computer aisle of your bookstore, but this is Computer Art 101, so we’re not going to give you enough information to hurt yourself.
In a perfect world, you would always be able to import your image in just the size and resolution that you need for your purposes. But, this world being a little less than perfect, that isn’t often the case. For example, digital cameras measure resolution in mega-pixels (another little term related to those above) which your computer interprets as 72ppi, and this can give you photographs 23" wide that wouldn’t print well even if you had a printer and paper that big.
So, you’ll often have to do some adjusting, and we’ll show you how on the next page.
