Digital Media – Week 2

Actually Posted on 3rd March 2008.

We covered a lot of content and different areas this week. Don’t feel bad or worry if you can’t remember all of it (but feel absolutely awesome if you do!), we will go over and come back to some of those topics through the year. In this weeks session, we covered the following topics:

• The Four Main File Types: PNG, JPG, GIF and BMP
• Saving Images as Different File Types in Photoshop CS
• USB Drives – How to Use Them
• File Management
• Searching For Images Using Google

You may also want to look at the post: Certificate 1 – Week 1
The Four Main File Types: PNG, JPG, GIF and BMP

You may find the following linked resources useful.

What’s the Difference & JPG vs. GIF

Remember our Discussion:

JPG File ( filename.jpg/jpe/jpeg ): Smallest file size, Excellent Quality. Perfect for the Final Product and Emailing to Your Friends

BMP File ( filename.bmp ): Very Large file size, Excellent Quality. Great for Raw capture (in Digital Cameras for example). Stores (or captures) the most information.

GIF File ( filename.gif ): Tiny file size, great for pictures and images with uniform colours (no more then the 256 colours in the standard spectrum). Not so great for photos with high content (great looking clouds, smoke on the roof tops, rain drops on tree leaves etc).

PNG File ( filename.png ): Great compromise between the above three file types. File size suitable to that of the amount of data wanted. Supports other features depending on the application the PNG is created with. Good for working on files being swapped between to remote users.

Saving Images as Different File Types in Photoshop CS

When you are ready to save your file:

1. Move the mouse cursor towards the top left of the Photoshop CS Window, and place it directly on the File Menu. With the left mouse button, click once.

Note that my mouse pointer is – invisible – ‘cos I was takin’ a screenie!

2. Move the mouse cursor downwards, until it is resting over – Save As… Save As… will be highlighted.

 

3. Using the left mouse button again, without moving the mouse cursor, click once. The following dialogue box should appear on the screen. If something else appears, press the ESC (escape) key on your keyboard, and try again from Step 1.

 

Yours may look a little different, but the process is the same.

4. In the Format: drop down list, click the downwards pointing arrow, and select the file type you want to save as, from the list.

 

I have selected PNG (*.PNG) – You Can Select Any

5. Enter a file name (name of the picture of something descriptive) into the File name: field and click the Save button.

Don’t forget to enter a file name (“fish” for example)

6. Click “OK” or “Continue” on any additional pop-up windows that appear. The default settings are fine for now.

Your file has now been saved as a “.PNG” file (or whatever format you selected).

USB Drives

AKA: Flash Drives, Memory Drives, Flash Keys, Memory Keys, Flash Memory, USB Keys, USB Memory … And any Combination of the above.

Detailed Information & How it Works

This Section will be updated when we cover “Naming Your USB Drive” in our next session.

File Management

Microsoft Technet Article (Advanced) & Chapter Extract Courtesy of Informit

These two links (in particular, the Chapter Extract) cover the steps we went through to create folders for storing our data. It also covers a few extra points, which are worth noting, as they will make your navigation and use of Windows XP much easier. The book the chapter extract is from, is well written and is a fantastic resource worth having.

Searching For Images using Google

Using Google to help you find images is relatively simple. You can either visit the Google Image Search engine directly, or use the link provided on the Google Home Page.

Direct Link: http://images.google.com.au

Google Home Page: http://www.google.com.au

Alexander Graham Bell was born on the 3rd March 1847

Click the Images link (which will be slightly to the left on your screen)

You will now see the Google Images search page. In the search field, enter in a word or name of something you would like to see pictures of.

When you have entered in your search word(s), click the “Search Images” button.

Remember; I put these links and resources here for your use. So if they are of no use to you, too hard to understand or you feel they are off topic, then please let me know, via any of the communication channels you have with me. I am more then happy to make changes, source better content or even create fresh content from scratch, just for you! You need only ask …. nicely!