A Guide to Photography and Taking Pictures for Graphic Designers

As a graphic designer, sooner or later you will need to take a picture. If you are fortunate enough to work for a company which supplies you with a camera, use it if that camera is good enough. If it is not, find one that is.

What is good enough? A camera that can provide enough light to adequate illuminate the subject. This can be done with a built-in flash or with an add-on flash. AND, a digital camera that provides enough pixel resolution. A good rule of thumb is anything below 6 megapixels probably won't do everything you need done.

QUICK FACT

A hot shoe is the place on a camera where a removable flash is mounted. The hot shoe interface allows the camera and flash to work together.

In general and if you can afford it, get an SLR (Single Lens Reflex) with a removable lens. Some cameras with a permanently attached lens will work, but it needs to be a zoom (telephoto or magnification lens).

PRO TIP

Years ago as a photographer who shot several rolls of film a week, I carried a 35-200 mm zoom lens. It met 99.5 percent of my needs a photojournalist. Then, I got my hands on a 24 mm. That lens, a 135 mm fixed length and a 70-200 mm took 99.98 percent of my pictures. The 24 mm shot more than 90 percent of my pictures.

I found that the wide angle lens forced me to get up close to my subjects. By getting close, I picked up details I missed standing a distance away. I started noticing details I missed before. I had to pay more attention to light and the surroundings. As a result, the quality of my photography went way up and I began to receive awards and assignments (which meant more money) that had passed me by previously.

The three basic rules of photography, especially where graphic design is concerned are: Get Close. Get Close. Get Close.

After you get close, start paying attention to what you are taking a picture of.

Start framing that picture, with the camera viewfinder or display, for use in your project before you ever snap the first shot. The viewfinder or screen image is the final edge of the picture. If you think of it as the final edge of the picture for when you turn it into art for your design, you'll find you will have to get a lot closer than you expect. You'll also take better pictures.

Getting close means several things:

Rule 1 is More detail in your final image. A good thing, unless your project calls for a blurry image.

Rule 2 is Less cropping needed. With digital images this is especially important. The more you enlarge a digital image, the faster the image quality drops off. When you enlarge a digital image, you enlarge the pixels which make up that image. There is a point of diminishing returns.

In this example, the image is at 100 percent of size with a 180 DPI resolution.

In this tight crop and enlargement of the same image, the pixels begin to show. The greater the magnification, the more the pixels will show.

This problem is made even worse when the DPI (resolution) of the original image is lower. Most digital cameras generate images at 72 DPI. They just have a much larger image area.

In this image, the resolution is 72 DPI and the picture is 4x4.

In this version of the same image, the picture is nearly doubled in size. Quality is beginning to drop off as the image is beginning look out of focus as pixels are enlarged.

In this magnified crop, the pixels are even more evident and the out-of-focus appearance is even more dramatic. Increasing the resolution of the image through Photoshop does nothing to clear up the image. The fuzziness remains. Only the pixels are smaller.

Rule 3 is  Less image manipulation. Even if you will severely alter the picture in something like Photoshop, starting with an image which fills the frame is going to move you ahead of the game as No. 2 states.

Rule 4 is Watch the Light. You can see quickly if you have enough light. Where are the shadows? Do they obscure something important? If so, move the subject if you can and reshoot. If not, turn the camera flash to the highest setting. Cameras with built-in flashes may not generate enough light, which is why an SLR with interchangeable lenses is good. These cameras support add-on flash (called strobes in the photography industry) units.

Watch the light because image-enhancing options cannot bring out an image that simply isn't there. If what you need is neither washed-out or obscured. You will spend unnecessary time in a photo support program trying to correct this. The best thing to do is not let it happen in the first place.

In this example, there is plenty of light. There's just not enough light under the tent. Now lets see what happens when there is either too much or too little light in a picture.

In this image, taken indoors, the camera's flash unit was needed, but was not turned on.

In this example, taken indoors, the flash was too much and the picture is washed out.

If you are shooting in a well-lit location, get the lights behind you. Existing light is called ambient light. This is especially important outdoors. People you plan to take pictures of will line up so the sun is to their back. This means their face will be in shadow. If you are going for a silhouette effect, that's what you need, But if you need to see faces, the sun needs to shine on them.

This may be a problem on a sunny day, especially when you don't want the people to wear sunglasses. Here's what I do:

Tell the people to close their eyes. Tell them you will count to three. On three, they are to open their eyes for an instant. You snap the picture in that instant.

You won't get squints and you should get everyone's eyes open.

Rule 5 is watch the background.

Make sure there are no trees growing out of someone's head.

In this example, strings of colored lights appear to be growing out of the head on the girl at left. Moving slightly probably would have taken the lights out of the picture. Make sure the background is either clear or shows things you want seen.

In this example, while the central point is people fishing, the background is interesting and could be important depending on how the picture is used. You can manipulate the background if needed with software, but if it can be easily done before the picture is taken, you are ahead of the game.

Rule 6 is don't stand in one place.

Walk around. Kneel. Climb up on something. Change the camera's angle and you can sometimes dramatically change the picture.

In this example, the rider and motorcycle stayed in one place and the photographer moved. The difference in images is quite dramatic. The angle of the bike is different and the background is different.

Rule 7 is shoot pictures.

Considering the overall cost of a project, short and long term, film is cheap, the cheapest part of your project. Digital images are even cheaper yet. By getting a lot of images, you give yourself more to work with when you get back to the computer.

Technorati Tags: photography, photographer, graphic design, digital photography, shoot pictures, take pictures, shooting pictures, taking pictures, tips for photography, photography for designers, images, pictures, graphics

Although compressing images isn't as essential for print design as it is for web design, being able to compress graphics certainly comes in handy on some occasions. Hopefully the following article will help you with tips for print design compression.

Digital data for graphics for print design projects can be compressed three ways:

JPEG  - Short for Joint Photographic Experts Group, and pronounced jay-peg. JPEG is a lossy compression technique for color images. Although it can reduce files sizes to about 5% of their normal size, some detail is lost in the compression."The name JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, the name of the committee that created the standard." according to Wikipedia.

PDF - Short for Portable Document Format, a file format developed by Adobe Systems. PDF captures formatting information from a variety of desktop publishing applications, making it possible to send formatted documents and have them appear on the recipient's monitor or printer as they were intended. To view a file in PDF format, you need Adobe Reader, a free application distributed by Adobe Systems.

Zip or Stuffit - A Zipped file is a  file that contains one or more files that have been compressed into the ZIP format. Also called a "ZIP archive," "zipped file" or "zipped archive," the ZIP algorithm is the most popular compression method in use. Usually, the files in a zip file are compressed so that they take up less space in storage or take less time to send to someone. Some software that you might know about for zipping or stuffing are  PKZIP, , WinZip, Netzip for Windows, MacZip, Zip, UnZip, and Stuffit. After a user receives a zipped file, then they will have to extract and decompress this  file by using the same kind of tool that was used to zip the original file.

JPEGs

A JPEG or JPG is an image file. It is cross-platform compatible and is the most widely used image file format. It can only be used with images. Text must be converted to an image file in order to use the JPG compressions.

JPEGS can reduce a file size by as much as 75 percent, possibly more, depending on the original file size and complexity. Most programs which create JPEG files have a default setting that generates a jpeg file at around medium compression. Advanced image manipulation programs, like Photoshop, allow the user to control the amount of compression. With the available compression rates through Adobe Photoshop, The highest rate, 12, produces the best final image, but it is a larger file. The lowest rate, 0, produces the smallest file but the lowest quality image.

This is The original Photo with 100% Quality and No Data Loss - This is the best quality JPEG available, but it has the largest file size.

50% Quality - This quality of this JPEG is still pretty good.

20% Quality - This photo is starting to show the loss of quality, but at least the file size is much smaller.

A JPEG in Photoshop with 0% Quality - This is the worst quality JPEG available, but it has the smallest file size.

The problem with jpeg compression is an image can get dust, scatter or noise (the term varies) especially at the highest compression rates. This is called lossy compression, meaning that some visual quality is lost in the process. This clip of an image shows the lossy compression distortion in the fuzz, clouds or gray specks in the image which should not be there

Noise is a reason a completed graphic design project generally should not be converted to a jpeg for file reduction purposes.

PDFs

PDF is a licensed file type of the Adobe family of software. The PDF reader program is a free download. The full version of Adobe Acrobat must be purchased. PDF files are cross-platform and include some high desirable advantages.

1) With the full version of Acrobat, a PDF can be left completely open to another user can modify it, or it can be locked in various stages, allowing a user various permissions such as filling out forms, copying or modifying certain parts. It can also be completely locked so that another user cannot modify or even print the PDF without the password.

2) Fonts, provided the font is licensed for embedding, can be included in the document. If the PDF is not locked, or the password is sent along, changes can be made to the document with the font even if the user does not have the font in his system. Note - The font cannot be removed from the document to be installed in another user's computer.

3) It reduces file size. How much depends on the size requested. Maximum compatibility, which allows users with older versions of Reader to look at the document, will be a larger file than Minimum File Size, which requires users to have at least the same version or later of Reader as the Acrobat program which created the PDF.

4) Most pagination programs will create a PDF with a Save As or Export As option. The drawback of this is the PDF file may or may not be locked and you have no choice over this. Also, some programs can temporarily overwrite font embedding restrictions, making you believe the font is embedded when it is actually not. For that reason, if you create a PDF with some other program, always check it with Acrobat before sending it off.

5) A PDF file can be imported into a pagination file and then re-saved as a PDF without losing any image or document quality. This can be done repeatedly without fear of losing image and document appearance quality.

6) The best part is the files are cross platform and cross program compatible. A PDF file created on a PC in Pagemaker, can be opened on a Mac even if the Mac does not have Pagemaker. A Mac user can save an Illustrator file as a PDF and a PC can open it even without having Illustrator.

Zipping Files

Zip (PC) or StuffIt (Mac) are two compression programs that can compress any kind of electronic document. Updated versions of Zip and StuffIt will open files created by the other program. Once a file is compressed this way, it must be uncompressed in order to use it. Files can be compressed and uncompressed repeatedly without worry. The reader programs are free. Limited use of Zip and StuffIt is sometimes permitted without buying the full program, depending on the programs creating a file which needs to be Zipped or Stuffed.

The drawback is files are not innately cross-platform compatible. Further, the user receiving the document must have a program which can read the file. In other words, if a Pagemaker file made on a Mac is Stuffed and sent to a PC, the PC must have Pagemaker installed (high-end pagination programs can read files from cross-platform computers). If a QuarkXpress file on a PC is Zipped and sent to a Mac, if that Mac user does not have Quark, the file will decompress, but not open.

Nothing is embedded in Zip and Stuffit files. Special fonts and images must be included with the files, if the other user does not have access to these.

Technorati Tags: graphics compression, graphic compression, smaller images, smaller files, zipping files, stuffing files, compression, images, graphics, image compression, jpegs, jpgs, jpeg compression, lossless compression, pdf compression, pdfs, pdf