Editing images using Microsoft Photo Editor and Paint

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Editing images using Microsoft Photo Editor and
Paint

• Monica Berger
• NYC College of Technology
• Fall 2002 EIS workshop
• Nov. 6, 2002
• mberger_at_citytech.cuny.edu
• Long version of tutorial

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• Microsoft Photo Editor and Paint are
  image-editing software applications that come
  bundled into Microsoft Office
  
• Both have very little of the capability of Adobe
  Photoshop
  
• But they are free with Office and easy to
  learn.
  

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I will cover

• How to save an image from a webpage
• Image file formats
• Improving a photo
• How to resize an image
• What happens when an image is resized from small
  to large and large to small

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I will cover

• How to crop
• How to add an effect
• How to add type
• How to take a sheetshot
• How to optimize images

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How to save an image from a webpage

• Lets go to the NOAA photo libraryhttp//www.phot
  olib.noaa.gov/
  
• right click your mouse on the homepage photo
• select save picture as
• save file in the same format as it appears on the
  webpage

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How to save an image from a webpage

• Internet Explorer has a right-click properties
  feature to help you find out the name of a file,
  its size and its specific location on the remote
  server

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Image file formats

• .gif non-photographic graphics
• .jpg generally best for photographs
• .bmp Microsoft proprietary format not useful for
  anything except creating wallpaper for your
  Windows desktop. Paint will default to saving
  files in .bmp
• This webpage has more information about the
  difference between .gif and .jpg

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Improving a photo

• Use MS Photo Editor to adjust darkness and
  lightness of an image and even improve the color
  balance of an image. Select
  
• Image
• Balance
• Decrease or increase brightness
• Decrease or increase balance
• Use gamma by selecting a color and then adjust
  the scale to make the photo go red, blue or green

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Decreasing brightness

• Here is the original

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Decreasing brightness

• Here is picture darkened

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Decreasing brightness

• Here is picture with red selected and the gamma
  increased to 2.0

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Auto-balance

• If youre not certain how to adjust your photo,
  use the auto-balance feature

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Resizing images

• Always constrain the dimensions of your image
• Constrain means keeping the dimensions in the
  same ratio
  
• If your software doesnt automatically provide
  resizing, note the exact dimensions of your image
  
  
• Photo Editor defaults to a constrained sizing but
  width and height need to be changed the same
  percentage

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Resizing images

• The duck picture as an original
• It is 500 pixels wide and
• 546 pixels high

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Resizing images

• The duck picture as an original
• Resized image lost its ratio
• I clicked allow distortion,
• Changed the ration and
• Dimensions are now
• 475 pixel wide and
• 409 pixels high

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Resizing images
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What happens when an image is resized from small
to large and large to small

• The original is a medium-sized image at 500 x 546
  pixels
  
• (width is given first and then height this is
  standard)

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What happens when an image is resized from small
to large and large to small

• Reduced to 200 pixels, the image still looks fine
  but it wasnt that big to begin with.
  
• Lets reduce it to 50 pixels to make a small
  graphic

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What happens when an image is resized from small
to large and large to small

• Reduced to 50 pixels, the image is hard to read
  but not too fuzzy or distorted.
  
• What happens if we try to resize the image back
  up?

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What happens when an image is resized from small
to large and large to small

• The 50 pixel image is resized to 200 pixels.
• Now it is fuzzy and unusable

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The adage(s) of this story

• Always copy your image files before manipulating
  them in case they get ruined
  
• Start with an image file the appropriate scale to
  your purpose. E.g. use a small file for icons
  
• Its ok to reduce an image but blowing it up
  often doesnt work.

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Cropping images

• First define what part of the photo you are
  saving by using define
  
• Use your mouse to change width and height

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Cropping images

• I have selected only the ducks head for
  cropping
  
• Select image
• Select crop
• Use the defaults on the menu

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Cropping images

• The ducks head only

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Add an effect

• Under effects, select an effect
• I choose chalk and charcoal to make my photo
  into a non-photographic graphic image

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Add type

• Photo Editor doesnt let the user add type BUT
• Paint does have this function
• Close your image in Photo Editor and then
• open your image in Paint

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Add type

• Here is the original image in Paint

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Add type

• Click on the icon of the letter A this lets
  you add type
  
• A cross with a dot in the middle will appear on
  your image. Use it to create a text box by
  dragging it across and up and down to size the
  box.

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Add type

• Control the font size and type using the fonts
  menu (1)
  
• Add the text in the text box (2)
• Control the color of the font using the color
  palette (3)

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Add type

• Notice how the type box is over the image?
• That is because the toggle to have the text box
  over the image is on (look for the arrow)
  
• Select the option below it for an invisible
  text box.

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Add type

• The process is repeated but this time, select the
  second option for the text box (look for the
  arrow on the image)

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Add type

• The process is repeated but this time, select the
  second option for the text box (look for the
  arrow on the image)
  
• Paint doesnt let us center the type or position
  it flush right

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Screenshots

• Screenshots are easy and very useful for
  tutorials.
  
• Just hold down
• CONTROL
• ALT and
• PRINT SCREEN
• simultaneously

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Screenshots

• Paste your screenshot into Photo Editor
• Save your original.
• Copy it and and then crop it so it isnt too
  large. Typically a screenshot is about 800 pixels
  across. I suggest reducing the size 50.
  
• I often name my files to show their size.
• The original might be called duckyorig.jpg and
  the version that is 400 pixels across is called
  ducky400.jpg. This helps me quickly identify the
  different scales of the image.

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How to optimize images

• Try not to load images over 60K for webpages
• Always optimize your images for faster loading
• Use shareware or
• Websites that provide this service
• Photoshop provides optimization

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Thanks and help

• Thanks for visiting this tutorial. This is the
  long version. There is also a shorter version.
  
• If you would like to contact me, my email address
  is
  
• Monica Berger
• mberger_at_citytech.cuny.edu