Digital Photography

EE 482, Summer 1997

During this semester, you will make use of the digital camera extensively. It will be used to share information about yourself, your team, and your project. This handout gives an overview of: 1)using the camera, 2)connecting the camera to the computer, and 3)using Adobe Photoshop to download, edit and save your pictures.

(1) Olympus D-200L Digital Camera (see Appendix)

The Olympus D-200L Digital Camera has basically two modes. These modes are 1) picture mode (Lens cover open) and 2) preview mode (Lens cover closed).

In the picture mode (Lens cover open), the buttons on the camera correspond to the icons toward the back of the buttons.

• OK button (1): Takes pictures when pressed. (press once to focus and again to take the picture)
• Flash mode button (2): Cycles through the four flash settings

• 1. (no icon) Auto-Flash mode- Automatically fires in low-light conditions
  2. (eye icon) Red-Eye Reducing Flash mode- Reduces red-eye
  3. (circled lightning icon) Off mode- Flash will not fire
  4. (lightning icon) On mode- Flash always fires

• Self Timer button (6): Press once and press OK button, after 10 seconds, camera will take a picture
• Macro mode (7): Turns Macro mode on/off

• on) (flower icon) use for close shots

  off) (no icon) use for regular to long shots

• Resolution Selection (8): Cycles between High quality and Regular quality
• High) (HQ icon) 640x480 resolution, and can hold 20 pictures on camera
• Regular) (no icon) 320x240 resolution, and can hold 80 pictures on camera
• LCD monitor PLAY button (17): Press and hold to see on the LCD monitor (16) what is in the photo, before pressing the OK button and taking the picture
• Viewfinder (14): Use as you would on any other camera to take pictures
• Green Lamp (15): Flashes for several seconds after taking a picture, as the camera writes the picture to memory. You must wait for the light to stop before taking another picture.

In the preview mode (Lens cover closed), the buttons on the camera correspond to the icons toward the front of the camera. To get to the preview mode, the Lens cover must be closed, then press the LCD monitor ON button (17). Your most recently taken picture should appear on the LCD monitor (16)

• Previous(-)/Next(+) buttons (18): Use to move forward and back through the pictures in the camera’s memory
• Erase mode button (3): Press once, and it will prompt you to erase the current photo
• Slide Show button (6): Press once, and a slideshow begins, press again to end
• Protect mode button (7): Press to lock a picture, which means it can’t be erased. Press again to unlock
• Multi-Display button (8): Allows you to view up to 9 pictures in the LCD monitor (16) at a time

 

(2)Connecting the Digital Camera to the PC

To transfer pictures from the camera to a computer, connect the two with the connector cable provided:

1. Make sure that both the computer and the camera are off.
2. Plug the large end of the cable into COM 1 serial port on the back of the computer.
3. Open the small rubber flap on the side of the camera .
4. Plug the other end of the camera into the connector (12) under the flap. Align the arrow mark on the cable plug with the circle dot mark on the camera’s connector. Insert the plug and push until it is in fully.
5. Open the lens cover to turn on the power. Boot the computer.

6.  

(3)Using the Digital Camera with Adobe Photoshop 4.0

To edit and save the images from the camera we will be using Adobe Photoshop 4.0. Adobe Photoshop is a powerful and complex program. We will only need to use a handful of its features.

Downloading:

Inside Adobe Photoshop, pull down the File menu. Select Import > TWAIN 32. The computer will now download a thumbnail of each picture in the camera and display them in a showcase. To completely download a specific photo for editing and saving, select the picture from the showcase and press Download. A new Adobe Photoshop window should appear with the image.

Saving:

To save an image in a window as a JPEG file, make sure the window with the image is selected. Pull down the File menu and select Save a Copy. In the Save a Copy dialog box, change Save As to JPEG. Change the directory to where you want to save the image and name it (with a .jpg extension). Click on Save. This will bring up the JPEG Options window. The main thing you may want to change is the Image Quality. The higher the value you give, the better quality the image will have, but also the larger the file size will be. Click OK when the settings are right. The image has now been saved as a JPEG file.

Cropping:

To cut out only a section of the image to save, use the crop tool. In the toolbar, select the first icon in the left column. Press and hold the left mouse button until it opens up to show icons for the different selection tools. Select the last icon in the row, which resembles a bold frame with a diagonal line through it.

With the crop tool selected, click and drag on the image to draw a rectangle which will define the size of the new cropped image. You can resize and rotate the rectangle once it is outlined. To complete cropping it, double-click inside the rectangle.

Brightness/Contrast:

If the image is too bright or too dark, it can be adjusted using the Brightness and Contrast controls. From the Image pulldown menu, select Adjust > Brightness/Contrast. Use the sliders to modify the brightness and contrast until it is the way you want it. Then hit OK.

Grayscale Color:

To convert a color image to black and white, pull down the Image menu. Select Mode > Grayscale. You can turn a grayscale image into a color image by selecting Image > Mode > RGB Color; but the existing image will remain in black in white, but can be edited with color.

Using Images in Other Applications:

Many Windows applications, such as Word and PowerPoint, allow you to import images for use in documents. In Word, select Insert > Frame to create a movable frame to hold the picture. With the Frame selected select Insert > Picture. This will bring up an Open dialog box from which to find and select the image to load. The image will be in the frame which can then be moved around and resized, maintaining the images proportions. PowerPoint is similar. Just select Insert > Picture.

Including an Image in HTML:

To put an image on a web page, use the HTML tag:

<img src="file location">

Be sure the image is in the web directory and has universal read access.