Digitalized! Digital Tips & Tricks

Sherri Miller, ITRT smiller@gc.k12.va.us Eric Postman, ITRT epostman@gc.k12.va.us

Digital Image Sources

• Digital cameras• Scanners• Office clipart/graphics• Internet websites

Digital Cameras

Digital Cameras: Top 10 Tips• Look your subject

in the eye

• Use a plain background

• Use flash outdoors• Move in close• Move it from the

middle

• Lock the focus• Know your flash’s

range• Watch the light• Take some vertical

pictures• Be a picture

directorSource: www.kodak.com

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Picture Quality Settings• Pixels- the smallest part

of a digital camera’s sensor (mega= 1 million)

• The larger the megapixels, the larger the file size– change settings on

camera– reduce size in software

• file formats– jpg (smaller)– tiff

Resolution Needed

Max. Print Size

1 megapixel 4x6

2 megapixels 5x7

3 megapixels 8x10

4 megapixels 8x10

5 megapixels 11x14

6 megapixels 16x20

Zoom In• Optical Zoom

– the lens physically extends to magnify the subject

• Digital Zoom– crops an image and magnifies the result of

the cropping– image quality is sacrificed

Shooting Modes

• Landscape: outdoor scenes at a distance

• Macro: ultra close up of small objects

• Portrait: close up shots/head & shoulders

• Action/Sports: freeze action with a faster shutter speed

• Night shot: a slower shutter speed when it’s dark

• Panoramic: shoot several pictures and stitch them together to create banners1

Other Features• Flash settings• Shutter speed• Aperture• Self-timer

Flash Settings• Auto: camera decides when to flash

• Flash on/Fill Flash: – turns flash on even in good lighting– use outdoors to eliminate harsh shadows

• Flash off:– turns flash off even in low lighting– use for sunsets, etc. … be careful of camera

shake

• Red-eye reduction:– gives an extra flash to minimize red-eye

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Shutter Speed• Shutter speed is the time in which the

shutter is held open to allow light to reach the imaging sensor. The greater the denominator, the faster the speed.

• A 1/125 setting means the shutter curtain opens and closes within one hundred and twenty fifth of a second while 1 means a one full-second the shutter opens up during exposure to absorb the available light source.

ISO• ISO is roughly equivalent to film speed.

What ISO denotes is how sensitive the image sensor is to the amount of light present.– use a higher ISO to take pictures in low

light without flash, such as in a museum or at sunset (e.g. ISO 400)

– use a lower ISO to achieve a motion blur (e.g. ISO 100)

Aperture• Aperture is a hole or opening through

which light is admitted– the smaller the aperture number (e.g.

f/1.4), the greater the opening, and the larger the depth of field (background is in focus)

– the larger the aperture number (e.g. f/16), the smaller the opening, and the smaller the depth of field (background is blurred)

Scanners

Scanners• consider purpose

when scanning• dpi = dots per inch• file formats

– bmp– tiff– jpg– gif

Purpose DPI (approx)

Video 75

Print Check printer’s dpi

(about 1/3)

Email 75

Webpage 75

OCR (optical character

recognition)

300

Source: www.jdhartsell.com/scanning.html

Microsoft Office Picture Manager

Functions

• Edit graphics– Auto correct– Brightness and contrast– Color– Crop– Rotate and flip– Red eye removal

Functions

• Working with files– Resize– Compress pictures– Rename pictures

• Sharing pictures– E-mail pictures– Export pictures

To Open

• Go to

Picture ManagerStandard Toolbar Formatting

ToolbarMenu BarPicture Shortcuts Preview Area

Views Thumbnails

Views Filmstrip

Views Single Picture

Task Pane

Task Pane

Navigation Buttons

Getting Started (Home)

Photo Printing Wizard

Photo Printing Wizard• Open My

Pictures folder• Select photos

– use CTRL key to select several pictures at once

• Under Picture Tasks, click Print the Selected Pictures

• Photo Printing Wizard opens– click Next

• Picture Selection– choose your

picture(s)– click Next

• Printing Options– choose your

printer– click Next

• Layout Selection– choose print

size/layout– choose

Number of times to use each picture

– click Next (at this point, the photos begin to print)

Inserting Digital Images

PowerPoint and Word• To browse for pictures on your computer,

go to menu bar – INSERT PICTURE FROM FILE navigate

to desire file• Or, click icon on drawing toolbar

If drawing toolbar is not visible:

•VIEW TOOLBARS select (check) DRAWING

Picture Toolbar

Insert picture

Crop

Set transparen

t color

Rotate left 90

Line style

Compress pictures

Text wrapping

Format object

Reset picture

More contrast

Less contrast

More brightnes

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Less brightnes

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Color

Picture Toolbar

• Insert Picture – another method of importing graphics

• Color –change to grayscale

• Contrast –improve contrast

• Brightness –improve brightness

• Crop –cut out unwanted edges of picture

• Rotate –make a vertical picture horizontal (or vertical horizontal)

• Line Style – format line thickness

Picture Toolbar

• Compress pictures – change file size

• Text wrapping – available in Word only; change graphics from in-line to floating

• Format object – access many of these and other formatting options

• Set transparent color – eliminate visible background

• Reset picture – revert to original form

Digital Image Sources

Clip Art Sites• Pics4Learning - http://www.pics4learning.com/• United Streaming (go to “Learning Tools”) -

http://www5.unitedstreaming.com/index.cfm• Awesome Clipart for Educators -

http://www.awesomeclipartforeducators.com/• Discovery School Clipart Gallery -

http://school.discovery.com/clipart/• Education Clipart –

http://www.kamsart.com/clipart/free-clipart-Education.html• Clipart Public Domain Images -

http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/links/clipart.html• The New York Public Library Picture Collection -

http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/links/clipart.html• Teacher Created Resources Free Educational Clipart - http://

www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/links/clipart.htm

Image Searching

• Open search engine (e.g. www.google.com)

• Click on IMAGES link• Complete your search• Click on image to open in full size

(requires additional steps in some search engines)

• Right click and COPY (to paste) or SAVE PICTURE AS… (to insert from file)

Curriculum Integration Ideas

English• story or poem

illustrations• news story of

school events• common/proper

nouns book• noun/verb book• photo journal of

field trips

• sequencing of events

• alphabet book• creative or

descriptive writing prompt

• I Spy book• A Day in the Life

of…• trading cards

Math• scavenger hunts

(numbers, patterns, shapes, etc.)

• measuring growth• clocks• angles• perspective• geometric shapes

• writing prompts for story problems

• create a pictograph

• 3D objects

Social Studies• brochures• goods/services• wanted posters• family tree• photo essays• class photo time

capsule• posters

• careers/community helpers

• scavenger hunt – (architectural design, historical figures, etc.)

• virtual tour

Science• stages of

development (plants, mold, etc.)

• parts of a flower• cloud types• five senses• steps in an

experiment• nature walk

• visual dissection• visual periodic

table• field trip photo

essay• scavenger hunt

(simple machines, matter, etc.)

• classifications (rocks, minerals, etc.)

Resource Classes• show art perspectives• photo postcards• musical instruments• photo book of colors• art history• culture brochures• architectural scavenger hunt• good/poor form for physical education

game

Other• seating charts for

substitutes• classroom

organization (jobs, lunch, etc.)

• to illustrate the steps in a procedure

• classroom activities for class newsletter

• student portfolios• slide show for

parent’s night• web pages

Digital Cameras in theClassroom• Quick – Get the Digital Camera! -

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech148.shtml• Smile. Digital Cameras Can Make Your Day -

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech147.shtml• Kodak Lesson Plans -

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/digital/edu/lessonPlans/• PowerPoint games - http://208.183.128.3/tutorials/PPT-games/• Click! Using a Digital Camera in the Elementary Classroom -

http://www.edzone.net/~mwestern/pix.html• Using Digital Cameras in the Classroom -

http://www.wacona.com/digicam/digicam.html• Going Digital in the Classroom -

http://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/sbeck/digital/goingdigital.htm

Resources• GCPS digital imaging resources -

http://gets.gc.k12.va.us/edtech/digim.htm • Getting the most from your digital camera -

http://www.danscamera.com/Learning/going_digital/index.html • Digital Photography - http://www.apte.com/dp/index.cfm• HP online courses (for free!) -

http://h30240.www3.hp.com/?mcID=HHO2 • Kidz Online: digital imaging videos -

http://www.kidzonline.org/TechTraining/video.asp?UnitQry=Digital%20Imaging

• HP Quick tips for scanning photos - http://www.hp.com/united-states/consumer/digital_photography/organize_archive_photos/tips/10_tips_scanning.html

Resources• Kodak gallery for sharing photos online - http://

www.kodakgallery.com/Welcome.jsp• Shutterfly gallery for sharing photos online -

http://www.shutterfly.com/ • PhotoPlus 6.0 (free photo and image editing software) -

http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/ • Microsoft Photo Story 3 -

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/photostory/default.mspx