Integrating Technology in the Second Language Classroom

  
Jean LeLoup & Bob Ponterio 
SUNY Cortland 
© 2017
       Image Editing

Cropping


Using the crop tool to create a final image or print of a specific size

When you know in advance the exact dimensions needed for your end product (in a web page, PowerPoint, 4x6 prints, standard poster sizes, etc.), the crop tool allows you to set the size of the selection and to keep the proportions of height to width constant.

For example, here we have selected an area with a width of 6 inches and a height of 4 inches. Dragging any corner will modify both the width and height of the selection proportionally. Then you can also modify the image size proportionally, keeping the same relative width & height as required for your final product. You can also drag the selection to a new spot in the image or even rotate the rectangle to create a slanted effect.

In this case, the 4x6 format might be used to create a set of postcards that students could use in a writing assignment. Of course, you could also use this technique to prepare your own digital photos for printing if you want to make sure that they will fit exactly on a 4x6 print without anything being cut off.

 

 


Cutting out pieces



Adjusting exposure
  
Sometimes an image may be too light or too dark for our needs.  Ideally a photo should make use of the entire range of luminosity or brightness from black to white. This is also true in conventional photography. If an area of a photo is too light or too dark, it means that part of the contrast range is squeezed into too narrow a band.  There are several ways to illustrate this and to modify the way the image output will appear. 

We will try to lighten the sidewalk in the ph-door.jpg image at the right.  First save a local copy and load it into Photoshop.

 

Choose the menu item Enhance / Adjust Lighting / Levels in Photoshop Elements (Image / Adjust / Levels... in Photoshop CE) to work with the histogram for the image.

A histogram is a graphical representation of the distribution of colors by order of brightness from black to white. The dark part of the image is mostly in the leftmost peak on the graph.  The input levels are the values that will be displayed as black (0 - the black triangle), white (255 - the white triangle), and the midpoint between them (1.00 - the gray triangle).  To change these values we will slide the triangles by dragging them with the mouse.


Cloning


Putting it all together


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