Presentation for 2018 Bryn Mawr College Staff Development seminars.

2. Picture Perfect-Ish:
Become a Digital
Photo Editing Expert in
Under an Hour
Christian Zavisca: Communications
Office Associate Director and Digital
Media Editor
Andrea Kaldrovics: Web Services/LITS
Web Designer and Developer

3. What We’ll Cover
● Taking good-to-great photos
● Using photos from other sources
● Importing, saving, image file types
● Storage, naming, file management
● “How am I going to use this photo?”
● Sizing, cropping, uploading
● Tips and tricks
● Questions

4. Taking the Photo
● assess the scene
● lighting
● point of
view/perspective
● in-camera cropping
and zooming-in/out
● framing the subject
● focus and depth of
field
● patience
● take the shot!
all photos in “Taking the Photo” slides copyright A. Kaldrovics

5. Taking the Photo
● assess the scene
● lighting
● point of
view/perspective
● in-camera cropping
and zooming-in/out
● framing the subject
● focus and depth of
field
● patience
● take the shot!
all photos in “Taking the Photo” slides copyright A. Kaldrovics

6. Taking the Photo
● assess the scene
● lighting
● point of
view/perspective
● in-camera cropping
and zooming-in/out
● framing the subject
● focus and depth of
field
● patience
● take the shot!
all photos in “Taking the Photo” slides copyright A. Kaldrovics

7. Taking the Photo
● assess the scene
● lighting
● point of
view/perspective
● cropping and
zooming-in/out
● framing the subject
● focus and depth of
field
● patience
● take the shot!
all photos in “Taking the Photo” slides copyright
A. Kaldrovics

8. Taking the Photo
● assess the scene
● lighting
● point of
view/perspective
● in-camera
cropping and
zooming-in/out
● framing the subject
● focus and depth of
field
● patience
● take the shot!
all photos in “Taking the Photo” slides copyright A. Kaldrovics

9. Taking the Photo
● assess the scene
● lighting
● point of
view/perspective
● in-camera cropping
and zooming-in/out
● framing the
subject
● focus and depth of
field
● patience
● take the shot!
all photos in “Taking the Photo” slides
copyright A. Kaldrovics

10. Taking the Photo
● assess the scene
● lighting
● point of
view/perspective
● in-camera cropping
and zooming-in/out
● framing the subject
● focus and depth of
field
● patience
● take the shot!
all photos in “Taking the Photo” slides copyright A. Kaldrovics

11. Taking the Photo
● assess the scene
● lighting
● point of
view/perspective
● in-camera cropping
and zooming-in/out
● framing the subject
● focus and depth of
field
● patience
● take the shot!
all photos in “Taking the Photo” slides copyright
A. Kaldrovics

12. Using Photos From
Other Sources
● photos.brynmawr.edu is a
resource for Bryn Mawr faculty, staff,
and students (photos of campus,
College events, and more)
● Flickr/Creative Commons, Pixabay
can be helpful resources
Can I grab a photo from (Google
Images/Various News Sites) for use on
brynmawr.edu or other work-related
purposes?
● Generally: No

13. Importing and Saving
● Upload your photos to the proper
“Originals” folder within your project
folder
● Save As to a “Processed” folder within
your project folder and never worry
about losing the original.
● edit them in Photoshop (or similar
photo-editing software).
● Save again! Save often!

14. Image File Types
● JPEG/.jpg is common for digital
cameras and web use — can be
compressed to make smaller file
sizes
● TIFF/.tiff are generally very high
quality and often used in print
● Others: GIF/.gif (animation),
EPS/.eps (illustration), PNG/.png
(image) and various other file types,
including RAW image files
● Allowable Drupal/brynmawr.edu file
types: jpg, jpeg, gif, png, pdf

15. Storage, Naming, and
File Management
● Internal organization: Subject,
date/year, file type, raw/edited —
make your system work for you
● External storage options: hard
drives, flash drives, other media
● Cloud options: OneDrive, Google
Drive, Dropbox, SmugMug, iCloud
● Back up your files in addition to
using cloud solutions and/or internal
storage

16. Storage, Naming, and
File Management
● Naming conventions: no spaces, no
unusual characters, avoid capitals,
include date if needed
● Don’t alter/delete file extension
● Don’t be afraid to delete/cull when
managing large numbers of files
● Retain raw/original files

17. Different Uses
for Your Photos
● Web use: Profile photos usually
square to vertical; anchoring web
page is generally horizontal; note
requirements for Twitter, LinkedIn,
etc.
● Print: High quality needed; when
DPI comes into play
● Slideshow: varies; quality not usually
an issue
● Generally your smartphone will
produce high-quality photos suitable
for most needs

18. Sizing and Cropping
● maintain aspect ratio!
● crop and resize for specific use
● Never go bigger than original size!
● always crop first, then adjust sizing (change
resolution 1st, then dimensions)
● size = height, width and dpi
● 100 dpi for screen
● 300 dpi for print

19. Uploading for Use
● Note requirements of
website/platform: file type,
dimensions and size
● Always size and crop before
uploading for use; don’t try to edit
within content management
system or social media network if
you can help it
● Make sure you’re uploading the
correct file (naming and organization
key)

20. Tips and Tricks
Shooting
● portraits
● landscape
Processing
● saving
● cropping/resizing
● other photo-editing
Quality Control: Eyeball Test
● Does ratio look distorted?
● Does image look fuzzy/pixilated?
Accessibility for the web (alt text)

21. Final Thoughts
● LITS and Communications offer
resources to help with photo editing
and use. LITS supports Photoshop
and offers instructions on basic
crops/edits using Microsoft Office
(Word).
● Principles are the same whether
you’re taking/editing photos for
personal use or for professional use,
in Drupal or elsewhere.
● Like anything else, practice will
improve efficiency at these skills;
anyone can master the basics.