Getting Started
In recent years, taking pictures with mobile devices and digital cameras and then editing images with applications has become an everyday activity.
In this lesson, we will experience how the image editing software we often use without thinking actually works and gain the basic knowledge necessary to handle digital images appropriately.
Digital Literacy: What You Need to Know to Edit Digital Images
There are two types of digital image editing: image editing for creative purposes and image processing for research purposes. The common goal of both approaches is to make use of the information in digital images without destroying it.
In this lesson, you will learn about the concept of "making use of the information" in digital images.
1. Contents
- Key Question
- Replacing Reality with Information
- Editing to Make the Most of Information
- Key Question (Revisited)
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Learning Goals
- Understanding that digital images contain a variety of information, and being able to choose to edit digital images to make the most of the information.
Consider The Following...
To begin, please answer the questions in the Google Form below. Your responses will be anonymous. When you have finished answering, please review other students' answers.
In this lesson, we will learn how digital images make use of the information. Once you have finished this lesson, please "evaluate" what you see here one more time.
Doing so will allow you to compare the "you" from before and after you have engaged the key question of each lesson. What is important is that you experience this learning process for yourself. When doing so, please remain aware of any changes to your vocabulary or perspective that have come as a result of this lesson.
Getting Started: Editing a Digital Image
Taking pictures with mobile devices and digital cameras and editing images with applications has become an everyday activity. Some of you may enjoy editing images by making full use of various applications.
In this lesson, you will experience what kind of processing is done by the image editing software you regularly use without thinking about it, and learn the basic knowledge to handle digital images appropriately.
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Using a Photo Editing Tool
When it comes to editing digital images, Adobe Photoshop is the most well-known. Many people may feel that this software is used by photographers and other visual expression specialists and has nothing to do with them. However, in recent years, a mobile photo editing tool, Adobe Photoshop Express, has become available for free. There are many photo editing applications available.
First, let's experience photo editing online. Watch the following video (2 min 58 sec) and feel the editing (this online photo editing tool is not available at this time).
*You can choose English subtitles from the video's subtitle panel.
How was it? We hope you now have an idea of how image editing works. Now, let's get down to business.
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What is a Digital Image?
A digital image is one in which light and color information is read using an electronic device and expressed as a two-dimensional image. Digital photographs taken with a digital camera, images captured with a scanner, and illustrations and graphs are drawn with software are all examples of digital images.
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Thinking About Digital Photography as a Subject
In this lesson, we will focus on digital photography, which is closely related to our daily lives.
When you take a picture with a digital camera and import it to your computer, you can check information such as the size of the image, the device that took the picture, and the location where the picture was taken. This kind of invisible information is called metadata. There is a lot of metadata recorded in digital photos.
The following video (4 min 27 sec) explains metadata and image information in digital photos, showing screen captures of image editing software.
*You can choose English subtitles from the video's subtitle panel.
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The World of Bitmaps
A digital photograph is a collection of pixels (the smallest unit of an image). Each pixel contains color information and positional information.
This type of image is called a bitmap image (or raster image). When the image is enlarged, the pixels appear as a mosaic. In other words, beyond a certain range, the image looks rough.
In contrast, a vector image, which is a mathematical representation of an image, can maintain a smooth figure no matter how much you zoom in.
Let's sort out the characteristics of the two types of digital images.
- Bitmap image: A set of pixels (= needs to be optimized to fit the dimensions)
- Vector image: Rendered by mathematical formula (= it is possible to output deliverables with different dimensions from a single image)
Ultimately, bitmap images need to be optimized for their dimensions. The optimization of bitmap images will be explained in the next lesson, "3-3 Formatting Digital images."
Here, you need to understand that a bitmap image is a set of pixels, and editing a bitmap image is the process of rewriting the information in the pixels.
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Image Editing Is a Continuous Process of Information Destruction!?
Editing a bitmap image is the process of rewriting the information of each individual pixel. Image editing includes color correction, scaling, transformation, and color conversion. Understand that these operations are actions that degrade the image quality (amount of information).
In the following video (5 min 35 sec), we will present a Photoshop screen and explain examples of image degradation caused by image editing.
*You can choose English subtitles from the video's subtitle panel.
What do you think? As shown in this video, the more you edit an image, the more the information will gradually degrade. In the latter half of the video, we mentioned "non-destructive processing" to prevent image degradation. By converting the image into a smart object, the information is no longer degraded even when it is enlarged or reduced. This concept of "making use of information" is the most important aspect of image editing.
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So far, we have learned that there are two types of digital images: bitmap images and vector images. We have also learned that editing a bitmap image involves rewriting the information held by each pixel and is basically destroying the image, and that we need to be mindful of non-destructive processing.
As emphasized in this section, non-destructive processing is a prerequisite concept for making use of information. However, non-destructive processing is not the only approach to make use of information. In the next section, we will discuss some of the related approaches.
Now, let's take a look at the approach to making use of the information in digital images. We will edit a digital image using the demo page introduced as a subject in the latter half of "3-1 Digital Expressions and Copyright."
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Using the Information in the Image as Material
First, let's arrange the photos that we used. The following images, provided under a Creative Commons license, were created by multiple creators and vary in terms of location, time of day, and camera settings (also, the last image is a graphic representation).
When combining digital representations created by multiple creators, the colors of the images will likely vary. To solve this problem, select one image as a reference and use the color information of the image to align the colors. This demo page shows how this can be done by using a type of online service. To strengthen the digital impression, let's adjust the atmosphere to have a bluish tone. The following video (5 min 18 secs) shows the procedure.
*You can choose English subtitles from the video's subtitle panel.
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Here are the results of the color adjustment (the last graphic image has not been changed). It seems as if the overall color tone has been aligned, but only slightly.
In this example, we have chosen a reference photo from the five photos used on the demo page, but you can also use a completely different image as a reference. For example, you can use an abstract painting as a reference image to create a unique visual expression, so please experiment with it.
Finally, let's try changing the color tone of the graphic image from red to blue. The following video (1 min. 23 sec.) shows the procedure.
*You can choose English subtitles from the video's subtitle panel.
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Let's see the adjustment results. The result is now much more consistent.
As you can see, it is possible to incorporate the color information of one image into another. This approach also highlights making the most of information. To see a demo page with the above color corrections, click on the following link.
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Using Mock-up Materials
A mockup is a real-looking model of a product. It is used in the design field to check how a web page or application looks.
On the demo page, an iMac Pro mockup was used to show a case study of the subs. In this way, it can also be used for presentations.
As a result of the culture of creation and sharing in the Internet age, many creators offer mockups as free materials. Most mockups are created in Photoshop format. If you use Photoshop, you can easily create a similar image.
What we want to let you know is that the mockup images are non-destructive. Let's check it out in the following video (2 min 54 secs).
*You can choose English subtitles from the video's subtitle panel.
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What did you think? By observing the contents of the file, you can see that the creator is applying non-destructive processing to the image. By using mockups, you can expand your range of expression and also learn about the techniques of creators.
Incidentally, this mockup of the "iMac Pro" uses the "Front View iMac Pro Mockup" of Anthony Boyd Graphics.
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Using Image Editing Information
Next, we will introduce an approach that utilizes the editing information of an image. When a digital image is edited using software such as Photoshop, an editing history (history log) is automatically recorded in the system.
The history log is also useful when using digital images taken with an electron microscope for research purposes. For example, the journal Nature has regulations on images in its submission guidelines. It requires that a copy of the original image, before any image processing, is retained and that the imaging conditions and all image processing steps applied are recorded. When submitting a paper to an academic journal, you can use the history log to show all the editing processes and prove that you have not committed any fraud. If you would like to learn more, the video [Japanese] linked below may be useful. You can choose "Auto translate" in the subtitling panel.
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Adobe Photoshop Express, an image editing application for mobile devices, also allows you to publish your photos, including your image editing history. Photo images shared by others in the application have a PlayBack function which allows you to see what image edits were made. You can also copy the image editing history and apply it to your own photos.
For more information on how to use Adobe Photoshop Express, an image editing application for mobile devices, the following help may be useful.
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As you can see, image editing information is another type of information that digital images have. The editing information of images is shared for fraud prevention in research and freedom of expression in creation. This is also connected to the idea of making use of information.
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Using Everyday Discoveries as Materials
Lastly, we will introduce an approach to making use of everyday discoveries in your creative activities. With Adobe Color, you can create a color palette by extracting colors from photos of your daily discoveries and impressions.
For example, let's say you find the following photos fascinating.
In Adobe Color, select "Extract Theme" or "Extract Gradient" and upload the photo.
You can extract the theme color from the color information in the photo.
You can also use a free application called Adobe Capture to "capture colors and light from photos and landscapes and reflect them in videos." The following article is an example of how a sudden discovery in daily life can lead to a creative idea.
As you can see, everyday scenery can be used as material for creative activities, depending on how you look at it. If we take the perspective that digital images are a representation of reality replaced by numerical information, then all of reality can become a tool for making use of information. If you look at your daily life from the perspective of creating with digital images, you will discover something new.
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Summary
So far, we have looked at approaches to making the most of the information in digital images from the perspective of "using the information in the image as material," "using mock-up material," "using image editing information," and "using everyday discoveries as material." The basis of all of these approaches is to make the most of the information in the image, keeping in mind that non-destructive editing that does not damage the information. Whether it is for creative work or research, the basis remains the same. Please keep this idea in mind when you are editing images.
In the column at the end of this lesson, we briefly introduce a study that analyzed digital images stored on Instagram and a study that projected the perceptual experience of a group of people onto a map by utilizing the locations (= metadata) of digital images stored on Flickr. We hope that you will be able to experience these advanced approaches that make use of information from digital images.
Thinking Things Through One More Time
Now for our summary, try and think about the key question for this lesson one more time. Compare your answer with your previous output and see if there are any changes in the vocabulary and perspectives you use to discuss it. You will also be able to learn a great deal by looking at the answers provided by other learners.
In Conclusion
How about an approach that makes use of the information that the image has?
Again, making the most of information is fundamental when working with image editing, whether it is for creative purposes or research. We hope you will apply the ideas you have learned here to your own practice.
Next Lesson: Formatting Digital images
Is the digital image you are editing an image that will be displayed on a monitor? Or is it an image to be printed on paper media such as posters?
In the following material, [3-3 Formatting Digital images], we will learn about the differences in color modes between web and print media, as well as the key points for outputting images with the optimal resolution for the usage scenario.
◾️ Column 1: Getting Started with Photoshop
Adobe has a series of official tutorials called "Photoshop Get Started course" for beginners. You can download the sample files for practice and watch the video to get a hands-on experience.
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◾️ Column 2: "Cultural Analytics" of Instagram Images
The approach to making use of information is not limited to making use of the information in the image itself. In recent years, the field of "cultural analytics" has been developed, which attempts to decipher culture by analyzing a large number of creative works (= information) accumulated on the Internet.
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Instagram and Contemporary Image
We live in an age where anyone can create and share creative works online. Media theorist Lev Manovich has pioneered a new theory of photography based on big data analysis of the vast amount of photos collected on Instagram, in order to examine the identity of the younger generation through the analysis of images on social media.
On the above website, the photo "Instagram and Contemporary Image" by Cultural Analytics is provided under a CC license (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs).
In today's society, where anyone can create and share photos and other artworks, we can derive the viewpoint of analyzing the large number of photos stored on platforms. This idea is also based on the perspective of making use of information.
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■Column 3: Using Metadata in Digital Images
In this lesson, we learned that digital images have a lot of metadata recorded in them. The metadata recorded in digital images are also shared when they are posted online. Here is an interesting study on the use of this metadata.
This research was done by computer scientist David Crandall and his colleagues. They analyzed the location information (metadata) of digital images collected on the photo-sharing site Flickr, and mapped the digital photos onto a world map. See pages 9 and 10 of the PDF above. The places where people have taken photos are filled in as dots. For example, you can see that places, where there are landmarks that symbolize the land, are darkened. Also, coastal areas have a darkened outline, indicating that people often take photos in coastal areas.
Metadata of digital images can be used like this to analyze what people tend to photograph and where. This idea is also based on the concept of making use of information.
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■Column 4: Image Processing for Research / Image Editing for Creation
In this lesson, we have mainly dealt with the concept of using digital images for expression. As a supplementary explanation, the purpose of image editing can be divided into two main categories.
One is image editing for creative purposes, which is covered in this course material. Image editing includes not only color correction of individual photos, but also compositing and collaging by combining images. When combining various images, non-destructive editing is important to prevent images from deteriorating.
The other purpose is image processing for research, where images are used as tools for research. As mentioned earlier in this section, the journal Nature has regulations regarding images in its submission guidelines. It requires that the original images, prior to any processing, are kept, and that the imaging conditions and all image processing applied are recorded. Non-destructive editing that does not degrade the image is also important here (if you want to learn more, the following link may be useful). You can choose "Auto translate" in the video's subtitle panel.
The following is a summary of the features of both categories.
- Image editing for creative purposes: Editing to express a specific message by appropriately combining images without destroying the original image + Editing without infringing on copyrights
- Image processing for research: Editing to suppress unwanted noise without destroying the original image and to use it for analysis + Editing to avoid suspicion of fraud
The concept of making the best use of information without destroying the information in digital images is common in both image editing for creative purposes and image processing for research, but these two items have different goals. As in the advanced case studies reported in the column, making use of information is a perspective that will serve as a foundation for you to use digital technology to expand the range of expression and promote research.
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◾️References (For Those Who Want To Learn More)
- Miki Tsutsui, "Design Tips for Creating Communicative Presentation Materials", Adobe Web Pages, 2020 [Japanese]
- Yuma Takahashi and Natsu Katayama (Office Tsutawaru), "Conveyed Design: Universal Design for Research Presentations", Website, 2017 - [Japanese]
- Dominique Chen, "Guidebook towards building a Free Culture," Film Art, 2012 [Japanese]
"Guidebook Towards Building a Free Culture" by Dominique Chen is licensed under the CC License "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike". p137-216 "CC License Case Studies" summarizes examples of creating and sharing in various genres.
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◾️ 教材ライセンス：CC BY-NC-SA
This course material is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This course material was developed as part of the "Development of Open Educational Materials for Fostering Digital Literacy," a joint research project between Hokkaido University Open Education Center and Adobe Corporation.