Basic Design Principles Part 1

Basic Design Principles Part 1

by: Kelly Paal

There are some very basic design principles that are important to know whether you’re a graphic designer, web designer, or even a photographer. Certain very basic design principles apply to all artistic fields and are necessary for the artist and valuable information for the consumer.

Line (s)

The world we live in is three dimensional but when we try to represent that world in art we use lines, a very simplistic way of trying to represent the three dimensional world around us. But by knowing how to use lines in art we can make a very good sometimes great representations of the world around us.

Lines of Direction

Horizontal, a horizontal line usually represents a feeling of rest or relaxation, think of a puppy asleep on the floor. That is a horizontal line. Stability is also conveyed through a horizontal line, think of a table or a large building.

Vertical, a vertical line usually brings to mind strength and sometimes action. Think of a tall tree, its strong vertical line shows strength. A vertical line can show action especially when it’s compared to a horizontal line.

Diagonal, a diagonal line always suggests movement. Imagine a football player running if you draw a line from the top of his head to his heel you will see a diagonal line. Diagonal lines always get our attention for the action they imply.

Curved, a curved line can suggest many things. The curved line of a sagging roof can indicate weakness and a curved line of a dancers arm can indicate gracefulness.

Remember lines convey thoughts and feelings and every line you use in your design helps to convey your message.

Shape (s)

Lines form shapes and from those shapes we get positive and negative shapes, or spaces.

Positive shapes are always the objects in an image or design. It’s important to pay attention to your positive shapes their size, placement, and their balance in reference to:

Negative shapes, these are always the shape formed from the space around your object.

By paying attention to the balance of your positive and negative shapes you can make sure that your designs or images have good balance.

If you have some specific questions please visit my Photography and Design Forum at: http://kellypaalphotography.com/vweb/bulletin/bb/index.php and post your question there.

About The Author

Copyright 2004 Kelly Paal

Kelly Paal is a Freelance Nature and Landscape Photographer, exhibiting nationally and internationally. She owns her own business Kelly Paal Photography (www.kellypaalphotography.com). She has an educational background in photography, business, and commercial art. She enjoys applying graphic design and photography principles to her web design.

[email protected]

This article was posted on December 14, 2004

by Kelly Paal

Can It Get Any More Digital?

Can It Get Any More Digital?

by: Nash Ville

Everyone seems to be talking about digital photography because it’s fun, fast and less costly than we might think. It’s almost everywhere – in printed materials, in the news, and on the net. What makes digital photography a hit? One, digital takes the fear out of photography because it lets us take as many pictures as we want. Two, we can see right away if we got our desired image and delete the pictures we don’t like. Three, we can upload and share those pictures with our loved ones using a computer or a mobile phone anytime, anywhere. Four, digital costs less because we don’t need films and we don’t pay developing fees. Lastly, almost all people such as doctors, scientists, fire fighters, police officers, insurance agents, and real estate agents use digital photography in their work everyday.

In digital photography, Adobe Photoshop allows digital photographers, web and graphic designers to work more efficiently, explore new creative options, and produce the highest quality images for print, web and other media. Its software delivers a comprehensive toolset that helps users to meet any creative or production challenge. Its creative tools help graphic art professionals generate appealing visual effects and stay ahead of the competition. It is no doubt that it’s very significant to general users, web designers, and even, video editors.

The book, ขEnhancing Digital Photography with Adobe Photoshopข by Chris Orwig, will guide us through the workflow of getting our digital photos from our camera to a computer and then into our hands. We will learn about the basics of taking digital pictures, loading photos to our computer, and using Adobe Photoshop to adjust our images and printing and sharing our images. Truly, this is a great way for new users to get up to speed on digital photography and modify photos using this application. This full color book provides an approachable introduction to Photoshop Elements and offers tips and insights into the vital aspects of photo manipulation. The book will offer the clearest possible route to achieving great images with Photoshop Elements as illustrated with full color images.

Do you have a digital camera, a computer, a printer and an Internet connection? Then, you’re set to go digital. But remember, even with this technology, you still need the imaginative idea and the enthusiasm to be entertained. Indeed, ขEnhancing Digital Photography with Adobe Photoshopข is expected to greatly increase the digital imaging skills and creativity of professional photographers, imaging professionals, and enthusiasts. With this book, you can work through the examples or branch out with your own Photoshop ideas. From here, welcome to the brave new world of digital photography!

About The Author

Nash Ville

For questions and comments about the Artcile you may contact The Postcard Printing Moderator at 888 888 4211 or visit http://www.mypostcardprinting.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 24

by Nash Ville

How to Chose Stock Photography for your Web Site

How to Chose Stock Photography for your Web Site

by: Kelly Paal

So youve decided to take the plunge. You know that stock photography is an effective tool for your web business, but where do you start and how do you choose the stock photo thats right for you. Here are some tips to get you started so that you are happy with your choice.

1. Decide where you want to purchase your stock photography. There are large agencies and small independent photographers. While the agencies will have more to chose from and sometimes lower prices an independent photographer will offer more personalized service and opportunities for you to have custom work done, if that is what you need.

2. Dont go in expecting to find an exact image that is in your head, a large agency or an independent photographer will not have the man in a blue suit, holding a cell phone, next to the white blinds nor will they have the beach landscape with the green and white striped chair. You need to have a clear idea in your head of the message that you want to convey and search for an image that creates the message that you want. (If you want something specific youll have to pay for a photography to shoot to your specifications.)

3. Make use of a free comp image to try out the image and make sure that it fits with your project or web design. Most stock agencies offer some sort of free comp image for position only so that you can make sure that you like what youre going to buy. Please use this option, if available, and make sure that the image is going to convey the message that you want it to.

4. Pay for what you need. Dont pay for a 300 dpi image for a web design, and dont buy a 72 dpi image for something you intend to print. Make sure that the agency or independent photographer offers at least a printable and a web version of every photo. Buy only the size image that you need for your job.

5. How much do you want to pay and for how long to you want to use the image? This comes down to royalty free or rights managed. If you dont want the chance of your competitor using the same image or you plan to use the image on or for a product you may want to look at rights managed. This will cost you more but it will lessen the chance of your competitor using the same image. Keep in mind that if youre using the image for an extended period of time you will have to pay for the use of the image every year or so. If you dont feel that your competitor using the same image is a threat or you dont have the money for rights managed photos look into royalty free photography. This product is also great if youre planning to use the images for an extended period of time.

I hope these tips help to get you started in choosing stock photography for your web site, business, or product. Remember to shop around and look for what you need. Also if an agency or photographer doesnt have what you need ask, you may be surprised how helpful they can be even for specific requests. If you have some specific questions please visit my Photography Forum at: http://kellypaalphotography.com/vweb/bulletin/bb/index.php and post your question there.

About The Author

Copyright 2004 Kelly Paal

Kelly Paal is a Freelance Nature and Landscape Photographer, exhibiting nationally and internationally. Recently she started her own business Kelly Paal Photography (www.kellypaalphotography.com). She has an educational background in photography, business, and commercial art. She enjoys applying graphic design and photography principles to her web design.

This article was posted on November 03, 2004

by Kelly Paal

Optimize your Photos for the Web

Optimize your Photos for the Web

by: Kelly Paal

It doesn’t matter if your emailing photos of your grandson or putting images of your latest product on your online store. Too many people don’t consider optimizing their photos for the web. We’ve all been on too many web pages where it seemed that the photos would never load, and sometimes they didn’t. So here are some steps to make sure that your photos show up on your site.

1. Always have a back up original format copy of your image. Never alter the original. Believe me you will regret it.

2. Crop to size. Make sure that you crop out any extra information that isn’t needed. Remember the larger the photo the longer it takes to load or send.

3. Resize to reduce pixels. There should be an option to resize according to pixels. You’re going to want the largest size to be no more than 250 pixels or you can reduce the dpi to no more than 96.

4.Reduce the color palette. Many images have millions of colors so the first thing that you need to do is reduce the colors to 256. You will lose some depth with this.

5. Save the file in a standard format. JPEG is the most common for photos and you can compress the image with a JPEG for further reduction in file size. It’s not unusual to see GIF or PNG as well.

Remember that with a 56k connection a 150k file will take 20 seconds to load. If you’re creating a web page every photo that you add will add to the time it takes to download all of the images. If you keep the images small in size the smaller resolution will not be as obvious.

About The Author

Copyright 2004 Kelly Paal

Kelly Paal is a Freelance Nature and Landscape Photographer, exhibiting nationally and internationally. Recently she started her own business Kelly Paal Photography (www.kellypaalphotography.com). She has an educational background in photography, business, and commercial art. She enjoys applying graphic design and photography principles to her web design.

This article was posted on August 03, 2004

by Kelly Paal

Photo Plus 2005

Photo Plus 2005

by: The Digital Room Moderator

The Photo Plus Expo 2005 is sure to draw digital enthusiasts as once again new products are showcased and innovative technologies are demonstrated. This is an ideal venue for seasoned professionals and amateurs as well to discover new breakthroughs and ideas that will prove indispensable in their craft. Also, more than 100 photography and design seminars and handson workshops taught by worldrenowned experts with a focus on cuttingedge innovations in digital imaging products and techniques. You will learn new techniques and solutions while being inspired by the Masters of Photography.

What’s in Store?

Preview the products that will keep your vision and skills ahead of the curve.

Gain inspiration and knowledge from the greatest photographers and imaging experts by networking or attending our seminar series.

Get upclose and handson with thousands of products and solutions and make purchases directly from dealers on the Expo floor.

Visit with over 200 manufacturers and suppliers of photographic capture, storage, output and display equipment, services and more.

Discover the Expo floor photography galleries.

Connect with colleagues and the best in the industry at networking events… And so much more

The Expo will be held at Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York from October 2022. An advanced reservation would be advantageous since there is a limited number of space available for the participants.

Take advantage of this exciting program and learn all there is to know about new progressive technologies.

About The Author

For Comments and Questions about the article please contact the Digital room Moderator at 888 888 4211 or visit http://www.digitalroom.com.

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 18

by The Digital Room Moderator

Basic Design Principles Part 2

Basic Design Principles Part 2

by: Kelly Paal

Tone and Texture

This specifically applies to drawings more than photography, but tone and texture are very important. Tone refers to shading of light and dark on an object and texture is the visual and tactile surface characteristics of an object.

Here’s a list of things that affect the tone and texture of an objects appearance.

1. The direction from which the light is coming. (Left, right, above, behind, or below.)

2. The intensity of the light. (Candlelight or sunlight.)

3. The type of light (Light from the setting sun or flash.)

4. Objects standing between the light source and your subject or object. (Light passing through a thin fabric.)

5. The color and texture of the object. (A fuzzy blanket looks a lot different than a piece of granite.)

Light and Shade

Light always travels in a straight line and depending on the location of the light the object or subject can look dramatically different. To understand this principle get a roll of film a light source, a lamp, an object or a family member. Take a series of photos of your subject start with the light source at twelve o’clock take each successive photo moving the light source to each position on the clock. When you look at your photos you will be amazed at how different your subject looks in each image. This exercise is great for anyone wanting to understand how light changes the look of a subject.

Shade

Shade or shadow and more commonly known as contrast is the degree of difference between the light and dark areas. An image with very black blacks and very light whites has high contrast. An image that is mostly shades of gray has low contrast. Contrast is determined by the intensity of the light source. Adjusting the contrast can help you create a very realistic image or a fantastic one.

If you have some specific questions please visit my Photography and Design Forum at: http://kellypaalphotography.com/vweb/bulletin/bb/index.php and post your question there.

About The Author

Copyright 2004 Kelly Paal

Kelly Paal is a Freelance Nature and Landscape Photographer, exhibiting nationally and internationally. She owns her own business Kelly Paal Photography (www.kellypaalphotography.com). She has an educational background in photography, business, and commercial art. She enjoys applying graphic design and photography principles to her web design.

[email protected]

This article was posted on December 14, 2004

by Kelly Paal

Why Stock Photography is a Great Resource for Web

Why Stock Photography is a Great Resource for Web Business

by: Kelly Paal

A picture is worth a thousand words.

And it still is today. With the media changing everyday photography has changed along with it and as a result is still a valuable resource for web business.

Photos enhance the look of a website.

Communicate so much more than words, they communicate emotions.

Photos can be customized for borders and backgrounds.

Photos have more impact than clip art. (They tend to give a more professional look.)

Stock photography is a big business and affordable stock is out there.

As a web business you’re most likely a small business and have a limited budget and that’s where stock photography can be great resource for you. You can spend as little as $10.00 or as much as $200.00 plus on one image. (Consider that if you hired a professional commercial photographer to shoot a few rolls of film to your specifications it would cost you thousands and thousands of dollars.)

Things to remember when shopping for stock photography:

Know what you want, start with a generic idea and get specific as you shop (Remember you probably will not find the exact image that you have in your head, be open to good photos that you find along the way.)

Shop around, try the larger agencies try the independents too. (Larger agencies offer more to chose from independent photographers offer more personalized service.)

Know what you’re going to use it for, stock photography belongs to the photographer who created it, or the agency, so know what you need it for there can and will be limitations of use.

Know what format you need, you only need 72 dpi for the web, be careful that you don’t pay for a higher quality when you don’t need it. (300 dpi for printing purposes)

Know your terms for the industry, Make sure that you know what the difference is between royalty free and rights managed, and any other terms the business may use. If something is not clear on their site contact them and ask for clarification.

So remember you can add a little more impact and emotion to your site by making use of the stock photography out there today.

About The Author

Copyright 2004 Kelly Paal

Kelly Paal is a Freelance Nature and Landscape Photographer, exhibiting nationally and internationally. Recently she started her own business Kelly Paal Photography (www.kellypaalphotography.com). She has an educational background in photography, business, and commercial art. She enjoys applying graphic design and photography principles to her web design.

This article was posted on August 03, 2004

by Kelly Paal

What is Good Content?

What is Good Content?

by: Kelly Paal

I’ve read that a good web site is all about content, content, and oh yes content. Now if you’ve managed to design your site so that you can fill it with great content, what next, how do you know what good content is?

This may be one of those things that you know it when you see it kind of thing but I think that there are a few basic points to make in regards to having good content on your site. Considering how important content is we should all really focus on adding good content to our sites.

Relevant. Your content must be relevant to your site. Why would you have articles or information that has nothing to do with whatever it is that you’re selling. You would think that this would be obvious but I’ve seen web sites that just have gobs of information that really doesn’t match their site.

Accurate. The information that you give must be accurate. Part of the reason that you’re adding content to your site is to add to your reputation as a knowledgeable person in your field so if your information isn’t accurate then you don’t look like you know what you’re doing.

Free. Now if you make your living by selling information then not all of your content should be free but some of it should. How are people going to know that you know what you’re doing if they can’t read or see any of your work. I sell stock photography and I offer all of my short informational articles for free, not only because I enjoy sharing my knowledge and experience but it allows my customers to see that I know what I’m doing.

One last point but I’m not giving it as much importance as the first three, it would be ideal if all of your content was your own. Now there are exceptions to this, if you can’t write well then there is no point to writing poor articles with good information. The good information will be lost in the lack of writing ability. So it’s okay to use some of the free content, furnished by others, on your site. (Don’t forget to give them credit for their work though.) If you can create your own content I think that it the best case scenario for adding good content to your site.

If you have some specific questions please visit my Photography and Design Forum at: http://kellypaalphotography.com/vweb/bulletin/bb/index.php and post your question there.

About The Author

Copyright 2005 Kelly Paal

Kelly Paal is a Freelance Nature and Landscape Photographer, exhibiting nationally and internationally. She owns her own business Kelly Paal Photography (www.kellypaalphotography.com). She has an educational background in photography, business, and commercial art. She enjoys applying graphic design and photography principles to her web design.

This article was posted on March 08

by Kelly Paal

Photoshop a Perfect Complement Of Photographer

Photoshop a Perfect Complement Of Photographer

by: MAricon Williams

You and I both know that Photoshop is the tool that most of the photographers around the globe use. There is no doubt that it is the handsdown best to photographers when it comes to photo editing, enhancing and other adjustments. It has become and remains the industry’s standard in photography. In a matter of fact, photographers have found a perfect complement in Photoshop.

Anybody – both amateur and professional can take advantage of the powerful features of the Photoshop. In the post production process, it is the most ideal tool for scanning in or digital photographs. Some of the prominent adjustments in the Photoshop are the following: contrast, brightness, levels, color balance, curves, hue, saturation, selective color, channel mixer, desaturation, variations and in the new version which is the Photoshop CS, you have the powerful Shadow/Highlight tool and Photo Filter adjustment which allows you to try out different กcamera filtersก on your image.

Not all the time that you take pictures, you get your desired results. It is sometimes frustrating to know, especially during a momentous event that the pictures you have taken are blurred, imperfect and does not suffice your expectations. However, when you have problems in connection to your photos, you can bank on Photoshop. It can show you many ways to fix picture imperfections. You can adjust the brightness values and color values of your images, you can erase flaws and so on. If you took a photo at the wrong exposure you can adjust it in Photoshop. You can touchup your photos and add effects. Quality image enhancements and adjustments are just mouse click away from you.

Ever since Photoshop arrived in the photography industry, it has been considered as good news to both photographers and photo lovers. Gone are the days when you can easily be dismayed by the results of the supposed to be unforgettable occasion. With Photoshop, you can have excellent photos all the time.

Photoshop presents a wide variety of choices and remedies to make your photographs accurate, striking and memorable. Numerous options are available this is the reason why renowned photographers are relying in Photoshop to enhance their pictures. They do not rely on lesser programs because they can hardly compare it to Photoshop benefits. Photoshop rules the photography world. That is a fact for a quite a long time now. There are many competitors out there but nothing equals the power of a Photoshop!

About The Author

Maricon Williams

I love reading. Give me a book and Iกll finish it in one sitting. Reading is the chance to be transported to a different world and so is writing. Iกm more enthusiastic about writing however, since you can relay your ideas to someone else. I can only imagine that feeling when I hear a complete stranger talking about my ideas which read on an article somewhere. To relay my message to as many people is the same as touching people with music. Only mineกs less harmonic. I try to make up for it with the color I bring with words. And most of the time, it’s more than enough.

Additional Information about the article can be found at http://www.fullcolorprintingcompany.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 10

by MAricon Williams

DIGITAL vs. FILM

DIGITAL vs. FILM

by: Jelaine Macaraeg

As anyone might expect, the birth of digital photography, moreover, all the hype about it brought forth controversy. Does its birth mean the end for film? Are digital cameras better as they are ขtechnologically more advancedข? Is digital photography simply film photography gone hitech? As I found out, digital is not better than film – and film, is not better than digital. Instead, it’s like comparing apples with oranges – they’re two entirely different fruits with different properties, having their own advantages and disadvantages.

One perfect article to read is the one by Darwin Wiggett, an advertising stock photographer who had his share of working with both film and digital cameras.

As he have learned, and I’m sure a lot of people will agree, digital images are smoother and has a lot less noise, while film images are usually grainy. However, colors seem sharper with film, while digital photos tend to be flat and pale. You might say, ขThat’s what Photoshop is for! To enhance color and fix everything there is to be fixed!ข Well, this brings Wiggett, as well as other professional photographers to another observation. Digital has made people a lot lazier.

When you use film, you always seem to aim for that perfect shot. With digital, you get instant feedback from the LCD screen. This may have an advantage as it also gives you instant opportunity to improve your next shot by adjusting your technique, Of course, you don’t have that luxury with film and that’s exactly what drives you to be focused – so you would get the best shot. With digital, people tend to be ขtrigger happy,ข you’re always thinking, ขThat’s good enough… I can always fix it with image editor.ข

However, what they fail to realize is that they spend way too much time, checking on their LCD, dealing with their batteries, which gets drained ohso fast, downloading or transferring files and of course, manipulating the images.

In the end, it all boils down to personal preference. And just like in anything, people shouldn’t allow commercialism and marketing make them judgmental or discriminating – especially the newbies. As I always say, you need to pick the right tools for the kind of project you’re working on, depending on your vision of that project. If you have the time as well as the resources, it is recommended that you try both on various projects so that you can make a sound judgment of what works best for you. Therefore, people shouldn’t be thinking Digital vs. Film. Instead, it should be Digital and Film.

With that, let me end this article with Mr. Wiggett’s words, which I find very wise: ขA great shot is a great shot no matter how, when, or where it is captured.ข

Note:

Link for Mr. Wiggett’s article:

http://www.naturephotographers.net/articles0105/dw01051.html

About The Author

Jelaine Macaraeg

Versatile and hardworking. Two words that clearly describes Gemกs work attitude. She can just write and talk about everything. Her green thumb for writing can turn seeds of ideas into excellent writing pieces She loves to read books especial novels that are set back into the Medieval Period.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit http://www.ucreative.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 01

by Jelaine Macaraeg

Terms Used the in the Stock Photography Business

Terms Used the in the Stock Photography Business

by: Kelly Paal

So you are a small business person or web designer and you want to purchase some stock photography for your website. Great. Photography is a wonderful way to improve the emotional impact of your site. But there are a few terms unique to the stock photography business that you should know.

Royalty Free you’ll see this term often. What it means is that you pay a one time fee for an image and you can use it for as many times as you want for as long as you wish. It is a great way to get inexpensive photos. Now if you are concerned that your competitor would or could use the same image as you, photographers and agencies can continue to sell the image after you purchase it, then you need:

Rights Managed this one is next term you’ll see. This means that you pay a fee for the image based on how, where, how long, and how many people will see the image. This one will cost you a lot more in most cases. This is worth it if you do not want your competitor using the same image for the same purpose. Usually the stock agency or photographer also agree not to sell the image to others in your field for the time that you are using the image. So you can see why this option protects your use of the image but you’ll also pay much more for this protection. Remember too that, at some point, you decided to discontinue using/paying for the image the agency or photographer can then sell the image to someone else, even someone in your field.

Flat Rate this term isn’t quite at common but it is similar to royalty free. Usually this means that you pay a one time fee for an image, but it can only be used for one purpose by one person. Pricing will be higher than royalty free but less than rights managed.

Copyright even with royalty free you are still only purchasing the right to use an image not the image itself. All images are property of the agency or photographer who owns them. How do you know who owns them, there is usually a © symbol with date and name of the person or agency who owns the image. No matter what you paid for the image you are NOT the owner of the image. This means you cannot remove the copyright information, alter the photo, use it as part of a logo that you own a copyright, or resale the image as your own.

These terms will get you started but remember there can be differences in these definitions from agency to agency and photographer to photographer. Every agency and photographer selling stock images should have a legal or license page to explain these terms and any others that they use, if they don’t you may want to move onto another site. Be aware, read all the information, and know what you are buying.

About The Author

Copyright 2004 Kelly Paal

Kelly Paal is a Freelance Nature and Landscape Photographer, exhibiting nationally and internationally. Recently she started her own business Kelly Paal Photography (www.kellypaalphotography.com). She has an educational background in photography, business, and commercial art. She enjoys applying graphic design and photography principles to her web design.

This article was posted on August 03, 2004

by Kelly Paal