Image Editing Fundamentals

Image editing is an important step in the workflows for library and archival staff scanning analog originals and digital photographers creating born-digital photographs. This workshop (two 2-hour sessions) is intended for library and archival staff who need a solid introduction to the technology and practices of editing raster digital images (images composed of pixels rather than vectors). Although the workshop utilizes Adobe Photoshop for the examples and demonstrations, the concepts and techniques taught can apply to any full-featured image editor. The topics to be covered include: raster images; limitations of image editing; assessing digital images; corrections for noise, brightness/contrast, color and sharpness; undoing edits; downsampling, working with layers; non-destructive editing; selecting parts of images; image retouching; deskewing and working with RAW image files.

Learning Objectives

•     Describe components of raster images and how they are modified during editing
•     Use histograms to assess deficiencies in digital images and propose corrections
•     Apply image editing tools to correct noise, brightness/contrast, color and sharpen images
•     Practice using layers to apply non-destructive edits to images
•     Apply retouching, cropping and deskewing tools to improve appearance and composition of digital images
•     Assess advantages and disadvantages of editing RAW image files, including the Adobe DNG file format

Prerequisites
Experience with image scanning or taking digital photographs; experience with saving, moving and editing JPEG, GIF and TIFF files.

Homework Expectations and Completion Requirements
To earn a certificate of completion, students must attend all Live sessions or view recordings of same and complete all homework assignments.

It is designed for individual participation; each individual must register.

Technical Requirements
    Live Online System Requirements
    Install the GIMP image editor and the UFRaw plugin, (available from the workshop portal 5 days prior to the workshop).
    Ability to upload files to and download files from workshop portal

This course is a $270 value. It is being offered to NY 3Rs members at less than 8% of its value.

Presenter: Bill Walker, Imaging Field Services Officer - Imaging Field Services Officer for Amigos' Imaging and Preservation Service, with primary responsibility for conducting training classes in digital imaging. Bill comes to this position after 3 1/2 years of service as Library Liaison Officer for cataloging and metadata. Prior to joining Amigos in 1996, Bill served as Music Cataloger at Southern Methodist University. He has a Bachelor of Music degree in classical guitar and a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, a Master of Music in music theory and a Master of Science in Library Science from the University of North Texas, Denton.