Digital Focus: Frequently Asked Questions

Picture size, resolution, JPEG vs. TIFF, displaying photos on TV, and more.

Dave Johnson

Feature: Frequently Asked Questions

The e-mail certainly has a tendency to stack up around here. Since I can respond to only one lucky writer each week, a lot of other general-interest questions tend to go unanswered. And that's too bad. So this week I'm answering some of the most frequently asked questions.

Q: How do I know what size my picture is right now?

A: Virtually every image editor I've used has a function that gives you details about your photo, like its size in pixels and its color depth. In Paint Shop Pro, for instance, you choose Image, Image Information from the menu and read the stuff in the Image Dimensions part of the dialog box.

Q: How do I change a picture's resolution for e-mail or to enter the Hot Pic contest?

A: There's no doubt that this question outnumbers all others by a factor of two. If you shoot a good hi-res image with a 3- or 4-megapixel digital camera, you want to save a copy of that image in a lower resolution for e-mail--otherwise, the picture hogs too much space and takes too long to transmit. To do this you'll need to use the resize or resample function in your image editing program. If you're a Paint Shop Pro user, for instance, you'd choose Image, Resize from the menu and enter a smaller pixel size, such as 640 by 480. Remember to save this smaller image using a different file name so that you can preserve the original hi-res image for editing and printing.

Q: You've said I might want to convert my JPEG images to TIFF. Why would I want to do that?

A: The JPEG format uses data compression and reduction to make files smaller, which invariably means information gets lost. Usually, you can't tell by looking at a photo, especially if you save the JPEG at high quality to minimize the amount of compression. But suppose you edit an image in a program like Adobe PhotoShop Elements. When you change a JPEG image, save the changes, then edit and save some more, "artifacts" from the accumulated compression processes can result in a picture in which the losses are noticeable. To prevent that, convert your JPEGs to TIFFs before you start editing, since TIFF files don't suffer from JPEG's lossiness.

However, images that you only look at--not edit and resave--won't degrade, so you can leave them in the smaller and more compact JPEG format without worry.

Q: My camera doesn't have a "video out" cable. Is there any way to show my pictures on a television?

A: Absolutely. There are a few gadgets that can display your digital images on a television. Microsoft sells the TV Photo Viewer, for instance, which lets you copy your images to a floppy disk and display them in a variety of ways on the big screen. I found this handy little gadget on PCWorld.com's Product Finder for the ridiculously low price of $30.

Q: My digital photos are blurry on a TV. Can I improve them by using higher-resolution files?

A: I'm afraid not. A television is an inherently blurry, low-resolution device. If your picture is already at least 640 by 480 pixels in size, more pixels won't make it any sharper. It'll just take longer to display on the screen.

Q: How can I capture better night photos? They're always blurry or too dark.

A: Use a tripod. Since night photography with a digital camera will result in exposures that last anywhere from a quarter second to several seconds in length, you can't possibly hand-hold the camera and get a sharp photo. And if your pictures are too dark, you'll want to use the manual exposure mode or exposure compensation control to double or triple the amount of time the camera exposes the image. With a tripod, you don't have to worry about camera shake; you can concentrate on getting the city lights in your nightscape to come alive.

Q: How can I organize all my digital pictures?

A: This is a huge problem--you'll have hundreds or even thousands of images all over your hard disk before you can say "I need a bigger hard disk." How can you find them all? For starters, be sure to use the My Pictures folder that Microsoft so thoughtfully provides in Windows Me or Windows XP, or create one yourself, then arrange your images into subfolders that make them easier to sort, organize, and locate. But you'll want some help. There are many photo sorting programs out there; here are some of the best:

• You can find Jasc After Shot for about $40 at our Product Finder.
• A full-featured organizer, Extensis Portfolio is available for around $175 at our Product Finder.
• StudioLine Photo Edition is available for $79 from H&M Software.

Dave's Favorites: Sony's New Memory Stick

What kind of memory card do you use in your digital camera and other portable devices? If the statistics are to be believed, about a third of us are using Sony's Memory Stick. That chewing gum-size removable memory card is incredibly popular, but it has been stuck at 128MB for several years. Meanwhile, virtually all of the other memory card formats--like CompactFlash and Secure Digital--have moved on to 256MB, 512MB, and beyond. If you have Sony gadgets, you might feel a bit left out in the cold.

Sony finally changed that. At the annual Consumer Electronics Show last month in Las Vegas, Sony introduced new, higher-capacity Memory Sticks. Unfortunately, using them won't be a seamless process.

It turns out that we've been stuck with 128MB Memory Sticks all this time because that's the maximum capacity the format was designed to support. So Sony's new 256MB Memory Sticks are "two sided." You can use 128MB of the card normally, but to use the other 128MB you need to remove the card, slide an A-B switch to the other position, and reinsert it.

Sony is also introducing an entirely new card called Memory Stick Pro, which looks like a traditional Memory Stick but is much faster than existing cards. Sony claims it can dramatically reduce the wait that current digital cameras impose while writing pictures to memory. It can even record video in real time, without a memory buffer on the camera. That's cool. Memory Stick Pro will come in 256MB, 512MB, and 1GB capacities without any A-B switches. The downside? Memory Stick Pro works only in devices designed for the new cards, and the majority of existing cameras and other devices with Memory Stick slots won't be able to use them.

It's great that Sony finally broke through the 128MB barrier, albeit with the noted compromises. But I predict there will be a lot of confusion in stores as folks try to figure out what Memory Sticks work with which devices. It's enough to make you wish the industry would just standardize on a single memory card, like CompactFlash or Secure Digital.

Q&A: Salvation From Pumpkin Face

I'm very frustrated trying to print a 4-by-6-inch photo. If I take a 35mm negative to a camera store and ask for a 4 by 6, I get back 100 percent of what's on the negative. If I print a photo that I've taken with my digital camera, I lose a substantial amount of the original. In Paint Shop Pro, I've found that I can turn off the "maintain aspect ratio" control and print my image at exactly 4 by 6, but I discovered that people's faces are now more like pumpkins with very, very full cheeks. This is not a good thing.

--Steven Botta, Detroit, Michigan

No, Steve, that's not a good thing. The reason you're getting those pumpkin faces is pretty obvious--you've turned off the control that "locks" the aspect ratio of the printed picture to the original digital version, which lets you stretch the image as if it were made of rubber. Depending upon the height and width specified, you can end up with some freakishly distorted photos this way.

So what's the answer? Never turn off the aspect ratio control--except in those rare situations when you're submitting your resume to the circus. Instead, crop your pictures to the proper size, either with an image editing program before you print them, or with a paper cutter afterwards.

Enlargers have to do the same thing with 35mm negatives, by the way. It's just that 35mm slides and negatives are much closer to the same proportion as standard print sizes than digital images are, so less cropping is required--and consequently, you don't notice it as much.

Hot Pic of the Week

Get published, get famous! Each week, we select our favorite reader-submitted photo based on creativity, originality and technique. Every month, the best of the weekly winners gets a prize valued at between $15 and $50.

Here's how to enter: Send us your photograph in JPEG format, at a resolution no higher than 640 by 480 pixels. Entries at higher resolutions will be immediately disqualified. If necessary, use an image editing program to reduce the file size of your image before e-mailing it to us. Include the title of your photo along with a short description and how you photographed it. Don't forget to send your name, e-mail address, and postal address. Before entering please read the full description of the contest rules and regulations.

This week's Hot Pic: "Caribbean Reef Shark," by Eric Cheng, San Francisco, California

Eric, who is apparently no stranger to underwater photography, got this exciting photo of a reef shark caught in the process of consuming some chum. He says, "I took this photo in the Bahamas with a housed Canon D60 Digital SLR, 14mm Sigma f2.8 wide angle lens, and two Ikelite DS-125 strobes. There were numerous sharks swimming around, almost in a frenzy! I waited until this particular shark swam directly above me, with a fish in its mouth."

We want your feedback! Send your comments, questions, and suggestions about the newsletter itself to comments@bydavejohnson.com. If you have a question that you'd like to see answered in the weekly Q&A, send it to question@bydavejohnson.com.

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