Digital image editing

Examination questions part A

Name:

Answer these questions and hand it in three days after you downloaded it at the latest.
The questions are based on the course literature, MyMoodle material and Adobe Help. This
is a home exam which means you can use those or outside material. You're not allowed to
copy and paste. Please note that this is individual work, without help from others.
Answer the questions as best you can, as this is a part of assessment

Max: 63. Pass: 38

The last three questions are not graded with points.

Apart from the total sum, the exam will be assessed together Examination questions part B
(online) + the last assignments, according to the grading criteria.

If possible, write directly in the document.

1. What’s the size of a pixel? (2) There is no standard pixel size. It varies by device and
resolution.

2. PPI: explain this and the exemplify when it’s important and not. (2) PPI stands for
Pixels per inch and is a measure of pixel density. It is important when it comes to
printing (the higher the PPI the richer the print quality) but not so important when it
comes to screen viewing, as the differencies are very subtle.

3. What’s the difference between vector and bitmap images? What areas of application
do they have? (2) The main difference between Vector and Raster graphics is that
Vector graphics consist of lines connecting different points, with virtually endless
resolution (zooming into infinity on a vector graphic reveals that it’s resolution never
’breaks’). On the other hand, a raster image has a given resolution, past which the
optical quality of it reduces dramatically. Vectors are mostly used for typesets and
illustrations whereas rasters mostly for photography.

4. Explain the principle for resampling in Phtoshop and when it’s important. (3)

5. Which generates less loss of quality, to increase the size of an image or to reduce the
size? Explain. (2) Increasing the size of an image generates less loss of quality as the
up-sampling algorithms try to relocate information based mostly on interpolation
functions, in other words they try to fill the new areas with equal, smooth
information, without removing existing pixels of the original raster. Reducing the size
of the image actually generates true loss of information that was there.

6. Which method to crop/rotate is better? Why? (1)

Crop and align ("rotate"), press OK.
 Crop, press OK, align, press OK. It depends: if the ‘delete cropped pixels’ (out of
canvas pixels) is turned on, then cropping, pressing ok and then aligning actually
results in loss of pixels. If not, both methods are actually the same.

7. Is it possible to scale up content in a photoshop image without loss of qulity? Give

reasons to your answer. (3) Theoretically, there is not quality nor information loss.
There are only good or better up-sampling algorithms that copy and allocate new
information based on parameters such as proximity to pixel etc. So it might be
possible that the new image is not visually of less quality, if not zoomed to its original
1:1 size where the upsampling becomes visible

8. The number 256 occurs from time to tome in digital imaging. Give some examples.
And why not 145, 288 or any other number? (2) The number 256 is a power of 2,
namely 28. It is called otherwise 8bit, or in other words is the number of bits (1 byte)
each pixel contains, or else called 8-bit color or 8-bit color mode.

9. How many KB are there in a MB? (1) 1000

 10. What information can you extract from these four histograms? What are your
comments and how can they be adjusted? (8)

a) Dark image, lot’s of pixels in the shadows b) somewhat good light distribution

c) too much contrast, some burned pixels d) the light information is not well allocated

If the images are in raw file format then it’s possible to do some adjustments to properly
allocate the light information and make the histogram look more like a bell-shaped, normal
distribution. Here’s what one can do via camera raw filter within Photoshop
a) increase exposure and decrease shadows
b) slightly increase exposure, decrease highlights, decrease whites
c) increase contrast, decrease highlights

11. Explain ”16 bit mode” and when may it be useful. (2) The 16bit color mode is the
“evolution” of the dominant 8bit. It is useful only when using color spaces that
actually contain/represent a colossal variation of colors, not visible most of which are
not printable.

12. Why is it that one image, saved in different ways, can result in different file sizes? (4)
It depends on the file format compressors and containers. For example, the jpeg file
format has a built in lossy compression algorithm that results in dramatic file size
reduction. Another example is the tiff file container that has a standard lossless
compressor that compresses according to image dimension but not actual pixel color
information.

13. You want to remove an area from an image and have made a selection. You press
Delete but the pixels remain. What might be the problem? (1) The image layer is
locked or is not turned into an editable layer (it’s still “background image”).
14. How do you go about to put a layer below the Background? (1) You turn the
background into an editable layer and then drag and reorder the layer as you wish

15. You have some images you want to use for a project. How do you evaluate the
images terms of "technical" quality? (4) I check if they are sharp or not. I check the
framing to see if the theme is properly visualized. I check the histogram to see if I
have clipped information on either sides of highlights / shadows. I check the
resolution to see if the analysis is enough for my needs. I check the color profile to see
if there will be any mismatches when I transfer/color match them with my project.

16. The web and print are two different outputs with different demands. Explain which
factors affect your choises and how you make them when creating an image file for
the web and print. (4) There are mainly two factors, file size and color mode. In
general, I won’t produce large files if they will only be seen or circulated online, as the
file size matters most (needs to be downloaded or seen instantly). Producing an
image for print requires a fairly better resolution so accordingly I will work and store
a larger file. Now If I can ensure to colorproof and printproof my image before
printing, then I might as well ask for it to be printed on AdobeRGB – I wouldn’t go for
CMYK as colors look more dull on CMYK prints. However AdobeRGB requires larger
file size and also printers that actually handle more colors. If it’s just for the web, then
sRGB is always my choice as pretty much all non-calibrated monitors ‘read’ with RGB
ICC profiles.

17. What could cause a print to differ in colours from the on screen display of the same
image? (3) a) off gamut colors in case an RGB image was converted to CMYK, b) non
calibrated and color proof workflow, c) non calibrated printer
 18. What's the purpose of color management? (1) To ensure color-communication
between monitors, devices, scanners and printers.

19. What's an ICC-profile, and why is it so important? (2) It is the “translation text” for
each monitor in order to be able to read each image’s color space and properly show
it. Same for printers (but in this case properly print the color space).

20. Put the numbers of these terms in the correct line of the second column. More than
one number can appear on the same line. You may not need to use all numbers. (You
may also give reasons to your answers if you wish.) (5)

1. ICC profile 2. sRGB 3. Kelvin 4. Adobe RGB 5. CIE L*A*B* 6. RGB

Number:
Relatively small 6
Colour temperature 3
Device independent 2, 4
Device dependent 6
Equals human vision 5
What you get when you calibrate a monitor 1
Should not be thrown away 1

21. Why can two images that are identical in pixel values look different when viewed
(simultaneously) on the same computer monitor? (2) They may have different color
space

22. What's the advantages with the sRGB colour space? (2) It displays consistently across
devices and software, it is the most suitable for non CMYK printers (most of the inkjet
printers)

23. What problems could occur with colour management on the web? (1) browser
specific / monitor specific

24. Should you save an ICC profile into an image for the web or not, and why? (1) It’s not
necessary as all browsers and monitors have built in RGB profiles to “read” and
display images. Any image, even these without a profile will be displayed as sRGB

25. In what print situation should you keep the image in RGB and when should you
convert it into a CMYK-file? (2) If the printer is a usual inkjet then the printing will be
done with RGB profiles. If the printing is mass produced (by thousands of copies) by
offset machines, then CMYK must be kept.

26. What's the difference between soft and hard proofing, and how do you soft proof in
Photoshop? (2) Soft proofing is simulating the paper color and brightness on screen,
while hard proofing requires an actual printed copy / area of the image we are going
to print (in mass or its total area). Soft proofing in photoshop is done by selecting
“Proof Colors”, but first selecting our “Proof Setup” (the color space and ICC profile of
 the paper we are going to use for printing)

...

27. What major ways of image editing do you have concerning editing colour/tone etc. in
Photoshop? Comment on them and their use. The Hue-saturation adjustment, the
color balance adjustment, the Channel mixer and the selective color adjustment, as
well as various other filters and functions (such as the Replace Color
function/command). There is no purpose specific usage of each one of these, as pretty
much all can do similar edits / adjustments to the color information of an image,
especially when combined or used in conjunction with the layer modes. Generally
outlining these tools anyway: Hue saturation is the primary tool to control intensity of
the colors and slightly or severely change color hues. The color balance only changes
the overall mixture of colors. The selective color tool gives the ability to control the
quantity of each of 6 basic colors + whites, neutrals and Blacks. I believe that this is
the most important color editing tool in Photoshop. One simply assesses the image,
sees (or finds with tools) which colors need changes or reductions, and then goes and
removes certain values out of each color. Example: if I see that my blues are too
purple looking, then I will go and reduce the magenta slider inside the blue color, in
the selective color adjustment panel.

28. Look at the images A (woman), B (garlics), C (coffee maker) on the next page. What
methods/tools would you use if you intend to cut out (extract) the objects in order to
for example add a new background? What problems can you anticipate?
A. I would use magic wand + quick selection to select the background around the woman,
and would refine by brushing off/on in my selection. I woule expect some problems with her
hair where very find selection should be made.
B. I would use the pen tool and carefully do my selection around the garlics or around them
and their shadow. I wouldn’t expect any problems. Just to be sure, I’d mask the garlics 1-2
pixels inward and then feather my selection, or contract/expand it.
C. I would use the pen tool and wouldn’t expect any problems whatsover as the image of the
presso bottle is quite well defined and has good, contrasty edges. However, if the point
would be that I would also have to remove / substitute the transparent white behind the
glass, that would be somewhat challenging. Then I would carefully select (with the pen tool)
the glass areas that are transparent, mask them, keep the mask at a lower opacity and not
100%, and apply a slight blur filter to the areas of the background image that would be right
under my glass.
A B p