Photography and Graphics

Photoshop is an excellent tool to create new graphics that can range from elaborate illustrations to what appear to be simple text headlines. It's available as a full version for about $600 (considerably less if you are a student) or a stripped-down version...

Foreground and Background Colors The foreground color (the box shown in black in the toolbar screenshot) is used by the current drawing tool – it's the active tool. The background color is used to fill in erased areas and to create gradient fills. To s...

If you have ever drawn an illustration with pencil and paper, you're familiar with the limitations of drawing an object on top of another object. When you change your mind later about it's placement, the "topmost" object must be erased – and when you e...

If your image is at 72 dpi and you've made all your edits (color correction, cropping, resizing), you're ready to save it as a JPEG or GIF. Go to File > Save For Web . A window will open that lets you preview different GIF and JPEG settings ...

All digital images must be rectangular in shape, but sometimes you may want to create the effect of an irregular outline. You can do this by matching the background color of your image to the background color of the web page it is displayed in or by creating...

These days smartphones have made quality picture taking easy and convenient.  A few snaps on your phone and a couple of video recordings later, you will have all the multimedia content you need. Although the technology may change the basic principles ...

Photoshop is an excellent tool to create new graphics that can range from elaborate illustrations to what appear to be simple text headlines.

Here are some guidelines for making your images download quickly and display correctly. Preparing Images To prepare images for presentation on the Web, follow these steps: Begin a new file. If it's a photo or original artwork, use 300 dpi as the...

The resolution of an image or graphic refers to the pixel density. For example, a high-resolution image for use in a glossy magazine is usually 300 pixels per inch in resolution. But computer monitors don't display higher resolution than 72 pixels per...

Most digital cameras take photographs that can be put onto your Web site just as they are — without being touched up. Some photos, however, will be greatly improved if their color and contrast are tweaked. While photo-editing tools can dramatically i...

When Web design became a significant part of a Photoshop user's job, Adobe added Slices to its arsenal of design tools. Slices can be used to save changes as you create graphics for the Web. Essentially, you will use Slices to divide up a Photoshop document....

Small animations can be created directly in Photoshop by using animation tools provided in Image Ready,  a tool created by Adobe so Web designers can create animated GIFs. But be warned: animated GIFs are to be use sparingly. Inappropriate use of animations on...

Even if you are just starting out with digital photography, you should consider publishing slideshows and photo galleries when one or two photos just won't do justice to the subject. While there aren't any hard-and-fast rules about how many images...