Digital Cameras
University of Georgia Educational Technology Center http:/etc.coe.uga.edu
Classroom Projects • Today’s students have been exposed to digital and video images all of their lives. • The need for visual literacy skills rivals the need for traditional literacy. • Activities and projects completed with digital images compliment all curriculum areas and most learning styles, especially visual and kinesthetic.
• Digital photography activities are not about taking pictures, but using the camera as a tool to help you explore and understand other subjects.
• Activities and projects do not have to be fancy, long, expensive, or even pretty. They only have to capture the attention and enthusiasm of our children.
• Digital pictures are immediate, versatile, colorful, interactive and successfully engage the attention of students. • The products of these lessons are wonderful tools for reinforcement and review. • Using digital cameras will stimulate and motivate both students and teachers. The subjects that this technology can be used with are limited only by the imagination.
Project & Activity Ideas
C B
People ABC Books
Have students pose as letters of the alphabet. You could use upper grade students for the upper case letters and the younger students for the lower case.
Sequence of Events
Take a series of pictures to illustrate a sequence of events. Taking the pictures by themselves helps the students to focus on the correct order.
Photo Book Reports
Let the students arrange and photograph items in a way that tells about a particular book. Use one photo or a series of photos depending on the complexity of the plot in each book.
Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral?
PSE 2005-’06 5th Grade Students
Labels Please
Use pictures to label the parts of something. You can combine this activity with “Name that Animal� and show the parts you want the students to label in isolation.
Solids, Liquids and Gases
Go on safari to collect photos of objects depicting the different classifications of matter.
Machines at Work
Take pictures of items that show examples of machines from simple to compound.
What type of changes are shown here?
English Please ¿Inglés Por favor?
+
=
Send ESOL students around the school to take photos of things they don’t know how to say in English. They can work with English speaking classmates to create a presentation showing all forms of the word.
• Do you have permission to take and use this child’s photo? • Do your students wear name tags? If so, is the name visible in the picture?
• Students must be taught proper handling of cameras • Guided in taking appropriate photographs • Be choosy about what to print
Digital Cameras
What should you know before you buy? • Computer Requirements – Must have access to computer with enough memory and processing power – Software with camera (will explain min. req.) – Connection to computer • USB • Storage device
Picture Quality & Resolution For high quality images, consider at least 5 megapixels More pixels means better resolution –Critical for printing images
• Based on how you will use the camera
Lens • Optical zoom – Allows you to zoom in on subject and maintain image quality (mechanical lens)
• Digital zoom – Essentially just make the pixels bigger and reduce quality
Storage Device • Secure Digital (SD) – Most common – Most affordable
• Compact Flash • Memory Stick
Power • Rechargeable battery and charger – Included or at least available
• Replaceable batteries
LCD • Does camera come with one? • Can you turn it off? • Does camera have a viewfinder also?
Camera Size • Small enough for your pocket – Lighter – May be more convenient, portable
• Large enough to get a good grip – Sometimes easier to use – May be cumbersome
Price • You don’t have to spend a lot • Keep it simple
Tips & Tricks
What is resolution? • A digital photograph is made up of pixels – single points in the image that can take on any one of millions of colors
• Resolution - # pixels wide by # of pixels deep
You Can Have Too Little or Too Much • Can’t add resolution to a photograph after it has been taken – Make sure the resolution on the camera is set correctly, before you take the photograph
• Too much resolution takes time, consumes memory, and rapidly fills your disk. • Too little, and you have to go back and take it again
How much resolution do I need? Usage
Digital Camera
Uncompressed Size
Print a standard size photo (4x6, 5x7)
2.2 – 3.2 mega-pixels (1800x1200 – 2100x1500)
8 Mb – 9 Mb
Full screen PC slide show
~1 mega-pixel or xga (at least 1024 horizontal pixels)
3 Mb
Email to a friend or post on vga (640 x 480) the Web
Less than 1 Mb
Setting Camera Resolution • Usually a setting you can change in the camera’s menu – “Image Quality” or similar phrasing – Up or Down arrow to scroll through the options
• The larger the resolution (ex. 4Mp) the fewer pictures that can be taken in one sitting • Probably have to resize once downloaded – especially for publishing on web pages or in files transferred by email or storage device (PowerPoint file, etc.)
Tips for Photos on the Go • Empty your media card before you leave – Download to your computer and delete from device
• Cull out the bad shots on the fly
• Pick up a spare media card and batteries
Reviewing Images on the Camera • Usually a Playback button you can press if your camera has an LCD screen • Navigation arrow buttons to scroll through • Delete • Use sparingly – uses up the battery
Exporting from Camera to Computer • Connect camera or memory card to computer • When prompted, click Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard. By default, all images are selected. Deselect ones you don’t want to download. Use tools to rotate.
Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard
Type a name for the picture files. Browse to a folder to save them in. Pay attention! Delete from camera after copying?
The computer will begin to copy the images from your camera.
What do I do with my thousands of images?
Organizational Note • When you open the Master Photo, edit it and save the edited file… • Do File>Save As…rename the photo with a meaningful name so as not to replace the original Master Photo • Save the edited photo (offspring) in the same location as the Master Photo
Where to save your photos • Create a logical folder structure • Start with My Pictures folder • Create a subfolder for each year: 2006, 2007, 2008, etc. • Create multiple subfolders any time you take more than 30 pictures. • Name the folders in a meaningful way
Finding your pictures • Open your My Pictures folder. • Click the View menu, point to the Explorer Bar, and then click Search. • In the All or part of the file name box, type the name of the person you are looking for, and then click the Search button. • After a few moments, Windows XP displays pictures with that person’s name in the file name.
Viewing Your Photos on the Computer • View icon on the toolbar • Thumbnail View
Viewing Your Photos on the Computer • Filmstrip View
Should I print all my images? “Most of the images from digital cameras will stay digital for their entire lifespan. Born of a digital camera, growing up on a PC, spending their old age on a cd-rom and occasionally being reassembled from bits onto a PC display.�
How do I share images, then? • Email • Free web sites • Personal web sites
Need to share high quality images? • Cd-rom
What are suitable file formats to use? • TIF (Tagged Image File format) - lossless • PNG (Portable Network Graphics) - lossless • JPG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) - *lossy • GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) – lossless *Loss of detail each time opened and saved Two types of compression • Lossless – loses none of the image info. • Lossy – removes some of the original info., but compresses/reduces the file size more
Suitability of each format to particular applications Image Type
Photos
Photos and Edges (text and lines)
Line Art, Drawings, Captured Screens
Master Copy
PNG or TIF
PNG or TIF
PNG, GIF, or TIF
Greatest Compression
JPG
PNG, GIF (reduces PNG or GIF colors but improves text, lines, & edges)
Redistribution
JPG
PNG or GIF
PNG or GIF
Internet
JPG
GIF
GIF
Worst Selection
GIF (reduces colors and is still larger than JPG)
JPG (smears)
JPG (smears)
Perfect, Publish & Share
Resizing Digital Pictures Without Opening them • Free Windows XP download: Image Resizer • Right-click on the picture file you want to resize • Click Resize Pictures. • Click the size you want. • Click OK. • A new, resized file has been added to the same folder.
Free download at: http://www.irfanview.com/
•Locate and organize all the photos on your computer. •Edit and add effects to your photos with a few simple clicks •Share your photos with others through email, prints, and web http://www.google.com/educators/p_picasa.html Download for free at: http://picasa.google.com/
Download for free : Google “Photo Story”
•Import video, photos, and audio •Add titles, transitions, and special effects •Record narration •Export as a movie file that can be played on your computer, burned to a CD or DVD, or emailed as an attachment Comes as part of Windows XP update: Service Pack 2