How to Do Everything With Your Scanner- P32 potx

How To…■ Evaluate the software bundled with your scanner ■ Distinguish the different types of image-editing programs ■ Decide which editing programs have the features that meet your need

Choosing the Right File Format

Choosing the right file format is a tradeoff between image size, quality, and compatibility with other programs The BMP format, for example, is compatible with all Windows-based programs, but it is an unwieldy format for sending photos by email because it does not allow for data compression

Similarly, TIF is an excellent format, since it uses a lossless compression scheme

It’s the format I used to produce and submit most of the images that appear in this book Your friends, however, might balk at downloading TIF-sized files, which are only slightly smaller than the BMP variety

JPEG, GIF, and PNG formats are convenient for sending and downloading images, but the compression schemes they use result in data loss that might or might not be apparent over time All in all, the format you choose depends on whether you’ll be sending the format over the Internet and to what extent you’re concerned with data loss

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Selecting the Right Image-Editing

Program

Chapter 9

How To…

■ Evaluate the software bundled with your scanner

■ Distinguish the different types of image-editing programs

■ Decide which editing programs have the features that meet your needs

■ Experiment with shareware you can download for free

Start by Looking at Bundled Software

Bundled is a term for the software that comes with your scanner when you buy it In

the process of deciding which software to include with a scanner, scanner manufacturers strike deals with software manufacturers Bundling provides advantages to both manufacturers

The scanner manufacturers figure bundling image-editing software enables you to perform more projects and increases your satisfaction with their product It generally makes their scanners competitive with other models on the market The software manufacturers want to acquaint you with their particular product, in the hope that you become comfortable and familiar with its interface and features The idea is that you’ll likely be in the market for subsequent scanning software upgrades in future

Decide Whether the Bundled Software Is a Bargain

Bundled software can be a really good selling point when you’re choosing a scanner For example, Photoshop is a high-end program that currently costs around $600—but it comes as a freebie with some high-end scanners If you were planning on purchasing Photoshop, you might be financially ahead by opting for a high-end scanner and getting the program as a bundled add-on

Something very important to keep in mind, however, is that very often scanners don’t come with the latest versions of a software program The idea might be to encourage you to go out and buy a later version of a product after you’ve become familiar with the bundled version For example, if your scanner comes bundled with PhotoSuite 3, and you really like the product, you might be very motivated to upgrade

to the added capabilities of PhotoSuite 4 because it is a relatively inexpensive software program

142 How to Do Everything with Your Scanner

Graduating from the Bundled Software

Just because a scanner comes with a particular image-editing application, it doesn’t mean you’re married to it For example, many users find that PhotoDeluxe, which comes bundled with a number of scanners, provides a great introduction to image editing The product has a short learning curve, but its features are limited After getting up and running with PhotoDeluxe, you might want pay $50 (as of the writing

of this book) to get the hundreds of project templates and more extensive capabilities with PhotoSuite, or you might want more the more sophisticated editing tools of Photoshop or Photoshop Elements The features of all these programs are discussed below

Shopping for the Right Program

You might be surprised to learn that, as of the writing of this book, I was able to locate more than 30 different image-editing programs just by surfing the Web Some programs clearly have more to offer than others, but it can be a close race when you narrow it down to the finalists In the end, the goal is to make sure the software you choose offers all the features you need to complete your projects, but that you aren’t paying for features you don’t use Fortunately, you can choose from many programs

on the market to strike the right balance

Make a Shopping List of Features You Require

The best way to decide which features are useful to you in an image-editing program

is to take a look at the types of projects you plan on doing Here’s a brief overview of what today’s image-editing programs have to offer:

Photo-editing tools If you just want to retouch, repair, and correct apparent flaws in photos, opt for a program with basic editing features that are simple and convenient to use

Sophisticated color correction and enhancement If you plan on correcting and editing color for publication purposes, you need a program that offers more sophisticated and technical editing tools such as separate color channels and CMYK adjustments

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