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Working with a Digital Camera (Macintosh).

A DIGITAL CAMERA takes pictures (images) without film. It is electronic, storing them in a little, bitty memory which resides in the camera. Now you can even store those images (pictures) on a disk. Besides the camera (a Sony Digital Mavica with a 10x zoom), you will need a 3.5" 2HD (double sided high density disk) with a 1.44 MB capacity. There are batteries in the camera, but they should be there, charged and ready to go. No, you don't have to spend $700 on a camera yourself. You can borrow one from Audiovisual Service, Room 175, in the Kirby Plaza using normal procedures to reserve and check it out. Why would you need to use a digital camera if you know how to scan a picture into a computer or if you use a traditional, film-loaded camera? A digital photo is better than a scanned one for electronic display.

• It loses less in "translation" into electronic format than its scanned counterpart.
• It allows you to erase the picture you took if you don't like or want it.
• It can be stored on a disk.
  

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Steps: The following steps will help familiarize you with the camera, with taking pictures electronically, modifying or tweaking those pictures, and using them in the way you choose

1. Look at the camera and identify the parts. (See the operating manual which is inside the camera case)

2. Insert your disk.

3. Practice recording a few images. (See the operating manual which is inside the camera case) While you are "taking the picture," all sorts of indicators (17 in all) on the LCD screen will give you more information than you want right now about the image you are recording. (For now, ignore all that gratuitous information.) Even though they are on the screen, they will NOT be part of the picture you are taking.

4. Playback time. Now the WOW part becomes apparent. First of all, this is all done without film. Secondly, you can instantly see what you have recorded. Finally, you will be able to use the images in lots of ways. (See the operating manual which is inside the camera case)

Use: So what will you do with those images? Try the following:

• A. See the picture on your computer screen via PhotoShop
• B. Enhance the picture in PhotoShop
• C. Embed the picture in a Word document
• D. Place the picture in a PowerPoint presentation if using a newer version of PowerPoint
• E. Send the picture to someone via Mulberry (and retrieve it as an attachment if you are the recipient)
• F. Print a copy of the picture in a lab that prints in color
• G. Post the picture to a Web page (take a workshop to learn how.)

A. To see the picture on your computer screen, insert your disk in the drive. Open Photoshop, --file,-- open, -- desktop, ---open disk, --open file. WOW! There is the image.

B. Enhancing with Photoshop: Because your file is already open, and the image is already on the screen, you can do things like rotating, resizing, sharpening, and so forth. Try this: Make your photo half its size. Now go to COLORS to adjust brightness and contrast or to increase color depth.

C. If you are writing a document on a word processor, you may want to use the photo you just took as part of the report. If so, open Microsoft Word '97. (Depending on the version of Word, you may open Word with the little multicolored jigsaw on the upper right of the screen or by using the hard drive.) Select Insert picture from file (A://) and there is the image. WOW! You can click on the picture and drag it around to put it where you want in the document. If you snag and drag on a corner, you can change its size.

D. To use the picture/image in PowerPoint, go to your little jigsaw symbol on the upper right or to the hard drive. Once in PowerPoint, the easiest choices to make here are Blank PresentationPick a screen (probably the unformatted one which is your last pick) Insert PictureFrom fileSelect file. Pick picture. (The preview helps you pick your picture.) Once it is in PowerPoint, you can deploy it according to your wishes.

E. If you want to e-mail your picture to someone, using Mulberry makes it very simple. Open Mulberry probably from the open apple on the top left or the hard drive. From the menu, choose File, New Message, address your message to the recipient, hit Attachments, go to File and select your picture from the A drive. Send. Of course, if you send an attachment which no one can open, good will is NOT the result. So, here are a few suggestions to facilitate retrieving attachments. The recipient needs to follow his/her own procedure to gain access to the attachment you just sent. But if the recipient also has Mulberry, this is what should be done on the receiving end. To see if this works, send your picture to some who uses Mulberry and have him/her open your message. Then hit the little triangle in front of Parts. Save onto the desktop. Open. Okay. Did it work? See Mulberry Documentation, Tips and Helpers for more information on attachments.

F. You can print your pictures in black and white or exotic color. You can send your picture to a lab (e.g., Lib 165) to be printed in color. To print, go to File and choose Print. There is a printing fee of 5 cents per page. (There is a courtesy printing card next to the printer.) To complete the printing process, you need to walk over to the printer in the back of the room, insert the debitex card, select the print job on the screen, and give it the command to start.

WOW! There you have it. With this handout and the desire to experiment, you can use a digital camera to do many things. There is great potential here for you and your students.