Joining digital pictures can be done quite nicely in an application like MS Word. If two or more pictures represent side-by-side images taken from the same spot over a short interval and with the same camera settings, there is a good chance that you will be able to join them in a seamless fashion if the photos overlap each other slightly. You don’t have to ensure that the camera remains perfectly horizontal, but it is helpful if you can come close to achieving that. Digital cameras work quite well for this purpose because you can see quality results of each frame shortly after the pictures are taken, and you avoid the steps required to get a set of images scanned from photographic prints.

Some corrections may be needed to ensure that the color balance, brightness, and contrast match well at the joining lines. Some cropping may be needed to trim away portions of some of the frames that extend above or below the extremities of the other frames. If you don’t position the camera on a fixed, flat, horizontal surface, you may need to do a “free rotate” of a few degrees to make the picture content match in the joining lines. Most image applications by Adobe provide a free rotate feature.

It may take some reasoned judgment on the part of the user to determine how big the finished panoramic picture will be and how many pixels should be retained in the individual frames that will be joined. You should have more dots per inch in the individual frames than in the final product in order to preserve picture quality.

MS Word is suggested as a good program to use for joining the frames. You can position each frame accurately and the program retains most of the picture quality. It has a feature that allows you to choose which overlapped frame is in the foreground at each joint. There is a 22-inch limit on page width in the landscape mode. For other reasons, you would probably want to limit the width to about 13 inches – the height can be whatever is convenient, perhaps around 4 inches. Four inches is suggested as a reasonable height for viewing on a screen since you only have to scroll the picture sideways. If 4 inches is a nominal height, then a width of 10 to 13 inches may serve your purposes well.

Let’s jump ahead, for the moment, to the point where you have made seamless joints of the frames in a DOC file set up for more than 13 inches wide. The first thing you need to do is to make a digital image file of the unrefined panoramic picture showing in MS Word. For most users, the best option available to them may be to use the “zoom” feature inherent in the “Desktop|Settings|Screen area” setting. Depending on your computer, you should be able to get to a screen area of at least 1280 X 1024 pixels. The maximum width of an image that can be displayed on the screen will be 13.3 inches.

By temporarily re-setting your screen area to this value you can perform a screen capture and obtain a digital file on the clipboard, which will provide up a 13-inch finished photo size. A screen capture “Copies” the entire screen image on a virtual “clipboard” by striking “Alt” and “Print Screen” at the same time. With the screen-captured image on the clipboard, “Paste” it into MS Word. At this point, the image in MS Paint will be 96 dots per inch, presumably the same size and resolution you will choose for the finished picture, but it will have extraneous picture elements that can be cropped away. The extraneous elements come from the fact that the picture doesn’t completely fill the screen, and there will be some toolbar showing, particularly at top and bottom. Don’t worry about the toolbar present in the MS Paint application, as they are not part of the image.

You can do all or part of the cropping in MS Paint, which presents a temporary image in BMP format. To move the image to another application for conversion to JPG format, you must save the image in some format, and that may as well be BMP. The image conversion program will then be used to make any further quality adjustments to the picture and to convert it to the JPG image format that uses a compressed file format and make the file smaller with little loss of picture quality if a good program and a high enough quality-factor choice is used when converting to JPG.

Now to address the issues involved in making the images join and to ensure that they will blend well with the adjoining frame. First, the user should examine each of the frame images they intend to join end-to-end. Verify that there is some overlap between each picture to be joined. Note if there are dissimilarities between brightness, contrast and color balance of each frame. Choose a frame image size and dots per inch resolution that fits the requirements for the finished product. It is recommended that the dots per inch be somewhat above 100, perhaps 150. It is recommended that the frames not be cropped, and that the frame height be set just slightly greater than the height of the finished product. It is recommended that these frame images by in JPG format. These are issues that should be worked over carefully to make the next steps go smoothly.

Open MS Word. Go to File|Page setup|Paper size. There you will select paper size and orientation. Since you are dealing with a wide page layout, choose “Landscape” for paper orientation. Note that in paper size you have a few standard size selections and a custom selection. Pick a size that will give you at least a 14-inch width. Then go to the tab that says “Margins.” Here it isn’t very critical what you pick for top and bottom margins, and an inch should be fine. Next, select the left and right margins to give at a clear width space of at least a half-inch more than the planned finished size of the panoramic picture.

Close out the Page Setup dialog box. Note that there is a blinking cursor at the “home” position, which has been determined by the choice of top and left margins. This home position may as well be the point used as an “anchor” point from which each of the images will be positioned. Decide on the method of importing the images into Word. You can “Paste” the image or you can “Insert” it. If you paste it, don’t introduce a frame that will prescribe the size or position of the imported image. If you insert it, click on “Insert” in the menu bar, and select Picture|From File in the “Insert Picture” dialog box. Then use the browse feature to locate a frame image, highlight it and click on the “Insert” button.

In either case, you should have imported a frame image at 100% size, and positioned with its upper-left corner at the home position. The frame you import first shoud be the one at the far right side of the panoramic picture. The reason is that each time you mport a new image it will go to the home position, and frames may completely overlay other frames, making things difficult. Next, position the imported far right frame as follows: click on “Format” in
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he menu bar, then click on “Picture” on the drop-down menu (note that unless you have imported a picture, Word will not provide “Picture” as an option in the menu).

This will present a “Format Picture” dialog box which is defaulted to sow the “Layout” tab. Select “In front of text” as a “Wrapping style.” Click on the “Advanced” button to open the “Advanced Layout” dialog box which defaults to the “Picture position” tab, which is the right place to be for the next set of manipulations. On the picture position screen, note that there are the “Horizontal” and “Vertical“ panels. In the Horizontal panel, “Absolute position” will have a dot in the “radio” button to its left, and two data slots to its right. The first slot will show the value of the left margin in inches, and “Columnn” will show in the right slot which is preceded by the words “to the left of.” In the “Vertical” panel, “Absolute position” will have a dot in the “Radio” button to its left, and two data slots to its right. The first slot will show the value of the top margin in inches, and “Paragraph” will show in the right slot which is preceded by the word “below.”

Note that the home position (for text) can be thought of in terms of setting the left boundary for paragraphs, and setting the top boundary for the first line of text. Vertical positions below the home position are determined by the number of line feeds that took you to this lower position.

This may have relevance when you are inserting images into Word where you want to introduce photo captions. Note that the paragraph symbol ¶, in digital word compilation represents a line feed and a carriage return (one line lower, and begin at the left edge of the same column). This digression may be helpful in recognizing why Word uses “Column” to refer to the horizontal reference line, and why they use “Paragraph” to refer to the vertical reference line in relation to positioning pictures.

The last paragraph is an introduction to a concept of positioning which has been established for MS Word. Positioning of the frames in Word, by using methods described here, is based on setting horizontal and vertical distances from a reference point. Initially, the reference point is the upper-left corner of the page, not the home position. Next we discuss how to change the reference position from the upper-left corner of the page to the home position, which is a good practice for placing pictures in text layouts, which you want to do as part of another project. The steps required to change this reference point are relative simple.

To reset the reference point, clear all dialog boxes and view the image frame in the WORD program file. Highlight the picture by left-clicking on it. This will make eight little black squares appear, four in the corners and four at the mid-point of each edge. Do a Format|Picture to open the Format Picture dialog ox, click on the Advanced button to get the Advanced Layout dialog box, which opens to the defaulted tab Picture position. In the first slot of the Horizontal panel, change the value to zero. In the first slot of the Vertical panel change the value to zero. Click on the OK button. Now note that the image has jumped up to the upper left corner of the page.

Then close out the Advanced Layout dialog box and re-open it. Now you will note that there are values in the left slots of the Horizontal and Vertical panels that are negative. Change these values to zero. That sets the home position as your new reference point. Click on OK, and you will note that the image returns to the home position. Now you are at liberty to set the Horizontal and Vertical values so the frame is positioned approximately where you want it. The only requirements for positioning these frames is that they need to be precisely located with relation to each other so they will make a seamlees joint, and that all frames must be within the boundaries set by the page margins.

Then go through the same steps of importing and positioning the remaining frame images.

Note that the determination of which frame “moves back” so the overlapped portion will hide behind the adjoining frame can be made by selecting “behind text” in the “Text wrapping style” page for one of the adjoining frames. Note also that you will have to run through the sequence involved in selecting “behind text” a second time for that setting to become saved. Note also that of the five selections of text wrapping style, “None” will not enable the positioning settings to become available in the Picture Position dialog box.

This description has been a challenge to identify the critical steps involved in the planning and the execution of the necessary steps. Although the sequence of topics may seem convoluted, I thought it would be best to build upon these planning and execution steps in a way that would serve the reader while they are reading it the first time and for them to use as a reference when performing the steps. The process may seem prohibitively complex. If you choose to try these things on your own computer without personal guidance, it is manageable for a user who is committed to challenging projects. There are many steps, and none of them are particularly complex, although the word descriptions may seem complex.

Putting a caption below a landscape image using MS Word

This material is included here for a few reasons. One to show the user that the landscape image can be used as any other image, and can be re-inserted into a new Word file which is capable of introducing text anywhere on the page. Another is to give the user some appreciation for the use of text positioning when images are present.

Remember from the above discussion of positioning the inserted images in relation to a reference point that the reference point used (above) is the home position. If you want to have text on a page, you want to establish at least one line for text which is below the position of the reference point. If you don’t, you won’t have success at entering text below this reference point, as there are no new lines available for text below the line which is used as a reference for picture positioning. This means that if you only have

one available line and the picture(s) is (are) anchored to it, striking the “Enter” key, which produces a carriage return and a line feed, will move the picture(s) down, and will not provide any new lines below the reference point, which now moves down with each line feed.

Showing formatting characters

A user will find that it is handy to be able to see the formatting characters associated with the page layout. These are the representations of things like paragraph symbols, character spaces, indicators of tab commands, punctuation, etc. The formatting tool is in the Formatting toolbar and is represented by the paragraph (¶) symbol. It is a click-ON and click-Off button.

If you plan to place a caption below an inserted image, you should start with at least one paragraph symbol below the paragraph symbol at the home position. When you insert an image, you should highlight the home position so the image will be anchored to that location. Later, you will have a paragraph symbol below that picture reference point for doing all the required text processing. Note that you may want to place the image at least 0.1 inches to the right of the home position or choose the “behind text” option for text wrapping of the image so you will be able to see the insertion point for adding text. The insetion point is identified by a highlighted paragraph symbol or by the blinking cursor which appears when the formatting symbols aren’t showing.

Each pixel has a “color”

Note that a digital image has a regular grid of picture elements (pixels) arrayed in columns and rows within a rectangular boundary. Each pixel has an associated color. The RGB model is commonly used to represent the intensity of each of the hues (or colors) red, green, and blue. In the RGB model, black and white are represented as the absence of intensity of R, G, and B, while white is represented by the greatest intensity of R, G, and B.

The BMP file format is somewhat of a “gold standard” of representing an image in the most basic manner, as no “gimmicks” are used in the coding which represents the colors of each pixel. It is a format which can serve as a starting point for deriving images of other file formats which may involve “compression,” a means for shrinking the required file size needed to present a good picture.

Often, 256 equal steps between no intensity and maximum intensity provide a fineness of intensity levels of each hue that is satisfactory for most work. In decimal (base 10) numbers, this represents 0 through 255. There are hexadecimal numbers (base 16) that correspond to each of the decimal values 0 through 255, and they are often used instead of decimal numbers to represent these intensities.

Hexadecimal representations are a natural outgrowth of working with binary (base 2) numbers, as they convey all necessary data elements that represent binary numerals 0 to 15, and do so in the most efficient way.

Here’s an example:

Take the decimal number 15.

In base 10, the numeral 1 and 5, when arranged as they are shown represent 1×10¹ + 5×10⁰

In base 2, it is represented as 1×2³ + 1×2² + 1×2¹ +1×2⁰ OR 1111. Note that if the ordered sequence of these four representations of ON corresponds to four specific locations within the computer where the rightmost (least significant numeral) is defined as either 0 or 1, the numeral to its left as a 0 or a 2, next as a 0 or a 4, and the next as a 0 or an 8, we see that it takes exactly 4 bits of code to identify any decimal number between 0 and 16.

In base 16, the letter (alphanumeric symbol) f is defined as decimal 15, and hexadecimal values for 10 through 15 are assigned the letters a through f, respectively.

Because a computer handles binary information terms (bits) as the means of defining the state OFF=0, or ON=1 of any semiconductor or memory node, one can see that the binary (base 2) system is elemental and very efficient.

When representing any decimal value between 0 and 255, we can see that it takes only two hexadecimal symbols, while it would take exactly 8 bits, or a string of eight zeros or ones if represented as a binary (base 2) number.

Thus we find that it is convenient, conceptually as well as in digital coding, to represent any of the intensity levels by just two symbols, recognizing that these symbols are defined on the base 16 counting system.

It has become a standard practice to define a group of 8 bits as a Byte. It has become a common practice to use 256 gradations of intensity to give a good representation of the detail necessary for obtaining a good picture. Note that it takes 8 bits, or one byte, to represent each of the 256 intensity levels. In an RGB color system having 256 intensity levels, every color representation involves an 8-bit binary number (or a one byte number). Since each pixel requires an 8-bit number for each of the three R, G, and B colors, it is said to be a 24-bit color system. Although the coding of intensity of each of the three colors of each pixel can be measured in quantitative terms by the number of bits OR the number of Bytes which are involved, bits are most often used in reference to the definition of color of individual pixels, while Bytes are most often used as a measure of the data required for the whole image.

For example, a color photo which can be copied into the C:\Windows folder to serve as a “background” OR “wallpaper” must be introduced into that folder in BMP format if using a Windows 9x operating system. If such an image file is already of the size which will fill an 800 x 600 pixel screen without stretching, we can calculate how big that file must be if it has 24-bit color coding.

There are 480,000 pixels and 1,440,000 Bytes. This number is close to the maximum file size which may be copied onto a floppy disk. Let’s see if it will fit.

Remember that one Kilobyte is 1,024 (2¹⁰) Bytes, not 1,000 (10³) Bytes. This comparison recognizes that there is a different representation of the actual number of Bytes which are involved, and that there is a factor of 2.4% to account for when comparing the numeric values assigned to that file size if stated in Bytes or in Kilobytes. A bigger discrepancy is involved when numeric values are used to represent a file size in Megabytes vs. Bytes.

For the case shown above, divide 1.44 x 10⁶ Bytes by 1.024 twice to get approximately 1.37 MB, which will fit on a floppy disk.

We have arrived at an era when digital media is more commonplace. It has become more cost effective, the results are pleasing, and the ease of sharing, viewing and archiving make it convenient for many users. History has shown that multimedia has gone through a continual evolution in regard to the use of formats and storage media. Many of us may confront issues regarding how we want to deal with photography. Should we consider the use of our own digital camera? The answer will depend on your views about how such a change would impact your life. Surely the consideration of owning a digital camera represents a collection of new challenges. This article will present an overview of some of the issues that are involved.

What is required?

The camera itself represents a substantial outlay of money, however it is not the only outlay that will be required. Fortunately, digital cameras are cost competitive with film cameras that may be used for most general purposes. The collection of features in a given camera will affect its price. A simple way of comparing digital cameras is by the number of Megapixel that show in an image frame. If you choose a one Megapixel camera, you will find that full-frame images will be slightly larger than the viewing area of a monitor screen that is set for a resolution (or screen area) of 800 X 600 pixels.

Another major determinant of adaptability is the zoom capability. The zoom range that is most significant to the user is the range of “optical zoom.” Digital zoom range is generally of less significance, as the user can deal with these settings while using an image modifying program after the image file is in the computer. Other features that may be of importance is whether you have viewing capability on the camera for seeing the image in a digital screen viewer before taking a picture as well as a digital screen that can show a selected image frame after the picture is taken. Provision for taking flash pictures may be an important consideration. Also, it is beneficial to have a display screen that shows how many pictures can be taken before the flash card is full.

Note that the flash card can be removed from the camera and replaced with a spare flash card, just as you would do with film cartridges. One difference is that the flash card is not light sensitive and its location in the camera is not in the light path that is used for taking pictures, so no precautions are needed before opening the slot where the flash card is installed. Closing the slot involves a mechanism that slides the card into position and makes contact to the “pads.” Opening the slot works in the opposite fashion and ejects the card just far enough that it can be grasped with fingers for removal.

You will find that savings will accrue when you don’t have to pay for film or standard film photo processing.

Camera accessories that are often selected at the time of purchase can include things like a spare “flash (memory) card,” batteries, battery charger, carrying case, etc. Recognize that your total outlay will be dependent on whether a given accessory is included in the camera’s price. A flash card has a thin substrate that contains a bunch of memory elements. It is slightly more than an inch on each side, and less than an eighth of an inch thick. It has a few plated copper “pads” on the substrate that provide connection points for applying power to it and for transferring signal data in and out of it. It is convenient to make these accessory selections at this time, as you are already at the location where they have the items and know which ones will fit your camera. However, accessories can be bought at any time from a reputable camera store.

You must consider the means for copying image frames from the flash card in the camera. If you copy these files to your own computer, there should be enough accessories and software bundled with the camera to provide for these needs.

The most common type of interfacing connection between camera and computer is a USB cable that mates with the camera at one end and with the computer at the other end. If your computer does not have a USB port available, perhaps the easiest way to add one or two of them is to use a USB card that gets installed in a PCI slot within your computer. This requires that your computer have and available PCI slot. If your operating system is Windows 98 or newer, chances are that Windows will “see” the new hardware and install the required driver for it when the computer boots after the USB card is installed.

The software for transferring image frames from the camera’s flash card to your computer must be installed and the user must learn how to operate it.

There are so-called flash card readers which can be used to transfer data in or out of a flash card. The reader has the ability to accept dowloads from the flash card by removing it from a camera and placing it in the card reader. A reader will often serve as a writer if you have need for that, and a media device that can “read” from a flash card.

Another form of media used with some digital cameras is a floppy disk that inserts into the camera and is removed with images in JPG format. If this is the media used in a one Mpixel camera, you could get five shots on one disk, and may find that an indicator of how many remaining frames may be taken on a partially filled disk may not be important. This represents a very easy way to transfer image data to a computer.

Minimum system requirements for all new devices and software must be considered if everything is to work properly.

Other means of transferring image frames exist. To do so in conjunction with your computer, an external device can be purchased that will accept the flash card and will provide the ability to gather and retain the image files that can be copied to any available computer.

Another option is to take
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he flash card to a photo processor and have them provide the image files on a disk. Of course, this involves processing cost, but may not be as expensive as you expect.

Recent trends in battery selection for devices like digital cameras favor the NiMH, or Nickel-Metal Hydride type. They are more tolerant to many kinds discharge-recharge cycles, and will last for more recharge cycles than the Nickel-Cadmium types. They may give better service if a special charger is used with them. Some digital cameras use a custom battery and others use a few cells of standard size, like AA or AAA. Some users prefer to have two sets of them that are never mixed with members from the other set. One caution – don’t expect them to retain their charge as long as Alkaline or NiCad batteries. You may prefer that the batteries be of the standard AA or AAA configuration for a few reasons, one of which is that they are less expensive when buying as a spare or as a replacement than a custom battery. Also, you may be able to put in standard alkaline cells in an emergency.

Two forms of battery chargers are available, one for restoring charge when the batter(y) (ies) (is) (are) out of the camera, and one for replenishing charge when the batteries are in the camera, as the drain can be substantial when using the LCD viewer or when downloading pictures.

Taking pictures with a digital camera

Some differences in technique are required, as the digital image data is captured in a manner that is different from a film camera. Most digital cameras have a shutter that will make settings of focus and contrast when the shutter button is half-way down, and this process may add a delay to the time before the shutter operates.

When looking through a viewer, it is desirable to have a digital screen in the eyepiece viewer. One reason this is important is to ensure that certain types of scenes will retain the color elements correctly. A user should be aware that many digital cameras can do poorly with scenes such as sunrises if they point the camera at the foreground slightly below the horizon and in line with the sun before pressing the shutter. This may result in an image that shows none of the color or brightness of the sky. However, if you use the shutter button to pre-focus (and pre-contrast) on the sky, and hold the shutter button half-way down as your re-direct the camera toward the preferred framing direction, you will see if the colorful features in the sky will be retained in the picture. If you have a 2 Mpixel or 4 Mpixel camera, you don’t need to point the camera in the preferred framing direction, as you can obtain a reasonably wide-angle result and unnecessary picture content can be removed later by cropping.

Generally speaking, a digital camera will use a shutter speed that is faster than a film camera, which relieves the user from having to steady the digital camera as much to avoid blurred pictures. The implications are that telephoto work can be done with a digital camera without a tripod if the user is steady, the camera has considerable zoom capability, and the scene is well lit. This is an interesting result that can be obtained without an expensive and heavy detachable lens, which would be required on a film camera. Also, many digital cameras have an auto exposure feature that tends to make a setting of fast shutter and fast f-stop. Thus, an amateur photographer can do a respectable job with telephoto photography, where the narrow-angle view may be the only manual adjustment needed for point-and-shoot pictures. Because the fast shutter speed makes the camera more tolerant of slight motion while taking a picture, some have come to regard this effect as a virtual “stabilizer.” In more expensive cameras, many will have a feature called “image blur reduction.” This is especially useful when taking telephoto pictures. Read the instruction manual for the camera to set up this feature. It may require that you press the shutter button halfway and hold it for a second or longer for this feature to become operational prior to operating the shutter.

Some of the better digital cameras do can an excellent job of taking close-ups, as their focus range may include four inches to infinity.

With the digital viewer on the back of the camera, you can have some assurance that a satisfactory photo has been obtained. However, it has limited resolution and limited ability to show a good display in sunlight. You can delete images from the flash card that you don’t want and free up memory for additional frames to be shot on the same flash card.

For most purposes, a user will be satisfied with images in the JPG format. With a 2 Mpixel camera, each frame will require about 0.5 MB of file space. Thus a 32 MB flash card will serve to retain up to 64 image frames.