Editors' Guide: Photos

You can include two in a story. If you want more you can include a photo gallery.

The first photo needs to be horizontal.

  1. Standard photo – the magic number for the width is 360px. This will give you a good-sized photo for the web. If it’s the first photo, it will align to the right at the top of your story. If it’s the second photo, a small version will appear in the sidebar and a full-size version will appear when the user clicks on it.
  2. Panorama – (width = 650px). This will give you a widescreen photo that will display along the full width of your story, above your headline. The trick here is that it needs to be cropped with a shallow height. Otherwise, the viewer will see only the photo and little of your story without scrolling.

For Image 1: Photos 360px in width and smaller will wrap to the right. Photos with a greater width will appear across the top.

The style for the Photo Caption is: Caption in one or two sentences. Photo: Name. Normally the name is yours, but optionally another person or an organization that has authorized use of the photo.

Alternative to Photshop?: Try an online service such as (free) PicResize

 

How To -- Using Photoshop CS5

  1. Open a photo from a digital camera or other source

    • LAUNCH Photoshop (from the icon in the Dock). Don’t double-click on the photo file - it will probably open in a photo viewer program such as Preview.
    • From the File menu choose "Open". Navigate to your photo files. OPEN the photo.
  2. Crop it

    • Rotate the image if necessary (Under the Image menu, choose Image Rotation -> Rotate 90° CW/90° CCW").
    • Fireworks LevelsUSE the Crop tool Photoshop Crop to draw a TIGHT box around the part of the image you want to use. DOUBLE CLICK in the middle of the photo to complete the crop.
  3. Make it look good

    • Under the Image menu, choose: Adjustments -> Levels...
    • Look under Input Levels at the visualization of colours in your image. If the black area looks like a mountain, bring the outside black and white sliders to the base of the mountain. This will make the blacks and whites stand out. If needed, fiddle with the middle grey slider to adjust the mid-range tones.
  4. Reduce the size

    • The photo is much too big for the Web. Go to the Image menu and choose Image Size...
    • Photoshop Image SizeENSURE both "Constrain Proportions"and "Resample Image" have a "✔"beside them.
    • If the story photo is horizontal:
      Pixel dimensions -> Width = 360 (height will auto-resize, usually around 275)
      If the story photo is vertical:
      Pixel dimensions -> Width = 225 (height will auto-resize)
      Beside Pixel Dimensions, watch the image size drop to a fraction of its original size
      • You can place a large first photo across the top of your story that prevents text from wrapping around it. Just make it Width = 650
      • Photo Gallery photos should all have the same height (about 400px). All photos with the same orientation should also have the same width (horiz. photo: about 650px; vert. photo: about 325px)
  5. Sharpen it (if necessary) Photoshop Sharpen

    • Sharpening can make an image look more focused by brightening the highlights. Use only if needed.
    • Under the Filters menu, choose: Sharpen -> Unsharp Mask...
    • Start with the values shown at the right. Adjust as necessary.
  6. SAVE AS a JPG Photoshop Export

    • CHOOSE Save As from the File menu and save it with a new file name. A one-word, lower-case, simple name - no spaces, no puncutation. (Note where you're saving it to!)
    • After you click Save, you'll be presented wiht the JPEG Options dialog box. Set Image Options to 9. You're unlikely to see a visual difference with 10-12, but your file size will decrease substantially, making it a quicker download.
    • Make sure Format Options is set to Baseline ("Standard").Click OK
    • Keep a copy of your original, high-resolution file in case you have the opportunity to sell it later!

Free Photos

Here are some sites that offer "free" photos. Use them carefully. Some sites have conditions on the use of photos (i.e. crediting the author). Also, when you use the photo, pay attention to the tags to avoid misrepresenting what it is (i.e. don't say it's a baby kangaroo if it's really a wallaby).