Camera technology, jargon and techniques explained • Use the A-Z index or the search box to look up your chosen term
Genuine Fractals is a software plug-in which claims to offer much better enlargements than standard image-editing programs, using sophisticated fractal mathematics to analyse and extrapolate shapes rather than simply resampling pixels.
That’s the theory, at least. The publisher’s website has some [...]
Increasing the number of pixels in an image. For example, you can turn a 6-megapixel digital image into a 12-megapixel image in Photoshop by ‘upsampling’ it in the Image Size dialog. Note that this doesn’t yield any extra image detail [...]
An option for saving files within Photoshop which allows you to produce the smallest possible file with the minimum loss of quality for use online. It does this by adjusting the size of the colour palette (for GIF images) or the [...]
You can ‘resize’ an image for printing without not changing the number of pixels it contains. Instead, you’re simply changing the size at which they will print.
This means changing the number of pixels in the image by adding more (‘upsampling’) for big prints or taking some away (‘downsampling’) for on-screen use. For example, you need to ‘downsample’ digital photos to display them on web pages, where a [...]
The size of a digital image in pixels. A 12-megapixel digital SLR image, for example, may measure 4,000 pixels by 3,000 pixels (3,000 x 2,000 = 12 million).
Mathematical guesswork used by software. Digital cameras ‘interpolate’ colour data from surrounding pixels when creating full-colour images from the red, green and blue pixels on the sensor. Image-editing software ‘interpolates’ extra pixels if you increase the pixel dimensions of a photo. [...]
Reducing a digital photo’s size in pixels. You’ll need to do this to put a photo on a web page, although some web design software will do it for you automatically. A digital SLR, for example, will typically produce an [...]