Equipment Considerations
 
AG00062_.gif (7566 bytes) Computers are necessary, of course, to make digital alterations. To run most digital editing software, we suggest a computer with a Pentium processor and at least 32 megabytes of RAM and a large hard drive(2 gigabytes or larger). For Macs, we suggest you have a Power Macintosh with Mac OS 7.5 or later, 32 megabytes of RAM, and at least a 16-bit video card.
 
SCANNER.WMF (11118 bytes) Scanners allow you to take real photos or drawings and scan them into your computer. There are several types of scanners: flat-bed scanners, hand-held scanners, desktop paper-fed scanners, photo scanners, and slide/film scanners. Flat-bed or photo scanners are the most common ones available for student projects. The flat-bed scanners are large and can scan almost anything, while photo scanners handle only smaller photos.

 

 
camera.JPG (12145 bytes)Digital Cameras are gaining popularity. Instead of using film, it stores digital pictures on a floppy disk or to memory within the camera. The ones not using floppy disks must be cabled to your computer and the images are transferred to your hard drive via the cable. Once on the hard drive, the picture files can be used in other applications. The cameras that use floppy disks allow the images to be used in any computer with a floppy drive.

floppy.JPG (11729 bytes)Many different software imaging packages are available today. We used Adobe Photoshop because that is what we have available at both schools. Most inexpensive photo software programs offer options that will alter or fix photos as described in the Photo Enhancement section.  Morphing requires an additional program.  Constructing images from other photos requires more robust programs, such as Adobe Photoshop or Corel PHOTO-PAINT, which are more expensive. For a complete listing of references and software programs used in this site, please see our references page.

 

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