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What You Need to Know about Digital Photos
The digital age is upon us, and for artists that means slides are out and digital images are in. More shows, competitions and publications are accepting only digital images. And with the decreasing cost of digital cameras, more artists are venturing into taking their own product shots.
Whether you’re hiring a professional photographer to shoot your work (highly recommended) or you’re doing it yourself, it is also a good idea to understand the lingo of digital photos. Here are a few terms commonly used by nearly every print and web publication.
Take some time to familiarize yourself with them! There will be a quiz!
And remember, the same lighting and layout techniques that apply to a good print image also apply to digital images.
A photo of a flower compressed with successively lower compression ratios from left to right.
Image Resolution: The amount of detail an image holds. In digital images, resolution is measured in DPI. The length and width of an image are also sometimes included in image resolution requirements.
DPI: Dots Per Inch. DPI is a measure of printing resolution, in particular the number of individual dots of ink produced in a single square inch. Most print publications require images to be a minimum of 300 DPI, while most images for the web are only 72 DPI.
If you’re submitting your work for a print publication or show, make sure your images are 300 DPI or higher. Otherwise, the editors or show promoters might not be able to use your images in their materials.
CMYK: Short for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black, CMYK is a subtractive color model used in color printing. This color model is based on mixing pigments in order to make other colors.
RGB: RGB is an additive model in which Red, Green and Blue are combined in various ways to reproduce other colors. Computer (and other) screens use an RGB color space, which represents colors as additive mixtures of red, green and blue light (whose sum is white light). In printed materials, this light combination cannot be directly reproduced, so computer-generated images must be converted to the CMYK equivalent in ink colors.
Compression Ratio: The degree to which a file is compressed. Compression is a digital method for reducing the size of a file. Generally speaking, greater compression lowers the quality of an image.
JPEG: A type of image file, frequently used in web graphics. JPEG images employ a specific type of digital compression, and often do not provide the best quality images for print. However, most print publications will accept images in JPEG format, as long as they are the correct DPI.
TIFF: Tagged Image File Format. TIFF is a file format for mainly storing images, including photographs and line art. TIFF files are often much larger in size than JPEG images files, and can offer a higher image quality. However, TIFF files are also often very large in size.
Pixels: Short for “picture element.” A pixel is a single point in a graphic image.
Megapixel: A million pixels. The maximum image quality a digital camera can take is measured in megapixels. A camera that take 5 megapixel images is better than a camera that takes 3 megapixel images.
NEXT MONTH: Digital Photography Faux Pas
Sharpen Your Business Skills at the Visiting Artist Program
The Visiting Artist Program returns to the Buyers Market, August 4-6, 2007. The Visiting Artist Program provides artists the opportunity to develop the skills necessary for running successful arts businesses. This summer’s program is hosted by the Arts Business Institute (ABI), a national non-profit education organization that provides artists with real-world business knowledge.
Artists participating in the program will attend a variety of business education seminars and participate in guided tours of the Buyers Market. Attending artists will also have the opportunity to signup for one-on-one mentoring sessions with ABI faculty and Buyers Market staff. Sessions are available on a first-come, first-served basis, and advance registration is required.
Featured speakers include Bruce Baker, Nancy Markoe and other ABI faculty and Buyers Market staff. Topics will include How to Wholesale, Pricing, and other timely issues facing today’s emerging artist.
Visit www.ArtsBusinessInstitute.org to register!
Wholesale Matters Blog-Watch
Wholesale Matters, the official Buyers Market blog, is updated almost every day. Find out what’s new in wholesale, get wholesale tips and tricks, find cool online business tools, and more at http://buyersmarketblog.typepad.com. Here are a few recent headlines:
- How to Prepare a Press Release
- Reduce Costs for Show Travel
- Another Good Branding Article
- 12 Great Ways to Promote Your Brand
OPPORTUNITIES KNOCKING
Call for Entries: 2008 NICHE Awards
Applications for the 2008 NICHE Awards are now available online at www.AmericanCraft.com. Artists can download an application at the newly revamped NICHE Awards web page. Other useful information includes updated rules and guidelines, as well as information about the 2008 NICHE Awards ceremony, special display and finalist notifications.
Categories include Ceramics, Fiber, Glass, Metal, Wood, Jewelry, Home Furnishings, Goblets, Judaica, Mixed Media, Narrative, Recycled, Teapots and more. New categories include Handmade Beads and Polymer Clay.
Judging is based on three main criteria:
- technical excellence, both in surface design and form
- market viability
- a distinct quality of unique, original and creative thought
Finalists are invited to display their work in the NICHE Awards exhibit at the February Philadelphia Buyers Market of American Craft, February 15-18, 2008, and will be included in the Winter 2008 issue of NICHE magazine. Winners will be announced at the February 2008 Buyers Market and featured in the Spring 2008 issue of NICHE magazine.
Call for Entries: Fuller Craft Members' Exhibition
The Members' Exhibition is coming. Works in all techniques and media are welcome in this biennial juried show. All persons who become members or are currently members of the Museum by the close of the submission deadline, Wednesday July 18, 2007, are invited to submit work. Please visit www.fullercraft.org/Members.htm for details. Current members will also receive information by mail.
Call for Accountant
The Arts Business Institute (ABI), a nonprofit 501c, is looking for a pro bono accountant to compose the ABI annual taxes.
The mission of ABI is to provide practical business education for working artist.
All interested parties please contact:
Arts Business Institute
410-889-2933 x 270
info@artsbusinessinstitute.org
http://www.artsbusinessinstitute.org/
Quote of the Month:
Our technology forces us to live mythically, but we continue to think fragmentarily, and on single, separate planes.
—Marshall McLuhan (1911 - 1980), Canadian communications and media theorist
Market Insider
Archive - MI newsletters from previous months.
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