MGI Photosuite 4 for Dummies

Introduction

Why a . . .For Dummies Book?

How This Book Is Organized

Part I: The PhotoSuite 4 Phenomenon

Part II: Lights! Camera! Action!

Part III: Step into the Drawing Room

Part IV: Being a PhotoSuite 4 Paparazzo

Part V: The Part of Tens

How to Use This Book

Icons Used in This Book

Foolish Assumptions

Conventions

Getting Started

Part I: The PhotoSuite 4 Phenomenon

Chapter 1: Touring the Suite

Novice? Hobbyist? Pro?

How PhotoSuite 4 Works

Getting on the TWAIN Train

What Are Electronic Images?

Connecting the dots

Digital versus analog

V-r-r-o-o-m! Starting PhotoSuite 4

You don't have to be a mechanic

Getting the key in the ignition

Chapter 2: Not Just a Pretty Interface

The Face of PhotoSuite 4

Bar Hopping

Negotiating the Navigation bar

Trying out the toolbar

Confronting the Command bar

Tracking your photo activity in the Library

Get-ing Started

Prepare-ing to Change the World

Editing away your problems

Touch-up tools and tricks

The tapestry effect

Stitching photos

For people who are really warped

More creative outlets

Compose-ing a Photo-Symphony

Organize-ing Photo Albums

Share-ing the Fun

Print-ing Perfectly

Browse-ing the Great Beyond

Getting Help from PhotoSuite 4

Chapter 3: Photo-Science: Fun with Chemicals and Computer Chips

Digital versus Film-Eating Cameras

Cookin' with film

Doing it digitally

You Say You Want a Resolution . . . Well . . .

What is resolution?

Decoding information about pixels

Getting pixel-perfect pictures

Kosher pixels and other image condiments

Put your pictures on a diet

A Summary of Pixel Pointers

On the Lighter Side

Growing digital pictures takes lots of light

Where to get the light you need

A Touch of Color

Chapter 4: Imaging Equipment for All Occasions

Camera Consumerism

Researching your options

Battle of the cameras: digital versus film

Buying a digital camera

A tribute to film

Is Your Computer Ready for PhotoSuite 4?

Bit depth

Random access memory (RAM)

Yo' monitor

Dealing the graphics card

Storing your photos on a Zip drive

Printers in a Nutshell

Being Scanner Savvy

Part II: Lights! Camera! Action!

Chapter 5: Where Do Little Images Come From?

Getting Images into PhotoSuite 4

Fetching Photos from Your Computer

The Scoop on Scanning

A word about connecting your scanner

Scanning your first shot

Opening and editing those scanned babies

Getting an Image from Your Camera

Editing on the World Wide Web

Importing an Internet photo

Chapter 6: Getting That Slippery Photo Where You Want It

Your PhotoSuite 4 Canvass

Rotating a Photo

Rotating by 90 or 180 degrees

Rotating a photo freehand (Wh-e-e-e-e!)

Defining your own rotation angle

Flipping Photos

Zooming Right Along

Cropping a Photo

Chapter 7: Eeek! Making Ugly Stuff Look Better

I Could Have Enhanced All Night

Enhancing the automatic way

Adjusting the whole photo manually

Just a Touchup, Dear

Basic precautions for extensive touch-ups

Brushing away the flaws

Selecting the right brush

Softening and sharpening action shots

Brushing basics

Flirting with filters

Comparing shots before and after touch-up

Send in the Clones

Cloning around

Harvesting pixels: The DNA of graphics

Cloning confidently

Getting Rid of Red Eye

The red-torical question

Ridding red eye the PhotoSuite 4 way

Chapter 8: First Aid for Damaged Photos

Applying First Aid

Clearing up blemishes

Applying the PhotoSuite 4 anti-wrinkle cream

Buffing out scratches

Chapter 9: Performing Photo-Surgery

Your Instruments and the Operating Room

Scalpel, Please! The Cutting Tools

Finding the cutting tools

Cutting out rectangular- and elliptical-shaped areas

Cutting Out Irregularly Shaped Objects

Giving the surgeon a free hand

Waving the Magic Wand

Using the Edge Finder

Stick It Here! What to Do with Your Cutout

Ta-Da! Composing a Collage

Picking a canvas for your collage

Adding and editing text

Adding more photos and saved cutouts

Adjusting objects on the screen

Adding and dropping a shadow

Polishing with props

A Word about Word Balloons

How to Do That Old Body-Switch Trick

Switching heads onto familiar bodies

Putting heads on PhotoSuite 4 body props

Part III: Step into the Drawing Room

Chapter 10: In Color Living

Colors Posing as Primary

Revisiting kindergarten: What's a primary color?

Kindergarten 2001: Primary colors come in groups

Combating color-confused equipment

Stop singin' the blues: The color adjustment filter

Viewing RGB images on-screen

Printing the CMYK way

A Tribute to Andy Warhol: Colorizing and Tinting

Turning a photo to black and white

Adding and removing color in sections

Creatively colorizing

Singin' the blues with tints

Pleased to Meet Hue

All of hue: Altering a whole photo

Pieces of hue

Can't Get No Saturation

Slathering saturation on the whole photo

Upping saturation for part of a photo

Too Light? Too Dark? Shopping for Color Value

Value for a whole photo

Lighten it up

Chapter 11: Drawing Tools That Amaze and Delight

Signatures and Other Unique Brush-On Feats

Fathoming the Flood-Fill Tool

Fill 'er up!

Flood-Fill factoids

Drawing Shapes for Show

Creating filled shapes

Creating unfilled shapes

Chapter 12: A Walk on the Wild Side: Special Effects

Ordering Special Effects Off the Menu

Surveying the special effects

Accessing and adjusting special effects

Sampling some special effects

For People Who Are Really Warped

The Wonders on Your Content CD

Part IV: Being a PhotoSuite 4 Paparazzo

Chapter 13: Graphics on the Go

E-Mailing Your Images

Gather Round! Posting Pictures to the Web

Creating Your Own Little Web Site

Creating a Web page in 12 easy steps

Posting a page to the Web

Making your own animated files

GIF'ing your files some animation

Plain-Vanilla Printing

Sending Your Photos to the Kodak Lab

Chapter 14: Say "Cheese!" Family Albums, Slide Shows, and Screen Savers

Creating Albums

Looking at photos in albums

Viewing the master album

Creating and removing albums

Adding an existing album to the Master Album list

Renaming albums

Adding photos and other graphics files

Assigning properties to albums and photos

Sorting your thumbnails

Changing the thumbnails when you change the photos

Searching for a particular photo in an album

Boring 'Em with a Slide Show

Creating a slide show

Editing your slide show

Changing slide show and photo properties

The big premiere: Playing a slide show

Making Wallpaper and Screen Savers

Wallpapering the desktop

Saving screens stylishly

Chapter 15: Cheap Gifts and Chic Digital Accessories

Greeting Cards That Really Greet

Pick a card, any card

Greeting your card

Giving Calendars for Christmas

Adding Frames, Edges, and Borders

Framing the innocent

Bordering on insanity

Fake IDs for Any Age

Mugging for Magazine Covers

Gift Tags

Bookmarks

Postcards, Sports Cards, and Invitations

The Ultimate Wedding Gift

Chapter 16: PhotoSuite 4 for Fun and Profit

Personal-Statement Stationery

Promoting Your Business

Cards That Mean Business

Pick a card

Making cards that call

Printing business cards, wallet photos, and other "multiples"

Signs That Point to Success

Creating Name Tags and Labels

Labeling in PhotoSuite 4 style

Name tagging along

Acknowledging with Certificates

Chapter 17: Photo-Drama: Stitching and Weaving Images

Stitching Photos

Threading your digital needle

Successful stitching secrets

Stitching right along

Creating an Interactive Panorama

Weaving a PhotoTapestry

Tackling a Basic Tapestry

Weaving your own

Part V: The Part of Tens

Chapter 18: Ten Tips for Taking Better Pictures

Know What You're Focusing On

Don't Shoot to Kill

Get on a Higher (or Lower) Plane

Figure Out Your Flash

Eliminate Bogus Background

Level Out Lighting Contrasts

Create High-Tech Light Effects with House Lamps

Keep a Steady Hand

Take Lots of Photos

Be Both Patient and Spontaneous!

Chapter 19: Ten (Plus) Funky File Formats

TIFF

JPEG

EXIF

GIF

PNG

Photo CD (PCD) Formats

Windows Bitmap (BMP)

FPX

Other File Formats Supported by PhotoSuite 4

Chapter 20: Ten Troubleshooting Tips

Come Out ! Come Out! Accessing Your Camera or Scanner

Wait! I Want to Open It with This Program!

Failure to Create Empty Document Message

The General Protection Fault Message

Can't Save Pictures from the Web

Flunking the Minimum-Resolution Test

Can't Send Pictures by E-Mail from PhotoSuite 4

Configuring MAPI with Outlook Express 4

Configuring MAPI for Outlook Express 5

Configuring MAPI for Netscape Mail

Configuring MAPI for EUDORA

Attaching images to AOL

Catastrophic Crashing and Locking Up

Ruling out software conflicts

Updating your video card drivers

Deactivate the hardware acceleration option

Other things to try

You Can't Open Your Album Images

RAM It!

Appendix