Images and Graphics Oct2008
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1: Images and Graphics: Oct 2008 “We tend to assume that pictures are easy to un- derstand, requiring little skill, and we often take it for granted that children see what they are asked to look at and that they see what we see in pictures. But this is not so. The skill of looking at, understanding and interpreting pictures has to be taught through planned directed study.” (Margaret Macintosh, Pri- mary Geography Handbook, Geographical Associa- tion 2005)“ There is a lot of competition for a student’s attention these days - especially in the classroom. A good ge- ography course will rely on the strength of graphics and the power of geographical imagery. Thought will have been given to design at every planning stage. Students react favourably to imagery combined with good design and innovation. It therefore pays to consider layout, presentation and design in all teaching / learning interfaces. Most landscape rendering in games is very low quality so it is not difficult to present students with something that impresses them. If you have a photographic image of the landscape being studied there are a variety of image manipulation techniques and filters within a plethora of software at your disposal. This is a major weapon in our arsenal for “chasing the dragon” where the dragon is the student’s interest, attention and motivation. A favourite starting point is Google Earth which is ex- cellent in some major urban areas. But have a look at Iceland - well, have a look at the clouds above Iceland. The resolution isn’t much better over much of Scotland. The landscape rendering in an oblique view of the Glencoe area (fig 2a) isn’t even up to the lowest gaming standards. A traditional annotated fieldsketch (2b) based on the suspect rendering is probably more useful for teaching purposes. Posterisation or image stylisation is particularly ef- fective in a lot of graphical situations. The changed images are often referred to as “morphs”. The fil- ter intensifies the lines and reduces the number of colours, thus simplifying the image. It is not appropri- ate in every situation, however, and should be used sparingly with highly detailed colour images such as those in Fig 1. The large amount of cross-sec- tion and the annotations on three of the slides also Jargon Busters Fig.1 Formation of a Debris Cone The process starts with a hollow on the glacier’s surface..... Fig.2 It depends what you want the image for! megapixels - the more the better? Right? Well not really. The number of megapixels is important but ranks after 1) the physical dimensions of the camera sensor and 2) the quality of the lens on the camera. Even the dimensions of the maximum size of image can’t be trusted. Always try to view - on a computer and in print form - the results of the camera you are interested in. HD - high definition - This term really only applies to video output and TV screen resolutions so dismiss any single shot camera which tries to use the term. NTSC, 720x480 and PAL 720x576, are the current standard resolutions. 1024x768 is regarded as a minimum HD default. Fig.3 mitigate against the application of a strong filter effect. Stylisation is effective in greyscale in this case (see SGN Oct 2008), but not in colour. The full sequence may be viewed at www.slideshare.net/aland/iceland-just-ice-presentation/ Larger images lend themselves well to most image manipulation techniques. The more pixels an image has the easier it is to fine tune the effects of the various filters. Figure 3 is a border title which has been slightly posterised. An unsharp mask filter has then been applied to the foreground boulders. It often pays to apply differential sharpening to the background of a landscape in order to make it look crisper and more impressive. In Fig.3 however, there is no background and the emphasis should remain on the area around the title. The “comic strips” or sequences in figures 4 to 9 demonstrate the effective ap- plication of various filters to different subjects. The crater of Mount St Helens (fig.4) was normally hidden under the mountain’s’s ice cap but was drawn in by hand to enhance the metamorphosis of the posterised mountain into a model of a composite volcano. The sequence in figure 5 is a simple drawing of a long section of a glacier which has been enhanced by adding a couple of colour gradients. The slides are doubling as notes for the students which explains the unusually high amount of text. (Always try to keep text to a minimum on presentation slides and never read out the text displayed on the screen during a presentation). The sequence in figure 6 is based on an aerial photograph of Svinafellsjökull. The image was posterised and then different drawings on separate layers were added to represent the ice margin at different times. The margins are quite ac- curate, being based on contemporary maps (1904 and 1935) and historical land ownership records (1450). The scale of the image, however, makes it difficult to represent the amount of thinning which has taken place over the last 100 years or so. In the sequence on headland erosion (fig.7), an image of a headland with an arch has been altered by drawing on overlying layers to show the development of the headland through time. A satellite view of Japan from NASA forms the basis of the annotated maps in figure 8. Posterisation of satellite images is particularly effective as it removes unwanted detail and makes it easier to patch up any gaps left after the removal of cloud cover. A variety of software image filters can be used to create the morphs in figure 9. If you cannot get access to Photoshop or Photoshop Elements then explore the plethora of other software available (GIMP, Photoplus, Paintshop, Inkscape, etc.) Comic Life software allows students to express themselves more graphically but can also be used by geographers to compose discussion starters. The traditional comic layout allows for the striking use of colour and an engaging way of outlin- ing geographical issues. Figure 10 applies this truly toon style morph to the Mono Lake controversy. “Even if you have no artistic flair, you can use sketches, illustrations, photo- graphs, symbols, graphs, and diagrams. Good images don’t just decorate; they add meaning to your message. They can make a point, connect the dots, and help people learn. And when you convey your meaning quickly, you win.” Marcia Connor (fastcompany.com) LIMESTONE SCENERY DOWN E ARTH TO TOON STYLE MORPHS for geographers IMAGES GRAPHICS and b) a) Images and Graphics: Oct 2008 : 2
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An old article which I did for SAGT. This is the colour version. Slideshare doesn't recognise it as a document as it is wider than it is high. Double page spreads in documents don't exist according to Slideshare. Hmmm.
Transcript of Images and Graphics Oct2008
1: Images and Graphics: Oct 2008
“We tend to assume that pictures are easy to un-derstand, requiring little skill, and we often take it for granted that children see what they are asked to look at and that they see what we see in pictures. But this is not so. The skill of looking at, understanding and interpreting pictures has to be taught through planned directed study.” (Margaret Macintosh, Pri-mary Geography Handbook, Geographical Associa-tion 2005)“There is a lot of competition for a student’s attention these days - especially in the classroom. A good ge-ography course will rely on the strength of graphics and the power of geographical imagery. Thought will have been given to design at every planning stage. Students react favourably to imagery combined with good design and innovation.It therefore pays to consider layout, presentation and design in all teaching / learning interfaces. Most landscape rendering in games is very low quality so it is not difficult to present students with something that impresses them. If you have a photographic image of the landscape being studied there are a variety of image manipulation techniques and filters within a plethora of software at your disposal. This is a major weapon in our arsenal for “chasing the dragon” where the dragon is the student’s interest, attention and motivation.A favourite starting point is Google Earth which is ex-cellent in some major urban areas. But have a look at Iceland - well, have a look at the clouds above Iceland. The resolution isn’t much better over much of Scotland. The landscape rendering in an oblique view of the Glencoe area (fig 2a) isn’t even up to the lowest gaming standards. A traditional annotated fieldsketch (2b) based on the suspect rendering is probably more useful for teaching purposes.Posterisation or image stylisation is particularly ef-fective in a lot of graphical situations. The changed images are often referred to as “morphs”. The fil-ter intensifies the lines and reduces the number of colours, thus simplifying the image. It is not appropri-ate in every situation, however, and should be used sparingly with highly detailed colour images such as those in Fig 1. The large amount of cross-sec-tion and the annotations on three of the slides also
Jargon Busters
Fig.1 Formation of a Debris ConeThe process starts with a hollow on theglacier’s surface.....
Fig.2 It depends what you want the image for!
megapixels - the more the better? Right? Well not really. The number of megapixels is important but ranks after 1) the physical dimensions of the camera sensor and 2) the quality of the lens on the camera. Even the dimensions of the maximum size of image can’t be trusted. Always try to view - on a computer and in print form - the results of the camera you are interested in.HD - high definition - This term really only applies to video output and TV screen resolutions so dismiss any single shot camera which tries to use the term. NTSC, 720x480 and PAL 720x576, are the current standard resolutions. 1024x768 is regarded as a minimum HD default.
Fig.3
mitigate against the application of a strong filter effect. Stylisation is effective in greyscale in this case (see SGN Oct 2008), but not in colour. The full sequence may be viewed atwww.slideshare.net/aland/iceland-just-ice-presentation/ Larger images lend themselves well to most image manipulation techniques. The more pixels an image has the easier it is to fine tune the effects of the various filters. Figure 3 is a border title which has been slightly posterised. An unsharp mask filter has then been applied to the foreground boulders. It often pays to apply differential sharpening to the background of a landscape in order to make it look crisper and more impressive. In Fig.3 however, there is no background and the emphasis should remain on the area around the title.The “comic strips” or sequences in figures 4 to 9 demonstrate the effective ap-plication of various filters to different subjects. The crater of Mount St Helens (fig.4) was normally hidden under the mountain’s’s ice cap but was drawn in by hand to enhance the metamorphosis of the posterised mountain into a model of a composite volcano. The sequence in figure 5 is a simple drawing of a long section of a glacier which has been enhanced by adding a couple of colour gradients. The slides are doubling as notes for the students which explains the unusually high amount of text. (Always try to keep text to a minimum on presentation slides and never read out the text displayed on the screen during a presentation). The sequence in figure 6 is based on an aerial photograph of Svinafellsjökull. The image was posterised and then different drawings on separate layers were added to represent the ice margin at different times. The margins are quite ac-curate, being based on contemporary maps (1904 and 1935) and historical land ownership records (1450). The scale of the image, however, makes it difficult to represent the amount of thinning which has taken place over the last 100 years or so. In the sequence on headland erosion (fig.7), an image of a headland with an arch has been altered by drawing on overlying layers to show the development of the headland through time. A satellite view of Japan from NASA forms the basis of the annotated maps in figure 8. Posterisation of satellite images is particularly effective as it removes unwanted detail and makes it easier to patch up any gaps left after the removal of cloud cover. A variety of software image filters can be used to create the morphs in figure 9. If you cannot get access to Photoshop or Photoshop Elements then explore the plethora of other software available (GIMP, Photoplus, Paintshop, Inkscape, etc.)Comic Life software allows students to express themselves more graphically but can also be used by geographers to compose discussion starters. The traditional comic layout allows for the striking use of colour and an engaging way of outlin-ing geographical issues. Figure 10 applies this truly toon style morph to the Mono Lake controversy.“Even if you have no artistic flair, you can use sketches, illustrations, photo-graphs, symbols, graphs, and diagrams. Good images don’t just decorate; they add meaning to your message. They can make a point, connect the dots, and help people learn. And when you convey your meaning quickly, you win.” Marcia Connor (fastcompany.com)
LIMESTONESCENERY
DOWNEARTH
TO
TOONSTYLEMORPHS
for
geographers
IMAGESGRAPHICS
and
b)
a)
Images and Graphics: Oct 2008 : 2
Fig.4 Model of a Compos-ite Volcano (from GeoJUICE CD2)Mount St. Helens morphs into a composite volcano model. The base image (courtesy USGS) dates from April 1980. Aimed at 12-14.
Fig.5 Glacier Movement www.slideshare.net/aland/glacier-movement/Diagramatic representation of the processes involved in glacier move-ment. Aimed at 16-18.
Fig.6 Glacier Movement (from GeoJUICE CD4)Diagramatic representation of the ad-vances and retreats of Svinafellsjökull since the last Ice Age. Base image courtesy Snaevarr Gudmundsson.
Fig.7 Headland Erosion (from GeoJUICE CD3)Time is rewound for a headland in Hawai’i in order to demonstrate the process of headland erosion and the effects of wave refraction.
Fig.8 Japan Atlas(from GeoJUICE CD3)A series of distribution patterns based on a NASA satellite image. Extrane-ous clouds have been removed and overlays added in Photoshop.
Fig.9 China (from GeoJUICE CD4)Atmospheric pollution in China lends itself to posterisation. Very film noir!
3: Images and Graphics: Oct 2008 Images and Graphics: Oct 2008 : 4
5: Images and Graphics: Oct 2008 Images and Graphics: Oct 2008 : 6
Figure 10
