Manipulating images for putting up in the Forum

[⚖Hugh Wallington]

Manipulating images for putting up in the Forum
 
When putting a picture/image into the Forum there are two basic things to consider.
 
1.  Is the image just showing what it is you are wanting people to look at? 
If you are only wanting to show part of a picture, then CROP it ie. “cut out” the section you are wanting to keep.
2.  Is the SIZE of the picture appropriate for where you are putting it in your post? 
You don’t want the picture to fill the whole screen!  So REDUCE the size of it. 
When taking ‘screenshots’ of my Tyros 4 the resulting images are 640 pixels wide. I reckon this gives a good ‘viewing area’, so have used this number as my ‘standard’ maximum width.
 
You can put images/pictures into your post either by linking to a “cloud” where you have your image stored; or upload them directly into your post using the Attachment option. This will be covered in another thread, as the purpose of this topic is to explain what you should be doing to your image before you upload it.

There are several programs (Apps) you can use to manipulate your pictures.
The one I use is IrfanView, which was recommended to me by a friend of mine. It’s FREE, and does all the things I want it to do, which I find many of these programs do not enable you to do eg. Rotate in 0.1 degree steps left or right to get the picture perfectly horizontal; insert arrows at any angle to draw attention to the points you are trying to make (as above).
 
The program is Windows based. If you want to try it, you can do a Google Search (for irfanview); or go directly to their website by clicking the LINK below and downloading it. 
I have the 4.72, 64 bit version.
 
https://www.irfanview.com/
When you first load IrfanView, this is what you see:
 
   
 
I have a picture of a section of my Tyros 4 which I wish to put into a post, so I first click on File (at the top), and then Open.
 
   
 
I get the folders on my laptop showing, so select the one I want ...
 
   
 
... and click Open.
 
My picture then shows on the screen.
 
   
 
Once the picture is loaded in I need to get up the ‘tools’ I need so I can do things with the image. To get them showing, it’s Edit, and then click on Show Paint dialog.
 
   
 
And all the ‘tools’ I need to do things are showing on the right.
 
   
 
Here they are again, enlarged so you can see what they are.
 
   
 
If you hover your mouse over any one of the above (in the program, not my picture!), a box comes up explaining what each tool is .. and what it’s used for. A left-click chooses that option .. and for some of them, a right-click gives other options for you to choose (eg. for the ‘arrow’ one, if you want the arrow on the left of the line you are dragging; the right of the line; or an arrow at both ends of the line).
 
The Selection Tool is the one highlighted top left, and is used for ‘Cropping’ the image. You click and hold on your image, dragging your mouse across the image to create a rectangle round the part of the image you want to keep. Then release. You don’t have to be too accurate in doing this as by putting the mouse over the top of any of the lines (left, right, top or bottom) you get a ‘double-arrow’ which you can click on and drag the line in either direction to where you want it.
 
What I want from my image is the VOICE EFFECT .. so have put a rectangle round that.
 
   
 
To ‘keep’ what is in that rectangle (ie. Crop the Selection) we need to go to Edit, and then choose Crop selection (Cut out).
 
   
 
And the resulting image is as below.
 
   
 
The original photograph I took of my Tyros 4 with my mobile was 4080 x 2296 pixels, and this section of it is  2139 x 523. When I take ‘screenshots’ of my Tyros 4 they are 640 pixels wide, so I reckon that should be the maximum width to use in this Forum .. although I’m sure 700 pixels or even 750 pixels would be acceptable. But certainly not 2139!
 
To reduce the SIZE of the image using IrfanView I need to click on Image at the top, and then Resize/Resample.
 
   
 
In the box that comes up type in the image WIDTH (the HEIGHT is put in automatically to keep the image in proportion).
 
   
 
I reckon 600 will fit across the screen and ‘look right’.
Another important factor is the Number of Dots per inch/cm the program uses to determine the width. Best to keep this number always the same. 
I have set it at 96.
 
   
 
And this is how my VOICE EFFECT looks on the forum screen.
 
   
 
Now all these programs enable you to Rotate 90˚ clockwise or anticlockwise, so a picture you have in Portrait mode can be changed to Landscape. But this program enables one to rotate clockwise or anticlockwise by 0.1 of a degree at a time.
 
Looking at the above, I reckon my effort to get the photo horizontal was pretty good .. but not perfect! So I shall rotate this image clockwise by 0.3 of a degree.
To do this I click on Image, then Custom/Fine rotation.
 
   
 
And enter the amount of rotation in steps of 0.1˚. I reckon that to get the image horizontal I need to rotate clockwise 0.3˚.
Plus (+) is CLOCKWISE and Minus (-) is ANTICLOCKWISE. (You don’t need to put the PLUS in for clockwise .. only the MINUS when going anticlockwise).
 
   
 
Then click the OK.
 
Result below.

   

What do you reckon? Perfect?
 
Note that with anything you do in this program, if you are not happy with the result there is an Undo button, which will take you back to the previous step .. and you can use it to go back at least two or three steps.
 
   

More to come ...

[⚖Hugh Wallington]

What else do I use in this program?
 
ARROWS
 
The other tool I use most is the one for ARROWS. I have this set up for the arrow to be solid, with the arrow head at the end of the line I am drawing. The setup for doing this was from a right-click on the symbol (the message below appears when you just ‘hover’ your mouse over the symbol).
 
   
 
The colour of the arrow is determined by those coloured rectangles at the bottom of the Tools chart. The top rectangle is the colour of the arrow head (you have to have the Fill ticked to get this). The colour for the main part of the arrow is the bottom rectangle (I normally have both on red). If you click on the double-arrows by the colour boxes the colours showing will swap over. The ‘thickness’ of the arrow is determined by the Width (px). I normally have this on 4.
 
   
 
The colours can be changed for each rectangle by clicking on them.
You then get the choice of colours as below.
Click the OK for them to take effect.
 
   
 

 ERASER & PICKING UP A BACKGROUND COLOUR
 
The screenshot below is the setup for Handel’s Largo. Thing is, I had worked on this from a previous song I had recorded, Beautiful Dreamer .. and this is still showing in that top left box. Leaving those words there is just confusing, so I will use the Eraser to remove them.
 
   
 
Clicking the Eraser Tool (top left in the Tools box) gives us an Eraser as a ‘circle’, set at the Width (px), which I had set at 4. This doesn’t give very much to work with, so I have upped the Width (px) to something more suitable in this situation .. 26. The Eraser circle is now much bigger so will rub out a greater area. You can see the size of the eraser circle at the end of the yellow arrow.
 
   
 
Another consideration is that the Eraser uses the colour in that left hand top rectangle, which I had set to YELLOW. So if one were to start erasing those words Beautiful Dreamer with the setup as it is, this is what you would get.
 
   
 
So we need to select the Color picker Tool, move across to the image and click (left-click) over a section of the background .. which puts the selected colour into the bottom right hand rectangle.
 
   
 
Knowing that the eraser will rub out using the colour from the top left hand rectangle, we need to click the double arrow in the corner to swap them over (as indicated by the blue arrow).
 
   
 
Now we can use the Eraser to rub the WORDS out, leaving the background colour.
 
           
 
Now that I have removed the words I can put in some text of my own.
 

TEXT
 
The Text Tool is the letter A .. so click on that.
Bottom left of the A is a plus sign (+) so position that over the image where you want your letters to appear. You then get this box, where you can choose your Font, Font Size, Letter Colour .. and Bold, Italics etc.
 
   
 
You also can click on Hold to preview so you can see exactly how your letters are finishing up and make changes if necessary. And if you really don't like the finished product you can always click the Undo and do it again.
 
This is how mine has ended up.
 
   
 
The letters go onto whatever background you already have.
 
If any Members already use an App for manipulating pictures/images can you please do a New Reply and let us know which program you use, and how good you think it is. In particular, can you tell us of an App to use in Apple products (eg. iPad etc.) as the program I am using above is Windows based.
 
Hugh