In the production of this site I have used Photoshop 3 and 4. Although 5 looks pretty darn good, I don't have the memory to run it. My machine is struggling with 4! I used this software to draw my own images, make collages and fix up scanned and photographed pictures of my art work. I've also taken to murdering photos of my friends as you'll see if you surf around the site. Producing images is an art in itself and it's an important one as images and colour can make or break a website. Some of the worst websites I've seen are classic examples of too much, too much, too much. More images is not better. Using busy images as backgrounds is a crime I feel should have a heavy penalty attached to it. Like being forced to read "War and Peace" aloud at a football game or in the local pub.

CROP!

The first thing I always do is CROP! Be brutal, space is precious in terms of display size and memory. You might as well do this straight away. Why bother fixing bits of images you're only going to discard later? Ask yourself which bits are the most important and just keep them. Also, keep an eye on your image size. If you want to do more than one image on any given page it looks much better if te images are of a similar (if not identical size).

MODE

Check your image mode. If you want to make soft edges, or want to fiddle about, you need to be in RGB mode. You cannot add layers in indexed mode so if you want to work on a GIF, you will need to change. If you want to save as a JPEG you need to be in this mode whether the image is greyscale or not. If you want to save as a GIF you need to switch back to Indexed colour.

SHARPEN

You can sharpen your images using the Filter>Unsharp Mask. Another technique I just read about in Digital Publishing Design Graphics magazine (issue#50) is to duplicate your layer, then use use the Filter>Other>High Pass at 6 pixels, then change the layer mode to Hard Light. If the effect is too dramatic you can decrease the opacity of the layer for a softer effect. The beauty of most software these days is that you can see what you're getting before you commit yourself.

ADJUST

At this stage you might like to adjust the brightness and contrast of your image to make it look better on the net. Remember that images tend to look darker on IBM than Mac, so if you're like me, you might need to jack up the brightness a bit to cater to the opposition.

ALTER

O.K, this is the bit where you paint, cut, layer and so on. Can't really teach you how to do this, it depends what you want to do and how artistic you are. Before you save, be sure to alter your image size (always go smaller) so that your image fits your page to the best advantage. For example, if you want to make a series of GIFs into menu items or buttons it's a good idea to have them of similar if not identical sizes. See how neat and tidy my gallery images are? I decided what size they should be at the start and then saved them all the same. Watch the "constrain proportions" box is checked or not according to your needs.

Saving: GIF vs JPEG

When you think you've finished, you need to decide how your image will be saved. All of mine are gifs. Sometimes this is O.K., and sometimes you're better with a JPEG. These 2 formats are the only ones discussed as they are the most suitable. (I have no experience with PNG - yet!)

GIF

Gifs are best for images with flat colours. The manga images on my Digital art page (use the "back" button on your browser to get back here) are good examples of this. If you want to go with gif format you need to change your colour mode to indexed. What this does is discard all the colours that don't appear in your image. When you index you'll be asked how you want it done. I always choose "adaptive" if I can't have "exact". Do not dither your images. This can have unexpected and unpleasant effects on the net. Set your images to interlace as this will make them slightly more interesting to look at as they download. Just watch the image size drop! (Check out what happens to your colour swatches!) If you want to, you can export your image as a GIF from the file menu. Here you'll be given the option of making certain colours transparent which means you can put your image on top of other colours with out the yucky squares of irrelevant colour. Some web publishing programs (like Claris HomePage) will add transparency for you later, but if you don't have one you should do that step here.

JPEG/JPG

JPGs save images in a smaller format by grouping similar colours together. If you magnify your image, you'll see this in action. This format is best used for images with a lot of gradients, (gradual colour change) like photographs. One problem: you will lose image quality if you open, alter and save an image often, so keep a copy in PSD format and convert o JPG only when you're ready to export or have finished your alterations. Avoid lots of gradients in this format, they don't perform well under pressure.

Easy FX

Go around your image with a white air-brush and stick it on a white background. See Betty's picture of Petershof above. Ain't that pretty? Who said this has to be hard?